Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 15:07     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Both of my public school kids go to T20 colleges. They each had a few Bs - mostly in Spanish which they started in middle school. Those Spanish grades from 7th and 8th grade do count though. But I don't think those Bs mattered. A B in Calculus or AP English would have mattered a lot more.

But selective colleges know the difference in grading between a public high school and NCS for example. With the amount of retesting that's allowed in public schools - not to mention they way they curve quarter grades - it's not hard to get straight As. My kids had it down to a science. They knew exactly what they needed to do each quarter to get an A for the semester. They'd roll with 4 As and 3 Bs in the first quarter; and then they'd switch their focuses. They'd make sure those three Bs became As in the second quarter, while not stressing too much about maintaining As in the other classes. In a public school quarterly system, A + B = A for the semester. It doesn't take a genius to get straight As in public school. Just some efficient time management.


Not all public schools are like MCPS or FCPS. My kid in public school has had to fight for every A. Zero retests. The cohort of students is very competitive. The teachers grade hard. If you get outside of the DMV, many public schools in affluent suburbs are very good.


Same here. Massachusetts public school.


I’m completely shocked when I read what DMV parents experience in their public schools.




Trust me. The public school families in the DMV don't love the grade inflation either. Even when you're taking a rigorous course load, it makes it hard to differentiate among the thousands of other smart kids taking advanced course loads in the area. A B here and there is no big deal, particularly freshman year, but most of the ambitious kids in the region are rolling with close to a 4.0 UW. It's ridiculous.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 14:59     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Both of my public school kids go to T20 colleges. They each had a few Bs - mostly in Spanish which they started in middle school. Those Spanish grades from 7th and 8th grade do count though. But I don't think those Bs mattered. A B in Calculus or AP English would have mattered a lot more.

But selective colleges know the difference in grading between a public high school and NCS for example. With the amount of retesting that's allowed in public schools - not to mention they way they curve quarter grades - it's not hard to get straight As. My kids had it down to a science. They knew exactly what they needed to do each quarter to get an A for the semester. They'd roll with 4 As and 3 Bs in the first quarter; and then they'd switch their focuses. They'd make sure those three Bs became As in the second quarter, while not stressing too much about maintaining As in the other classes. In a public school quarterly system, A + B = A for the semester. It doesn't take a genius to get straight As in public school. Just some efficient time management.


Not all public schools are like MCPS or FCPS. My kid in public school has had to fight for every A. Zero retests. The cohort of students is very competitive. The teachers grade hard. If you get outside of the DMV, many public schools in affluent suburbs are very good.


Same here. Massachusetts public school.


I’m completely shocked when I read what DMV parents experience in their public schools.

Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 14:12     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For top schools like the Ivy Leagues, MIT, or Stanford, they do expect straight As in a demanding course load. In committee when admissions officers are discussing candidates, Bs will be used as an argument to not admit a student. People have gotten in with some Bs, but the rest of your application has to be even stronger to compensate for it.

First of all, in college admissions, no one cares about your weighted GPA. Weighted GPA just exists to make students feel better, but it isn't helpful for properly evaluation academic performance in admissions. To know your GPA, you need to look at the unweighted GPA for core classes only (i.e. PE does not count).

For many competitive high schools here, a single B can place you outside of the top 10% of your class, which will kill your chances for admissions.

Even for slightly lower ranked top schools like UCLA, a single B will place you below the 25% percentile of admitted students.

A ton of applicants to top schools are going to have straight As. Grades matter a lot, and you want to avoid anything except for As if you want to have a shot at top schools. Even then, many students with straight As will get denied.


Literally the only people who care are socially insecure people who need their dc to go to certain over priced schools to validate themselves


+1
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:54     Subject: Re:For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Colleges will see the full-year grade on your transcript. So a B means the student had substandard grades for more than half the course, between the four quarters, the midterm and the final exam.

So yeah, if you have a B on your transcript and you’re not at least full-pay the. Yes you should be rejected.

That’s why if you ARE full-pay, apply Early Decision. You want the ostensibly need-blind school to know that you don’t care a bit about financial aid. Applying ED tells them that.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:53     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:Sometimes I think the British system is far better because its unfair to have different standards.

Grade inflation at private schools is notorious and makes people have unrealistic opinions like this.


Way more grade inflation at the publics! At least compared to our private.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:50     Subject: Re:For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
NP. I think OP is more likely to be correct when describing highly selective publics not as known for holistic evaluation. It’s probably the most applicable to top UCs since that system is test blind. If your gpa is below certain cut-offs the guidance counselor can very confidently tell you it’s futile to apply. It’s a problem for those CA residents who prefer rigorous private high schools with teachers who still give out large numbers of Bs, even to high-scoring, hard-working kids. Our kid was told that a single digit acceptance rate private was a safety while all the top UCs were reaches. Test blind is stupid.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:43     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Sometimes I think the British system is far better because its unfair to have different standards.

