Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe the NYC privates and boarding schools have pull with admissions but the DC privates have very little with the top universities.

For our Big3 school the "line in the sand" for Duke is about a 3.9. I know several kids with a 3.8, legacy parents who were TOP donors at the high school who did not get into Duke over the past 2 years.
It's not something the high school can push through.

There are different lines in the sand because top universities recalculate GPA. This means a 3.9 isn’t really a 3.9 if there is not advanced classes. This is becoming a huge issue for top students who took hard classes and didn’t realize they were better situated and for those with 4.0 who really were not looked at favorable to colleges as they didn’t have enough advanced classes. It may be better to have to pay for private counselor to understand all this stuff. It is complicated.

At my kids' school most of the top kids have taken difficult classes. Maybe not to a person but there is a strong correlation between top GPAs and top classes.
These schools (the Big3) are almost 3 schools in one: the superstars, the hard worker/strong students who aren't superstars and the laggers/slackers.
The superstars who have GPAs above 3.85 or so (many above 3.9) generally take hard classes. The same thing that motivates a kid to do well all the hard general classes motivates them to take challenging electives.
Again, not to a person but in general.

I've seen all the admissions data for our school and the acceptances really mirror GPA and unfortunately, most of the top 20 universities don't take kids below a 3.80 or even 3.9 (and some of us didn't even know there was a cohort of kids at our school that had grades that high...lol). But they exist and they do well with admissions. Legacy will get a dip down maybe 0.1 or 0.2 from the non-legacy kids. But it's nothing like Duke taking a 3.5 instead of a 3.9.

Many above a 3.9? Aren’t you the same crowd whining about grade deflation in private schools? Looks pretty inflated to me.

Above 3.9 translates roughly into top 10 percent kids at Big 3 Privates.

yes, it depends on the school and the year. Top 10% is usually above a 3.9. Sometimes as low as a 3.85, sometimes as high as a 3.95. Grades have a been a bit inflated for seniors over the past 3 years due to the Covid (remote) grading. The first class back to all routine grading is the class of 2025 (current juniors).

Oh there you are again the crazy Big 3 mom obsessing over other kid’s grades. The schools don’t share this info… you are just cobbling it together. Just stop.

no--they have the top 20% society and every year it's easy to figure out what the GPA cut-off is if you have a senior and your kids knows seniors, etc. Last year it was about 3.91.

Nice kid you have there, worrying about everyone else's grades ... and then she reports them to you? Yuck.

for the love of Pete, my kid was a sophomore last year and knew the cut-off. It was told to her aby about 10 different kids.
it was told to me by about 5 different moms on the sports sidelines, etc.
I'm sorry you and your kid don't have friends.

We have nice friends who don't talk about grades. Obsession with other's grades is a bit SAD. And, you have no idea if the rumor mill is true or false. You lap it up like a puppy. What a waste of time.

ok, so we have two parents.

1) Parent #1 knows the GPA that constitutes the top 10% of their child's graduating class of 75 kids. This top 10% designation is publicly celebrated by the school and the names are listed on the school's website.

2) Parent #2 goes on DCUM and makes fun of a parent #1 (who they don't know) for knowing this information. Repeatedly posts insults about this parent.


Now you tell me who is sad.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they rank students by school. The college counselors at my daughter’s school are very frank about it so the kids know what they are up against and have all available information, especially when applying ED - for instance: if you apply to x you will be 7/10 from our school based on the way x ranks.

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Anonymous wrote:I am confused as to why this is more of an issue at private schools. At public schools, dozens of kids apply to the same competitive schools and the chips fall where they may. There isn’t the same level of ownership over the process. Everyone knows they have zero control and they have a “might as well try” attitude.

It’s an issue at some privates because families are paying and many expect a return on their investment. That’s not the case at public school. In addition, private families appear to prefer top private colleges and they all have low acceptance rates.

And those selective private universities tend to prefer high performing kids from good public schools. Compare the college lists from the W schools to the privates.

If elite college acceptances are the goal, it's a very poor return on investment

Huh? The private schools still have better matriculation on a per capita basis. Rich or upper middle class kids are not an institutional priority at any school, public or private, unless they are donors or legacy. Smart kids from poor rural or urban districts are in demand.

