Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 12:26     Subject: Re:Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:Don't forget -- colleges keep track of how students from a particular high school have done at the college so they know that the 3.3 from a top private is well prepared and likely to be a 3.8 at college while the 4.6 public school,student may be a 3.2 at college. Not guaranteed but they have years of stats.




And who told you this? The Admissions Rep. at your kid's private?
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 12:25     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because the straight A student at my local public has SATs of 1800, but the straight A student at my private has SATs of 2400.


I've never heard of any straight A student at my public making less than 2100.


Grain of salt. How many public school students to yo think PP knows well enough to know both their grades and SAT scores?



Apparently enough private school parents know enough students' grades and SAT scores to feel confident that a private school B means more than a public school A.


+1
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 12:25     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous poster. The area I live in has ok public schools. When I hear of kids having 4.0s from there I think "not challenged." And I think that based on my on personal experience with HS in an inner city. I graduated 1st in my class - yes 1st and was NOT adequately prepared for my top 10 university. I struggled my first two years just getting up to speed. Thank God I didn't have low self-esteem because I kept at it. Because of this I am an advocate for private school if you don't live in an area with top public schools. So many public schools kids are not well prepared for college. I think getting into a good college is just half the battle. The real battle is are you prepared to excel once you are fully enrolled? For me, while I definitley would like for my kids to go to a top college what I really want is for them to do well at whatever college they choose -- and I think the private schools do a far better job of that especially when it comes to writing and critical thinking skills.



So,what would it take to convince you that a public school student is challenged? Are you not aware that it is the norm for AP students in public schools to have hours upon hours of homework? If that's not enough to be considered challenged then screw it.


NP here. Depends on the school. I don't need any persuasion to believe that a top student at TJ is plenty challenged. Some other schools, not so much. Same with private schools --- depends on the school.



Oh believe me, TJ is far from the only public school where students are challenged. Are most private school parents really this clueless?
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 12:23     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because the straight A student at my local public has SATs of 1800, but the straight A student at my private has SATs of 2400.


I've never heard of any straight A student at my public making less than 2100.


Grain of salt. How many public school students to yo think PP knows well enough to know both their grades and SAT scores?



Apparently enough private school parents know enough students' grades and SAT scores to feel confident that a private school B means more than a public school A.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 08:57     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:I also have a B/B+ student with a 2250 SAT at a private. The one thing that I read in the past on DCUM and seems to be true is that some flagship public schools are off the table because of the grades (Georgia Tech, UVA out of state, the UC schools). UMD, our in state school, is a safety though. The other thing that has become evident is that the college counselors at DC's school seem to have especially strong relationships with certain schools. They seem to know, which schools will take those grades in context and admit DC, or even award merit aid.


Admission to UMD, maybe. Admission to college of your choice? Probably not. Certain colleges at UMD are very hard to get in - engineering, business, and other STEM majors.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 08:57     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
I have two DCs, one in college and one in high school. Both have attended the top DC private schools.

One has earned only one B+ ever, and all of their other grades are As. The other has never earned less than an A-. I am using and referring to unweighted averages. Both have taken the most challenging english, history, language, math and science offerings. The older one attends one of Harvard/Stanford/Yale.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 08:55     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
I also have a B/B+ student with a 2250 SAT at a private. The one thing that I read in the past on DCUM and seems to be true is that some flagship public schools are off the table because of the grades (Georgia Tech, UVA out of state, the UC schools). UMD, our in state school, is a safety though. The other thing that has become evident is that the college counselors at DC's school seem to have especially strong relationships with certain schools. They seem to know, which schools will take those grades in context and admit DC, or even award merit aid.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 07:43     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous poster. The area I live in has ok public schools. When I hear of kids having 4.0s from there I think "not challenged." And I think that based on my on personal experience with HS in an inner city. I graduated 1st in my class - yes 1st and was NOT adequately prepared for my top 10 university. I struggled my first two years just getting up to speed. Thank God I didn't have low self-esteem because I kept at it. Because of this I am an advocate for private school if you don't live in an area with top public schools. So many public schools kids are not well prepared for college. I think getting into a good college is just half the battle. The real battle is are you prepared to excel once you are fully enrolled? For me, while I definitley would like for my kids to go to a top college what I really want is for them to do well at whatever college they choose -- and I think the private schools do a far better job of that especially when it comes to writing and critical thinking skills.



