Golfkiddo wins the understatement of the day award. 
4 Likes
It IS a tough time for all, but the COVID interruptions represent only a fraction of the four-year experience and every school, public and private, has been affected. I would be truly sorry though if, minus COVID, your daughter does not feel that the whole of her Deerfield education has been outstanding and a privilege.
1 Like
The reason I posted the grading breakdown is that it is considered in the admissions process and in college counseling. The GPA is relevant to the âinner workingsâ. I am not confident that busy AOâs are even discriminating between weighted and non-weighted. I hear that grades are âunweighted outâ for review at colleges. Hope thatâs true. Not sure. If you have systemic grade deflation and grade compression (even admitted by faculty), itâs going to have an
impact on college admissions. As noted above, itâs stressful to be told âyou need a 3.85 for XYZâ, when achieving that benchmark is very difficulty compared to other schools.
Thanks. It has been a privilege and GolfKiddo is very grateful. But also recruiting has been impacted and choices had to be made that were very difficult for a teenager. COVID and its restrictions has made it a strange experience and isolating for students - even those lucky enough to be on campus.
1 Like
Understand that those âbusy AOsâ at each college are the readers for your particular BS, not some randos. They were probably manning the tables at your schoolâs college fair, know your childâs GC by name (and vice versa), and have been dealing with your schoolâs grading rubric for decades. And, your childâs app will be read by more than one reader familiar with your school.
I would interpret that statement to mean you need a 3.85 from Deerfield for XYZ. Perhaps Choate students are being told, âyou need a 4.3 for XYZ.â The point is that for XYZ you need to be at the very top of the class and that is a tiny pool at every BS. But again, you donât go to BS for XYZ, and every student is going to end up at a fine college.
I will point out again as an example that our son knew he wasnât a candidate for a couple of schools because of the actual CHOATIES he knew he was competing against. Regardless of Choateâs grading scale, there were students who had higher grades than he did, grades that were achieved under the same restrictions/same classes. He didnât stand a chance in those cases because of his incredibly high-achieving peers. He was not being compared to any other boarding schoolâs students, just his friends Jim, Bob, and Noah. See?
1 Like
It is such a privilege to be at Deerfield and even though my son if batting clean up on the GPAs he wouldnât want to be anywhere else and I am still confidence he will get into a great college and thrive. I do feel sad to see DA trashed on this site when it has done such an amazing job during COVID. The recent survey showed an overwhelming support for the school and headmaster. Let you daughter enjoy her final couple of years and she will bleed green for live with an high school experience unmatched by most. Sorry, this isnât combative this it is just difficult to stay silent. I have spoken to many colleges admission departments (trying to figure out class selection) and they LOVE Deerfield kids.
2 Likes
âI will point out again as an example that our son knew he wasnât a candidate for a couple of schools because of the actual STUDENTS he knew he was competing against. Regardless of Choateâs grading scale, there were students who had higher grades than he did, grades that were achieved under the same restrictions/same classes. He didnât stand a chance in those cases because of those incredibly high-achieving students. He was not being compared against any other schoolâs students, just his friends Jim, and Bob, and Noah. See?â
This phenomenon is not limited to Prep schools. Do you think that Columbia wants 100 students from Stuy, Bronx HS Science, or any other of the âexamâ public HSâs in the country, even though a very significant portion of the senior class is âqualifiedâ for admission? No. Does Harvard take the top 25 kids from Brookline HS (a public, non exam school) even though among those 25 are kids who are off the charts PLUS legacies, PLUS faculty? No.
This thread is fascinating to me- a non- prep school parent who went to a plain vanilla public HS but knew a lot of prep school kids in college. You donât think that public school kids agonize over grade compression, grade deflation? You think that only Deerfield has humanities teachers who never give Aâs?
The only difference as far as I can tell is that your plain vanilla public school kid might be getting sub-par guidance counseling, doesnât have internet access at home (or own a laptop) and that a portion of the HS class is going directly into the military, CC, or a non four year college option. But that doesnât change the dynamic at the top, where EVERY public school kid recognizes that a list which includes Harvard and Princeton has to also include their own state flagship and likely, a state (not their own) where they are an auto-admit.