And there are more and more qualified public school kids than ever. They outnumber kids in private schools by a wide margin.

There will always be the NYC private schools and New England prep schools who send an impressive amount of students to Ivy leagues. There’s also the science public schools around the country who only take top students who are sending an impressive amount to MIT and other top schools.

All things considered with GPAs, tests etc being equal, mediocre private schools probably have the least desirable student.

If you say so, you obviously have a huge chip on your shoulder. All I know is that the private schools I send my kids to have far better matriculation than our local public schools.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know. :cry:

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Totally pathetic to blame one kid. It is much more likely that your kid and the other kids were just lacking. Or your school is.

go away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the NYC privates and boarding schools have pull with admissions but the DC privates have very little with the top universities.

For our Big3 school the "line in the sand" for Duke is about a 3.9. I know several kids with a 3.8, legacy parents who were TOP donors at the high school who did not get into Duke over the past 2 years.
It's not something the high school can push through.

There are different lines in the sand because top universities recalculate GPA. This means a 3.9 isn’t really a 3.9 if there is not advanced classes. This is becoming a huge issue for top students who took hard classes and didn’t realize they were better situated and for those with 4.0 who really were not looked at favorable to colleges as they didn’t have enough advanced classes. It may be better to have to pay for private counselor to understand all this stuff. It is complicated.

At my kids' school most of the top kids have taken difficult classes. Maybe not to a person but there is a strong correlation between top GPAs and top classes.
These schools (the Big3) are almost 3 schools in one: the superstars, the hard worker/strong students who aren't superstars and the laggers/slackers.
The superstars who have GPAs above 3.85 or so (many above 3.9) generally take hard classes. The same thing that motivates a kid to do well all the hard general classes motivates them to take challenging electives.
Again, not to a person but in general.

I've seen all the admissions data for our school and the acceptances really mirror GPA and unfortunately, most of the top 20 universities don't take kids below a 3.80 or even 3.9 (and some of us didn't even know there was a cohort of kids at our school that had grades that high...lol). But they exist and they do well with admissions. Legacy will get a dip down maybe 0.1 or 0.2 from the non-legacy kids. But it's nothing like Duke taking a 3.5 instead of a 3.9.

Many above a 3.9? Aren’t you the same crowd whining about grade deflation in private schools? Looks pretty inflated to me.

Above 3.9 translates roughly into top 10 percent kids at Big 3 Privates.

yes, it depends on the school and the year. Top 10% is usually above a 3.9. Sometimes as low as a 3.85, sometimes as high as a 3.95. Grades have a been a bit inflated for seniors over the past 3 years due to the Covid (remote) grading. The first class back to all routine grading is the class of 2025 (current juniors).

Oh there you are again the crazy Big 3 mom obsessing over other kid’s grades. The schools don’t share this info… you are just cobbling it together. Just stop.

no--they have the top 20% society and every year it's easy to figure out what the GPA cut-off is if you have a senior and your kids knows seniors, etc. Last year it was about 3.91.

Nice kid you have there, worrying about everyone else's grades ... and then she reports them to you? Yuck.

for the love of Pete, my kid was a sophomore last year and knew the cut-off. It was told to her aby about 10 different kids.
it was told to me by about 5 different moms on the sports sidelines, etc.
I'm sorry you and your kid don't have friends.

We have nice friends who don't talk about grades. Obsession with other's grades is a bit SAD. And, you have no idea if the rumor mill is true or false. You lap it up like a puppy. What a waste of time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the NYC privates and boarding schools have pull with admissions but the DC privates have very little with the top universities.

For our Big3 school the "line in the sand" for Duke is about a 3.9. I know several kids with a 3.8, legacy parents who were TOP donors at the high school who did not get into Duke over the past 2 years.
It's not something the high school can push through.

There are different lines in the sand because top universities recalculate GPA. This means a 3.9 isn’t really a 3.9 if there is not advanced classes. This is becoming a huge issue for top students who took hard classes and didn’t realize they were better situated and for those with 4.0 who really were not looked at favorable to colleges as they didn’t have enough advanced classes. It may be better to have to pay for private counselor to understand all this stuff. It is complicated.

