@privatebanker Thx for your posts. We are being very cautious with the list. No Ivies. Safeties he likes. A handful of matches and a few long shots. You mentioned Bowdoin EA. They don’t have EA. Did your D apply RD and was waitlisted?
@homerdog That’s a great approach. I didnt ’even know about this site until the spring. It would have been very helpful.
Re bowdoin That must be the case obviously. It seemed earlier than the others. It is still a bit of blur. She wasn’t really interested but enjoyed the tour. And it’s bowdoin. That wasn’t a heart breaker. And she didn’t claim a spot on the list. I think her middling interest came through on her prompt questions. I loved the school myself.
Good, honest post by OP. Some lessons learned and shared.
PLEASE read the threads about applying to a RANGE of schools. My D’s class (at a competitive HS) has awesomely impressive kids. For years, I was certain several would be HYPS bound. Several overshot, applying to all Ivies plus one safety, and did not get in to Ivies and are going to their safeties (which are still good schools like UVA, Santa Clara, and our state flagship). I was floored that two or three didn’t get in – 4.0 (UW), ridiculous # of APs, captains, presidents, FBLA champs, State champs of sports, honors/awards, etc. But, it’s darn competitive out there. And we’re on the west coast, our HS has affinities with a few Ivies (Brown, Cornell, Penn), but not deep as other HS around the country. The one student admitted to Columbia… not a 4.0 (and did not do the 6 APs a year thing either) but an awesome and smart kid. This story repeats itself on CC every year when kids don’t get in to their reaches. HYPS are reaches for all.
Lesson: apply to a range of schools, not just all reaches and only one safety. Do 2-3 reaches, 5-6 matches, 2 safeties. BE REALISTIC in your search with your kids. Find schools that are a good match and fit academically, socially, emotionally, regardless of rank/status. If your high-achieving kid loves engineering, look at Cal Poly, RPI, WPI and CWR, your state flagships, not just MIT, Cal Tech, Rice, Olin and Mudd.
The OP had a range of schools – and kid got into some good schools. But it was hell. My advice for those reading this: manage the expectations – yours and your child’s – and do a range of schools. (And apply EA if it’s an option!)
Apply to a range of schools… and remember that there are lots …and lots… of HS superstars who will be applying to top schools. Be yourself… do what you enjoy… and the right schools will accept you. Do not ever try to mold yourself in order to fit a school… that never works.
I recommend the book by Frank Bruni… Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be. In my opinion it’s important to attend a fit school. Whether it’s ranked #6 or #36 is not as significant. What is important is taking full advantage of what the school offers, getting a high GPA, getting involved, and rocking your resume doing what you enjoy. Remember… the 4 years go by fast.
Why do you volunteer? What do you do when you volunteer? How does what are volunteering in/for affect the student you will be at said university. These are all more important bits of information about you than you volunteered xxx number of hours. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to mold yourself into the student you “think” a school is seeking. This leads to stress and probable disappointment. Instead do the best you can of presenting the student/person you are. If you are accepted terrific, it’s where you belong, if you are not you are probably going to be attending a place that fits the person you are the best. Good luck.
It is hard to really grasp how many HS superstars there are… until your kid is at college and starts rattling off everybody’s accomplishments… and my kid is not at an Ivy. It is at that point when you start to understand the reasons behind the rejections and waitlists for “ perfect” students from your HS.
When I see stories like privatebanker’s, I’m left scratching my head. My kids’ attend a smallish suburban public HS (approx 150 kids per class) in the Northeast. It’s a very good school, but certainly not the top public school in the state or even the county. And yet, just using the class of 2017 as an example (2018 results not published yet), eight grads got into Ivy League schools (although one got in via a hook). Privatebanker’s daughter’s stats were as good or better than all of these grads. It all seems so random.
" It all seems so random."
