Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:57
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.
My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.
The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.
All “privates” =/=
So it would appear that you are joining us from NYC or somewhere else that has super elite privates where a 3.7 can get into "Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU." That really isn't applicable to the DMV. I had 2 kids at TWO different top DMV independent schools and neither one had a single kid get admitted to any Ivy with anything under a 3.8 last year. And the 3.8 kids cohort was like 1 or 2 kids max.
I'm glad that your super private (I'm not being sarcastic) can get these kids in but it's simply not the case around here.
PP here. It’s Sidwell. It’s not for me to christen Sidwell “super elite” but I am confident— because I lived it — that a 3.8 from this school doesn’t relegate the applicant to scraps or whatever PP said. It’s not just my kid, it’s all their friend group. And they all share GPAs (because you only get an official GPA that one time, and everyone talks).
This is so interesting. A 3.8 from NCS is borderline for top20 schools. A 3.7 is a definite no. You really need a 3.9 at NCS to do well and there are about 15 girls each year who have this GPA. It sounds like Sidwell is further grade deflated and/or more respected in the college admissions game or maybe does better simply because they have boys too.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:42
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.
My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.
The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.
All “privates” =/=
Not following - why would lower gpa students get into ivies and ivy plus schools.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:37
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.
My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.
The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.
All “privates” =/=
So it would appear that you are joining us from NYC or somewhere else that has super elite privates where a 3.7 can get into "Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU." That really isn't applicable to the DMV. I had 2 kids at TWO different top DMV independent schools and neither one had a single kid get admitted to any Ivy with anything under a 3.8 last year. And the 3.8 kids cohort was like 1 or 2 kids max.
I'm glad that your super private (I'm not being sarcastic) can get these kids in but it's simply not the case around here.
PP here. It’s Sidwell. It’s not for me to christen Sidwell “super elite” but I am confident— because I lived it — that a 3.8 from this school doesn’t relegate the applicant to scraps or whatever PP said. It’s not just my kid, it’s all their friend group. And they all share GPAs (because you only get an official GPA that one time, and everyone talks).
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:33
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school is always going to give top recs to the top kids. They need Ivy admits and that's their best shot to get them. they're not looking out for your kid, they're looking out for their cohort.
You are making big stretches regarding assumptions for recommendations. That 3.8 might be a bit weaker in one area and the letter writing teacher has no real insight to that, especially when the student has been the most committed to his/her subject of any kid in the last 10 years. This thread is sounding like the 'test score' threads where parents with the top stats are desperate to believe that their kids always have the advantages but it's just not so. I have one of those 3.95 kids and they did well. There were also 3.8 kids with equal results. I wouldn't die on the hill that is was DDs extra bit of GPA that was a differentiator because I don't believe that it was.
This is my second time going through the process post covid and I strongly disagree. And that’s fine.
Third time going through this and I strongly disagree as well. GPA is everything at our Big3 private. Once you are below a 3.9 you are crossing your fingers for the scraps and for someone, anyone from the top20 who will find your file interesting. If you are above 3.9 you can be a lump on a log in high school and will do well.
Disagree. Which school- STA, NCS, Sidwell or GDS?
All but a few graduates at two of these schools will have lower than a 3.9. And yet a lot those kids land very well (mine is one) even when unhooked.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:25
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school is always going to give top recs to the top kids. They need Ivy admits and that's their best shot to get them. they're not looking out for your kid, they're looking out for their cohort.
You are making big stretches regarding assumptions for recommendations. That 3.8 might be a bit weaker in one area and the letter writing teacher has no real insight to that, especially when the student has been the most committed to his/her subject of any kid in the last 10 years. This thread is sounding like the 'test score' threads where parents with the top stats are desperate to believe that their kids always have the advantages but it's just not so. I have one of those 3.95 kids and they did well. There were also 3.8 kids with equal results. I wouldn't die on the hill that is was DDs extra bit of GPA that was a differentiator because I don't believe that it was.
This is my second time going through the process post covid and I strongly disagree. And that’s fine.
Third time going through this and I strongly disagree as well. GPA is everything at our Big3 private. Once you are below a 3.9 you are crossing your fingers for the scraps and for someone, anyone from the top20 who will find your file interesting. If you are above 3.9 you can be a lump on a log in high school and will do well.
Maybe it's different on the West Coast. If the 3.8 has higher rigor they would have a real advantage coming from our Private. We often see kids like the 3.95 kid at our school and they end up at a UC, not an elite Private.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:17
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.
My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.
The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.
All “privates” =/=
So it would appear that you are joining us from NYC or somewhere else that has super elite privates where a 3.7 can get into "Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU." That really isn't applicable to the DMV. I had 2 kids at TWO different top DMV independent schools and neither one had a single kid get admitted to any Ivy with anything under a 3.8 last year. And the 3.8 kids cohort was like 1 or 2 kids max.
I'm glad that your super private (I'm not being sarcastic) can get these kids in but it's simply not the case around here.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:14
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school is always going to give top recs to the top kids. They need Ivy admits and that's their best shot to get them. they're not looking out for your kid, they're looking out for their cohort.
You are making big stretches regarding assumptions for recommendations. That 3.8 might be a bit weaker in one area and the letter writing teacher has no real insight to that, especially when the student has been the most committed to his/her subject of any kid in the last 10 years. This thread is sounding like the 'test score' threads where parents with the top stats are desperate to believe that their kids always have the advantages but it's just not so. I have one of those 3.95 kids and they did well. There were also 3.8 kids with equal results. I wouldn't die on the hill that is was DDs extra bit of GPA that was a differentiator because I don't believe that it was.
