Anonymous wrote:Ugh - what a noxious thread. Very glad we steered clear of private school.

Anonymous wrote:There is a top tier. Most agree it’s Sidwell, NCS (st Albans is not included) and Potomac

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Anonymous wrote:I think it is a high proportion of VA public school parents. So many threads cite Va state colleges as either the be all end all (read: UVA) or they name Va state schools as their kid’s safeties.

Yea that’s true. Yet whenever there’s a thread on that somebody invariably jumps in and says “well, at our Big 3 . . .”

Nauseating.

You seem oddly triggered by this.
If someone mentions a Big3, 90% of the time it's in the context of the grading scale being deflated. When the rest of the DCUM world is chatting about 4.0--4.7 GPAs and your kid is at the top of their class with a 3.8 it's confusing
and it usually takes people a post to get this ironed out in their head. The schools themselves aren't transparent about it

Isn't that most private schools though? Why not just say private school instead of Big 3?

Not the PP - but not all private schools have the grade deflation of the Big 3 (which personally I think extends to more of a Big 6ish). Some private schools still have AP and some also weight GPAs

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a high proportion of VA public school parents. So many threads cite Va state colleges as either the be all end all (read: UVA) or they name Va state schools as their kid’s safeties.

Yea that’s true. Yet whenever there’s a thread on that somebody invariably jumps in and says “well, at our Big 3 . . .”

Nauseating.

You seem oddly triggered by this.
If someone mentions a Big3, 90% of the time it's in the context of the grading scale being deflated. When the rest of the DCUM world is chatting about 4.0--4.7 GPAs and your kid is at the top of their class with a 3.8 it's confusing
and it usually takes people a post to get this ironed out in their head. The schools themselves aren't transparent about it

Isn't that most private schools though? Why not just say private school instead of Big 3?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a high proportion of VA public school parents. So many threads cite Va state colleges as either the be all end all (read: UVA) or they name Va state schools as their kid’s safeties.

Yea that’s true. Yet whenever there’s a thread on that somebody invariably jumps in and says “well, at our Big 3 . . .”

Nauseating.

You seem oddly triggered by this.
If someone mentions a Big3, 90% of the time it's in the context of the grading scale being deflated. When the rest of the DCUM world is chatting about 4.0--4.7 GPAs and your kid is at the top of their class with a 3.8 it's confusing
and it usually takes people a post to get this ironed out in their head. The schools themselves aren't transparent about it

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I cringe whenever I see the term big three on here. I lived in Beverly Hills for years and even in Los Angeles we never use terms like this. I also lived in Manhattan, and the same goes for New York. Obviously, these cities have prestigious schools and people simply knew which were the best schools. Quite frankly, hearing a term like “big 3” we’ll it sounds very small town an unsophisticated.

Agreed. Plus I really don’t think it’s necessary for Big 3 parents to remind the world and themselves that their grading scales are different. If you’re paying $50k for high school and are obsessed with prestige and college admissions, trust me - you don’t need to go to DCUM to learn your school’s grading scale and how it differs from publics.

Bottom line, there is rarely if ever any reason to specify that your kid goes to a Big 3. Except to get off on it, that is.

First - Big 3 is a DCUM created term and people use it for shorthand. Nobody would ever use this in real life.
Second - Those parents aren't writing on DCUM to remind other parents they are at a Big 3 - they are writing to seek OTHER Big 3 families to weigh in so they can have something comparable to their own experience.

If FCPS and MCPS had meaningfully different grading scales and methods for calculating GPA, nobody would be upset if a FCPS parent identified themselves as being FCPS when asking others to weigh in on their child's GPA regarding chances on a college acceptance.

You still haven’t addressed the topic! What are the admissions results of the BIG 3?

OP here. That is NOT the topic. The topic was doesn’t it seem like every other post on the college forum is by a parent who says their kid goes to a “Big 3”? And now I realize what’s really going on: it’s every other poster who IDENTIFIES their kid’s school as being a Big 3 parent. Most posters don’t identify their kid’s school at all, because they see no reason to, while Big 3 parents can’t help themselves. They live and breathe this stuff.

Thanks to the PPs who helped me make sense of this.

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Anonymous wrote:I cringe whenever I see the term big three on here. I lived in Beverly Hills for years and even in Los Angeles we never use terms like this. I also lived in Manhattan, and the same goes for New York. Obviously, these cities have prestigious schools and people simply knew which were the best schools. Quite frankly, hearing a term like “big 3” we’ll it sounds very small town an unsophisticated.

