Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% nationally might be enough too make the DC cut off, you never know! Definitely sounds like your child will get Commended anyway

I think you have to be 99.5% and DC is aligned with the highest states so 99% may not do it.

I know for a fact that my child did not make the cutoff, but perhaps they might have if they had prepared for the PSAT. Our private school advised its students not to worry about preparation for the PSAT, but I now know that many students did prepare. Oh well, at least the actual SAT exam came out very well. I do worry about whether the NMSF status will make the difference when colleges try to decide between two applications from the same school, but one cannot change the past and DC, at least, has put this behind them.

There are schools that count up and tout their NMSFs but the most selective schools aren't among them. This really should not matter -- remember that many of these college counselors have experience on the "other side of the table" as admissions officers so they aren't just making this up. It is worth prepping for the SAT because not all schools allow super scoring so you want to do your best out of the gate, but prepping for the NMSF isn't necessary unless you're looking at schools that recruit NMSFs.

NMSF status matters if your child is applying to schools that offer major merit aid based on NMSF status. It does not matter if you are applying to highly selective colleges and universities. People tend to overestimate the importance of NMSF status in college applications. All it means is that your kid had a high PSAT score in October of their junior year - that's really about it. And in some states, the score isn't even that high. Strength of curriculum, grades and class rank (for those that rank), and SAT/ACT scores are what really matter. Unless your child is interested in attending schools that are trying to boost their prestige by buying NMSF students with merit aid, it hardly matters at all.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

I'm very curious about the role of interviewers. I assume you write and send summaries to the admissions team of what you think about each interviewee. Do you have any direct contact with the interviewee's teachers or her college counselor? Do you make a specific recommendation for each interviewee on whether the college should admit/waitlist/reject? Does the admissions team routinely call you to ask specific questions about the students you interviewed? Do you also participate in the admissions team's decision meetings about your interviewees? If so, are you allowed to be an active participant in those meetings? Do you get any advance notice of the admissions team's ultimate decisions on your interviewees? Does the admissions team provide you detailed feedback on what they think about each interviewee, and specifically why they made each decision?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

I'd be curious to know if a 3.8 at one of the Big 3 is considered competitive against someone from MCPS or FCPS with maybe a 4.3 weighted?

Raw GPAs across high schools aren't really comparable. Some schools don't use a 4 point scale. Where I interview, the college re-weights everything according to its own standards. Rigor of courseload does really matter to the colleges, as that is a better predictor of college performance than grades or test scores. Rigor means calculus, multivariate calculus, four years of the same language culminating in a course where you are reading literature in that language, lab sciences, AP Lit, AP History, IB HL etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

I'd be curious to know if a 3.8 at one of the Big 3 is considered competitive against someone from MCPS or FCPS with maybe a 4.3 weighted?

A 4.3 weighted in a good MCPS is a middle of the road student (has either gotten quite a few Bs or hasn't taken very many honors/AP classes). As a reference point my DC was at 4.6 weighted/3.9 unweighted. I really don't think the weightings are useful comparison across schools, they only help within a school to help judge the rigor of the classes a student has taken relative to other students in the school. Each school/school system has their own weighting approach so cross school comparisons are useless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

I'd be curious to know if a 3.8 at one of the Big 3 is considered competitive against someone from MCPS or FCPS with maybe a 4.3 weighted?

At Sidwell, a 3.8 would probably put you in top 10/15% of class. Not sure at GDS or Cathedral schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

I'd be curious to know if a 3.8 at one of the Big 3 is considered competitive against someone from MCPS or FCPS with maybe a 4.3 weighted?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

What I think hurts our kids in these schools are no weighted grades so their GPAs, even if not calculated by schools officially, tend to be lower. They strip weights, but the weighted GPAs do get submitted to US News. The fact that TJ started adding .5 weight to their grades told me it mattered to even those kids applying to college.

