<p>ParentNY, a 3.5 at a top prep school is excellent. When you vist the school next time, take a look at the "College Book" that the college counseling office most likely keeps. You can see a 4- 5 year record of kids applying to all of the colleges from that school along with their profiles and the results. No names given, just profiles and indicators of special factors. That can give you an idea of what a 3.5 can do at that school.</p>
<p>I will add that there are some schools and programs that will not adjust those grades, generally the larger state colleges. Also some scholarship programs will not budge. But the top private colleges tend to give prep school kids with rigorous courseloads leeway in gpa. My son was accepted to Yale with some mixed grades that would have knocked him well out of contention if he were not going to this sort of school. Ironically, one of the state schools where he applied was holding his app for a mid year report because they were jumpy about his inconsisitency. Not so Yale.</p>
<p>Parentny wrote, "I have come to USA as a graduate student and did okay. However, I am not familiar with high school or undergrad schooling in this country."</p>
<p>Welcome to the forum. I especially say welcome because I lived outside the United States for six years of my life (all after I did my undergraduate degree, which was in Chinese language) so I can appreciate the immigrant experience. </p>
<p>I'm going to make a wild guess that you are from somewhere in east Asia. One of the concerns you could have after reading a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal a year or two ago, about a Korean-American boy who applied to top engineering schools after attending a prep school with a strong record, is that maybe, INDEED, a 3.5 GPA might not be enough for your son to achieve his dreams--depending on what his dreams are. I think you are gaining awareness that in the United States, probably unlike the country you came from, admission to university is not based on a strict rank-ordering of applicants from top to bottom. </p>
<p>My wife is from east Asia herself, although her higher education was all in the United States. I don't think we will try prep school for any of our children. So far we are homeschooling. I also am not sure what my oldest son (younger than your son) will desire to study, or where he will desire to study it. I visit the other parents here because I am pretty sure that the system in the United States has changed--at least it has become more competitive--from the days when I went to college. I try to learn here what kind of preparation makes for a BETTER chance to get into a satisfying college--there is no sure path for any applicant, and not all colleges fit all applicants. </p>
<p>I would strongly encourage you to figure out what your son is personally most strongly interested in. He will have to live his life doing something, and he might as well enjoy what he is doing. Letting him develop his own "passion" and strong interest in something can be better for his future than getting higher test scores and better grades--it can even be better for helping him get into a competitive college. </p>
<p>If you are from a Chinese-speaking country, you and I have plenty to talk about. Please visit often; there is a lot to learn here.</p>
<p>just wanted to clarify that the IB exams are out of 7 (as APs are out of 5), but the actual grade that shows up on your transcript is out of whatever your schools system decides, and completely unrelated to what you receive on the 1-7 score.</p>
<p>Some schools on the 4.0 scale give students +2 points for AP/IB classes, and +1 for honors/preIB!! GPAs from different schools are not strictly comparable by the #.</p>
<p>To the OP,
as others have said, there must be a record at the school where all of the kids applied and are attending for the last few years, at least. My public high school had one, so I'm sure your private prep school will have one as well. It might even be available freely somewhere in the school (mine had a "career center" with information about all things post HS), or you may have to ask for it from the office. Your child is doing fine, and will be a good candidate for top universities in the US.</p>
<p>dmd77: Some how the school has very hard grading system. The counselor has told my son that nobody has ever scored 4.0 in their school history. Somehow the advance classes are taught beyond APs. For BC calculus class last year, there was only two kids out of 50 who were given A, rest were handed out Bs or Cs. On regular AP BC calc exam, more than 15 kids scored 5 and most C student scored 4. However the school shows grade of 5/6 thus lowering the grade. There is no weighing factor even if you take a harder class. But similarly he is finding that most of the kids are given B and thus dropping their grade but they all most likely get 5 on AP exam. </p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestion; I would ask some specific questions from school to help us understand the system.</p>
<p>Jamimom: Thanks with your kind words and your own story. </p>
<p>Tokenadult: We are from Southeast Asia. My son is not sure what will be his major. </p>
<p>Thanks all for your help. It seems that I need to ask more question on this board before saying words as I need to eduacte myself about schooling system in USA.</p>
<p>Well, my son's boarding school ranks their students. Unweighted, too. And they give out privileges according to the GPA (things like having the room door closed during study hall, or being allowed to go to the beach on Sunday).</p>
<p>BTW, parentNY, my husband went to RPI (did most of a bachelor's and most of a master's, then dropped out and worked in the graphics lab (helping graduate students) with Mike Wozny)--when were you there?</p>
<p>Reading about the OP's son's PSAT score made me think of a comment I heard recently. A sophomore at our school made a 240 on the PSAT and a junior said "I feel sorry for him - he peaked too early!" </p>
<p>To the OP: your school will most likely send a "school profile" to the colleges. Ours shows AP scores, where students attend college, what classes are offered, grading scale, etc. His teachers can explain their grading system and what kind of a student he is when they write their recommendations. If he's at the top of the class taking the hardest courses in a competitive school the colleges will see that.</p>
<p>There was an article in the Boston Globe Magazine section this past Sunday about a prep school northwest of Boston that has notoriously low grades, even though the students have astronomical SAT scores. It's the Belmont Hill School. The article was about how low their grades were compared to other schools and the effect it had on college admissions. The article said that the low grades of their students did not affect admissions at the colleges that were familiar with the peculiar grading at this school, particularly the Ivies. However, as their students are applying to a wider range of schools that aren't as familiar with the grading system they wonder how it's affecting students' college admissions.</p>
<p>Admissions to state universities whose admissions are more numbers driven are the biggest problem. The article said that in the past two years, two students were rejected from the University of Michigan and had to go to Harvard instead.</p>
<p>My son is academically waitlisted at Michigan which has formally requested a Mid Year Report before accepting him even though he was cleared to audition there. He was accepted at Yale and they did not ask for the Report, nor did he have to auditon.I have mentioned several times that if the school is not on the radar screen of a college,or if the college is strictly formula driven, kids in such prep schools can be at a disadvantage. The other problem is with scholarships. Many of them do want that gpa or class rank, and you just can't expect a local scholarship committee to give your kid points for going to a prepschool instead of the local school. I know some swimmers that missed out on all-American status and other things because of their deflated grades. A young man I know who is one smart kid did not have a spectacular gpa and did not get an ROTC scholarship where as another kid got one on the spot with his very high gpa at a school where most of the kids are on the honor roll, and the scale is on a 5.0 or 6.0 which made him look fantastic. You do lose out in some ways. Especially if you do not get the numbers on the College Board exams.</p>
<p>My daughter's boarding school also give's some perks for grades, but thats more internal as opposed to ranking each class with regard to college apps. She is in her first semester. No grade inflation at her school. I am glad I came across this thread. It helps shed light on grades and bs.</p>
<p>My daughter also had mixed A's and B's from a rigorous private school- a 3.6, I think, and 1400 SAT's, but got into MIT. But the other point is that you can go to a no-name college, work hard, and get into a decent grad or professional school and end up making big bucks, if that's what you want. Ever heard of Christian Brothers College in Memphis? No one would ever guess that a relative of mine making over $500K per year started there.</p>