I’ve toured a LOT of LACs between my kids (guessing far more than you have, as we liked visiting, and my kids were more focused on LACs because their dad and I both were not big fans of our large university educations). Can’t recall hearing the school rank or usnwr mentioned at the school by a parent, student, or school once in all those tours. Nor did people chat much about where else they were visiting (except maybe when we ran into someone we’d seen at another school). Even at schools that fall toward the top of those rankings.
In fact. I’d say that the alums of my large U are far snobbier about how they perceive their school vs other colleges than any LAC my kids visited or attended. I bet there are still plenty of sour grapes and snide comments when admissions decisions come out about who did and didn’t get into the schools you are crowing about as “not competitive”.
Also, I’ve never seen a LAC focused poster say they were going to go to the highest ranked school they get into. But it is a pretty common comment for applicants to national universities. In fact, ranking almost never comes up in postings out here on LACs, except to talk about where in the usnwr list merit starts to kick in. It seems to me that it is less of an obsession for LACs than universities.
Each college will tell you who they accept LORs from. Most will say from someone who’s has taught you in a class. There may be exceptions for homeschoolers (I forget) but by and large colleges want them from recent teachers. Occasionally they will say they will accept them from coaches, advisors or employers, but read carefully- especially if they say not to send more than they request.
Exactly. Recs from a typical summer job are probably not helpful at all and therefore a waste of time.
At Big public Uni’s, it may not be, but at highly selective colleges – LACs or Unis – it certainly IS a competition. Highly Selective College desire geogpraphicallly diverse student body, so unlikely to take several from the same town. Dartmouth, for example, takes a handful each year from our County of ~2 million.
“The manager is not American, but has been here over twenty years.” I am sorry this is off topic, and I am sure you didn’t mean anything negative, but it is statements such as this that keep us from progressing forward. Unless he is an undocumented immigrant, this manager is as American as the next person. You can say he is not originally from America, but to say he is not American…
I couldn’t disagree more with those who say students are not competing with their classmates…they certainly are. A school which is one of the top choices for my son has stated one member of its admissions staff reviews all the applications from all the applicants from my son’s high school and all all the applications from the high schools in our area so that they can make an “apples to apples” comparison. This one particular school would be close to perfect for my son. I am discouraging him from divulging it to his classmates. He doesn’t need to have one of his friends in the top of the class hear about it then apply to is as a safety with no intention of attending and possibly take a slot away from my son. That’s how I feel and I’m not apologizing for it. This is a zero sum game. When Applicant A gets an acceptance letter, Applicant B may then get a rejection. I don’t blame the manager discussed by the OP at all.
@MomOf3DDs Point well taken. I live in an area with a lot of different immigrants. Some move here and assimilate and others live and socialize mainly with people from their home countries. I certainly did not mean anything negative, but man in question doesn’t identify as an American.
Reminds me of a kid who was applying to Caltech the same year my son was applying. He wanted me to read his essays. I did point out to him that I would be happy to do it, but I might be unconciously biased. Of course his essays were great and I think better than my kid’s. I made a suggestion for one of the Caltech specific essays, which he took to heart and came back with a revision that I had not thought of that made it ten times better. LOL. That kid got in. Mine didn’t. But it was all good. Although we loved Caltech’s atmosphere, I think academically my son was better off with a bigger CS department.
I think outside recommendations can be helpful, particularly if they address an aspect of the kid that the school doesn’t know about. So for example, my kid took AP Comp Sci as a freshman, but there were no further courses to take. Outside recommenders could speak to the level of knowledge and ability he had. In the case of the Harvard kid, it was just that the school recommenders weren’t good at their job.
You can live here for over 20 years and not be American. I have good friends who are professors at a medical school from Australia and New Zealand. Their kids are American, actually I suspect triple-citizens, but they are not.
The business owner just loves his own daughter and wants the best for her. He has obviously worked very hard his whole life and will continue to do so in order to pay for her college. I don’t think he meant any harm. He was guilty of wanting the American Dream for his girl and loving her.
