<p>How bad is it to have a 4 avg as a lower at Andover? Is it difficult to rebound? What are the chances of getting into an Ivy League school with a 4 for the entire lower year? Is it better to just pull out my child and let them try for A's at the local high school? It would break my heart to do it, but I am worried about the future and college acceptance.</p>
<p>Ivy league…HIGHLY unlikely without some other significant hook. A top college, though? Entirely possible. But there need to be some 5s and 6s on the transcript in an area DC professes great interest in.</p>
<p>satellitemom–you must consider what you want/wanted from the bs for your child. </p>
<p>Going to Andover and obtaining perfect grades wont guarantee and space at an Ivy. </p>
<p>Similar story: In first grade math my d earned a B, third/fourth grade level. All her other grades were strong A’s. I asked the teacher was the course too difficult and should I move her down a level so she would have an A. The teacher remarked, " your d wont ever make an A in this class, when she gets close I will up the bar. I will challenge her. Sure change her to a lower math level, she wont be challenged nor learn much, but she will get the A. What do you want for her? In five or ten years, what will have the biggest impact on your child, all A’s in 1st grade, or the experience or growth and work and challenge?"</p>
<p>My d told people when they asked about grades, " I got all A’s except in math I got a B. My mom is proudest of the B because it is the only one I worked for".</p>
<p>Food for thought.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. However, as much as I would like to include the straight A’s from elementary school, college review boards only look at HS grades. By the way, these are the only B’s ever received.</p>
<p>I understand that the first year attending a bs is a bit tough, but good grades are a necessary evil. In order to get into an exceptional school, the grades need to be exceptional. And unfortunately, college boards use grades as a primary indicator as to how well the student has understood the HS subject matter. Wether or not it is an accurate indicator of the student’s actual intelligence is not the question. In my opinion, the child is brilliant. : )</p>
<p>Colleges know that a B from a boarding school is like an A++ from a public school. Boarding schools are well known for resisting grade inflation and most college Adcoms know the schools well enough to tell.</p>
<p>I can tell you as a MIT interviewer (for more than 30 years - sigh), those B’s - as long as they are in rigorous courses, aren’t going to really be an issue. They’re looking at the quality of the student and the challenging coursework, more than the numbers. Many BS courses are close to college level already anyway.</p>
<p>Pulling him out and putting him back in public school where the courses are easier will raise more questions than it answers.</p>
<p>Colleges whose median GPA for Andover kids is below 5 include Vanderbilt, Tufts, and Rice, for a quick example, all really good schools. (I checked on Naviance with my access as the parent of an upper, but I’m not sure how confidentially to treat the data, so I don’t want to look anything up more specifically.) But if you are going to feel like you’ve wasted your money if your kid ends up at one of these and not Yale, then it’s something that would be good to address now. Some kids with averages at 4.5 get into the most selective schools, but they probably have some amazing skill in something the colleges want.</p>
<p>I expect that you have already spoken with your child’s advisor, but if not do it! Find out what is getting in the way of earning a 5 in your child’s favorite subject. And if it’s something about the school environment that is not a good match for your child, that’s something you have to consider. I wouldn’t assume that a 4.0 Andover student is going to translate into a 4.0 public school student (and even if so, whether that would mean a better college admittance) but I don’t know your child or your public school. You could also talk to one of Andover’s college counselors.</p>
<p>A brilliant child needs study skills to get As at a highly competitive BS. Perhaps your child is in the process of learning and refining that skill. Many brilliant kids coast through local schools without the need to know how to study deeply and efficiently. The GPA in the 9th grade is the least important in the high school career. As long as your child is confident about being able to do better next year, it is a good idea to stay put.</p>
<p>@FellsMom, Lower is 10th grade, not 9th, which is why this is a more pressing issue</p>
<p>@TheBig5, Thanks for the heads-up.</p>
<p>On another note, I know highly successful people who went to HADES followed by 2nd-tier colleges. They continue sending their children to such highly selective high schools, even though their children again end up at so-called 2nd-tier colleges. They must treasure their high school experience despite getting Bs there.</p>
<p>You dont have a guarantee that your child may not freak out from being pulled out of Andover and get B’s anyway in lp? While the Ivies may not be in the cards with a 4 (they probably are with 1 ), the colleges just one tier below are. All top BS’s will be behind the student making sure they get into a great college, and it certainly will be an easier process since they know exactly what the top colleges want to see in rec letters, package etc.</p>
<p>This goes back to the old discussion of “Do you see BS as a means to an ends or an ends unto itself?”</p>
<p>The Andover grade range distribution is available in their school profile.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/PhillipsAcademySchoolProfile2010-2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/PhillipsAcademySchoolProfile2010-2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>As I read this thread and the posts that followed I realized there wouldn’t be a punch line. So this must be the tiger mom thread.
