The above was from a post about an interview of a college applicant.
Similar things have been said about ED admits backing out.
In what other ways can future applicants be harmed by applicants who behave in ways that cause those in college admissions to have an unfavorable view of the high school that they attend?
I think the most obvious factor is going to be the studentās academic success at the university. If the student is successful, then that reflects well on the high school. But if the student struggles, then that could reflect poorly on the high school. If a negative pattern from a particular school appears, then it could be quite detrimental.
My opinion, if the school is so hyper-competitive that you have to interview for the privilege of paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars for a bachelors degree, then thereās something backwards here.
Iām not sure if this would be āreflecting poorlyā but if an out of state school reliably accepts students from a particular high school, and none of them attend for 5 or so years straight, that college may be less incentivized to accept students from that high school as they reason none of them will actually end up attending.
My kid went to a private high school. (Not the one with the kid who I interviewed) our college counseling team was very explicit with all the families that it wasnāt just how you represented yourself but how you represented the school has downstream impact. For example a certain college had had more than the average number of students from one particular high school accepted over the years.
At some point, the kids started feeling like it was a safety (despite being a target or even reach for many). So they would apply and turn down the acceptance if they got into the school they really wanted. Eventually the college caught on and it came back to bite future classes. I grew up in public schools so I had no idea this was even a thingā¦but apparently it is.
The point is, yes there are many ways you can āgameā the system but at the end of the day, applying and interacting with the schools with integrity will always pay off and your kid will end up where they should be.
Yes exactly this. I will say that my daughter recently got waitlisted by one of her safeties. Iāve stayed out of her process for the most part believing she needs to own this. So she was a bit taken aback. Then she told me she didnāt do the supplemental. To me thatās an easy miss. And she learned that lesson the hard way. Too many kids have her safety as a first choice. Why would they waste it on someone who didnāt do everything she could to get in.
Her dadās and my take: she is capable of getting into some pretty awesome schools. But maybe getting into her āsuperā safety (where sheās already in and got a decent chunk of $) is exactly what she needs and where she should be. And I would certainly be perfectly fine having her entire college education be less than one year of a private LACā¦