^True, but with 37,000 high schools in the US that puts the student in the top 100,000. There aren’t anywhere near that many slots at the 8 Ivies.
If you participate on this board awhile you’ll see that many parent posters have students at very selective colleges. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of long-term posters have a child who is going to or graduated what would be considered an “Ivy” level school, which is a silly term, btw, and unless you are actually talking about the sports league, probably should be dropped from your college talk, asap. 
Kids who are reading this; believe me, it’s not all about the grades, either in school or in life. Frankly, putting a lot of energy into being “the best” for it’s own sake is not an attractive quality to colleges. Focus on finding ways your strengths can make a positive difference in the lives of those around you. Do something worthwhile. Take a page from current business vocabulary and do what you can to “add value.” That will get you a lot farther than a perfect gpa.
My kid got into Havard with a B in freshman English because he blew off an assignment and got a zero in it. I have no idea what his GPA was that year. I never bothered to calculate it, though we did have a little talk about the stupidity of getting a zero. He was supposed to write a poem and didn’t. He could have written a terrible poem and a 60 would have done a lot less damage to the course grade! He hated English classes and didn’t take AP English either. (He did love to read though.) His weighted GPA was 103. something senior year, he had great test scores, including 3 800s on his subject tests, fives on all his APs. (7 or 8 depending on whether you count physics as 2) and he was take Linear Algebra as a senior. He was in the top 2% of his class, but not valedictorian.
But I don’t think his grades or tests scores got him admitted - certainly not his freshman grades, though clearly they did not hurt. He had a deep interest in computer programming and had recommendations basically saying he was as capable as the adults in their firm or lab. That was the “and” piece. He also had some state level ribbons in Science Olympiad and his Academic team went to Nationals.
Stanford doesn’t even look at freshman grades, though I imagine most freshman have pretty good ones just because good student soph-senior year are not that likely to have flubbed up freshman year. But it’s silly at this point to say your kid has the grades to get in or not.
Every high school is different. In some everyone gets an A, in others only a handful do. In some schools there is a huge weighting factor for honors and AP courses - in some there is very little. Some schools won’t let anyone take an AP until junior year, others will let freshman take an AP if they are qualified. (My son took AP Comp Sci as a freshman.) The colleges look at grades in context. In our school kids in the top 5% or so of the class went to the selective schools you are gunning for.
My kid turned down Harvard for Carnegie Mellon because he thought he’d be happier there. (And in comp sci it is a stronger program.)
Oh and our high school transcript only has unweighted number grades for courses and then an overall weighted GPA on it so I don’t even know what the colleges did with it. I’m quite sure his recommendations and the GC letter put his grades in context.
"True, but with 37,000 high schools in the US that puts the student in the top 100,000. There aren’t anywhere near that many slots at the 8 Ivies. " Of course not, but not all those students are even interested in attending these schools, and the grades are just part of the admissions process. Plenty of kids with perfect grades are rejected.
I am assuming that this kid attends a fairly typical school, as opposed to a high powered magnet school. In that case, the top schools are unlikely to admit more than one or two students from that school each year. So rather than saying I have a 97.3 and a student from another school has a 96.8, look around you, see how many students from your high school are getting into the schools you want, and that can give you a vague idea if your grades are competitive.
Just be aware that small differences in grades aren’t nearly as important as you seem to think they are. If your grades are competitive they will be looking at what you have to offer–what kind of person are you, how will you contribute to undergraduate life, what is your potential? That is demonstrated through your activities, essays, letters.
Grades are "school specific* (so no one here can give you a straight answer to your last question). Your son’s GPA won’t be compared with some other kid’s GPA calculated with a different method; at least it won’t without some sort of conversion done by the college, which no one knows if they do or how they do it. And, whether the grading system is “fair” or “unfair” is a factor you have no control over right? Do you have any say to change the grading system of your son’s or the other schools’ grading system? Just let your son do his best. HIs current grades are stellar obviously and there’s not much room to get higher. The challenge is to keep up at a high level throughout his high school career while taking the most rigorous classes.
Ok…I’ll flip,this around. Anyone else have a top 5% student with almost all A’s in HS who didn’t apply to,ANY Ivy or equivalent schools?
