Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:54     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have about 15 applying to Penn this year. DC didn't get in with top gpa and score. Among the five who are accepted, there is one unhooked kid whose gpa is at the lower end of the range, but I guess Penn likes her narrative better. No national award. Scattergram shows acceptance from 3.7 to 4.0.


My kids school (not in DC) has 8 kids going to Penn this year, four are URM (none had top gpa). One has a well known spike but is not in top 20% of class. Only two of the 8 kids are in top 10%. So for Penn its not GPA or rigor that matters the most. Only two of the kids had top rigor.


How do people speak so confidently about other people's children on this forum? Are you their college counselor? If so, shame on you for divulging their personal info. If not, shame on you for speculating about things you do not know.

Because their schools don't have toxic people like you! It's common for kids sharing their information among their classmates, nobody takes it that seriously. I don't see any identifying information being disclosed. It's completely anonymous. WTF are you talking about.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:50     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have about 15 applying to Penn this year. DC didn't get in with top gpa and score. Among the five who are accepted, there is one unhooked kid whose gpa is at the lower end of the range, but I guess Penn likes her narrative better. No national award. Scattergram shows acceptance from 3.7 to 4.0.


My kids school (not in DC) has 8 kids going to Penn this year, four are URM (none had top gpa). One has a well known spike but is not in top 20% of class. Only two of the 8 kids are in top 10%. So for Penn its not GPA or rigor that matters the most. Only two of the kids had top rigor.


How do people speak so confidently about other people's children on this forum? Are you their college counselor? If so, shame on you for divulging their personal info. If not, shame on you for speculating about things you do not know.


DP here. What are you talking about? How on earth is any of this "personal info"? I don't think you can narrow down a single kid or school this parent is talking about as there's zero identifying information here.

Stop shaming people you do not know if you want to encourage people to share helpful information on an anonymous forum!

In any case, my kids know a ton about their classmates. Two got into Penn and neither are in the top rigor classes or even in the top 20% of the class academically. Both are athletic recruits. In previous years, legacy kids who are also not at the top of the class got into Penn due to legacy plus donor parents. At the Ivy plus level, there are tons of kids who qualify academically, so you really need a hook (URM, FGLI, athletic recruit, legacy, etc.) or you need to be extremely lucky.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:48     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t there a cheating scandal at TJ? That lingers on for years.

There cheating scandals everywhere. What are you trying to say? Idiot.


This forum becomes more unhinged every day.


And mean. Pretty sure it is one tj booster (bo current kids at tj, just a tj grad) who insults any poster who says anything negative about tj. Living in the past, in la la land.

It’s not talking negative about TJ but the idiocy coming with it. It’s like saying all white males should be castrated because some white men are sex offenders. The reality is even worse than that with almost all sex offenders being white. How do you feel about that, you sorry little bigot?


Yeah, it's you: the tj booster (no current kids at tj, just a tj grad) who insults any poster who says anything negative about tj. Listen to how you communicate with others. Calling people "idiots" and "bigots" with no more reason than you vehemently disagree with them, tells us a lot about you and your beliefs.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:41     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have about 15 applying to Penn this year. DC didn't get in with top gpa and score. Among the five who are accepted, there is one unhooked kid whose gpa is at the lower end of the range, but I guess Penn likes her narrative better. No national award. Scattergram shows acceptance from 3.7 to 4.0.


My kids school (not in DC) has 8 kids going to Penn this year, four are URM (none had top gpa). One has a well known spike but is not in top 20% of class. Only two of the 8 kids are in top 10%. So for Penn its not GPA or rigor that matters the most. Only two of the kids had top rigor.


How do people speak so confidently about other people's children on this forum? Are you their college counselor? If so, shame on you for divulging their personal info. If not, shame on you for speculating about things you do not know.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:40     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:We have about 15 applying to Penn this year. DC didn't get in with top gpa and score. Among the five who are accepted, there is one unhooked kid whose gpa is at the lower end of the range, but I guess Penn likes her narrative better. No national award. Scattergram shows acceptance from 3.7 to 4.0.


My kids school (not in DC) has 8 kids going to Penn this year, four are URM (none had top gpa). One has a well known spike but is not in top 20% of class. Only two of the 8 kids are in top 10%. So for Penn its not GPA or rigor that matters the most. Only two of the kids had top rigor.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:29     Subject: Re:Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:OP: I actually remember you. If I’m not mistaken, your son got into a couple of T30 colleges? For your son’s sake, I hope you can celebrate his great outcomes and not compare him to others. Otherwise, it would only harm his wellbeing.

I would be very happy with T30 colleges.
It's a really good result.
I would move on, and focus on how to best support DC in their college.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:28     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t there a cheating scandal at TJ? That lingers on for years.

There cheating scandals everywhere. What are you trying to say? Idiot.


This forum becomes more unhinged every day.


And mean. Pretty sure it is one tj booster (bo current kids at tj, just a tj grad) who insults any poster who says anything negative about tj. Living in the past, in la la land.

It’s not talking negative about TJ but the idiocy coming with it. It’s like saying all white males should be castrated because some white men are sex offenders. The reality is even worse than that with almost all sex offenders being white. How do you feel about that, you sorry little bigot?
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:21     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

TJ disappointed you.
College admission process disappointed you.
But believe me,
Your kid will be fine.
College doesn’t define your kid or limit his success.
His work ethics and character will take him far.

- a fellow TJ parent
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:17     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t there a cheating scandal at TJ? That lingers on for years.

There cheating scandals everywhere. What are you trying to say? Idiot.


This forum becomes more unhinged every day.


And mean. Pretty sure it is one tj booster (bo current kids at tj, just a tj grad) who insults any poster who says anything negative about tj. Living in the past, in la la land.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:14     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t there a cheating scandal at TJ? That lingers on for years.

There cheating scandals everywhere. What are you trying to say? Idiot.


This forum becomes more unhinged every day.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:13     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t there a cheating scandal at TJ? That lingers on for years.

There cheating scandals everywhere. What are you trying to say? Idiot.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:08     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Wasn’t there a cheating scandal at TJ? That lingers on for years.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:04     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Colleges these days do a lot of within-school comparison in order to curb the Asian population. A 4.4 GPA senior year is not considered as top at TJ. It’s mostly due to class ranking although FCPS doesn’t explicitly rank students.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:00     Subject: Is GPA the most important?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are still not able to comprehend that with a mid-year GPA from TJ 4.4X, SAT close to 1600, very good ECs, my child got rejected from all Ivies applied, waitlisted in a few T20 schools mostly private and UVA. We are trying to understand what went wrong. Really bothering us for the last couple of months how this can happen with this profile. Was GPA too low?. Did rigor matter at all?. They take the hardest courses but kids from other schools get into T20 schools with less grade or rigor.


Ivies hate TJ. Sorry. Don't shot the messenger. It is what it is.


There is some of this too. Reputation for being grinders and cheaters. I assume that teacher recs mean a LOT.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2026 12:00     Subject: Re:Is GPA the most important?

OP: I actually remember you. If I’m not mistaken, your son got into a couple of T30 colleges? For your son’s sake, I hope you can celebrate his great outcomes and not compare him to others. Otherwise, it would only harm his wellbeing.