I agree…it is a competition. Most colleges/universities will only take so many from the same high school. (assuming the two girls are at the same school now)
I agree with intparent on the attitudes of those applying to LAC’s versus national universities. I would also credit intparent’s long experience with this forum at 34,533 posts
Two young women in my kid’s class applied to the same middle-range small school, one as a safety and one as a much-loved top choice. The one who applied as a safety had better stats etc. She got in and didn’t go, and the one who was so keen on the school did not get in. I heard at the time that schools do, indeed, limit students from the same school- but have no idea if that is true.
The competition I saw in high schools was for rank, because some of the scholarships at our state U’s were based on that. My kids never knew their GPA, thank heavens, but there was one kid who was obsessed with being #1 and it tainted the atmosphere of some of the AP classes!
In a big picture sense, of course college admissions IS a competition!!! Anytime there are limits on spots available, it is a competition. If anyone wants to avoid competition, and knows a college or university that accepts anyone who applies, they know where to apply!!
While “foreign-born” might have been a better way to phrase (or omit entirely - it’s not really germane), he very well may not be American. If he’s lived here for 20 years, but is not a citizen, he’s not an American by the dictionary definition
Looks like I’m the oddball around these parts. My kid isn’t in a competition with anyone. She’s just trying to get into one of the schools on her list. Viewing the application process through the competition lens breeds jealousy and resentment. It’s not healthy for students or parents. Yes, realize that your child should prepare to the best of his/her ability because there are many well qualified applicants out there. Once that’s done, you are not competing with anyone else since there are many many paths to success.
Sadly, I know my views aren’t popular. One of the boys in my D’s friend group has decided to pretty much keep to himself this year. He’s the best math student in the school and has tutored others after school for two years. Surprisingly (not really, though), he now won’t work with the seniors, but will help younger students. D says it’s because he’s afraid of someone getting better grades than he has and taking his valedictorian spot. He’ll end up being the val with no friends showing up at his graduation party because he turned his friends into “the competition.” I hope it works out for him and for everyone here on CC who thinks like he does.
@indiethoughts Your not the only oddball. I share the same views. My D19 is looking at mostly mid to large size publics and we don’t have any sense that she is in a competition with anyone. I agree that it seems as though the select LAC breeds this uber competition and secrecy about where one may be applying for fear of losing out to someone.
Our D19 enjoys talking about where she is applying when anyone asks and talks openly about it with her friends. They all seem to be pulling for each other to get into their top choices.
It’s definitely a “regional” competition for sure. We live outside of Boston. All of the local schools receive many applications from our area high schools. The highly selective schools are not taking a bunch of kids from one particular school. They might accept a few ( at most) out of a dozen or so applicants. per school. Max. The schools might not come flat out and say they are doing this, but they are. For example, if ten kids apply to Bowdoin this year from our competitive public HS, most of the kids will be rejected or waitlisted, even if they have fairly similar apps. The admissions officers will pick the kid with the package that meets their needs the most. The rest of them are not getting in. They can’t have 5 or 6 kids from the same high school in MA filling up seats when they could bring in some kids ( maybe with worse stats) from other parts of the country/world. That’s just how it works.
My older son experienced this a few years back. A local small selective business school had to choose from 10 applicants from our school. My son really wanted to attend this school, had demonstrated interest, and had the stats and a decent app. They decided to accept 2 girls from his HS with very high stats, who decided to enroll elsewhere, and my son was ultimately waitlisted. He enrolled somewhere else too. It was a good lesson for us to learn.
With my son19 he is applying to another local school ED. He has a better than decent shot at getting in. Historically this school only accepts maybe 1 kid per year from our HS. So, this year, I’m certain some very good students ( definitely kids with better stats) from our school will be applying, and they will probably be deferred/waitlisted/rejected. It’s brutal, but that’s just how it works.
There are definitely high schools that have high rates of acceptances to certain colleges. There was a HS in my region that usually admitted upwards of a dozen students to Cornell every year. Usually at about a 50% acceptance rate from that school. Totally depends on the school!