This is my second time going through the process post covid and I strongly disagree. And that’s fine.
Third time going through this and I strongly disagree as well. GPA is everything at our Big3 private. Once you are below a 3.9 you are crossing your fingers for the scraps and for someone, anyone from the top20 who will find your file interesting. If you are above 3.9 you can be a lump on a log in high school and will do well.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:03
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school is always going to give top recs to the top kids. They need Ivy admits and that's their best shot to get them. they're not looking out for your kid, they're looking out for their cohort.
You are making big stretches regarding assumptions for recommendations. That 3.8 might be a bit weaker in one area and the letter writing teacher has no real insight to that, especially when the student has been the most committed to his/her subject of any kid in the last 10 years. This thread is sounding like the 'test score' threads where parents with the top stats are desperate to believe that their kids always have the advantages but it's just not so. I have one of those 3.95 kids and they did well. There were also 3.8 kids with equal results. I wouldn't die on the hill that is was DDs extra bit of GPA that was a differentiator because I don't believe that it was.
This is my second time going through the process post covid and I strongly disagree. And that’s fine.
NP: I am a parent whose niche-y interest 3.8uw kid (weaker grades in math/ very pointy humanities kid) did much better than the higher GPA/stats older sibling. Both got into great T20 schools.
But 3.8uw had many strong T10/T20 and Ivy options and several more WLs. High stat sibling did not - only had one T20 and many WLs.
3.8uw may have gotten the strongest LOR from one of the humanities teachers that year, with whom DC was close through a variety of classes and ECs.
Both are doing well in college. 3.8uw is at the higher-ranked school.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 17:00
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.
My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.
The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.
All “privates” =/=
My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.
The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.
All “privates” =/=
Anonymous
01/27/2026 16:16
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The school is always going to give top recs to the top kids. They need Ivy admits and that's their best shot to get them. they're not looking out for your kid, they're looking out for their cohort.
You are making big stretches regarding assumptions for recommendations. That 3.8 might be a bit weaker in one area and the letter writing teacher has no real insight to that, especially when the student has been the most committed to his/her subject of any kid in the last 10 years. This thread is sounding like the 'test score' threads where parents with the top stats are desperate to believe that their kids always have the advantages but it's just not so. I have one of those 3.95 kids and they did well. There were also 3.8 kids with equal results. I wouldn't die on the hill that is was DDs extra bit of GPA that was a differentiator because I don't believe that it was.
This is my second time going through the process post covid and I strongly disagree. And that’s fine.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 16:14
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:The school is always going to give top recs to the top kids. They need Ivy admits and that's their best shot to get them. they're not looking out for your kid, they're looking out for their cohort.
You are making big stretches regarding assumptions for recommendations. That 3.8 might be a bit weaker in one area and the letter writing teacher has no real insight to that, especially when the student has been the most committed to his/her subject of any kid in the last 10 years. This thread is sounding like the 'test score' threads where parents with the top stats are desperate to believe that their kids always have the advantages but it's just not so. I have one of those 3.95 kids and they did well. There were also 3.8 kids with equal results. I wouldn't die on the hill that is was DDs extra bit of GPA that was a differentiator because I don't believe that it was.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 15:24
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
People have to be more realistic about their lists. Don’t just apply to the top 19 + Pitt (especially if you don’t even like Pitt, haven’t visited Pitt etc).
Nothing wrong with Pitt, but it’s become everyone’s safety - regardless of whether they like it (great school, but urban and a lot of hills).
Nothing wrong with Pitt, but it’s become everyone’s safety - regardless of whether they like it (great school, but urban and a lot of hills).
Anonymous
01/27/2026 15:12
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Does some of this depend on the LOR from the college counselor at the private school? Can’t they sort of indicate, consciously or not, who the better student is?
Yeah, and the 3.9 kid is going to get those recs. The teacher isn't going to say "this kid got all As in English classes but they're really pretty mediocre whereas this A minus student is best of my career." Doesn't work like that.
Unless there was some sort of hardship that the A minus kid had. And aren’t some schools actually looking for the kids who are slightly less than perfect (it’s good to experience some failure in life so they don’t fall apart when they see a C on an exam or paper)?
Sure, maybe if a parent died or if it's a refugee kid or something like that. But there isn't much hardship that is kosher. you don't want mention learning differences. You certainly don't want to mention mental illness.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 15:11
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Does some of this depend on the LOR from the college counselor at the private school? Can’t they sort of indicate, consciously or not, who the better student is?
Yeah, and the 3.9 kid is going to get those recs. The teacher isn't going to say "this kid got all As in English classes but they're really pretty mediocre whereas this A minus student is best of my career." Doesn't work like that.
Unless there was some sort of hardship that the A minus kid had. And aren’t some schools actually looking for the kids who are slightly less than perfect (it’s good to experience some failure in life so they don’t fall apart when they see a C on an exam or paper)?
That's what we seem to hear. Wonder how much truth there is to that.
Anonymous
01/27/2026 15:11
Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Does some of this depend on the LOR from the college counselor at the private school? Can’t they sort of indicate, consciously or not, who the better student is?
Yeah, and the 3.9 kid is going to get those recs. The teacher isn't going to say "this kid got all As in English classes but they're really pretty mediocre whereas this A minus student is best of my career." Doesn't work like that.
Unless there was some sort of hardship that the A minus kid had. And aren’t some schools actually looking for the kids who are slightly less than perfect (it’s good to experience some failure in life so they don’t fall apart when they see a C on an exam or paper)?
No there are not schools looking for less than perfect kids. At least in top schools.