<p>"I hope those regional directors will closely look at each individual's school and take things in context."</p>
<p>I'm hoping for that also, but I doubt they will now.</p>
<p>My son has a 4.0 GPA in a public school (AP/gifted classes mostly). Does it necessary mean that his grades are inflated? Our experience shows that his A in his AP class will give him a 5 on the AP test and 800 on SAT IIs with no extra study. To me it looks like a pretty decent education. Does he need to work to get his A's? You bet.</p>
<p>Citygal has a valid concern about hs gpa. It really hurts to graduate from a hs that does not give out As like candy, b/c too many high schools are doing that. I think that it hurts even more when it comes time to receive merit awards. Many colleges just go by the #s (gpa and sat score), so IMO, if you are coming from a hs where there is not grade inflation, you are at a disadvantage. BTW, this is the case at my son's hs, so I understand this situation all too well. My son did get generous merit awards at 5 schools, but b/c of a lack of grade inflation at his hs, he lost out on merit awards at 3 other schools (sat scores were well above what was required, but missed gpa requirements).</p>
<p>All the more reason to choose your school wisely :)</p>
<p>Believe me, if I could choose another hs without it costing me financially, I would do just that. I am frustrated with this situation too.</p>
<h2>Just browsing-"So which is easier? The school where teachers swoop in to help, or the school where you have to help yourself?"</h2>
<p>I've never heard of a college professor, swooping in to help and hold your hand while you're doing a test, etc. So I find it nice that private schools baby there kids but I don't see how thats really very helpful</p>
<p>Oh dear me. I am so sick of this, too. I know for a fact that my own numerical average is inflated, but it's nothing compared to what's happening in my school.</p>
<p>We don't have any weighting system in our school. It's terrible. Unweighted GPAs, unweighted rankings. That means that the kids who take easy, easy non-honors courses and get 100's in all their classes are ranked above the kids who have really challenging course loads and get 95's.</p>
<p>at my HS when we send our transcripts to colleges they get a school report of all the relevant statistical information you want, ap scores, sat avgs, etc etc.</p>
<p>if a school is inflating GPA, college admins know that. students arent blindly accepted based on GPA, demographics and tons of other factors come into play. </p>
<p>i know there are some kids that go to high schools with at least 25+ students going to ivy league every year, while at my school we get perhaps 2. </p>
<p>i went to public hs and turned out fine! this ain't a coincidence</p>
<p>"How many kids have you known who are pulling a 4.0 in science class who couldn't tell you what an electron in [sic]?"</p>
<p>I can honestly say that all my friends pulling 4.0s in science classes know what an electron is.</p>
<p>yeah seriously. i was even able to fill in "ion" in a NY times cross word puzzle for the clue, "A charged particle."</p>
<p>public school has paid off in spades</p>
<p>AND i kept all my text books. **** yeah!</p>
<p>ozym, Students are not blindly accepted based on gpa, but merit aid is blindly given out from some colleges based on SAT and gpa, without paying attention to the hs the student attended. At other schools this is not the case and other factors are considered (hs, ecs, leadership etc.).</p>
<p>Sure, the school report helps...but I don't think it helps as much as people want to believe it does. I think the reputation of the school matters a lot more. East coast boarding schools are well known by Ivy and Ivy Caliber admins, but very challenging west coast and midwest schools often aren't as well known. The school report isn't all that helpful. </p>
<p>Case in point...my school gets about 10-12 acceptances to Princeton each year. Many of those same kids get rejected or waitlisted by Georgetown!!!! My friend at a very competitive religious school is going to Georgetown...with about 25 classmates. I think one person out of her class of 200 got into Princeton, with about 15 applications. Are you telling me these kids are being helped by the school report? Everyone in the situation seems equally matched...</p>
<p>northeastmom is SO right that private school kids really get the short end of the stick when it comes to merit aid. I didn't get merit aid many places (only my safeties and one match) because of my GPA, despite adequate test scores. It seems so unfair. I feel like I did so much work in high school and it's not even paying off. </p>
<p>As for teachers swooping in to help vs. being on your own, I feel like I am more prepared to do college work than many (NOT ALL, certainly there are exceptional IB, magnet, and regular public schools) of my public school counterparts (remember, I live in a city with some serious public education problems). My teachers were available for help whenever I needed it, but don't get the idea that they stopped class whenever I didn't understand something, or sat down with me during a test to go over problems! Private school teachers do not "baby" students. They are willing to help outside of class, much like a college professor helping during office hours. The willingness to help is very comparable to the services of a helpful TA or any LAC situation. So stop acting like we are "babied" by our teachers.</p>