Anonymous wrote:My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

A lot of the kids I have interviewed have been from the Big 3. They often have some ballpark GPA, and they have all taken AP tests. They have taken fewer than the kids at the MoCo publics, it's true. They don't have class ranks, but even the interviewers know what a good GPA is at those schools, and the admissions office has decades worth of data on each school.

IB diplomas are well regarded. As with APs, top scores are expected on the SL tests or predicted HL tests. IB students also don't get a pass on the extracurricular, leadership, original research etc. , which can be an issue, given the time commitment.

My DC took 5 AP exams last year, with only 1 AP course offered at school and did very well, especially considering most of the AP exam formats had to be self-taught. That said, my child takes the toughest course load offered (with the dark circles to prove it!) so that probably does help.

Thanks 8:28. Is it the case that students at the top DC independent upper schools often take AP exams, and score well, without taking the AP courses? Do colleges value the schools that are offering richer course content, that is not exclusively focused on the exam, but at the same time appreciate the fact that the applicants from these schools are still able to submit the requisite number of AP scores?

My DC goes to one of the Big 3, and they do not rank, give GPA and have only a handful of AP classes available to take. But every year there are plenty of kids that get into the Ivy League. So PP experience doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of kids at DC privates. But luckily those Ivies know those facts about the schools and it doesn't count against the kids.

Question for the PP interviewer: how does your school view a student with an IB diploma vs one who has taken AP exams?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% nationally might be enough too make the DC cut off, you never know! Definitely sounds like your child will get Commended anyway

I think you have to be 99.5% and DC is aligned with the highest states so 99% may not do it.

I know for a fact that my child did not make the cutoff, but perhaps they might have if they had prepared for the PSAT. Our private school advised its students not to worry about preparation for the PSAT, but I now know that many students did prepare. Oh well, at least the actual SAT exam came out very well. I do worry about whether the NMSF status will make the difference when colleges try to decide between two applications from the same school, but one cannot change the past and DC, at least, has put this behind them.

I've been an Ivy alumni interviewer for a while. To be academically in the ballpark, my alma mater looks for 750+ SAT's; 6-8 of the serious (science, calculus, history, lit, foreign language) APs, with at least 3 scores of 5 on tests taken as a junior; and a top GPA for your school. Once you meet those benchmarks, the decision gets made on the basis of extracurricular achievement, original research, leadership, and demonstrated critical thinking. NMSF is nice, but not really a dealbreaker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% nationally might be enough too make the DC cut off, you never know! Definitely sounds like your child will get Commended anyway

I think you have to be 99.5% and DC is aligned with the highest states so 99% may not do it.

I know for a fact that my child did not make the cutoff, but perhaps they might have if they had prepared for the PSAT. Our private school advised its students not to worry about preparation for the PSAT, but I now know that many students did prepare. Oh well, at least the actual SAT exam came out very well. I do worry about whether the NMSF status will make the difference when colleges try to decide between two applications from the same school, but one cannot change the past and DC, at least, has put this behind them.

There are schools that count up and tout their NMSFs but the most selective schools aren't among them. This really should not matter -- remember that many of these college counselors have experience on the "other side of the table" as admissions officers so they aren't just making this up. It is worth prepping for the SAT because not all schools allow super scoring so you want to do your best out of the gate, but prepping for the NMSF isn't necessary unless you're looking at schools that recruit NMSFs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% nationally might be enough too make the DC cut off, you never know! Definitely sounds like your child will get Commended anyway

I think you have to be 99.5% and DC is aligned with the highest states so 99% may not do it.

I know for a fact that my child did not make the cutoff, but perhaps they might have if they had prepared for the PSAT. Our private school advised its students not to worry about preparation for the PSAT, but I now know that many students did prepare. Oh well, at least the actual SAT exam came out very well. I do worry about whether the NMSF status will make the difference when colleges try to decide between two applications from the same school, but one cannot change the past and DC, at least, has put this behind them.