Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp. Private makes the most sense for k-8 b/c it provides a good foundation, but public HS—particularly the magnet schools/programs—have a lot to offer.

LOL, DCUM has attacked me on several occasions for posting this very thing. Glad you agree.

No way would I send my kid to public in this area. There is not a single school I would feel safe sending them to. There have been all sorts of issues at these publics. Please stop saying there are not because we have many friends trying to apply out currently. It is a different set of problems.

A few good AP classes does mean it is the community I want for my kids. The classes are too big. Disruptive kids are allowed to remain in classes. Kids have been threatened by violence. Drug overdose at school during the day a few years ago at Jackson Reed. The ambulance had to come. Friends at Deal and Hardy said a kid pulled out a knife at school and other kid got jumped in the bathroom. Kids going to Safeway and stealing items during lunch. The list goes on and on. These are not made up stories. These are from friends who have kids in publics and they are desperately applying to try to get them into a private. We are helping two right now.

And yet there are kids at these schools doing extraordinarily well. A great student coming out of this environment is a far more interesting college admit.

OP here. Pls don't engage with the troll or clueless person who says that the public schools around here aren't safe or can't produce decent graduates. The last thing I want is for this post to turn into another
public vs. private debate. I've had kids in both (DCPS for a cumulative 25+ years between 3 kids) and private and there are strengths to both.
Let's keep this conversation about the private grade grade deflation in the current admissions environment. It's been a very interesting conversation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp. Private makes the most sense for k-8 b/c it provides a good foundation, but public HS—particularly the magnet schools/programs—have a lot to offer.

LOL, DCUM has attacked me on several occasions for posting this very thing. Glad you agree.

No way would I send my kid to public in this area. There is not a single school I would feel safe sending them to. There have been all sorts of issues at these publics. Please stop saying there are not because we have many friends trying to apply out currently. It is a different set of problems.

A few good AP classes does mean it is the community I want for my kids. The classes are too big. Disruptive kids are allowed to remain in classes. Kids have been threatened by violence. Drug overdose at school during the day a few years ago at Jackson Reed. The ambulance had to come. Friends at Deal and Hardy said a kid pulled out a knife at school and other kid got jumped in the bathroom. Kids going to Safeway and stealing items during lunch. The list goes on and on. These are not made up stories. These are from friends who have kids in publics and they are desperately applying to try to get them into a private. We are helping two right now.

And yet there are kids at these schools doing extraordinarily well. A great student coming out of this environment is a far more interesting college admit.

Agree. Jackson Reed seems to be doing great as usual with EDs.

1 at Harvard
1 at Cornell
1 and Columbia (football)
2 at Tulane
2 at Smith (girls crew)


https://instagram.com/jacksonreed2023?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp. Private makes the most sense for k-8 b/c it provides a good foundation, but public HS—particularly the magnet schools/programs—have a lot to offer.

LOL, DCUM has attacked me on several occasions for posting this very thing. Glad you agree.

No way would I send my kid to public in this area. There is not a single school I would feel safe sending them to. There have been all sorts of issues at these publics. Please stop saying there are not because we have many friends trying to apply out currently. It is a different set of problems.

A few good AP classes does mean it is the community I want for my kids. The classes are too big. Disruptive kids are allowed to remain in classes. Kids have been threatened by violence. Drug overdose at school during the day a few years ago at Jackson Reed. The ambulance had to come. Friends at Deal and Hardy said a kid pulled out a knife at school and other kid got jumped in the bathroom. Kids going to Safeway and stealing items during lunch. The list goes on and on. These are not made up stories. These are from friends who have kids in publics and they are desperately applying to try to get them into a private. We are helping two right now.

And yet there are kids at these schools doing extraordinarily well. A great student coming out of this environment is a far more interesting college admit.

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t read all of the responses but I found it interesting that the two schools my don was deferred at for EA were in-state schools. Neither one is known for a low admissions rate either. I guess his 3.3 just can’t measure up against the high and super high GPAs. Those schools were his safety schools so it’s not a big deal but just surprising.

