I don’t know what’s more baffling, the posts by kids (who evidently never took a statistics course) who are floored that they didn’t get into HYP, or the kids who are all broken up because they will have to “settle” for a fine Public or LAC instead of HYP. When did the Kool-Aid start flowing from everyone’s faucets? How have we gotten to the point where our kids (I don’t have any) are “too good” for perfectly wonderful schools?
Or they have to “settle” for Cornell or UC Berkeley.
Guidance Departments across the land need an update/refresher on what’s happening out there, and they need to communicate that to the students.
How do all these kids end up on CC without absorbing any of the plentiful advice to focus more on matches than reaches, and to look more for fit than prestige? Not to mention the cost issues…
In some ways an Ivy acceptance can be more of an anchor than a balloon, unless you’re quite wealthy, or getting mega-aid.
Don’t forget the kid who ONLY got into Georgetown or Vandy. And the kid who ONLY got into Kelley School of Business. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall of a million teenager’s rooms at 5:01 pm yesterday.
They baffle me, too, especially because I imagine these kids have pored over Ivy threads on this forum, and they must have noticed that kids with “perfect” stats get rejected from these schools in large numbers every year simply because of the sheer volume of applications. Gone are the days when the top students in your high school could have a reasonable expectation of getting into an Ivy League or similarly selective school. I am sure that a large percentage of the graduates from my high school back in the late 80s who got into Ivies would be rejected from them today.
What truly baffles me is the number of kids with acceptances to several in the Ivy League at one time: the Princeton’s, Harvard’s, Yale’s Dartmouth’s. It’s supposedly “all about fit” and how many times have we seen posted chiding of kids who are applying to all ivies, stating how different they are, and the shot gun approach doesn’t work. Well guess what? The shot gun approach works. I can see why someone might apply to all ivies. They may just get into multiple ones.
@preppedparent Only if the student is obsessed with the Ivy label. A student who would be comfortable at Penn would not likely be comfortable at Dartmouth as an example. They can puff themselves up for the rest of their live by boasting about getting accepted at all 8 Ivies.
They honestly think the “rules” won’t apply to them. Having no clue how many kids are out there with similar or better stats and backgrounds doesn’t help either. And GC’s seem to be less in tune with reality or having less success getting through to students just what their admissions prospects are.
The CC old timers give a consistent realistic message trying to tamp down the Ivy flights of fancy. (Witness Gibby’s yeoman’s effort on the H board.) I’m guessing it’s parents and peers that whip kids into a panic-driven frenzy of fantasy. Why, I don’t know. When I was in HS in the Midwest in the 70s the top students applied to the state flagship and LACs like Carleton & Kenyon. I can’t remember anyone applying to HYPSM, though some of us eventually ended up in Grad School at such places.
At a school with a 10% admit rate, that means for every 10 who apply, 9 will not get in. So doing the math, we should expect to see a lot more rejection posts than accepted posts – so I agree with you @katkatmouse
A majority of these kids are from wealthy families and have had many opportunities handed to them. They’ve worked hard but have also quite likely never been denied something they want very often. So they naturally expect to be admitted. Rejection from a school is often unthinkable.
Just because a student (on paper) is a “good fit for the ivies” and gets into a lot of them, doesn’t mean that all those ivies are a Good Fit For the Student. That student may have some hook or aspect that causes many ivies to offer an acceptance, but still not be what is best for that student. Especially if the metric the student is using is school name/selectivity rather than other factors.
The “shotgun” approach for other students also results in a gazillion rejections/waitlists and subsequent self-doubt and depression.
@Trisherella <<the “shotgun”="" approach="" for="" other="" students="" also="" results="" in="" a="" gazillion="" rejections="" waitlists="" and="" subsequent="" self-doubt="" depression="">>
Good point T.
Agreed with admit rates in the low single digits to the ivies, we should expect a ton of rejection posts, but boy am I surprised by the multiple ivy accept posts by some applicants. True, there may be a hook, but wow! Never would expect to see this. This just propagates the myth that apply to as many schools as you can with the hopes of landing just one good one. (versus the right fit).
Ivy rejects are not as likely to post that result here on CC.
Multiple Ivy acceptances equates to a truly strong applicant - not because of the shotgun approach. The shotgun approach does not work because having to truly excel in the college specific essays and interviews requires ALOT of knowledge and research to tailor the app to the school. “Superstar” applicants don’t need to do this as much since they are highly desired for their accomplishments - thus the multiple Ivy acceptances.
So, @preppedparent, I disagree that the shotgun approach works for most ‘mere mortal’ students.
@suzyQ7 Agree that multiple acceptances means strong candidate, but it gives students maybe false hope that if they use the shotgun approach, they may get one ivy acceptance. Also, however by “strong” it’s all about the packaging. There can be many great students who don’t package themselves well, so miss the opportunity to get into one or several great colleges. What’s the recipe for these strong candidates to package themselves well?
The ‘strong’ candidates with multiple Ivy acceptances are super humans. You’ve seen it. National/International awards in addition to great grades, test scores, ECs. There are not that many of them - even here on CC. Some of them have a strong hook - URM, etc… They don’t need as much packaging or to tailor their app to a specific Ivy… they are highly desired.
Agree, when the other great students with great scores and great grades but without that ‘special something’ see these superstars getting multiple offers they think shotgun works. It doesn’t.
I think some people forget that they can only attend one college in the end.
Seems to me that one great acceptance will serve them just fine!
^^ the multiple offers is just bragging rights, yes. But still there are so many superhuman students who somehow can’t communicate their cases to Stanford/Ivies or elite LACS. not that there’s anything wrong with flagship state colleges and the like. But you got to package yourself well.
i don’t know if i would necessarily discount the shotgun approach. we applied to 6 reaches. maybe that’s not shotgun but we did fire every bullet in our six-shooter.
S did not have perfect scores on ACT, SAT, or SAT Subject tests. he is an anti-hook – a white male who needs lots of FA. he does not have lots of ECs or awards – pretty much one really good one, the NASA High Altitude Weather Balloon Team at his Community College. he forgot to schedule interviews for 4 of his reach schools. he got waitlisted at Vandy, Rice, Notre Dame, and Michigan, so it’s not like he’s this superhuman student that everyone wanted.
and yet, he got accepted at Duke and Northwestern, the two schools that I least expected would admit him.
i hate to think what would have happened if we would have said, “nah, we don’t want to apply to too many reach schools, let’s hold off on Duke and Northwestern.”
the college admission process just seems so random from this side of the fence, it just seems reckless to apply to too few reach schools and take a chance on missing out on the one who likes you when the others don’t.