Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

Schools are shutting down their humanities departments and expanding their stem offerings.
I'm sure they would like students to be interested in the things they want to teach but with large language models a lot of humanities are as useful as an abacus in an age of calculators.
Students are choosing Purdue STEM over Brown humanities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

You have no proof of "colleges are sick of STEM," one way or another. Just because you are sick of STEM doesn't mean "as well they should be." This sounds like the wishful thinking of a mom whose child is inclined towards non-STEM and didn't have the highest rigor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

You have no proof of "colleges are sick of STEM," one way or another. Just because you are sick of STEM doesn't mean "as well they should be." This sounds like the wishful thinking of a mom whose child is inclined towards non-STEM and didn't have the highest rigor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a gpa cutoff beyond which candidates are grouped in the high academic bucket. Some people seem to think at private schools 3.9 is a cutoff. When a 3.93 and 4.0 with same rigor are evaluated, does the 4.0 get a slight edge? Or AOs pretty much focus on ECs at that point. Should a student who has a 3.94 apply to same school as a 4.0 in ED or is it a disadvantage?

FWIW, my DD applied ED to a school with a 4.341, her friend (almost exactly the same class load) applied to the same school EA with a 4.35. My DD got a "no" and her friend got a "yes". This is in the data that our private school shares, it's anonymous, but there is enough data to know who is who.

All the decimals matter - especially at a large school. It's how they make these decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school publishes gpa distributions, not standardized for weight, and test score averages etc. Are you looking to see where your child falls relative to others? This doesn’t account for rigor though per se

Yes, my kid has a 3.94 with top rigor at a very good private but we are deciding where she should apply ED. But we know a couple of other kids with higher gpa might also be looking at the same schools. So I am wondering if she should apply given she has a slight disadvantage gpa wise but I think her ECs may be stronger but if her gpa is a disadvantage I would have her look at another ED. Also, I am unable to figure out what percentile she is so ideally it would have been good to find out where she stacks up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a gpa cutoff beyond which candidates are grouped in the high academic bucket. Some people seem to think at private schools 3.9 is a cutoff. When a 3.93 and 4.0 with same rigor are evaluated, does the 4.0 get a slight edge? Or AOs pretty much focus on ECs at that point. Should a student who has a 3.94 apply to same school as a 4.0 in ED or is it a disadvantage?

FWIW, my DD applied ED to a school with a 4.341, her friend (almost exactly the same class load) applied to the same school EA with a 4.35. My DD got a "no" and her friend got a "yes". This is in the data that our private school shares, it's anonymous, but there is enough data to know who is who.

All the decimals matter - especially at a large school. It's how they make these decisions.

EA/ED - Michigan?
If so, major matters a LOT there as well as that long essay - they can decide to admit or deny based on the essay alone. Also, they like national accolades of any sort.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

You are pushing an agenda. This is completely false. Rigor matters the most.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

This is old advice. Not at all true if the supposed “rigor” courses (math? STEM?) have nothing to do with the 4.0 student’s interests. Major matters more than ever: colleges are sick of STEM, Econ, and biosciences applicants — as well they should be,

Anonymous wrote:Our school publishes gpa distributions, not standardized for weight, and test score averages etc. Are you looking to see where your child falls relative to others? This doesn’t account for rigor though per se

Anonymous wrote:Rigor has always mattered regardless of school type (private or public). The 4.0 with easy classes will have far worse outcomes than the 3.85 with the most difficult courseload.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a gpa cutoff beyond which candidates are grouped in the high academic bucket. Some people seem to think at private schools 3.9 is a cutoff. When a 3.93 and 4.0 with same rigor are evaluated, does the 4.0 get a slight edge? Or AOs pretty much focus on ECs at that point. Should a student who has a 3.94 apply to same school as a 4.0 in ED or is it a disadvantage?

FWIW, my DD applied ED to a school with a 4.341, her friend (almost exactly the same class load) applied to the same school EA with a 4.35. My DD got a "no" and her friend got a "yes". This is in the data that our private school shares, it's anonymous, but there is enough data to know who is who.

All the decimals matter - especially at a large school. It's how they make these decisions.

If they really differentiated between a 4.34 and 4.35 then that is crazy. I am hoping there is more at play here like the major or recos etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a gpa cutoff beyond which candidates are grouped in the high academic bucket. Some people seem to think at private schools 3.9 is a cutoff. When a 3.93 and 4.0 with same rigor are evaluated, does the 4.0 get a slight edge? Or AOs pretty much focus on ECs at that point. Should a student who has a 3.94 apply to same school as a 4.0 in ED or is it a disadvantage?

FWIW, my DD applied ED to a school with a 4.341, her friend (almost exactly the same class load) applied to the same school EA with a 4.35. My DD got a "no" and her friend got a "yes". This is in the data that our private school shares, it's anonymous, but there is enough data to know who is who.

All the decimals matter - especially at a large school. It's how they make these decisions.