So,what would it take to convince you that a public school student is challenged? Are you not aware that it is the norm for AP students in public schools to have hours upon hours of homework? If that's not enough to be considered challenged then screw it.


I didn't mean to say that no public school kids are challenged. Sorry if that's how it came across. I meant to say the public school kids in the area that I live (which isn't upper NW DC, Mont. Co or NoVa. There are absolutely many public schools that are adequately challenging in this area. I was only speaking about when I hear of kids from the public schools where I live. That being said I do think even a public school that offers many AP courses doesn't teach writing at the same level because of the class sizes and focus on things like preparing for standardized testing. Of course that doesn't mean that every child that comes out of a good public school won't be a great writer.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 07:04     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you have a B/B+ student, why waste money at private?


Because my straight A public school student needed a different environment from the public school available to us.


I'm a parent of a B/B+ student at a Top 3 private. My DD was a straight A student in public and I would much rather have her challenged and getting B/B+ in an environment that is challenging, disciplined, and where she is learning the basics to prepare her for college - all three things completely lacking at our public. I also like that she doesn't feel like she is the "smartest" kid in her class - it keeps her motivated. Lastly, I'll take my happy B/B+ student over the old straight A frustrated kid who felt like she was always spinning her wheels for nothing and hated going to school. Private is a much better fit for her and if that means she doesn't get to have straight A's on her report card then so be it.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 06:53     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
You only need to look as far as the outcomes. NCS does not inflate grades. Some girls are at the top of the class and the range goes down from there. However, their 2016 college list they posted leads me to believe that even the girls at the bottom of the class are going to top universities.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2016 02:04     Subject: Re:Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Don't forget -- colleges keep track of how students from a particular high school have done at the college so they know that the 3.3 from a top private is well prepared and likely to be a 3.8 at college while the 4.6 public school,student may be a 3.2 at college. Not guaranteed but they have years of stats.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2016 22:54     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous poster. The area I live in has ok public schools. When I hear of kids having 4.0s from there I think "not challenged." And I think that based on my on personal experience with HS in an inner city. I graduated 1st in my class - yes 1st and was NOT adequately prepared for my top 10 university. I struggled my first two years just getting up to speed. Thank God I didn't have low self-esteem because I kept at it. Because of this I am an advocate for private school if you don't live in an area with top public schools. So many public schools kids are not well prepared for college. I think getting into a good college is just half the battle. The real battle is are you prepared to excel once you are fully enrolled? For me, while I definitley would like for my kids to go to a top college what I really want is for them to do well at whatever college they choose -- and I think the private schools do a far better job of that especially when it comes to writing and critical thinking skills.



So,what would it take to convince you that a public school student is challenged? Are you not aware that it is the norm for AP students in public schools to have hours upon hours of homework? If that's not enough to be considered challenged then screw it.


NP here. Depends on the school. I don't need any persuasion to believe that a top student at TJ is plenty challenged. Some other schools, not so much. Same with private schools --- depends on the school.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2016 22:40     Subject: Re:Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is the grading scale at the top privates the same as public? 90 to 100 is an A and 80 to 90 a B so on? We are at a non top private and the scale is different 92.5 to 100 is an A. I'm wondering if colleges take this into consideration.



Not all publics are on the 10 point scale.


Fairfax county you need 94 to get A, 84 B, and so on.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2016 22:35     Subject: Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because the straight A student at my local public has SATs of 1800, but the straight A student at my private has SATs of 2400.


I've never heard of any straight A student at my public making less than 2100.


Grain of salt. How many public school students to yo think PP knows well enough to know both their grades and SAT scores?
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2016 22:21     Subject: Re:Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?
Anonymous wrote:Is the grading scale at the top privates the same as public? 90 to 100 is an A and 80 to 90 a B so on? We are at a non top private and the scale is different 92.5 to 100 is an A. I'm wondering if colleges take this into consideration.



Not all publics are on the 10 point scale.