Admission Grades at Boarding School

<p>@stargirl3 I’m no poster child either, but I didn’t have all A’s. </p>

<p>@needtoboard I know, but you had other hooks. </p>

<p>I’m not saying it’s impossible, but saying that grades don’t matter is misleading. </p>

<p>@stargirl3, that’s what I meant by “I’m no poster child.” By no means did I mean that grades don’t matter, but Exeter even says B’s are okay as long as there are more A’s than B’s: <a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/documents/Student_Profile.pdf”>http://www.exeter.edu/documents/Student_Profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>@stargirl3‌ and as I have said before, the school I got accepted to wouldn’t have taken me if I wasn’t qualified in their eyes. I understand that it helps having someone advocating for me, but so does being full pay, or being a legacy applicant.
Plus I don’t know how many applicants are getting C’s in school and 99s on the SSAT so… yeah.
(Also please stop pointing out the program, it’s getting quite old) :-L
On another note to the OP, I really don’t mean to sound rude at all! I bet your kid is super qualified and will get great scores to go along with their grades! </p>

<p>To me, the B isn’t a red flag; it’s the fact that you claim that the teacher “hates you.” Schools are looking for character, maturity and independence alongside those grades and activities. No school would reject you over a B, but I can’t imagine they’d be thrilled if you claim in an interview or an essay that the B you earned is something you blame on the teacher. Take responsibility; be proud of the good grades you’ve earned, and be willing to admit when you haven’t done your best. </p>

<p>But then a teacher CAN actually hate you, although it kind of is your fault that they hate you in the first place.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the advice and my school does actually gave a harsher grading system than most. A B is a 86-89%. The teacher claimed that she would be grading in effort not how our art looked but in the end I asked her about my grade and she said my paper mâché was not smooth enough. Go figure. I am proud to say that I did try my hardest in art but did not receive a good grade. My best hope is that I took a drawing class at my local college and made some nice pieces because I really do enjoy drawing.</p>

<p>FYI</p>

<p><a href=“What NOT to waste your time worrying about - Prep School Admissions - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1599468-what-not-to-waste-your-time-worrying-about-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The quality of the craftsmanship in 3D Art is very much an issue of effort. Don’t worry; it takes a lot of patience, dexterity and skill to make very smooth paper mache. It’s okay to try your hardest and come up short. It’s not okay to blame your teachers, or to make claims that your grade is due to their emotions and not your difficulty with the subject. I guess I just have a different definition–wouldn’t a teacher who “hated” you give you an F or loads of unwarranted detention, or hold up your art and laugh at it? I get that you were just using hyperbole, but one “B” isn’t that big of a deal–even in this climate of out of control grade inflation.
I once gave one of my favorite students of all time a C on a paper because he wrote a bad paper. He asked for help, re-wrote it, and turned in excellent work for the rest of the semester. He’s now a graduate of Williams.</p>

<p>Putting all that aside, your grades are good and you’re going to be fine. Good Luck with your applications.</p>

<p>It honestly depends on where you go to school. Boarding schools take into account the school you go to when they see your grades (I’m not making this up, the new head of school at my school was dean of admissions at Andover). Your grades seem pretty good. Honestly, apply anyway. The worst thing that’s going to happen is you aren’t going to get in. It’s worth a shot.</p>