Agreed. Plus I really don’t think it’s necessary for Big 3 parents to remind the world and themselves that their grading scales are different. If you’re paying $50k for high school and are obsessed with prestige and college admissions, trust me - you don’t need to go to DCUM to learn your school’s grading scale and how it differs from publics.

Bottom line, there is rarely if ever any reason to specify that your kid goes to a Big 3. Except to get off on it, that is.

First - Big 3 is a DCUM created term and people use it for shorthand. Nobody would ever use this in real life.
Second - Those parents aren't writing on DCUM to remind other parents they are at a Big 3 - they are writing to seek OTHER Big 3 families to weigh in so they can have something comparable to their own experience.

If FCPS and MCPS had meaningfully different grading scales and methods for calculating GPA, nobody would be upset if a FCPS parent identified themselves as being FCPS when asking others to weigh in on their child's GPA regarding chances on a college acceptance.

You still haven’t addressed the topic! What are the admissions results of the BIG 3?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cringe whenever I see the term big three on here. I lived in Beverly Hills for years and even in Los Angeles we never use terms like this. I also lived in Manhattan, and the same goes for New York. Obviously, these cities have prestigious schools and people simply knew which were the best schools. Quite frankly, hearing a term like “big 3” we’ll it sounds very small town an unsophisticated.

Agreed. Plus I really don’t think it’s necessary for Big 3 parents to remind the world and themselves that their grading scales are different. If you’re paying $50k for high school and are obsessed with prestige and college admissions, trust me - you don’t need to go to DCUM to learn your school’s grading scale and how it differs from publics.

Bottom line, there is rarely if ever any reason to specify that your kid goes to a Big 3. Except to get off on it, that is.

First - Big 3 is a DCUM created term and people use it for shorthand. Nobody would ever use this in real life.
Second - Those parents aren't writing on DCUM to remind other parents they are at a Big 3 - they are writing to seek OTHER Big 3 families to weigh in so they can have something comparable to their own experience.

If FCPS and MCPS had meaningfully different grading scales and methods for calculating GPA, nobody would be upset if a FCPS parent identified themselves as being FCPS when asking others to weigh in on their child's GPA regarding chances on a college acceptance.

And they have to knock TJ at time since TJ is considered the 'No. 1 high school' in the country and has a better college admissions results w/o legacy admissions these 'bigly 3' enjoy.

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Anonymous wrote:It would be helpful to folks new to the area if posters named the "Big 3". Thanks !

Refer to this thread if you want to know about the Big 3 - it's pegged at the top of Private School Forum

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/99579.page

Sidwell, NCS and STA

GDS, Sidwell, Cathedral schools (NCS/STA)

There about six schools in the Big 3. See Independent School Board for these fights. Add Holton, Potomac, and Maret to GDS, Sidwell, NCS/Albans. Basically, "Big 3" is a euphemism for a top area private where monied, connected, or other elites send their children.

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of Big3 posters because we we're uneasy about how college admissions are going to work out. We're sitting here with kids with 3.4 GPAs and 1550 SAT scores and wondering how the heck this is supposed to work out. The schools tell us to "trust the process" and historically it does but it does feel a bit uneasy at times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cringe whenever I see the term big three on here. I lived in Beverly Hills for years and even in Los Angeles we never use terms like this. I also lived in Manhattan, and the same goes for New York. Obviously, these cities have prestigious schools and people simply knew which were the best schools. Quite frankly, hearing a term like “big 3” we’ll it sounds very small town an unsophisticated.

Agreed. Plus I really don’t think it’s necessary for Big 3 parents to remind the world and themselves that their grading scales are different. If you’re paying $50k for high school and are obsessed with prestige and college admissions, trust me - you don’t need to go to DCUM to learn your school’s grading scale and how it differs from publics.

Bottom line, there is rarely if ever any reason to specify that your kid goes to a Big 3. Except to get off on it, that is.

First - Big 3 is a DCUM created term and people use it for shorthand. Nobody would ever use this in real life.
Second - Those parents aren't writing on DCUM to remind other parents they are at a Big 3 - they are writing to seek OTHER Big 3 families to weigh in so they can have something comparable to their own experience.

If FCPS and MCPS had meaningfully different grading scales and methods for calculating GPA, nobody would be upset if a FCPS parent identified themselves as being FCPS when asking others to weigh in on their child's GPA regarding chances on a college acceptance.

And they have to knock TJ at time since TJ is considered the 'No. 1 high school' in the country and has a better college admissions results w/o legacy admissions these 'bigly 3' enjoy.

You are triggering the 'big 3' boosters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be helpful to folks new to the area if posters named the "Big 3". Thanks !

If you need to know that, you don’t count. Move along now.