h*******s
发帖数: 3932 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 SanFrancisco 讨论区 】
发信人: trichloride (RubberCandy), 信区: SanFrancisco
标 题: Palo Alto 高中真相一瞥
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Tue Feb 1 19:37:41 2011, 美东)
下面是一个Palo Alto High 学生自己对学校的看法。其实跟其它人所说的也差不多：
竞争激烈，压力大，但是效果不一定好。比如：
1）UC Berkeley 全校平均新生的SAT成绩低于2000.但是从Palo Alto High去的学生平
均成绩是2180. 换句话说一个学生同样的成绩在其它学区能去伯克利的，但是在Palo
Alto就不一定行了。这就像以前在北京能考上大学的分数在山东连大专都没戏。
2）前两年哈佛共录取了三个。并不多。
3）斯坦福录取的，除了“non-legacy and non-affiliated students”,也就是 a
handful。所谓Legacy就是校友和捐钱的大户，Affliated 就是教授子女。
4）好学生太多，老师给GPA太严。AP Test考5分的GPA可能还是D。成绩单拿出去难看。
老师给学生写的推荐信也很不给力。同样的学生在其它学校成绩单好看多了。老师推荐
信也更好。
33% Gunn High 学生去UC。
Posted by Paly Senior, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood,
12 hours ago
I can definitely relate to where Dr Skelly is coming from. Palo Alto high
schools are an extremely stressful environment to graduate from and are
extremely underrated in the college admissions scene. Not only has Paly
remained resistant to grade inflation (check out its school profile compared
to any other school in the Bay Area), not only do PAUSD high schools only
released unweighted GPAs (when schools in Southern California hand out 4.8s
and other extremely inflated weighted GPAs), but the classes here are also
substantially harder and colleges do not seem to realize this (while they do
in the case of private magnet schools).
Example:
The average SAT score of someone who matriculates in UC Berkeley is slightly
below 2000 (it's actually lower than the Paly median SAT); the average of
Berkeley matriculants from someone who goes to Paly is near 2200. This is in
part because (1) GPAs are substantially lower in Palo Alto and because (2)
it is much harder to seem competitive compared to one's graduating class.
The same can be said for private schools. In the past two years, Harvard has
accepted 3 students from Paly. Stanford has accepted a handful of non-
legacy and non-affiliated students. In a school with multiple perfect
scorers on the SAT every year, where 25% of students score above 2180 on the
SAT, with nationally and internationally ranked athletes (some of the
fastest swimmers in the world), multiple internationally-renowned musicians,
Intel Finalist, Siemens Finalists, state athletic championship teams,
unparalleled publications, a well-ranked debate team, a handful of USAMO
qualifiers every year, and published writers, it is not only extremely
disconcerting for one to think about his/her "competition", but it is even
more disconcerting to realize that despite the wealth of talent at our
schools, so few get accepted at leading institutions on talent. This begs
many students to ask... What am I doing wrong? What am I lacking?
The answer, really, is nothing. Yes, there is more to college admissions
than simply stats (personal qualities are as, if not, more important), but
it's really not as though students at Paly have any less drive or charisma,
or that they are any less unique. In fact, students at Paly are extremely
engaging. My friends are all subscribed to several magazines, keep up with
the news, and discuss politics, articles they've come across, and
Students will always be students. High-performing students will always aim
for the Ivys or similar school, regardless of what they are told. Even if
parents adjust their expectations of their kids, their kids will not change.
Palo Alto schools have become increasingly competitive and students will
still want to stand out.
The schools are the ones that should be doing something about this dilemma.
There is only so much that parents and students can do. Currently, the two
weakest aspects of a student's application from Paly are (1) GPA and (2)
teacher recommendations. (1) If the school is not going to weigh or inflate
student GPAs or ask that some classes be easier, it really should make note
of this when students apply. (2) Guidance and teacher recommendation letters
from Paly tend to be weak. At other schools, where only a handful of
students try hard, these students' rec letters are great, sometimes
hysterically so. At Paly, many teachers are seldom impressed by students.
They have students sign up for recommendation letters and refuse to write
any more after a certain number. This needs to be addressed. (3) Some
classes really should be curved. When virtually everyone in an AP Chemistry
class receives a 5 on the AP test, but the class average on tests in-class
hovers around a D.. maybe that's a sign that the class should be curved.
They do in college.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=14303 | L*******8
发帖数: 404 | 2 这个不是新闻了。Gunn High更恐怖，邻居的儿子(小中）average中不留的学生,去年
SAT1700，在家门口的Foothill College蹲着。他妈妈讲这样的分数在隔壁Los Altos
High, 可以去UC Merced. | L*******8
发帖数: 404 | 3 这个不是新闻了。Gunn High更恐怖，邻居的儿子(小中）average中不留的学生,去年
SAT1700，在家门口的Foothill College蹲着。他妈妈讲这样的分数在隔壁Los Altos
High, 可以去UC Merced. | h*******s
发帖数: 3932 | 4 The question is: 咋办？
【在 L*******8 的大作中提到】
: 这个不是新闻了。Gunn High更恐怖，邻居的儿子(小中）average中不留的学生,去年
: SAT1700，在家门口的Foothill College蹲着。他妈妈讲这样的分数在隔壁Los Altos
: High, 可以去UC Merced.
| j****i
发帖数: 496 | | h*******s
发帖数: 3932 | 6 you probably didn't realize "choose another school" could be a solution. if
the assumption is you dont change school, it's not a problem at all because
your counterback strategies become so limited and obvious. the choice is the
problem..
but who knows what's the best way, and what's the best for a specific kid.
at the end we (as parents) have to forget about it or just pray.
【在 j****i 的大作中提到】
: 先保证孩子身心健康不自杀，再说其他的问题。
|
|