The grade compression/deflation is not a prep school phenomenonâŠ
5 Likes
I was just thinking about how much of a kidâs formative high school life is impacted by covid. At least 25% as of right now. That is quite a lot in teen-time. Even with some students being on campus, the impact is profound and will continue to be next year, too. The ECs gone, traditions obliterated, social interactions constrained, and the quality of education trashed.*. Just makes me sad.
Otoh, these kids are going to be so darned resilient when this bad patch is over.
*totally agree that bs is a privilege and am profoundly grateful, though. Kiddo is so so fortunate.
5 Likes
Wholeheartedly agree with your comment. Iâm a couple days late, but as a current junior at Choate, Iâm still waiting for this easy road to an A. Whenâs it coming? Seriously. Students here donât just get easy As because thatâs Choateâs thing. If a student gets an A, they truly had to work for it.
And even if we do have grade inflation, each class Iâve taken at Choate is about ten thousand times harder than any I took at my old public school. Choate classes donât teach for a test or a grade or anything like that; we learn to learn. Thatâs that.
7 Likes
Well, @Golfgr8 given what you have posted re: DA there are two drawbacks for students. 1. The very top students arenât allowed to earn very top grades. 2. Since many/most are in the 89-91 range, kids that arenât stellar are likely being given grades that are higher than otherwise so that they donât fall outside the range. Overall, that system would upset me ( and my kids) a lot.
I do recognize that grades are lower at most BSâs. That being said, I think if it becomes impossible to attain an A grade at DA, then the range isnât 1-100, itâs effectively 89-93(or whatever the actual numbers are.
1 Like
My guess is that for 99% of the things a DA kid uses his GPA for, it doesnât matter because the people looking at it know what it means. But there will be some things (Ivy League AI, some national programs with flat grade cut-offs, some collegeâs automatic scholarships, etc.) where a lower GPA is a negative. Also Iâm guessing that golfkiddo is looking at some schools outside the regular suspects for BS kids because of golf, so there may be some coaches or even AOâs who question why they are recruiting a low to mediocre student. Presumably in that case it can be alleviated somewhat by a school profile report.
1 Like
So great to see you here, @CavsFan2003. Thanks for chiming in. I canât believe youâre a junior!
2 Likes
Thanks so much ChoatieMom! Itâs my pleasure, always have to defend my future alma mater 
This past year and a little more than a half have flown by! Starting college counseling has only cemented that. Already a little sad that Iâm going to have to leave next year.
1 Like
This is going to be their generationâs version of "where were you when Reagan was shot/Space shuttle exploded/9/11 happened, etc.)
âWhen did you graduate HS? 2021? So you were a senior when the world broke. I was 2019 so I was already in college. What did your school do?â
Various versions of that conversation will still be happening when our kids are playing cards with each other in the nursing home.
7 Likes
Just a reminder to all to please not get too focused on a single issue in this type of conversation. Thanks.
Choate takes its rivalry with Deerfield very seriously and has committed to winning the GPA competition. In your face, Deerfield! 
As for the AOs, I expect they couldnât care less about comparing the two schools to one another.
3 Likes
Anyone hear from their GC how to âvisitâ schools this Spring? Kidâs trying to build the list and narrow it at the same time. In person visits would help. Seems unlikely. Canât do everything online. All the videos look the same 
1 Like
Probably the last half of Dâs interviews, when I got on one of my questions was basically, "we all have Zoom fatigue, Iâm sure she is blending in with other kids you saw and you are blending in with other schools she saw. Whatâs one thing that makes [Brooks, NMH, whoever] different?
No one argued that Zoom doesnât kind of stink for both sides.
Sorry I meant for kids who were already at BS and looking at collegeâs. Thread was inner workings of the CG. Guess I was thinking have any BSâs/parents come up with a good way to look at colleges?
@dadof4kids I really feel for ba applicants too because the kids are so young first time away etc. .
We were going to visit informally during spring break, but our son doesnt have a clear list of schools. Plus, we didnt want to risk him getting COVID and not being able to immediately return on campus from the break.
Weâre planning informal visits this summer. Web marketing videos are not very useful.
1 Like