At my kids' school most of the top kids have taken difficult classes. Maybe not to a person but there is a strong correlation between top GPAs and top classes.
These schools (the Big3) are almost 3 schools in one: the superstars, the hard worker/strong students who aren't superstars and the laggers/slackers.
The superstars who have GPAs above 3.85 or so (many above 3.9) generally take hard classes. The same thing that motivates a kid to do well all the hard general classes motivates them to take challenging electives.
Again, not to a person but in general.

I've seen all the admissions data for our school and the acceptances really mirror GPA and unfortunately, most of the top 20 universities don't take kids below a 3.80 or even 3.9 (and some of us didn't even know there was a cohort of kids at our school that had grades that high...lol). But they exist and they do well with admissions. Legacy will get a dip down maybe 0.1 or 0.2 from the non-legacy kids. But it's nothing like Duke taking a 3.5 instead of a 3.9.

Many above a 3.9? Aren’t you the same crowd whining about grade deflation in private schools? Looks pretty inflated to me.

Above 3.9 translates roughly into top 10 percent kids at Big 3 Privates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know.

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the NYC privates and boarding schools have pull with admissions but the DC privates have very little with the top universities.

For our Big3 school the "line in the sand" for Duke is about a 3.9. I know several kids with a 3.8, legacy parents who were TOP donors at the high school who did not get into Duke over the past 2 years.
It's not something the high school can push through.

There are different lines in the sand because top universities recalculate GPA. This means a 3.9 isn’t really a 3.9 if there is not advanced classes. This is becoming a huge issue for top students who took hard classes and didn’t realize they were better situated and for those with 4.0 who really were not looked at favorable to colleges as they didn’t have enough advanced classes. It may be better to have to pay for private counselor to understand all this stuff. It is complicated.

At my kids' school most of the top kids have taken difficult classes. Maybe not to a person but there is a strong correlation between top GPAs and top classes.
These schools (the Big3) are almost 3 schools in one: the superstars, the hard worker/strong students who aren't superstars and the laggers/slackers.
The superstars who have GPAs above 3.85 or so (many above 3.9) generally take hard classes. The same thing that motivates a kid to do well all the hard general classes motivates them to take challenging electives.
Again, not to a person but in general.

I've seen all the admissions data for our school and the acceptances really mirror GPA and unfortunately, most of the top 20 universities don't take kids below a 3.80 or even 3.9 (and some of us didn't even know there was a cohort of kids at our school that had grades that high...lol). But they exist and they do well with admissions. Legacy will get a dip down maybe 0.1 or 0.2 from the non-legacy kids. But it's nothing like Duke taking a 3.5 instead of a 3.9.

Many above a 3.9? Aren’t you the same crowd whining about grade deflation in private schools? Looks pretty inflated to me.

Above 3.9 translates roughly into top 10 percent kids at Big 3 Privates.

yes, it depends on the school and the year. Top 10% is usually above a 3.9. Sometimes as low as a 3.85, sometimes as high as a 3.95. Grades have a been a bit inflated for seniors over the past 3 years due to the Covid (remote) grading. The first class back to all routine grading is the class of 2025 (current juniors).

Oh there you are again the crazy Big 3 mom obsessing over other kid’s grades. The schools don’t share this info… you are just cobbling it together. Just stop.

no--they have the top 20% society and every year it's easy to figure out what the GPA cut-off is if you have a senior and your kids knows seniors, etc. Last year it was about 3.91.

Nice kid you have there, worrying about everyone else's grades ... and then she reports them to you? Yuck.

for the love of Pete, my kid was a sophomore last year and knew the cut-off. It was told to her aby about 10 different kids.
it was told to me by about 5 different moms on the sports sidelines, etc.
I'm sorry you and your kid don't have friends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know. :cry:

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Totally pathetic to blame one kid. It is much more likely that your kid and the other kids were just lacking. Or your school is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know. :cry:

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know.

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This illustrates the insanity of the system we operate in! Everyone at my DCs schools is prayting for the top kids to ED successfully! It will be a nightmare if they don't!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know.

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know.

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know.

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.