Anonymous
Post 01/28/2026 12:09     Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
You lost me at "elite"....
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2026 09:14     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” =/=


I assume at your very "special" private, some kids are legacies. Op's hypothetical was about two unhooked kids.

Also, "easily nabbed?" Please, for all you know, your kid barely made it through the Committee, or wouldn't have made it without the more favorable acceptance rate of ED.

If you find this post obnoxious, you now know how the rest of the world view you.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2026 07:56     Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
Anonymous wrote:At elite private high schools, does a strong student with 3.95+ unweighted GPA cum laude top of the class with some extracurricular school impact or a student with 3.8 with deep experience in a subject and has impact both inside and outside of school (awards) do better in college admissions?


I can only speak to our HS, but a 3.95 is the best in the class in most years.

Without something *extra* (which they all have), they can get into Duke ED. With something extra like school leadership in debate or school's internal science program, HYPSM.

3.8 is top 40% of class and, with v strong EC, would probably be advised to ED Chicago or RD Georgetown or Midd/Bowdoin. Can run into trouble at a place like Georgia Tech because a lot of college readers don't know every "elite" hs and dont read the school profile. And our HS is a top 20 in the country. We have plenty of kids who get into T20 schools and won't get into some southern school because they don't understand what a 3.8 means at our HS.
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2026 07:49     Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
It is always the percentile that is important, not the absolute GPA, especially a school the AO's know about.

So 3.8 or 3.9 without knowing what % of students end up at that GPA, does not tell you much.

Anonymous
Post 01/28/2026 05:30     Subject: Which student does better in admissions?
In college admissions, there is only one answer to questions like this. And that is “ It depends”
Anonymous
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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
Post 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” =/=
Anonymous
Post 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.