I can’t imagine stressing my child if she, God forbid, earns a B and I may pull her out of BS because she will ruin my dream of not making an Ivy school!
This is the first time that something on CC has knocked the wind out of me.</p>
<p>I’m also puzzled by the OP’s intent here. The child is doing well at school and, I’m inferring, liking it there. Is there a particular reason why the Ivy League (not a guarantee even for a straight A student) is so important? Suppose dc could get into a great, top 20, LAC? Would that be okay? Is this a family goal? The child’s goal? A parent’s goal? Were there any other reasons to send your child to Andover?</p>
<p>Sorry to hammer out so many questions, but it feels like there’s a missing piece here.</p>
<p>Wow, I too thought this was a joke thread. What kind of message are you sending to your child if you tell them one B is a failure??</p>
<p>Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes - “If you’re a straight-A student, there is only one way to go and that’s down.” What a depressing mindset for kids. It is much much better to be able to learn from one’s mistakes and roll with the punches.</p>
<p>Also - prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child!</p>
<p>I appreciate posts, but please read it before answering. I said a B average. That would mean that in the two terms of this school year, all the grades received culminated in a B AVG out of 10 classes. It is NOT a single B that worries me, but the other 9 put together that does.</p>
<p>My original question is in regards to how my student can get back on track at such a prestigious school. No longer being in the top 5th percentile of the graduating class alone is quite a blow, but not getting into a great school is just as worrisome. As to some of the reasons we chose a BS, personal growth, exceptional education, life skills, and yes good grades. No where in the paperwork did it guarantee admission to any university, let alone an Ivy League; but proximity to one of the big ones gave way to the dream of possibly attending one. Do I tell my student to stop dreaming?</p>
<p>I think you both have to assess how much going to an Ivy/M/S means to you as well as how much it means to your child.</p>
<p>From what I gather, the general sentiment of parents on this forum is “Going to an Ivy/M/S” is not the end-all be-all that so many make it out to be. And quite a few of us have in fact, gone to one of these schools.</p>
<p>@satellitemom</p>
<p>We heard you. Most of us have kids in similar situations. We’re telling you to step out of the picture and stop worrying. I’ve seen kids attempt suicide because their parents can’t stop talking about grades and what will get them into an IVY. I’ve seen them stress out, stop participating in other activities so they can study more and in general stop enjoying even the trips back home on vacation. </p>
<p>Grades ARE not the only factor and in fact - I have interviewed and seen students with hard earned “B’s” get spots at MIT and other IVY league schools over students with easy “A’s”</p>
<p>Stop worrying about it. It’s not an issue. I graduated from MIT, and worked for Harvard. </p>
<p>Tell your son to do his best. What will hurt him is not grades, it will be focusing solely on grades to the point that there’s nothing else interesting for him to talk about to his prospective college.</p>
<p>What hurts these kids most are parents who won’t let them find their way then yank them from a perfectly good environment to “compensate” and miss the mark completely.</p>
<p>How would you feel if you put him back in a local school and he STILL didn’t get into an IVY? Especially if the Adcoms noticed he was yanked from a rigorous school? The first thought will be - he couldn’t meet the challenge. That’s an easy application to put in the “no” pile when you’re staring at 13,000 other applications that toughed it out and did their best.</p>
<p>I hear the question as “how to get back on track?”</p>
<p>I was quite surprised that my son at a CHADES told me that many, many students have skype tutors. Where they find them and how they set them up, I don’t know. But that might be a way to help a student achieve better grades. BTW, my son doesn’t have any tutors, skype or otherwise.</p>
<p>All I can say is that I had many Bs at a basically unknown tiny, tiny private school and managed to get into elite colleges.</p>