The 4th grade has 45 students - 3 homerooms - 15 in each class. Phenomenal teachers. My dd went to Beauvoir and we loved it. But, I have been BLOWN AWAY by the teachers and curriculum of the NCS 4th grade teachers. With all due respect to Beauvoir, NCS raised the bar on every level... if your daughter has a problem with her homework, the teacher will meet her at 7:30 am which says a lot about the teacher that all the girls LOVE math, all of the girls have planners which they work with their teachers to plan their time management.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you thought that the reason could be that they are making up for lower enrollment numbers in the lower grades?

It is not that it will "hamper the ability to admit as many in the lower grades".

But they don't have lower enrollment numbers in the lower grades. There are still plenty of people I know whose daughters are on waitlists for 6th and 7th.

I think they may have had fewer apply from Beauvoir, and most other potential applicants do not leave their school at 3rd grade. How many are in the 4th grade for next year?

The fourth grade is smallish but not terribly small. 2 homerooms of 14 and 15 I think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't inflate grades or weight courses. Had a public school friend and her mother make a comment about my DD's GPA. Short story, she had a 4.3 weighted and had to scramble to find a school after applying to a school that my DD will attend in the fall. Admissions officers are well aware of the reputation of NCS.

Boy I hope this is true. My child goes to a school like NCS and some of the teachers (especially in English and history) will not give any grades above a B or B+ almost as a matter of principle.

There are kids getting As from even the toughest graders. Just not everyone, and apparently not your child. A B/B+ grade at a rigorous school is nothing to be ashamed of, and it doesn't help your kids to just act as if nobody gets As and the system is rigged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you thought that the reason could be that they are making up for lower enrollment numbers in the lower grades?

It is not that it will "hamper the ability to admit as many in the lower grades".

But they don't have lower enrollment numbers in the lower grades. There are still plenty of people I know whose daughters are on waitlists for 6th and 7th.

I think they may have had fewer apply from Beauvoir, and most other potential applicants do not leave their school at 3rd grade. How many are in the 4th grade for next year?

Anonymous wrote:a 4.3 weighted gpa is probably only a 3.3. Weighted gpa's are really only used for in state public universities. Almost all other schools either recalculate (the UC system) or use umweighted. That mother was ignorant.

+1. That mother should have told you the unweighted GPA, which every public school in the area calculates and provides to students and colleges along with the weighted GPA.

Anonymous wrote:They don't inflate grades or weight courses. Had a public school friend and her mother make a comment about my DD's GPA. Short story, she had a 4.3 weighted and had to scramble to find a school after applying to a school that my DD will attend in the fall. Admissions officers are well aware of the reputation of NCS.

Boy I hope this is true. My child goes to a school like NCS and some of the teachers (especially in English and history) will not give any grades above a B or B+ almost as a matter of principle.

The NCS class of 2013 was larger than usual and was very problematic.

a 4.3 weighted gpa is probably only a 3.3. Weighted gpa's are really only used for in state public universities. Almost all other schools either recalculate (the UC system) or use umweighted. That mother was ignorant.

They don't inflate grades or weight courses. Had a public school friend and her mother make a comment about my DD's GPA. Short story, she had a 4.3 weighted and had to scramble to find a school after applying to a school that my DD will attend in the fall. Admissions officers are well aware of the reputation of NCS.

As a parent of a daughter who preferred another school over NCS, it's obnoxious to try to put it down. Most girls applying to NCS won't get in and most girls who go to NCS end up at top notch colleges. There is no comparison between NCS and old fashioned finishing schools. Since the world of smart high achievement girls is not made up only of those who want to go to HYP, the number of HYP exmissions is irrelevant to the quality of education at NCS. Most importantly, the school offer a top notch curriculum, many great teachers, and lots of leadership opportunities for girls/young women.

NCS is sending 20 of 78 girls to ivies next year, 1 to Stanford, 4 to Amherst, 2 to Northwestern, 5 to U Chicago and 5 to UVA.... that is about half the class to these very, very top schools (not just top schools like the other NESCAC schools, UMichigan, Notre Dame, UCLA etc.). I am certain that some of these kids have GPAs around 3.2 and are in at the very best schools.

I know 1 girl who is going to UVA with that kind of gpa-3.2
The rest have much higher gpas and this UC girls certainly have higher gpas.

Not HYP but students who were in that range got into U Chicago and UVA this year... which are both tremendous schools.

Anonymous wrote:DD just graduated. Foolish to turn down spot at NCS. Worth every dollar we spend. Poised, confident and as Rob Cary said at gradation there's no grade inflation. NCS is a serious place where grades are earned. My daughter had a 3.2 and was accepted into a great school. Her friends from other schools had much higher, weighted GPA's and didn't do as well.

a 'great' school? H-Y-P????

DD just graduated. Foolish to turn down spot at NCS. Worth every dollar we spend. Poised, confident and as Rob Cary said at gradation there's no grade inflation. NCS is a serious place where grades are earned. My daughter had a 3.2 and was accepted into a great school. Her friends from other schools had much higher, weighted GPA's and didn't do as well.