My daughter is going to Lawrenceville this coming fall, all these good advice definitely helped us a lot! I still have a few questions about the school grading system. What percentage of students can get high honor? Will most of these high honor students get into top20 colleges?
Thanks a lot!
A 3.6 or above is high honors. I believe that’s around half of a given class.
Cum laude, on the other hand, is the top 20% of a given class; it’s only announced around graduation time, though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, but I’m not really keeping track. The valedictorian always goes to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, though, so there’s that.
I’m a parent from Lville class of 2018. This is what the college counseling office gave us as the grading distribution (by decile) for the senior class:
1st: 4.13 - 3.96
2nd: 3.95 - 3.86
3rd: 3.85 - 3.80
4th: 3.78 - 3.68
5th: 3.67 - 3.58
6th: 3.56 - 3.48
7th: 3.47 - 3.39
8th: 3.36 - 3.26
9th: 3.25 - 3.11
10th: 3.09 - 2.56
@Tomato97: regarding your question about matriculations:
In my son’s class (2018) there were about 240 graduates. From this about one third matriculated at T20 colleges (Ivy league, Duke, Stanford, MIT, caliber). However from this I’d say about two-thirds had a serious hook (legacy, URM, etc). The remaining were students at the top of the class.
So for unhooked students, they really need to be in the first decile to have a serious chance. I personally know of about 5 students in my son’s class who were cum laude (GPA > 3.96) who were shut out of the T20.
I am also curious if kids from Lawrenceville attend state schools? For example I didn’t see a single entry for Rutgers in the matriculation report. Are the counselors encouraging kids to apply to state schools as well? Some state school programs are comparable to T20s.
UVA and UMich are both really popular. A few people also go to UCLA/UCB, but they tend to be Californian in-state.
And that was in 2018. I am pretty sure there are many more this year.
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I went back through my son’s class, and I see the following matriculations to state universities (in order): UVA, Michigan, UVM, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and the rest were in single digits (Monmouth, UCSB, Oklahoma, UCLA, Penn State).
The lack of matriculants to Rutgers also puzzled me as well. There seems to be a strong desire for NJ residents to attend college out of state at all costs – even though Rutgers has a great reputation. Not sure why.
Looking at the Naviance scattergrams though, it looks like Rutgers accepts roughly 98% of Lawrenceville students, even those in the bottom 2 deciles for GPA.
I think plenty of kids apply/go to UVA, UNC, UMich, UCs etc. I am sure plenty of NJ kids apply to Rutgers, but that will almost always be the last option safety for the kids at top prep schools. Plenty apply each year from ours but it’s very rare that someone actually lands there, though plenty pay OOS tuition at the schools mentioned.
The typical student at top BS is unlikely to be very price sensitive IMO, and if they are (plenty of kids receive generous aid at BS) they are probably strong/desirable students who will be awarded high merit/have full-need met at schools perceived as more prestigious.
In the current admissions “new normal” I wonder if a hook could hurt you from a private school more than in public school? If both parents are from a college of interest (BS, MS no major endowments/donation etc.) does it increase/decrease your ability to get in from private HS vs public HS all other stats being the same/acceptable or is it about the same?
IMO this is not true. However, the premise of the questions is wrong. Most people here will tell you that the motivation to attend a school such as Lville should not be the college outcome, but for the personal and intellectual growth that happens while there.
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@PR-mom: thats a difficult question to answer because all applicants are different. Students only apply to college from one high school. So it is not possible to predict an individual applicant’s outcome based on private vs public HS.
My guess is that the admissions chances are similar for hooked candidates between public vs private. Hooked candidates with high GPA/stats have an edge at private schools however. Mainly because of the extra connections from the college counseling office. The public school counselors don’t have that same ability to pick up the phone and sway decisions.
But for students at the middle-bottom of their class at a private school their options at T20 colleges are far more limited, even if they have a hook. The only way these types of students are getting in is by coach support or being a development admit.
As mentioned by @TonyGrace don’t send your child to boarding/private school if you’re looking for an admissions boost. Do it for the educational boost.
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What I can say, is that a student who attended one of these HS will be able to get the most out of whatever college they attend. They will know how to dive beyond the surface on a paper, they will know how to build relationships with there professors, they will know how to make use of office hours, they will know how to build community around them. Most likely they will have somewhat figured out what makes them tic. All these things make for a more rewarding and successful college experience.
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So true. As a data point, my son breezed through his first year of college. He noted how much better the prep school kids were ready for college level reading/writing of papers compared to his public school counterparts. This is what prep schools do best: train critical thinking skills. They really hammer home how to write analytical essays.
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Move on please. The purpose of this thread is not to debate BS vs LPS for college admissions
When does matriculation data typically get shared on the Lville website? Curious how it looks for 2022 - did most kids at Lville get into their target schools? T20 schools? Hearing that 2022 has been a challenging admissions year across the board.
Even this year, pretty much everyone has gotten into a college that you’d “expect” them to go to (based on their reputations)—most exceptions are people who got into schools that are more selective than those you’d think they’d attend, not the other way around.
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Usually the information shared by schools is for the last 3 or 5 years, so it will be difficult to read 2020 on its own. Every school on the list, T20 or otherwise, will likely be name you are familiar with. This is true of most prep schools. Again, the focus on college outcomes is misplaced.
Since course selections are to be made soon a few questions for this forum (appreciate all your valuable input!)
- It looks like Science is pretty set, so is it only in junior year a student could pick Chem/Bio etc? Do these junior year courses prepare or help prepare for AP exams at all?
*Do students typically take a language for 3 years or less? - It looks like the plan is for 6 courses each year is this only true of form 2 and 3 or also 4 and 5?
- if anyone can share a typical course map through the 4 years that would be super helpful
@PSM here is the course schedule from 2018 for my son:
Grade 9 (Form II)
Fall Winter Spring
English English English
History History History
Language Language Language
Math Math Math
Science Science Science
Art Art
Grade 10 (Form III)
Fall Winter Spring
English English English
History History History
Language Language Language
Math Math Math
Science Science Science
Design Religion Religion
Grade 11 (Form IV)
Fall Winter Spring
English English English
History History History
Language Language Language
Math Math Math
Science Science Science
Grade 12 (Form V)
Fall Winter Spring
History English English
History Language History
English English Language
Language Math CS
Science Science Science
To answer your other questions: science in forms 2 and 3 are pretty fixed. I think in forms 4 and 5 there is more flexibility. Language: I believe only 3 years is required, but my son took it for all 4. I think it depends on the student. Students take 6 courses per term except the first term of Form 2. During that term they only take 5 courses, and the non math classes are graded pass/fail.