3.3 is low, for public and private.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think people outside of NCS understand the standard that they hold the girls to.
Obviously there are very smart kids in public before anyone gets triggered, but NCS is a self selecting academic school. You certainly don’t go there for the sports (ex crew), so it draws an academically inclined student.
The grading is merciless and in the past this has not necessarily been a problem but 2 very significant changes have happened 1) Covid grade inflation at public school and 2) test optional. These are seismic shifts.
It is yet to be seen how much it matters because the RD round will sort that out. In ED NCS has very few athletic recruits (again ex crew) compared to Holton Arms for example who does well in a wider range of sports.
It’s too early to tell, but it is quite likely that the grade deflation has now become an issue.
I don’t think parents are expecting a “leg-up” I just think parents don’t want their daughters disadvantaged either. Let’s face it, a 3.4 or 3.5 does not compare very favorably these days.

There it is. It did take 12 pages this year, but there it is. An NCS parent actually saying out loud that their daughter is disadvantaged. Wow.

The low grading system at NCS and similar schools is hurting recruited athletes as well. For recruited athletes, the college coach is the gatekeeper, before you even get to the admissions office for a preread. As we learned with academically-inclined D1 and higher ranked D3 schools, coaches are first to assess if the athlete is admissible. And when they look at the GPA and think it is too low, they simply move on to a different athlete. As someone explained to us, a high SAT/ACT score and a low GPA is an indication to them that "the athlete is lazy". Try and explain that grading system to a coach! You can explain unweighted, sure, but not that you have to work very very hard to get that B+.

As to the AP test scores being an equalizer - even with that NCS is not helpful. In AP classes, the focus is on depth not on breadth. There are no drills of AP test questions, so it is harder for the girls to get 5s on those APs than for students in other schools.

I realize that As for everyone is not an answer either. But the current system is definitely hurting the girls in college admissions.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think people outside of NCS understand the standard that they hold the girls to.
Obviously there are very smart kids in public before anyone gets triggered, but NCS is a self selecting academic school. You certainly don’t go there for the sports (ex crew), so it draws an academically inclined student.
The grading is merciless and in the past this has not necessarily been a problem but 2 very significant changes have happened 1) Covid grade inflation at public school and 2) test optional. These are seismic shifts.
It is yet to be seen how much it matters because the RD round will sort that out. In ED NCS has very few athletic recruits (again ex crew) compared to Holton Arms for example who does well in a wider range of sports.
It’s too early to tell, but it is quite likely that the grade deflation has now become an issue.
I don’t think parents are expecting a “leg-up” I just think parents don’t want their daughters disadvantaged either. Let’s face it, a 3.4 or 3.5 does not compare very favorably these days.

Thank you for your thoughtful post.
I'm an NCS parent of a 10th grader. Do you think the school leadership is aware of what is going on this year? I don't feel like it's my place to get involved this year (and email leadership) but I also think that most parents have their heads in the sand
about this until it's their daughter's turn. Are the parents of current seniors and/or the college admissions folks bringing this to the HOS, etc? I recognize that we don't know how this will turn out in RD (and frankly I don't know exactly how ED is going but
by any report it not good at all). However, I'm worried that the school will just wait-it-out anther year and then another year and with each passing year it seems to get worse for kids.
So I guess my question is, is school leadership aware of what is happening so far this year with admissions?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp. Private makes the most sense for k-8 b/c it provides a good foundation, but public HS—particularly the magnet schools/programs—have a lot to offer.

LOL, DCUM has attacked me on several occasions for posting this very thing. Glad you agree.

No way would I send my kid to public in this area. There is not a single school I would feel safe sending them to. There have been all sorts of issues at these publics. Please stop saying there are not because we have many friends trying to apply out currently. It is a different set of problems.

