Anonymous wrote:It's difficult to draw conclusions from prior admissions data because it doesn't account for URMs, athletes, big donors, and kids whose essays made them stand out.

Sidwell’s not a huge school. It’s fairly easy to match SCOIR data to students if you’ve been at the school a few years. Most students can figure out which URMs and recruited athletes (and legacies to a certain extent) land at which colleges. Big donors and effective essays are not easy to discern. That’s true at any school—public or private.

It's difficult to draw conclusions from prior admissions data because it doesn't account for URMs, athletes, big donors, and kids whose essays made them stand out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree, our DDs from Sidwell had GPAs of 3.7-3.8 and got into HYPS, almost no one has a 4.0. There is no weighting in the GPAs themselves. But clearly the admissions people at the top universities know exactly which courses are the most challenging track and even which teachers are super tough graders and take that into account, with input from the Sidwell college counselors.

This is still true nowadays at sidwell?

Yes, still true based on recent SCOIR data (as recent as the c/o 2024).

Although it’s been said many times on this thread, it bears repeating. Very few students graduate from Sidwell with a 4.0 (0-2/year).
Any student graduating from Sidwell with a cumulative >3.80 GPA is doing VERY well. If they test well and have strong letters of recommendations, every university is in play.

Anonymous wrote:Agree, our DDs from Sidwell had GPAs of 3.7-3.8 and got into HYPS, almost no one has a 4.0. There is no weighting in the GPAs themselves. But clearly the admissions people at the top universities know exactly which courses are the most challenging track and even which teachers are super tough graders and take that into account, with input from the Sidwell college counselors.

This is still true nowadays at sidwell?

I wasn't talking about Ivies, I was responding to a post about kids with B- averages from Sidwell getting into "excellent small schools."

My daughter is on significant FA, so this is not a factor. The ivies are generally need blind.