<p>I think a lot more of this kind of stuff happens then we want to believe. In our area, there are some mediocre Christian schools that have a lot of really high-performing kids transfer in for their junior and senior years only. These guys end up being valedictorians and the school brags about what a fantastic education they’re offering, how great their SAT scores are. Actually the school is lousy and the kids are taking advantage of a loophole. They wouldn’t be the valedictorian at their local public school but they are at the local Christian school. It’s enough of a ‘thing’ that there is explicit language in the school handbook saying that you can’t be the valedictorian unless you have been there at least four semesters. </p>
<p>Friends of ours in California considered buying an apartment in a different school district so they could enroll their kids there.</p>
<p>In Virginia, it’s well known that there are regional quotas which make it much easier to get into UVA from a small town than from Northern Virginia. We know of a family that considered having the mom move to a rural area with the kids just for high school with Dad staying in Northern Virginia because of his job. </p>
<p>While all these parents seem a little bit crazy, I suppose what’s really crazy is the fact that people seem to feel that this is necessary – If you can’t afford a private college and this is your only shot at getting into a top-tier state college, this might seem normal. It just shows how broken the admissions system is - How is moving to a different zipcode any different than claiming an ethnicity or race based on having one great-grandparent who belonged to that group? (Our favorite story from this year concerns a nice, white surburban girl who got into great schools based on her sob story of having been raised in a single parent home while Daddy served time – turns out he was a CEO who embezzled from a company, more of a white collar criminal than anything else. Strange . . . )_</p>
<p>@Momzie The CEO story sounds like an urban legend. Have a news link? CEO who embezzles likely had an advanced degree, so I’m not sure how the narrative works if the adcom sees a father with an MBA. Whether it’s a dad in for narcotics distribution or strong armed robbery or dad in for embezzling, fact remains that’s a traumatic upbringing however you slice it. And I’m sure the family finances were severely impacted as well.</p>
<p>After observing the latest admissions round I have to say I think adcom’s can smell the manure and act appropriately. I know a lot of folks who are sad and angry and feel cheated by the highly paid admissions consultants. I mean I get it- nobody is paying a consultant so that their kid will be looking at U Conn vs. Wheaton when the sexier options didn’t pan out. Nobody feels that their money has been well spent when the kid is deciding between Stonybrook and Hofstra- not exactly “unknown gems” if you live on Long Island. (I personally think that Stonybrook is undervalued by folks who live nearby, but that doesn’t mean you need to shell out big bucks to have a consultant strategize as to how to get your kid admitted there.)</p>
<p>I also think that endless test prep suffers from the law of diminishing returns, and the parents only have themselves to blame when they’ve spent time, money, and stress hauling their kids around from tutor to tutor. Again, I see the results. The first attempt at prep can raise the score by 60 points or so. Great- so the parent assumes (with no grounding in logic, statistical or otherwise) that MORE prep means still higher scores. So the poor kid has spent three years being tutored and ends up with very respectable 650’s across the board and STILL isn’t getting into elite U with those scores. And whatever other things could have been done with the money, the time (like letting the kid enjoy the end of his/her childhood) out the window.</p>
<p>CPT- parents bring this on themselves. If you look at the average increases in scores from sophomore to senior year for the tests with no paid prep it seems to track pretty well the score increases of the people who admit they’ve had paid prep.</p>
<p>If someone chooses to have their child in a mediocre private school (and pays for it!) when a better school which is free is across the street, then to each his own. I can’t lose sleep over it. But I will point out that thousands of valedictorians get rejected by top colleges every year. So putting your kid in a terrible school for senior year so he’ll be valedictorian is hardly a winning strategy if you look at the numbers.</p>
<p>I know kids from strong schools who missed the 7% cut off and don’t go to UT. Sometimes they and their folks post here, too. </p>
<p>I was surprised to learn that other state schools have schemes to guarantee representation from around the state, like the VA plan described above. I ought to do a search on that question or ask in a new post what states have auto admission plans and what they look like. </p>
<p>I can confirm that many strong kids just below the 7% mark don’t get admitted to UT. The most shocking stories come from those kids who apply for Engineering or Business. Both are impacted majors.
DS2 graduated with a National Merit Scholar with an amazing resume who applied for business. -Result : offered CAP program which is equivalent to being rejected. He was just outside the top 7%. I’ve heard this phenomenon called the “great brain drain” as the talent leaves Texas. Other OOS schools offer these kids tons of scholarship money.</p>
<p>My oldest was actually admitted to Engineering at UT outside the top 7% at our non ranking private school. His ACT math score was a 35. If you look at the formula UT uses for engineering, it relies heavily on the math score. We think that was what made the difference. His GC told us he had a better shot at the IVYs than UT. </p>
<p>Plenty of parents try to work the system.</p>
<p>(FWIW, the only IVY my son applied to was Columbia. He was not accepted.)</p>