Do College Admissions Officers understand Prep School?

[gardenstategal]

I get what you are saying, but the OP is asking “if my kid were an A student at our LPS, would she be perceived more favprably than if she were a B+ student at L’ville?”
You’ve answered a different question (which is often asked here.), We can’t answer OP’s question for sure, in part because her D, after 3 years at L’ville, will be a completely different candidate in many ways.

Many A students get turned away from tippy top schools. And B+ students from L’ville end up at very good schools. Probably not Ivies, but probably better schools that B+ students from middling public schools can get into. AOs recognize that being middle of the pack at a very selective BS is being the middle of a very strong pack. Kinda like “only” making it to the semi-final heat at the Olympic trials.

Also, OP, your D just finished a year in which she was also learning how to meet expectations at her new school. It’s not a given that her GPA,won’t improve.

[Mwfan1921]

@ameridad

The percentage accepted by Dartmouth from my kid’s “tippy-top” boarding school, which is quite rigorous academically, was no higher than Dartmouth’s overall acceptance rate.

An n of 1 high school doesn’t tell us anything really. I would expect though that ultimately we will see lower acceptance rates for prep schools (as compared to each school’s historical results) the more we see schools (and states) eliminate/deprioritize legacy admissions. I also know that some prep schools are now deprioritizing legacies as well…so fewer hooked candidates to place.

@ChoatieMom

Again, BS students are only being compared to peer BS students–who are also under the same grade deflation. Regardless of that deflation, some students are still earning those As, so that B+ student is only “disadvantaged” against their A-earning BS peers. They aren’t disadvantaged against applicants they aren’t being compared to. Each of the colleges has readers by region and HS, and each of these readers knows how to evaluate each prep/boarding applicant within the context of their high school. Apples are not being compared to oranges.

100%.

@ChoatieMom

They bring more to the community table than just grades/ability to do the work.

As do many students coming out of public and parochial schools.

[Metawampe]

Yep. A parent complained that her student, my kid’s BS school classmate, should have been admitted to schools with very, very low admit rates (yes, Ivy League schools, of course). Now, the kid had a 3.5 unweighted GPA and was admitted to some schools (Wake, Villanova) that would probably have been out of reach for her had she not attended that BS.

[citivas]

@ChoatieMom

Regardless of that deflation, some students are still earning those As, so that B+ student is only “disadvantaged” against their A-earning BS peers.

What grade deflation? It seems like anywhere that doesn’t have blatant grade inflation is called “deflated” now. As if there is no normal that is neither. When I went to HS, even the valedictorian didn’t have a 4.0. And none of the G&T classes (our equivalent to honors and AP at the time) were weighted. When I was at college the average graduating GPA was around 3.0. Now kids complain about deflation at colleges were the average is 3.65.

[skieurope]

Focus on the OP please and resist the urge to go off-topic

[ameridad]

That’s interesting. Over the past three years, from my kid’s school (one of the HADES), nobody has gotten in to Wake Forest or Villanova with less than an A- GPA; most of the kids who got in had GPAs somewhere between an A- and A.

[Metawampe]

I don’t know what to say, the school does a pretty good job with placements to schools within that range of selectivity.

[UltimaCroix]

At one HADES we are very familiar with:

20% of kids to Ivies
30% to Ivy & Ivy+
40% to Top 25s
50% to Top 30s (including NYU)
Another 15% to elite LACs
Another 5%+ to Army/Navy/AF/CG, Juilliard/Curtis, etc.)
Another 10% to USNWR schools ranked 30th-40th
These account for 80% of students.

Another 10% take a gap year.

And a bunch successfully transfer after one year to a school they prefer

Prep school kids at rigorous schools do extremely well in matriculation, even when they aren’t top of the class. There are many contributing factors including legacy, wealth, athletics, motivation, but the curriculum/rigor of the school and college counselling must factor in somehow.