exactly- you gotta go where you’re loved 
can’t wait for this waiting game to be over, but it also means actually making decisions…
Congratulations!
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Very nice! Congrats!
My D rejected at Duke.
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I mean my D was rejected at Duke.
Congratulations!
@2ndthreekids My D18 was accepted to Oxford and she is currently a student there graduating in June. I don’t know how they manage the disparity between the different school systems (private vs public) – I think they have a way to take this into account and ensure a good number of public students gain admission.
I can share what it took for my daughter to be accepted as an American student: a) 3+ relevant APs with a ‘5’ (they don’t accept ‘4’s). In her case, these were APUSH, AP Econ Micro and Macro, AP Calc BC (they don’t accept AB). She studies PPE there. They did not care about the other APs she had. B) a personal statement of, IIRC, 4-5k characters related to her major. The PS needs to cover the classes relevant to her major, the outside reading and ECs related to her major and, finally and not more than 20% of the whole document, her other ECs. So, over the summer prior to applying, she read ‘The Silk road’ and an easy econ text they recommended and wrote about that. C) a written assessment different for different majors (hers was called Thinking skill assessment and is a SAT on steroids with lots of logic questions and reading comprehension). She prepared by taking all previous exams which are published. The assessment is in the beginning of November and there are no retakes. D) in-person interviews with the profs in her college (aka tutors).
There is no way you can game this system – you either have what it takes, or you don’t. If you don’t write your essays yourself, they will find out during the interview.
My daughter chose Oxford over Stanford, Brown, Columbia (dual degree with Science Po), and Berkeley (GMP and regents-invitee). She likes it a lot and she grew a ton. The experience is unparalleled even with the COVID debacle. It’s a lot less of a lottery than our system to get accepted. Hope this helps
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Thank you ! This is helpful. And good for your daughter! Congrats to her on her accomplishments. I tried to get d19 to consider applying in the UK for that same reason i.e. I knew it was ‘less of a lottery’ for strongly academic students (she was full diploma IB with HL math/english/philo/FL, a few SL’s plus 6 AP’s…it worked out fine and she was admitted into her ideal school but I know darn well it could have gone differently).
I really do vascilate…are test scores too important or not important enough…are kids in other countries super stressed out like American kids about the college process because of test importance, or is it worse here because so many students know they need tippy top scores to have a chance at a selective ‘meets need’ school and/or to maximize their merit aid at an otherwise unaffordable school ? Do certain populations get left behind in education because of the focus on the tests in the UK as they most certain do here, where test scores can most certainly be improved with money and time to test prep ? Why can’t American colleges figure this out ? Obviously the UK has a smaller population served by a much smaller number of universities, practically all of which are government funded, so their ability to maintain their hierarchy of entrance standards for different schools may be somewhat driven by that. I don’t know the answers.
As the Duke AO’s say she was not rejected but rather not selected. You D has lots of great options. Can’t wait to hear the final choice
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Very interesting. How does the cost compare to the likes of Stanford, Brown and Columbia
Sorry to hear that, Anaray. 
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Soooo, who’s ready for today’s bloodbath? 
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Thank you! Now ready for today…going to be a long day
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Mine did not get into Duke either. He wasn’t counting on it, but I was holding on to a sliver of hope for him.
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Thank you. And don’t know how hard it is going to be today.
Sorry for you as well.
Where is he planning to go so far? And we have today’s results as well.
My daughter got a vaccine appointment! Who cares about Ivy Day results? 
Seriously, good luck to all!
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Good luck to everyone waiting on Ivy notifications today!
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Yes good luck to all on Ivy day. With this outstanding group of students I am hoping to see lots of “selections” today
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Our DD is starting at a small liberal arts school (1,500 students) in the fall and she’s anxious about finding a roommate. She doesn’t want to go random (although it worked for me) but can’t seem to get much feedback on the college’s ZeeMee group.
Has anyone else’s kid connected with a potential roommate or is it too early to worry about it?