Not random from the college’s standpoint. Most of the Ivys have historically admitted more heavily from schools in their area - New England. For individual students it’s both a blessing and a curse. For an “average excellent” student, there are more admissions available if you’re from NE, but also more competition since more students from those schools apply. That same “average excellent” from a different geographic area might have a chance to stand out more since the same number of students from that area aren’t applying, but there are fewer slots available as well.
Colleges care about context.
One shouldn’t equate getting into Cornell, Dartmouth with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the ivies are all not equal and some are easier to get into then others.
When someone says they got into an Ivy, I’m thinking they got into Cornell, Brown, Penn, Columbia or Dartmouth. When they get into HYP, they just use that name.
The most important factors are 1. Are you academically qualified to go (depends on school (3.8+/32+ for most top schools, but the higher the GPA/scores the better) 2. Are you hooked (athlete/URM/FG/legacy in that order, multiples would be super hooked) 3. If not 2 then do you have anything that sets you apart (National competition placed/won, unique abilities/EC). If you don’t have 2 or 3 than forget about SCEA/REA at HYPS, give yourself the best shot by EDing somewhere.
I do know one person who didn’t have 2 or 3 above but made it in. She was deferred SCEA, admitted RD. Stats 35/4.0UW/4.5W/state champion in her sport although not a recruited athlete, plus numerous other ECs. You can see that just with this sample size of one how difficult it is to get in on the SCEA round.
“When someone says they got into an Ivy, I’m thinking they got into Cornell, Brown, Penn, Columbia or Dartmouth. When they get into HYP, they just use that name”.
You must run in very different crowds than me. I don’t know anyone that says they got into an Ivy regardless of which of the 8. Typically PBCDC kids are as prideful of their tremendous accomplishment as HYP. These kids reference themselves based on their specific schools not their sports conference.
Your comment diminishes the achievement and suggests some feeling of inadequacy that I have never seen. Those students at non HYP ivies are in my experience appropriately proud and refer to themselves as members of a specific school not veiled in the Ivy banner.
Similarly I don’t hear MCSD kids reference Ivy extended. Getting into a sub 10% acceptance rate school doesn’t require embellishment. In fact no kid regardless of the school they attend should be made to feel innadequate.
Not sure of your point @CU123 in post #29. Columbia’s acceptance rate was the same as Princeton’s last year and less than Yale’s. We also know friends whose daughter was rejected by Cornell and is at Yale (and she was a legacy for Cornell). Cornell, which had the highest acceptance rate in the Ivies is still at the 10% mark and it’s much less than that for students who apply RD.
There were as many ivy admitted kids (2-3) in my D’s HS class from the top 5% pool as from the sub 5% pool. I knew this from the top 25 weighted GPA award list. From D’s description of those got in the ivy, they all got their own merit. GPA/scores are not the only thing the top schools are looking for, and the AA wasn’t a factor in this group of kids.
@CU123 Conversations never ever had as suggested by you…
Person: What college do you go to?
Student: An Ivy League school
Person: Which one?
Student: I would prefer not to say because it is not HYP
Person: I understand given your misfortune of having to attend BCCDP. I am so sorry for asking. I hope your parents are supportive through such a challenging time. Don’t worry I have heard of a few kids from the schools having marginal successes in life. You can beat the odds.
Never heard anyone, other than the President, say they went to or go to an Ivy.
I must run in a different crowd I have never heard anyone who got into Harvard say they got into an Ivy.
CU123 so we agree that only half your comment is correct. I have never heard anyone not name their school and just say I went to an Ivy which is what you asserted.
“I must run in a different crowd I have never heard anyone who got into Harvard say they got into an Ivy.”
Once upon a time, students who got into Harvard wouldn’t say they were attending Harvard. The correct term - at that time - was “a certain college in the northeast”. The classy and proper response, according to Miss Manners, was, “Congratulations! Which house?”
I think I am dating myself by even knowing that!
I know that Thurston Howell III would never say that he went to an Ivy League school, lest someone mistake him for, god forbid, a Yale Man!