A few good AP classes does mean it is the community I want for my kids. The classes are too big. Disruptive kids are allowed to remain in classes. Kids have been threatened by violence. Drug overdose at school during the day a few years ago at Jackson Reed. The ambulance had to come. Friends at Deal and Hardy said a kid pulled out a knife at school and other kid got jumped in the bathroom. Kids going to Safeway and stealing items during lunch. The list goes on and on. These are not made up stories. These are from friends who have kids in publics and they are desperately applying to try to get them into a private. We are helping two right now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp. Private makes the most sense for k-8 b/c it provides a good foundation, but public HS—particularly the magnet schools/programs—have a lot to offer.

LOL, DCUM has attacked me on several occasions for posting this very thing. Glad you agree.

No way would I send my kid to public in this area. There is not a single school I would feel safe sending them to. There have been all sorts of issues at these publics. Please stop saying there are not because we have many friends trying to apply out currently. It is a different set of problems.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with pp. Private makes the most sense for k-8 b/c it provides a good foundation, but public HS—particularly the magnet schools/programs—have a lot to offer.

LOL, DCUM has attacked me on several occasions for posting this very thing. Glad you agree.

I don’t think people outside of NCS understand the standard that they hold the girls to.
Obviously there are very smart kids in public before anyone gets triggered, but NCS is a self selecting academic school. You certainly don’t go there for the sports (ex crew), so it draws an academically inclined student.
The grading is merciless and in the past this has not necessarily been a problem but 2 very significant changes have happened 1) Covid grade inflation at public school and 2) test optional. These are seismic shifts.
It is yet to be seen how much it matters because the RD round will sort that out. In ED NCS has very few athletic recruits (again ex crew) compared to Holton Arms for example who does well in a wider range of sports.
It’s too early to tell, but it is quite likely that the grade deflation has now become an issue.
I don’t think parents are expecting a “leg-up” I just think parents don’t want their daughters disadvantaged either. Let’s face it, a 3.4 or 3.5 does not compare very favorably these days.

My kids at a small but rigorous high school. Counselors have found that not every college knows about the school. SAT and AP scores are a good way of letting college admissions staff know quality of a school.

There’s been a lot of turnover in college admissions staff. Many are using temps. I find it very arrogant of DC schools to think that all the college admissions staff “know” their no AP, no test educational quality.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we at a point where we need to seriously consider whether NCS deserves to be Big 3? Maybe it’s time for it to drop a few rungs and make way for the schools that are rising in prestige. Maybe replace it with Basis McLean?

Absolutely. You should get right on that. Please compile a ranking in prestige from 1-20 and present it to the forum so it can be fully debated and voted.

Mkay, how’s this:

1 Sidwell
2 BIM
3 STA
4 GDS
5 Holton
6 NCS
7 Maret
8 St Anselms
9 Georgetown Prep
10 Potomac School
11 Madeira
12 WIS
13 Landon
14 Episcopal
15 SAES
16 Stone Ridge
17 Bullis
18 Visi
19 Gonzaga
20 St John’s

What’s BIM?

I didn’t read all of the responses but I found it interesting that the two schools my don was deferred at for EA were in-state schools. Neither one is known for a low admissions rate either. I guess his 3.3 just can’t measure up against the high and super high GPAs. Those schools were his safety schools so it’s not a big deal but just surprising.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private parent in California. I know comparatively few kids even applying to the UCs any more from private school. It’s been a steep enough decline that apparently the UC admissions people are talking about it quietly as an issue. The reality is that UC does admissions based largely on straight-up GPA and they don’t have the resources to differentiate based on high school profile. Grade inflation is significantly rewarded. That cuts against the applicants from schools that have lower max GPAs.

They have and use resources to compare students against those from their own school.

I’m not sure where this persistent myth comes from, but it is simply not true. Also, it defies common sense. Of course admissions officers compare kids against kids from other high schools. It’s absurd to think they don’t.

And in particular it matters for schools that use incoming GPA to compete in the rankings.

Not sure why people don’t get this point. Colleges tout their average gpa, even if they don’t care about rankings (and they do). They don’t get an asterisk on the average gpa because they admitted a lot of kids from schools with grade deflation.