<p>Some do, some don’t. Ds posted his first on there, but then he decided against doing others, I think. I have heard most about people who applied to the same schools ds did as they compare results. </p>
<p>But, like today, one of ds’s classmates was in the paper for her athletic prowess. She’s a recruited athlete, but she’s not telling where she’s going next year. Who knows why, but it is her business if she doesn’t want to share.</p>
<p>It’s not like they’re posting that they got into h/y/p- they post the acceptances to places you might not have heard of and lots of local schools. It’s very supportive. I’m surprised that this is so surprising! :)</p>
<p>My D’s HS group has a facebook group specifically to list where everyone is going next year (only with final decision) so they can all stay in touch/know where each other is. They aren’t doing it competitively, it’s all very supportive.</p>
<p>^^^^
This makes sense to me — knowing where people have finally decided to go is included in the school paper at DS’ school. It’s knowing the details on the acceptances and rejections that surprise me.</p>
<p>between two applicants from our tiny rural public we had 4 different Ivy Acceptances. I’ve been teaching here for going on 20 years and in that time we have only had 1 other kid w/ an Ivy yes and one who was admitted to Stanford in those two decades. That’s our local shocker! 
:D</p>
<p>At my son’s high school … very small private … the college counselor announces acceptances each day at their family-style lunch. Waitlists and denials are not announced – but there’s applause for all acceptances, beginning sometimes as early as October.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>My kids’ high school also announces each acceptance and also each scholarship.</p>
<p>My kids attended both a mid-size private (90-100 students/class) and a largish public (500+ graduating seniors). At the first school, everybody was friendly with everybody else, and everybody knew everybody else’s business instantly. At the second school, privacy and anonymity would have been possible hypothetically, but in practice the kids who were in the running for selective colleges talked about it with each other constantly. When my son looked up his last four or five college decisions, he was at a conference out of town with two of his friends/rivals/exes, and the three of them were sharing one laptop and looking over each other’s shoulder . . . and IMing their friends back home to find out what was happening with them.</p>
<p>Anyone who cared to know could easily find out about all the thrills of victory and agonies of defeat.</p>
<p>I’m only close to a couple of kids who were applying this year, and I was away most of last week, so I don’t have much to contribute. My young friends’ take, and that of their close friends, seems mainly to be being stunned at the randomness and inconsistency of results. And they all feel like they are on too many waitlists (except for the ones who were spoken for ED). Lots of second-guessing decisions not to apply places early.</p>
<p>I’m surprised by how many people announce that “big shots” didn’t get in somewhere, and then follow this with a haha or a smiley face.</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine any 17/18 year old could engender that kind of animosity. We seem to love seeing others shot down. :(</p>
<p>^^ If you’re talking about me, I said that our ‘big shot’ (who is a great guy) ‘only’ 
got into Princeton. The referenced the ‘only’- that Princeton is pretty darn amazing…not smiling that that was his only admit. He got into lots of other great schools, but ‘only’ one ivy. Note my DD didn’t even apply to Princeton (or any other ivy!)
Kind of like saying I ‘only’ went to Paris on vacation, when others went to Paris, London, Rome, etc.</p>
<p>Sheesh…why think the worst???</p>
<p>Sorry if I misread yours, mimimom. It followed some more blatant ones, but I should have got your intent.</p>
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<p>Our local high school is large, but the kids at the top academically are a pretty small number. At least in our daughters’ years, they were a pretty tight knit group and supported each other through the college application process. </p>
<p>So it wasn’t a surprise to know what colleges those kids applied to and the results.</p>
<p>Also, I volunteer in the College and Career Center at the high school and some of the top kids come in to ask for advice about college lists, applications, essays, testing strategies, etc. and just to shoot the breeze. It gives them a chance to talk about the whole process with adults who have been through it before.</p>
<p>This is the first day back from spring break, so D will hear more news today. But of those who posted on FB, I’d say her class did not do particularly well with the Ivies and top LAC’s. As has been the pattern in recent years, UPenn again seemed to overlook our high school’s best and brightest in favor of 2 kids whose acceptances were a shock and perceived as undeserved. (No sour grapes, btw, as D did not apply.)</p>
<p>Of D’s friends from a selective summer program, the results were a little worse than she’d have expected too–a lot of rejections and waitlists. The kid she considered the most brilliant did not do well at all. And of those who did the best and who earned multiple Ivy acceptances, several appeared to have been affected by Tufts syndrome since they got rejected or waitlisted at less selective schools like Holy Cross, BC and GW. Of that entire summer group, D thinks that several less stellar candidates ended up doing better than more accomplished kids because they applied ED at an Ivy.</p>
<p>I think the thing that has surprised me the most is that most of the discussion I have heard has been more around “packages” versus acceptances. Some of the top students at our local high school (and we live in a fairly affluent town with all of its trappings) have been accepted at 10+ schools (some highly selective) but are seriously reconsidering their safeties based on lucrative finanicial packages.</p>
<p>I’m surprised about schools announcing acceptances – it seems like it’s none of the world-at-large’s business. Our school doesn’t do this; but the last issue of the student newspaper, which is the "Senior Issue,” includes a class will, predictions, and a section for future plans, listing kids by name with the colleges they’ve enrolled at, military/vocational plans, etc. It’s nice to do it that way - it really belongs to the students, and kids have the option of not including their information. Our school profile includes a listing of schools the previous year’s class is attending, but not by student name.</p>
<p>Informally, kids make congratulatory posters for each other and put them up in the lobby: “Bryn Mawr wants Jessica,” “Binghamton wants Sam,” etc. I’ve heard about schools that have a bulletin board devoted to rejection letters, which shows a nice irreverent attitude and is probably emotionally healing for the students who want to participate.</p>
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<p>My school does something similar to this (I go to a big school, so announcing acceptances would be impossible). In the last issue of the paper, there is a senior survey section. It contains the valedictorians, salutatorians, top 10% of the class (my school doesn’t release rank info to colleges or students), senior academic awards, and where students will enroll if they wanted to submit that information. I think this is a good way to do it.</p>
<p>At D’s highschool, there is a whiteboard near the guidance office where the GC’s post acceptances as they come in. </p>
<p>A surprise for us was how many kids applied to and were accepted by the University of Michigan, given it’s not exactly close by! It seems to be a top choice for prospective engineering majors, and is a match for some whose first choice is MIT or Cornell.</p>
<p>Surprises? S got into his top two choices and likelies with merit, and did not do so well with the LACs where we thought would be a great fit. His GF did a fabulous job of picking her list and has gotten FA that seems to be workable for her family. Kids are still on spring break, so I haven’t heard about the rest of their friends, though I am aware of some Ivy admits and some who didn’t get what they hoped. </p>
<p>The kids have a FB group for where they plan to attend, and next month the school paper will post destinations for those kids who want to share.</p>
<p>I would say the biggest surprise is economic: the kids at our tiny public HS are very thoughtfully talking about their financial aid vis a vis decision-making. Proud of them–even those whose parents aren’t making a big deal out of it.</p>
<p>I was shocked to hear from some of my acquaintances that their children (with great gpas, test scores and full pay parents) did not get into any colleges (even schools that would be considered third tier here on CC) other than our state flagship (apparently, even that was a huge deal because the number of applications has skyrocketed). And I thought my DD’s class had it pretty tough two years ago… Anecdotal evidence suggests that some waiting lists will be pretty active this year.</p>