Anonymous wrote:GPA 4.0, SAT > 1580, Pointy ECs. Still a lottery to get in HYPMS.

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of high school applications and considering STA. We don't have any Ivy legacy and our son has no hooks. However, he has aspirations of attending a top college like his cousins. I know that STA is very competitive, but what GPA makes an applicant competitive for Ivy League admissions out of STA? Does any STA parent have any experience with this and could point me in the right direction?

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Anonymous wrote:The honest truth is that there's no cut-off that automatically secures HYP admissions coming out of any school on the planet.

We know that there are very few spots for unhooked kids at these schools, and even fewer for wealthy unhooked kids coming out of premiere private day/boarding schools, because there are many *hooked* kids coming out of those schools and HYP don't want to fill their entire class from a handful of high schools.

Agreed. These spots will go to diverse, high performing students who attend public. As they should. It’s going to be very, very difficult for your child to stand out in Ivy admissions. College counseling offices know this and will likely work with your son on finding schools that are a good fit and more realistic options.

Percentage wise STA sends a much higher percentage of students to Ivies than any public school in the DMV by double digits.

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Anonymous wrote:The honest truth is that there's no cut-off that automatically secures HYP admissions coming out of any school on the planet.

We know that there are very few spots for unhooked kids at these schools, and even fewer for wealthy unhooked kids coming out of premiere private day/boarding schools, because there are many *hooked* kids coming out of those schools and HYP don't want to fill their entire class from a handful of high schools.

Agreed. These spots will go to diverse, high performing students who attend public. As they should. It’s going to be very, very difficult for your child to stand out in Ivy admissions. College counseling offices know this and will likely work with your son on finding schools that are a good fit and more realistic options.

Anonymous wrote:The honest truth is that there's no cut-off that automatically secures HYP admissions coming out of any school on the planet.

We know that there are very few spots for unhooked kids at these schools, and even fewer for wealthy unhooked kids coming out of premiere private day/boarding schools, because there are many *hooked* kids coming out of those schools and HYP don't want to fill their entire class from a handful of high schools.

Anonymous wrote:I actually have one son that went to STA and another that is in his senior year at St. John's.

The STA kid worked his tail off, but was outmatched by some of his peers and ended up in the top 40% of his class. He ended up at Tulane.

My St. John's kid doesn't work as hard but has a 3.95 UW GPA with all honors/APs. Naviance says he's competitive for all the T20s out of SJC. The SJC kid is also happier and not nearly as stressed or burnt out as the STA kid.

If your goal is just college admissions, then keep in mind that class rank matters a lot if you're unhooked. Going to the school where your kid can get to the top of the class matters more than school's brand prestige.

Anonymous wrote:It's not just your GPA. It's how much money have your parents and/or grandparents donated and are they alums.

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At admissions time, STA has recently started giving parents a spreadsheet of all the previous STA applicants who applied, their GPA/SAT and results. This is not a Naviance but something STA keeps internally. And from looking at those numbers, I’d say the answer to your question is “unknowable”

There is no GPA where HYP admission is guaranteed. On the 100 scale that STA uses (95 being an A+), there are kids over 95 who are rejected from top schools, and there are kids under 90 who are admitted. Last year’s top student went to Harvard, so you have to assume somewhere in the high 90s, but the year before I think the top student went to Williams. It just depends on who is applying where and what the rest of their application looks like.

If I were to guess, you would need a 95+ to be a serious contender at all the top schools unhooked, but even that wouldn’t be a sure thing.

I'd agree with other posters though--the school that fits your kid best is better than the one you 'think' might fit the admissions game in college.

STA does not give out this spreadsheet. Why are you making things up?

DP-admissions has this information in their office. It’s absolutely available.

It's available in their "book" but it's not given by the year or as any sort of spreadsheet. That's such a weird thing to make up.

The book they have is a spreadsheet of all the schools that lists every kid who applied there. It has all the kids over the last three years, anonymous, with their GPA, test scores, admissions round (early, regular, etc) and whether they go in or not. It is absolutely available to STA parents and sits on the coffee table in the college counsellors office for any parent to review. They can't take it home but they are allowed to look at it. It's not made up. If you are an STA parent, go to the college admissions office and ask to see it.

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At admissions time, STA has recently started giving parents a spreadsheet of all the previous STA applicants who applied, their GPA/SAT and results. This is not a Naviance but something STA keeps internally. And from looking at those numbers, I’d say the answer to your question is “unknowable”

There is no GPA where HYP admission is guaranteed. On the 100 scale that STA uses (95 being an A+), there are kids over 95 who are rejected from top schools, and there are kids under 90 who are admitted. Last year’s top student went to Harvard, so you have to assume somewhere in the high 90s, but the year before I think the top student went to Williams. It just depends on who is applying where and what the rest of their application looks like.

If I were to guess, you would need a 95+ to be a serious contender at all the top schools unhooked, but even that wouldn’t be a sure thing.

I'd agree with other posters though--the school that fits your kid best is better than the one you 'think' might fit the admissions game in college.

STA does not give out this spreadsheet. Why are you making things up?

DP-admissions has this information in their office. It’s absolutely available.

It's available in their "book" but it's not given by the year or as any sort of spreadsheet. That's such a weird thing to make up.

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Anonymous wrote:The honest truth is that there's no cut-off that automatically secures HYP admissions coming out of any school on the planet.

We know that there are very few spots for unhooked kids at these schools, and even fewer for wealthy unhooked kids coming out of premiere private day/boarding schools, because there are many *hooked* kids coming out of those schools and HYP don't want to fill their entire class from a handful of high schools.

This is correct. An unhooked kid getting in would need near perfect everything and be an every 3-5 years thing. There are just too many hooked kids, feeder school kids, deserving URM candidates and recruited athletes. That pretty much fills a class. But I’m a cynical mom of a senior who’s in the weeds right now.