@one1ofeach I’m sure you will hear lots of grumbling from senior parents. The challenge is that very few to no parents are happy with the current college admissions process (at BS or anywhere).
The reality is that if your kids are aiming to get merit money or auto admission based on gpa- BS will make it complicated. For most of us on the other side of the BS journey, we knew that going in and would do it all over again.
Our private school (day) tried to hold the line for a long time, but just recently caved and began grade inflation. They feared their students were disadvantaged in college admissions otherwise. My eldest was amazed at how much easier college was than high school and how much better she did.
I just wish I knew more about “gaming” course selection on the front end. Not that I would change the experience (and I bet my DD wouldn’t either); however, the ride is VERY visibly different for certain students at our school. Merit, something important to our family, will be adversely affected by the two or so points (yes, just two or so points) that my DD will be dinged as a result of taking honors and AP classes as they are not weighted. Her merit will be half of that of a friend who took a straight load as it is clear that the school does not dive as deeply into the profile and curriculum as some might believe. These are not sour grapes at all, but families should go into this knowing this important information - and select classes wisely.
There is merit aid given out that is not based on strict GPA cutoffs. One of my kids was offered some generous merit aid without stellar grades. But I’m sure it depends on how much merit aid one is looking for.
I guess I think there is a more balanced ground between 47% of kids having an A- GPA or better (which I agree with @CaliPops seems absurd) and only 7 kids in a class having ONE grade between a 90 and 95, not even a whole GPA in that range. You can’t tell me that’s not active grade deflation and I guess I don’t get the purpose of that.
I am not really complaining but I am puzzled.
This!! Highly selective schools are not looking for more boarding school kids so it’s not an advantage. But others are (SMU, I’m looking at you!). SMU, in its bid to have a more national presence, is affirmatively targeting BS kids because SMU believes it will raise the school’s profile in the Northeast. I think they are right. One or 2 kids from my son’s school went every few years, but my son’s year 5 went from Hotchkiss. And the next year SMU started rejecting some kids.
My other son got merit aid from his match and safety schools (about $10,000/year for matches and about $25,000/year from the safeties). And he didn’t have a world beating GPA.
University of Denver is another. I’ve seen students who were frankly pretty mediocre at their boarding school get hugely generous merit aid at DU. The school has a lot going for it and the students have been very happy there.
Many very solid LACs in the midwest can be very generous as well.
It IS a factor and unfortunately parents need to know too much data before kids even get to Junior year in high school. Parents who know BS kid is likely to go to a state honors program need a different plan than parents who plan to send their kid to a small liberal arts school. Many BS parents don’t need FA. So that means that the school can deflate grades more easily than a local public where parents would be screaming. This used to work for BS, since AO’s knew the schools. But it is likely more of a math formula these days and some can get the short end.
All of the Senior parents are stressed out right now which is trickling down to the Jr and Soph parents. We went through the same thing last year but most people were happy with how it all shuffled out by the time April rolls around.
I get the feeling that grading does make a difference at some large flagships that basically use a matrix of GPA and test scores for admissions, honors and merit. That is just a reality of the situation. But, as @vegas1 said, most are aware of it going in and would do it again for kids that are well-prepared to succeed in college wherever they end up.
I think you’ve hit the nail right on the head @Happytimes2001 !
FWIW @doschicos, Golfnephew#1 got merit aid and golf team @ (loves it) DU…Golfniece#1 got merit aid at U of Chicago - merit aid was a factor and they received more offers and $ from Midwest & Southern schools after prep school - rejected by NE schools. This was a couple of years ago, but their grades were in the 3.6-3.75 ranges - Golfnephew had more offers (we believe) because of his sport. Some schools had unique merit aid and scholarship offerings (first generation, parent who is first-responder, local family, etc) did the homework on it starting Sophomore year.
I definitely think applying to some schools out of New England is good for any boarding school students list. There are some excellent colleges who would love to have BS kids that aren’t the usual BS kid targets. Too many applications and therefore competition to NESCAC, for example while schools in other regions don’t see the love but are equally impressive.
My kid had a GPA with lots of rigor (but no weighting) that was probably closer to a B+ than an A-. Good, but not amazing test scores. Got merit of $25-30,000 at several excellent LACs. That was 4 years ago. Not ancient history.
Please remember, folks, as you are hearing from panicked senior parents, that most schools will only start reporting their first round of decisions in December (because most just closed admissions for EA/ED yesterday and have a single date for reporting decisions) so the reports of senior parents are far, far from complete. And some may be speculative. Yes, there are some schools that have rolling admissions but I would be surprised if so many students at most BS had applied to those that conclusions could be made the results for the class.
Trust me, I really relate. I was worried sick when we were going through this for so many reasons. But it really did turn out just fine for my kid and his friends (and for the kids of some of the most vocal parents at our school.)
Cat is out of the bag with going south, the ‘best’ schools in the south are massively popular with NE kids - Duke is the hottest school there is these days, with Vanderbilt, Emory and Wake Forest not far behind. And Davidson and Elon are getting there, plus UVA and UNC for people willing to look at state flagships, and Georgia Tech for STEM people. And a lot of more, getting out of the NE winters is a draw for a lot of kids, and some of the southern flagships offer good merit aid too (Alabama). I think if you want to get some real points for geographical diversity, mountain west or west north of CA (and the handful of CA SLACs) are probably your best bets.