<p>If your school is looking at acceptances like that across the board (ie 10-12 to P-town, 10 to the others) there is proof right there that going to a boarding school is putting you in a much stronger position because you probably CAN do the work better than most pub. HS students with a 4.0. Essentially, a lower GPA from your school isnt screwed over.</p>
<p>So it appears that you have much higher chances of getting into a top tier school, how many people are going to be sympathetic that you didnt get any or enough merit aid. Especially considering that you paid 20k? a year for the private school.</p>
<p>Even if schools send their statistical data out, colleges have no way of really knowing how hard a school, or to another extent, a class is. Some schools (my school, for example), your grade really depends on the teacher. My AP US teacher happened to give 4s out as much as the other AP US teacher gave out 6s. (In AP US, the grading system is out of 9) I got one 3, two 5s, and the rest 4s on my essays all year. My friends, on the other hand, laughed and said they didn't get anything lower than a 5 all year ,and in some cases, anything lower than a 6. Some schools are simply insanely easy, and as the OP says, there are many kids who show off their 3.9 and 4.0 GPAs, who really just are benefiting from an easy grading scale. A 9th grade friend of mine moved from New Jersey to Kansas, and in Kansas, when the principal heard that he was from New Jersey, he moved my friend to 10th and 11th grade classes, because he knew NJ is so much harder than Kansas. </p>
<p>While I'm ranting, I might as well go into AP tests. Why don't colleges really look at AP tests? They're supposed to be standardized, and to unify the country. My friend in Maryland had a 4.0 GPA, and got one 2, one 5, and all the rest 3's on his AP tests (he took 6 in total before seinor year) - he's going to Cornell. Compare it to my other friend, who had a 3.5 GPA, got straight 5's on 6 AP tests (this is before senior year) - he gets to go to Rutgers (no scholarship either). So..AP tests don't even matter, even though they're standardized? That's what I'm seeing.</p>
<p>On another point, while I rant, GPA doesn't even accurately measure people's eventual success. Do college admissions officers really think someone who tries hard as hell, pulls all-nighters 4 days a week, to get a 4.0, really will be more successful than someone naturally bright, who does'nt treat high school as seriously, and gets a 3.5? I agree, the person with a 3.5 may be lazy, and this wouldn't help him at all in the future, but I think you definitely should ride with teh potential this guy has. How do you see this potential? Standardized tests. Meanwhile, grades are determined by things like homework, participation, which, in the grand scheme of things, aren't really going to make you succeed in life. So what are we telling the next generation? "Who cares if you're incapable or just plain dumb? If you try as hard as you can and you have heart, you'll succeed!" Really. People need to get a dose of reality. </p>
<p>Ok. I'm done. Peace.</p>
<p>Yea seriously you can't complain about not getting sufficient merit aid if you're parents are willing to pay atleast 20k a year to send you to a private school( what a waste of money).</p>
<p>
[quote]
My teachers were available for help whenever I needed it, but don't get the idea that they stopped class whenever I didn't understand something, or sat down with me during a test to go over problems! Private school teachers do not "baby" students. They are willing to help outside of class, much like a college professor helping during office hours.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Citygal55, That's hardly what I meant. </p>
<p>My experience at private schools were that teachers weren't just willing to help you, but that they would offer the help. If they saw that you were getting a fairly low grade, they would COME UP TO YOU, and tell you what you needed to do to raise it. Its not like you are being babied, but teachers are still doing everything they can to make sure that you get a good grade (short of actually giving it you for nothing of course). Teachers at private schools don't want to see you get a bad grade, they'll give it you if they have to (as in if you don't do all the work, or don't pass the tests and what not), but they will do what they can to avoid that by approaching you way before you get to far in.</p>
<p>My public school experience has been that if you aren't getting as good of a grade as you would like, you have to approach the teacher, you have to find a time to talk with them, they aren't going to make themeselves readily available. It has to be on your perogative that you have the much needed "chat" with the teacher. This is very similar to "office hours" at college.</p>
<p>Sorry, but...you need to pull your head out of your little private school ass.</p>