Grade inflation at private schools is notorious and makes people have unrealistic opinions like this.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:34     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Unhooked DD got into multiple Ivies, Ivy+'s, and WASP schools with a couple B's in Spanish over the years. She was still top 5% and also had strong rigor, test scores, ECs, and, LORs. YMMV.


She’s probably full pay, and that’s a hook.


Afraid not. Substantial financial aid (but not FGLI) and most of the schools were need blind.


Another unhooked admit to multiple Ivies/T10. MCPS. Middle class with good financial aid.


What is middle class? My kid unhooked admit to two Ivies/2 T10s--no financial aid.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:33     Subject: Re:For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Kid unhooked at an Ivy UW 4.0 at a private--which wasn't common at his HS.

Get as many As as you can. And look at the schedule closely. If you are going to major in humanities you don't need AP Calc BC (AB is fine) or AP Physics, for instance. But, you do need AP in all core subjects (my kid also did not have AP in FL--just level 4 of the language).
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:30     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Unhooked DD got into multiple Ivies, Ivy+'s, and WASP schools with a couple B's in Spanish over the years. She was still top 5% and also had strong rigor, test scores, ECs, and, LORs. YMMV.


She’s probably full pay, and that’s a hook.


Afraid not. Substantial financial aid (but not FGLI) and most of the schools were need blind.


Another unhooked admit to multiple Ivies/T10. MCPS. Middle class with good financial aid.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:30     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:For top schools like the Ivy Leagues, MIT, or Stanford, they do expect straight As in a demanding course load. In committee when admissions officers are discussing candidates, Bs will be used as an argument to not admit a student. People have gotten in with some Bs, but the rest of your application has to be even stronger to compensate for it.

First of all, in college admissions, no one cares about your weighted GPA. Weighted GPA just exists to make students feel better, but it isn't helpful for properly evaluation academic performance in admissions. To know your GPA, you need to look at the unweighted GPA for core classes only (i.e. PE does not count).

For many competitive high schools here, a single B can place you outside of the top 10% of your class, which will kill your chances for admissions.

Even for slightly lower ranked top schools like UCLA, a single B will place you below the 25% percentile of admitted students.

A ton of applicants to top schools are going to have straight As. Grades matter a lot, and you want to avoid anything except for As if you want to have a shot at top schools. Even then, many students with straight As will get denied.


Literally the only people who care are socially insecure people who need their dc to go to certain over priced schools to validate themselves
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:27     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:OP is from public school. This is definitely true nowadays in the public schools. First, grade inflation is severe in public schools. Typically 10% will get straight As. In contrast, in private schools almost no one got straight A (maybe a few).

Second, even in competitive high school, the percentage of students got in top colleges is lower than private schools. Say only 10% got in top 20 colleges. In contrast, private schools easily send 30% students to top 20 or top 10 SLACs.

I agree with OP that if you are in public schools, a single B will ruin your chance.


And you would also be wrong like OP. Many of us have already dispelled this.

I honestly think people like you and OP are either just whipping up panic or trying to scare off competition.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:19     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
This is true.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 13:14     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:Oh well.


I adore you.
Anonymous
Post 10/05/2024 11:58     Subject: For top schools, yes one B will hurt your chances
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Both of my public school kids go to T20 colleges. They each had a few Bs - mostly in Spanish which they started in middle school. Those Spanish grades from 7th and 8th grade do count though. But I don't think those Bs mattered. A B in Calculus or AP English would have mattered a lot more.

But selective colleges know the difference in grading between a public high school and NCS for example. With the amount of retesting that's allowed in public schools - not to mention they way they curve quarter grades - it's not hard to get straight As. My kids had it down to a science. They knew exactly what they needed to do each quarter to get an A for the semester. They'd roll with 4 As and 3 Bs in the first quarter; and then they'd switch their focuses. They'd make sure those three Bs became As in the second quarter, while not stressing too much about maintaining As in the other classes. In a public school quarterly system, A + B = A for the semester. It doesn't take a genius to get straight As in public school. Just some efficient time management.


Not all public schools are like MCPS or FCPS. My kid in public school has had to fight for every A. Zero retests. The cohort of students is very competitive. The teachers grade hard. If you get outside of the DMV, many public schools in affluent suburbs are very good.


Same here. Massachusetts public school.