@gardenstategal - that’s probably part of it. I suspect there is a big legacy impact in the lists above. Maybe not so much of a recruited athletes impact as East Coast schools, though.
MIT - I would bet money on the non-legacy effect. I think it is reflected at the other bs’s matriculation lists, too. CalTech is too small to tell for sure, but probably same thing.
But I will say that CalTech culture is very different from Cate’s, and I can see it being a mismatch. Harvey Mudd on the other hand, makes more sense to me.
I can’t help thinking that even kids who love STEM and would ordinarily apply to a tech school, will look at LACs due to their BS experience.
I find that kids who attend BS learn to love learning. And many love multiple subjects. Technology magnet high schools and some schools will allow kids to double up on STEM classes. That’s tough at BS. The curriculum requires a balance.
Just a thought I’ve had as a parent. I’m happy about this as I think high school is a great time to explore many subjects.
I don’t think UCs look at legacy status. So that maybe impacts those matriculation numbers. Hadn’t thought about that. Berkeley is a stem destination school for sure.
I think we were discussing schools with “tech” (or something similar) in their names or with a primary focus on STEM. Cal Poly is one school that fits that criterion and is one of the few that don’t consider legacy status.
The grading issue is one that continues to stress out DA students, IMHO. I post this as mid-term grades are pending. It is almost impossible to earn anything above a 92 in a Humanities class. There is one English teacher whose nickname is “Mr 89”. You will see many course medians at 89, 90, 91. This was problematic for our kiddo last year when applying to a summer program with a GPA cut-off of 3.85. We had to request a letter from an advisor @ the unweighted grades and the grading breakdown at the school.
I randomly picked Lawrenceville School since a friend attended there:
The national “safety schools” (i.e., ones ranked #49-66) appear to be Lehigh, Northeastern, SMU, Miami and Fordham while the LAC safeties (#34-44) are Bucknell, Lafayette and Trinity College. These are all excellent schools so even the bottom of Lawrenceville is very strong. Many BSs will have a chunk going to the flagship state U but not Rutgers or Penn State for LS. Instead its top publics are UVA, Wisconsin, U-M and W&M.
@Golfgr8, please let this go. I say this kindly. You have no control over this. It is what it is, and you will see that Deerfield students are not hampered by the school’s grading rubric. Your daughter and her entire class will do very well with college admissions, probably even better than Choaties as Deerfield is viewed as a more academically rigorous school. Students are evaluated against their peers who are all under the same restrictions. Deerfield students are not being compared to Choate students or Brooks students or Exeter students or (anyotherBShere). You’ll drive yourself crazy if you focus on this. Are you discussing your concerns with your daughter’s GC? That is the resource who can put your mind at ease.
@Golfgr8 - If I am reading those charts correctly, 103 students- close to 2/3 - are in the range of B+ to A- . That’s pretty tightly packed.
This may be impossible to answer, but from what you can tell, are the students really packed that tightly in terms of academic ability? Part of me thinks they probably are - aint no slouches at DA.
I ask because from a college admissions standpoint I wonder if the grades are all that helpful for an AO to differentiate between students academically who fall between a 92 and an 89. But then, I suppose the rigor of courses different students take helps with that?
So hard to know what to make of that distribution, esp since it is just junior year. And then next year will be worse because goodness knows what the pandemic will do to grade interpretation.
I do think it will all be fine, though. DA students in that range do very well, per the matriculation reports.
1000 percent agree. College admissions officers will have the common data set for your school. There are almost as many grading systems as there are schools. The AOs will evaluate students in the context of the school they attend. Whether one school has grade inflation or another has grade deflation is completely irrelevant.
Did your child receive an outstanding high school education? Is s/he prepared to hit the ground running at any college s/he attends? If the answer to both is “yes,” then the BS did its job and you got what you paid for. I will pound the drum again that what boarding schools are selling is a phenomenal high school education, not any particular college result.
@Golfgr8 You might want to take a look at the UVA admissions blog. They did a recent piece on GPA. In a nutshell they say a GPA in and of itself is meaningless. Even two students from the same highschool with the same GPA can have very different coursework and levels of rigor on their transcripts.
Thanks @ChoatieMom but I do feel that Choate and DA are often compared and have many similarities - except I do think Choate has greater diversity representation among its students. Forgive me if I am wrong on this. You know I respect your insights and opinions.
Any PA parents/students out there who can explain their grading system? It seems to be a 0-6. How does that translate into GPA?
Great question! I just asked GolfKiddo. The reply was “I don’t know what is considered outstanding. There have been so many changes over the past year - even before COVID - that it is difficult to say if I had an outstanding education. Is it better than public school in terms of quality? Yes. Are we on campus? Yes. Am I incredibly blessed to be at DA? Yes. It’s been a very tough time, however, to be a high school student anywhere right now - not just BS”
