Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

Anonymous wrote:My DD graduated from Princeton. I think Princeton is a "reach school" for a lot of people. She did just fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

What are you talking about? The Ivy League schools provide only need based aid, no merit aid or athletic scholarships. I know plenty of people paying full tuition at Ivy League schools and at other colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

Anonymous wrote:The top schools do not offer nominal tuition! Where is that coming from?

Anonymous wrote:
Also I can't speak for the last 5 years, but I know people with 5 and 6 figure debts from these colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

MIT grades on a B/C curve so that's not entirely true. Harvard has buckled down its rampant grade inflation as well because other schools began to notice everyone had a 4.0

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the scary part is, the student might have a better shot at completing the desired degree at Match U vs Reach U, without the expenditure

I don't see a big (or scary) difference between graduating from Princeton with premed or psychology.

really? in one case, you're prepared to apply to med school, and in the other case, you aren't prepared

Wrong. Major doesn't matter much for med school, as long as the student has decent grades in the six typical college-level prerequisite courses. And med schools often waive the prerequisites (except bio with lab and organic chem) if an applicant went to a highly-ranked undergrad and generally did well. My DS's doctor, for example, went to an Ivy undergrad, took only five of the six standard pre-med courses, had a solid but not Ivy-overwhelming A-minus average, and was admitted to an Ivy med school. Not uncommon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the scary part is, the student might have a better shot at completing the desired degree at Match U vs Reach U, without the expenditure

I don't see a big (or scary) difference between graduating from Princeton with premed or psychology.

really? in one case, you're prepared to apply to med school, and in the other case, you aren't prepared

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!