Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 12:21     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Swarthmore, Middlebury, Tufts, Davidson, Vandy, Pomona, etc.


I don't think so. I also disagree with Notre Dame, unless the student has phenomenal extracurriculars - like founded a charity or is an Olympic athlete.

Yup. a 3.5 is an indication of a very smart, hard working kid


Remember, we're talking about Sidwell, St. Alban's, etc, with hard grading policies and a rigorous curriculum. They're not suburban grade inflation factories that turbocharge GPAs for taking AP courses. Most college admission staffs know that.


Irrelevant and unnecessarily condescending. Remember, we're talking unweighted GPAs here. So we're talking GPAs that are already stripped of the AP point. Also, remember that most of the VA and MCPS publics are actually very stressful and grading is often tough although it varies by teacher, just like in the privates. Most college admissions staffs have read books like The Overachievers, and they know that.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 10:07     Subject: Re:Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:If you look at Sidwell's policies and procedures (as set forth under it bylaws), it says the following:

"...in the instance where a student at SFS has earned a grade point average no higher than 3.53 and no lower than a 3.50 at the time of graduation, such student shall be required to matriculate to Kenyon College."


Very funny. But this has been amended to include Michigan.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 10:00     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Someone with a 3.5 is unlikely to be the best a teacher has seen in 10 years. And teacher recs aren't "profoundly influential" anywhere. Nice to have good ones, and certainly a factor, but hardly profound.


The big land grant colleges rely primarily on GPA and test scores, but the elite schools all read each application and teacher recommendations are incredibly important. Among a pool of very talented students, they are often decisive. This is particularly true for high schools that send a lot of students to elite schools and the admissions officers know that the teachers have a strong understanding of the students. And a great many admits are students who are particularly accomplished in one field/endeavor rather than the classic well rounded stereotype. So it is NOT unusual for Harvard to admit a student with a very strong academic record in English/literature from an exceptional high school English program with Bs in calculus BC and AP physics.


Meant to type NOT unusual.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 09:59     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:Someone with a 3.5 is unlikely to be the best a teacher has seen in 10 years. And teacher recs aren't "profoundly influential" anywhere. Nice to have good ones, and certainly a factor, but hardly profound.


The big land grant colleges rely primarily on GPA and test scores, but the elite schools all read each application and teacher recommendations are incredibly important. Among a pool of very talented students, they are often decisive. This is particularly true for high schools that send a lot of students to elite schools and the admissions officers know that the teachers have a strong understanding of the students. And a great many admits are students who are particularly accomplished in one field/endeavor rather than the classic well rounded stereotype. So it is unusual for Harvard to admit a student with a very strong academic record in English/literature from an exceptional high school English program with Bs in calculus BC and AP physics.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 09:30     Subject: Re:Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
You guys do the math. They sent 35-40 kids to the combination of Yale/Harvard/Princeton/Penn/UChicago/Northwestern/MIT/Stanford last year out of 125 graduates. So, that is roughly 30% of the class, and not necessarily the top 30% purely from a GPA standpoint. I don't know what the distribution of GPAs looks like exactly, but I will bet you that some 3.5s and 3.6s made it into that group and there are many with similar GPAs at other highly selective schools.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 08:42     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
I'd imagine a 3.5 Sidwell student might easily be carrying a 2100 SAT. In those circumstances, I wouldn't worry.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 08:23     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Swarthmore, Middlebury, Tufts, Davidson, Vandy, Pomona, etc.


I don't think so. I also disagree with Notre Dame, unless the student has phenomenal extracurriculars - like founded a charity or is an Olympic athlete.

Yup. a 3.5 is an indication of a very smart, hard working kid


Remember, we're talking about Sidwell, St. Alban's, etc, with hard grading policies and a rigorous curriculum. They're not suburban grade inflation factories that turbocharge GPAs for taking AP courses. Most college admission staffs know that.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2015 07:44     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Swarthmore, Middlebury, Tufts, Davidson, Vandy, Pomona, etc.


I don't think so. I also disagree with Notre Dame, unless the student has phenomenal extracurriculars - like founded a charity or is an Olympic athlete.

Yup. a 3.5 is an indication of a very smart, hard working kid


A 3.5 at Sidwell/STA/NCS/GDS/Holton, where you max at at 4.0 and the grades are unweighted even for APs, is an excellent GPA that will get the child into at least a few of these schools (and Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, Vassar, UVA, etc.). A 3.5 kid at these top schools STILL HAS A GPA THAT REFLECTS AN "A-" AVERAGE. If you have kids at these top schools, they are not handing out As. So to average an A- for 4 years put you in the top 15-25% I would say. NCS and STA send about 1/4- 1/3 of their graduating class to ivies alone in any given year...
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 22:44     Subject: Re:Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you look at Sidwell's policies and procedures (as set forth under it bylaws), it says the following:

"...in the instance where a student at SFS has earned a grade point average no higher than 3.53 and no lower than a 3.50 at the time of graduation, such student shall be required to matriculate to Kenyon College."


If I get fired for laughing out loud at work, and calling attention to my use of DCUM during work hours, I'm coming after you.


+1 !!
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 22:42     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:
Swarthmore, Middlebury, Tufts, Davidson, Vandy, Pomona, etc.


I don't think so. I also disagree with Notre Dame, unless the student has phenomenal extracurriculars - like founded a charity or is an Olympic athlete.

Yup. a 3.5 is an indication of a very smart, hard working kid
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 22:16     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore, Middlebury, Tufts, Davidson, Vandy, Pomona, etc.


I don't think so. I also disagree with Notre Dame, unless the student has phenomenal extracurriculars - like founded a charity or is an Olympic athlete.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 22:11     Subject: Re:Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:College of Charleston



Please....
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 22:07     Subject: Re:Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
What about Washington & Lee? Wake Forest?
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 18:40     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry I mean to say this is NOT the 3.5 gpa and above crowd


The kids I know who have gotten in/attended have been certainly near 3.5 and usually with very strong scores.
Anonymous
Post 10/07/2015 18:33     Subject: Where does a 3.5 Sidwell kid end up going to college?
Seriously, what is the deal or care where these kids go to college. Can these kids not just pick a few schools they like and thrive there. THEN go to a big name school for their masters which is much more important than the bachelors anyway.

We are at a top 5 school and I just don't really care. We aren't in a private school in the hopes she gets to a better name college to brag about. It does not define you, your child or your family name. And if you think it does, well than we aren't people you want to hang with anyway.