“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!”
Or Charles Emerson Winchester III. 
Reminds me of this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCCCN-3NJiU
I worried about both my kids volunteer hours when they applied (even though my D was NHS and hours were required), so when I finally discovered the Common Data Set, it put any fears to rest - all the schools they applied to had holistic reviews, but none listed volunteer work as “Very Important” or “Important.”
They all listed EC’s, Talent/Ability, and Character higher.
So what others have said, it is more important to colleges that you show an interest/ability/passion which could stem from volunteer hours, but not be defined by them.
Yes in our case this year mentioned in an earlier post. She was not urm legacy or a recruited athlete at any school she applied to attend. Did not invent an app or have published research. Though I have never met anyone else who has either. But I know they exist. She also did not ed anywhere. Just ea at gtown and BC.
And don’t take it as a sad story. She is more than thrilled with the college she attending and is probably absolutely perfect for her. I was just surprised as a novice that it was not a universal set of yes answers and to help this years crop of parents have another perspective. In my day she could have essentially gotten in absolutely everywhere. It was eye opening.
For students whose schools use Naviance, those stats can be telling. Of course, they only use GPA and scores and that’s never the whole story but it does help to see how students from a school fair in admissions to a college. For example, our Naviance shows that everyone above a 3.75 uw GPA and 1500 SAT score either got in or waitlisted at Vanderbilt. No one in three years was outright rejected. And lots of RD kids got in so you don’t have to apply ED to get in. That’s good info. The school had about 160 kids apply in the last three years so that’s a good sample.
That’s good intel for sure @homerdog That must be a really great school. Is it in the Vanderbilt region of the country. Not trying to pry or have you answer .
We were not near any of the schools. All a plane ride away. I have learned here that there are some home town favorite type schools for all of the elite schools. Outside of instate flagship.
160 kids from one school getting yes or wl to a school of that level seems over the top great sch. Perhaps that’s the higher admit rate for the school than would be expected. Some states might not have 160 at vandy over a few years. But if vandy is target. Doesn’t matter why really. Just an academic question.
I would look at a few other Vanderbilt equals and see if the data travels.
But I really only heard that here on cc about location advantages. And always assumed if you were from further away it was an advantage. But it appears only if from a state with smaller populations .
@privatebanker I meant that we had 160 apply over three years. About 15 accepted each year. Most in that upper section of the Naviance chart. We are at a top public school in the Chicago area. Lots of those Vanderbilt accepted kids went elsewhere. We send only about 4-5 per class. Graduating classes are around 750.
Oh. Sorry @homerdog I misunderstood. My jaw hit the ground first though. Four or five is still fantastic.
Love Chicago btw. Going for a run by the lake near the small amusement parking area is a real treat for me.
@privatebanker nice post… At our school… @homerdog the number 1 school in Chicago (cough, cough) 
they require 40 whole hours of community service so that is what my son did. No more /no less. I don’t understand when kids have like 500 or 1,000 hours… Like really? But if that’s your thing then that’s great.
I think on applications you just be yourself. I truly think this comes through. When applying we had him apply to his choices like top 10 schools for engineering but I wanted him to put some mid-level schools and some lower safeties since everything had gotten crazy lately. All I can say is he got accepted, rejected and one wait list to some really great school!!! . We more or less treated this like a game to take the pressure off. First the acceptances came so at least he knew he was going to college somewhere… Lol… Then it got real and rejections came in but it’s like everyone at school is being rejected all over the place also. The kids just can’t take it personally. Then the wait list for Georgia Tech… I swear they never sent him a rejection letter… Who knows a year later he could still be on the wait list (
Now a year later he’s at Michigan not even remembering any of this lol.
Indeed. Out here in CA the people I know went to Harvard say they went to college “back East”, or, if pressed, “in Boston”. But maybe it’s different when you ask adults instead of HS kids.
We live in an over represented state. Just about 5-6 years ago kids from our HS were getting into Vanderbilt during the regular decision round. Now… top students from our HS have to apply ED or they are WL’d. My daughter got off the WL ( does not attend) graduating #1, high scores, etc.
@twogirls you must of missed the memo… Being wait listed is the new cool thing that the kids do now!!
Honestly it’s getting crazier each year. I know a college counselor at an elite school and she told me if kids get accepted to any college… They are doing good these days. A lot of kids aren’t being accepted to their safeties… Yikes.
I think this is a little extreme. Its true that admissions for the top schools have gotten far more difficult, but if students are getting rejected from safeties, I believe those were not real safeties to begin with. I have seen kids on here call schools like BU or Lehigh “safeties.” They are not.
True on that. One person’s safety is another person’s reach…her point to me was trickle down effect. Now kids are getting into their 3-8 picks so these schools now have too many applicants and are getting more competitive so kids now have to look further down their college lists and or apply to more schools.
Well Michigan just made things interesting…
Well, Michigan couldn’t get through all of its early applicants on time so that’s good that they dropped the essay. I bet they stopped reading it last year anyway since they ran out of time. Lots of schools doing this now. Makes me wonder if ACT and SAT should just discontinue the essay. It costs them money to hire people to grade it.
I only mentioned our Naviance earlier in this thread to show that kids can get a better idea of reach/match/safety if they have solid info from from their school. When comparing kids from different schools here on CC, it’s really hard to understand the differences in their high schools.
@homerdog totally agree. We lived by naviance. Even in Illinois there is a large variance in schools. One’s all honor school does not equate to someone’s else’s all honor school. BTW… Just having some fun with my other post…
“Indeed. Out here in CA the people I know went to Harvard say they went to college “back East”, or, if pressed, “in Boston”. But maybe it’s different when you ask adults instead of HS kids.”
For undergrad, definitely the case, they don’t go around saying their college, since there’s a negative perception that ivy grads won’t do the work, but will take the credit.
@Knowsstuff LOL. No worries.I knew you were messing with me and that’s ok.
@twogirls makes a great point. When S attended a summer “get to know you” function ahead of freshmen yr, one of the panelists said, “You are all superstars, get ready to be average”. As we mingled with some of the other families, an alum made our way and he shared that his experience had been that S would meet a lot of great students but more significant that each of them would be exceptional at something (turns out he was a Rhodes Scholar) . S would tell you he was spot on. Every single one of his friends is exceptional at something (a subject matter, a hobby, a sport, etc.)
These kids are amazing and it definitely makes you appreciate where you were accepted far more than being upset about where you were rejected. Keep it all in perspective.
Yes it must be kept in perspective… it goes by very fast.
Once students get acclimated to their college… it’s really no longer about where you were accepted or rejected. It’s all about establishing yourself at your new school, getting involved, making friends, building a resume etc. Whether your school is ranked #12 or #42 is not important… at all.
@Knowsstuff when D got off the waitlist she was very happy to turn them down. She said she had no interest in attending a school that didn’t want her as their first choice.
:-h