Thanks for sharing. Any thoughts on the college tool they have developed? I don’t have a current NYT sub.
There are gift links posted in this thread:
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Thank you! I was trying to access it via the original gift article.
As the class of 2023 wraps up the college process (I think almost everything is out now), we are up next. Have to admit feeling apprehensive seeing how insanely competitive everything has gotten. Am girding myself for a long, stressful process next year!
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same here! I should be so relieved May 2024.
I just remember looking at this one post where the family has to regroup over the weekend because they were waitlisted at 9? schools with a 1590 SAT and 4.0 GPA.
Good grief.
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I am flabbergasted by the number of kids who apply to all of the Ivies plus MIT, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Northwestern and a few UCs, Why?? There is nothing that makes those schools fit together other than prestige, it is so bizarre.
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Im probably in the minority here but if a kid wants to go to a prestigious school and the parents can pay for it, why not.
To me, it’s no different than people who want to buy a Lexus, BMW, or Mercedes over a Honda.
We live in a brand centric society so it’s understandable why prestigious schools are attractive.
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It is hard to understand. Mostly, I’d guess it is prestige hunting. They want a T25 school and feel if they apply to all of them they are improving their chances of getting into at least 1. I have no idea if that works. I can’t imagine doing that with S24 - while he does have some very selective schools on his potential list (far from finalized), he eliminated most of the Ivies/MIT/Stanford and the UCs right off the bat. California is too far and he realizes his chances at HYPSM are so minuscule as to not be worth an application.
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I dont have an issue with a kid wanting a prestigious school, but the Ivy’s and the other top 10 schools are all so different. Choose a few that meet your needs and apply to all of them, to just apply to all of them makes no sense, and is artificially decreasing acceptance rates.
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Agreed! We are doing the same thing for S24 but are working on fit first, there will be some top 20 schools but no more than 4 or 5 that are similar. Then we hunt for everything else…
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These days it seems like the same cohort of students (average excellent +) are applying to more and more schools in the hopes that one will work out. I know someone whose kid applied to 25 schools for that reason. I jokingly asked a friend what school would be the first to have a 1% acceptance rate.
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I agree. Short of being accepted in the early round, you pretty much have to buy as many lottery tickets as you can, however, prestige is the only thing that is common to all the schools. Anyone applying to ALL (and plenty of kids do) are not being thoughtful about their list.
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hahahah
did you see this?
how about 0.0% acceptance rate Princeton?
“Admissions are tricky, so we’re really excited about this development,” said Dean of Admissions Nowuns Gudenuf. “By refraining from opening up any spots in the Great Class of 2027, Princeton can guarantee that every student was treated equally no matter the privileges or disadvantages that their pasts have afforded them.”
Assistant Admissions Officer Saul Ek Tivity added, “It’s a thrill to see our acceptance rate drop head and shoulders below our peer institutions. I feel honored to be part of making this University truly one of the best in the country. Take that, Harvard!”
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Because fit matters. I am sure that you can find 10 schools in that group that would be great for you, but ALL would be very unlikely.
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I also believe there are a lot of kids who dont know what they want and can figure it out later.
They think most of the T10 schools are probably excellent in multiple disciplines, which is true in many cases.
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Ha! It’s funny and sad all at once.
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Should be in the Onion!
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I think that would be easier to deal with. It is not that it is competitive, it is stressful because it is random.
I think it has been particularly challenging for high achieving students, who for whatever reason don’t meet a top schools institutional priorities, and in turn get yield protected out of schools where they would be very strong candidates.
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Correct but if they apply to all the schools and get accepted into some, they can determine which schools are fits and which ones aren’t.
If they dont apply to enough schools, fit may not matter because they didnt get into any of them.
We’re talking about regular decision so nothing is binding. I always try to look at it from someone’s viewpoint so Im assuming this is their thought process.
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