And this same student had a 4.0 GPA in 9th grade.
What school has NHS inductees at the end of 9th grade? My kid was NHS as well…and did all the required community service…which she would have done anyway. She didn’t even put NHS on her applications.
There are many variables for the kids having top GPA. For some of them, getting a high GPA is a breeze and they have plenty of time for other ECs. For some of them, it’s a real struggle. So, kids should aim for advanced classes at their ability. The kids should have some intuition about this. It should be a balance to make HS life enjoyable. Everyone learns at one’s own pace. That’s the title of a poem that my kid’s 4th grade teacher asked students to write about in her GATE class.
NHS as a freshman? I thought students first applied for this junior year. Is this for real?
@worryhurry411 How is your freshman already in NHS?
See below.
Learn Your Chapter’s Eligibility Requirements
Every chapter has different qualifications for membership based on the four pillars of National Honor Society: character , scholarship , leadership , and service . Chapters are required to publish their selection procedures, so ask your local chapter adviser or principal for a copy.
Per the NHS National Constitution, all chapters’ eligibility requirements must include, at minimum:
-attending school in grades 10 through 12
-maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 85 percent, B, 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale), or equivalent standard of excellence
-demonstrating volunteer or service hours
-preserving an excellent record of behavior in and out of school
-participating in leadership roles in school and/or community activities.
IIRC my kids were invited to apply in 10th grade or earlier. Students have to pay $30 the first time and $10 the following years. I don’t see a lot of value in it. Many top grade students don’t participate. The only thing students have in the end is a seal on the HS diploma and a colorful string on the shoulder on graduation day. I saw the val did not have the string.
His school is one of the top ones in our state and he is in G/T STEM program so it is a cut throat competition. No one has better grade but some few points lower, they don’t announce GPA so we can’t say if anyone took exam for an extra AP. That can be a game changer but my kid is usually very busy with orchestra/MUN related activities and his non profit so I wouldn’t want him to sacrifice sleep over extra APs.
Does your son play piano? Does he participate in any sports? What does he do that he loves?
Note…not what he thinks college adcoms will love…but what HE loves.
I PM’ed you. Again, in simplest terms, it is not about differences in grades/GPA. I am sorry your son is in such a competitive environment. it sounds like he is vulnerable to these values. Maybe he could try to help others raise their GPA by helping them understand material, since he is proficient and is in a position to help.
Another thread by the same OP…same info requested.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1763790-freshman-gpa.html#latest
My younger daughter graduates from college in one week. She had a 4.0 GPA throughout high school. Our high school does not name valedictorians but we know she was tied for top rank because she was awarded a state prize that goes only to the highest ranked students at each high school. She did a sport and music. She had a 35 on the ACT and 2350 (I think) on the SAT. She did not get into either of the Ivies to which she applied nor into Stanford. She did get into several other highly ranked schools. One student from her class of 500 went to an Ivy, to which he was recruited because of his sport. Two went to Stanford.
My younger DD purposely got off the ‘go to super competitive university’ train. She had her pick of colleges but opted for a small LAC where she is thriving. It’s a supportive vs. competitive environment. Be careful, @worryhurry411, there are plenty of kids who are stellar students with incredible ECs but the pressure cooker they apply to themselves and the stressful environment their parents create can literally be a killer.
This is for advice from parents, other is in highschool forum for perspective of students. Why are you following it on both forums?
Worry hurry…you have started multiple threads for just about every topic. In some cases, your threads are just rewording of the same question…what can you do so that your kid will be Ivy or Ivy equivalent ready when the time comes…several years from now.
It’s all about these elite schools…and for a kid who,has just finished ninth grade.
I agree with a poster on one of your other threads about the same topic. Take a chill pill. You are obsessed with these Ivy and Ivy equivalent schools.
Believe it or not…there are extremely smart students…and bunches of them…at just about every college.
It doesn’t need to be Ivy or BUST.
It’s because people never answer the question asked. Everyone wants to play Buddha.
A school sport is not necessary. However, if they are good enough to be a recruited athlete at schools they want to attend, it can make a big difference.
Being involved in extracurricular activities is critical, but sports are not unless they have a lot of talent/ability.