<p>Just because I went to a public school doesn't mean I don't deserve my 4.0 GPA. Only one other person in my class earned a perfect transcript, and it doesn't matter how many hours we did or didn't put into making our grades.</p>
<p>And for the little 'I bet my friends know more than public school kids do,' comment. I don't give a crap how much useless information your friends can regurgitate because that doesn't amount to squat when it comes to intelligence and potential.</p>
<p>well said katho11....that is true</p>
<p>I love how people are so quick to turn an argument about grade inflation into a private / public school issue. Every school - ** every ** school - is different. So please, lets not try to compare apples to palm trees.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, there are HUGE gaps in public education simply going over county lines. Is that fair? Not at all. And that's what the real issue should be about. It ****ed me off to no end knowing that working extremely hard and pulling a 4.2 only put me in the top 20% of my class while Working equally hard at the school two districts over or where ever would have me speaking at graduation.</p>
<p>Recently, the federal government has talked about creating a national 'grading' system, where the difficulty of public schools is graded based on national criteria, something I think would help all students. </p>
<p>Yea, college reps know grade discrepencies, blah blah blah. But 1. College arent going to want to lower their average freshmen GPA for the sake of YOUR high school thats really hard. And 2. Eventually, it comes down to personal pride. It's never fun being a little fish in a big pond when you know you have the talent to be a big fish in a little one.</p>
<p>So honestly, please, stop turning this into West Side Story, sharks vs the jets, montagues vs. capulets, north vs. south, private vs. public, whatever. At every level, there will be kids who make the most of their situations, kids who waste what they're handed and kids who get screwed over due to gaps in grading systems.</p>
<p>First of all, not all private schools cost $20,000 or more. MOST do not cost that much. </p>
<p>I do not go to boarding school, and I think I made that clear in several posts. </p>
<p>How my parents choose to spend their money is THEIR business, not yours. Believe it or not, many people make sacrifices to afford any private school. Why not criticize the many parents who preach about their choice to send their kids to public school, then buy them a Mercedes for their 16th birthday? In my opinion, education is the best way to spend one's money. I really think it is sad that many people don't understand what a student can get out of different types of schools and automatically assume all private school kids are snobs or that the education is a waste of money. My school not only gave me an amazing education, but I was instilled with a perspective of life and values I will carry with me always. I will always think of my school as a special place full of people who cared about each other. </p>
<p>And, believe it or not, there are lots of kids who have scholarships to private schools. I admit I was not one of them, but that certainly doesn't mean college is not a financial burden. I'm not a billionaire, and neither are most private school families. I would have liked to help my parents out beyond the money I will contributing from the jobs I have worked in the past 4 years. </p>
<p>I agree with the poster who talked about disparities among teachers of the same course. All the freshmen-juniors take the same English courses, and the differences between teachers was amazing. Some required no work to get an A; others it was impossible. </p>
<p>As for getting help, yes, my teachers wanted to see me do well. They rarely came up to any student unless he or she was near failing, though. B's and C's were normal grades. Unless students were repeatedly failing assignment after assignment, most teachers would not seek out the student. Some private schools are very nuturing, but mine was more tough love. The tradition mandated excellence, not hand-holding. However, I see no problem with a nurturing attitude. Some students need this, and then go on to LAC type schools and really excel. By age 18, many students who needed extra help at 14 have matured. I feel that people who are critical of teachers paying attention to students are trying to justify why their teachers who ignored them made them tougher, more self-sufficient people. Look, some people need extra help. It's nothing to be ashamed of. </p>
<p>The reason we send a lot of kids to Princeton has to do with the fact that our president is an influential member of some board there. Brown NEVER seems to accept anyone's application; neither does Penn or G-Town, but sure, there are some superstars who end up at Harvard, MIT, etc. Most kids end up at "normal" colleges where they breeze through freshman year with little effort. What angers me is that I see my peers killing themselves over a Stanford rejection because their GPA wasn't good enough, when they could have gotten a 4.5 or whatever at another school.</p>