Parents of the HS Class of 2024

I’ve been following the housing issue with interest. I think we have a reasonable plan if he decides to attend, but I agree it is something to keep in mind. He actually also really likes William & Mary, but they don’t do his main interest as one of their joint degrees.

1 Like

Deferral from the elite REA types(HYPS) for a high-1500s top-across -the board student should not push them to ED2 unless it really is the top choice after the deferred school! We know many unhooked top kids in the past 3 yrs, my own 23 included, who had multiple T10 RD acceptances after being deferred at this level of school. I think pushing ED2 or even ED1 for kids that do not have a favorite 1-2 schools (that offer ED) is a mistake. My 21 did have a number 1, so ED1 made sense for her.

8 Likes

On another note, by what date is it fair to say that for this admissions cycle the “other” hooks are staying in place for the vast majority of schools? I know a couple/3 schools dumped legacy preference not long after the SCOTUS decision on race, and that some lawsuits are working their way through the system. But there’s an awful lot of crickets from the rest.

While it may seem unlikely, I know 2 tippy top kids who got very many WL but no acceptances in RD, and the only acceptances were the last case scenario high admit (out of) state schools.

That spooked me. I know another person in a similar situation except she ended up with 3 acceptances on Ivy day but absolutely nothing in between.

2 Likes

St. Andrews is swimming in American students, so much so that you can now apply there directly on the American common app.

2 Likes

That’s a really good question.

I would think if a school was intending to do something like eliminate a legacy preference, the PR benefit would be enough to make them want to say so. And presumably they would know before they started reviewing applications.

But I guess in theory they could wait as long as their first early deadline. Indeed, not to be cynical, but it might be in their interests to have a bunch of legacies and such apply early, then let everyone know it wouldn’t make a difference.

That feels a little too cynical to me, though. So my guess is at least in most cases, we would have heard by now if they were planning a change for this cycle.

1 Like

I think there are now something like 20 UK universities on Common App, including also Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, and Swansea. We will probably just do St Andrews, but we considered Glasgow too (I’m actually still not sure Glasgow would be a bad idea).

Anyway, St Andrews, consistent with their general reputation when it comes to US students, actually sends a recruiter to our HS college fair. He explained they prefer that US applicants use the Common App, because of course they immediately know that is a US applicant. Kinda nice to feel this wanted . . . .

And of course they are an exception to REA/SCEA rules, so if you are looking at those it is nice to be able to submit an early application to one or more UK schools too, should that be something that interests you at all.

Same though agreed they could technically announce it at the early deadlines as you note.

There are so many differences in applications (especially ECs), they could easily just not give legacies a meaningful bump without officially announcing anything.

We’ll see. My D24 is going to ED to a legacy school.

2 Likes

I’m with NUP on this. They’ll only do it for the PR (or under court order). Otherwise they’d already have done so.

@2devil

I agree and my DD would not want to give up on the prospect of HYP but would also be very happy at my alma mater(which she would not likely get in RD). Our SC says the likely the SCEA will likely result in a deferral as opposed to a straight rejection. This is where the value of a good SC comes in to play because she can get an indication of interest upon deferral and pivot if we need to. The school she is using SCEA does not give much of a bump for early from the stats I see but it is the clear number 1 for her. Stressful times but these are good problems to have and this is a great sounding board.

3 Likes

drum to end legacy is beating strong. everyday there is a new article from various schools.

I don’t think schools will be able to hold it. Will it be this year? maybe not.
But eventually, it will end.

Our kids former prep school (our kids graduated a few years back) just announced a new policy at college night last week that they will no longer make calls on any student’s behalf in the name of equity to college admissions. Parents stunned and trying to act okay with it and guessing other parents think it doesn’t apply to them - only time tell.

1 Like

just after I finished posting.

" * Unlike the legacy practices of many elite institutions, there is no set aside or scale-tipping in the admissions process at Syracuse University. All our students proceed on a level playing field through the admissions process, and all students, including those with alumni relatives, are academically qualified for admission."

if there is no help with legacy, then why keep it? same argument SC made regarding affirmative action case.

We honestly aren’t even thinking about “targets” - we basically have a bunch of reaches and a couple of safeties, which are big OOS schools where hopefully he’ll get merit and/or honors college. That being said, I think my kid could be happy at any of the schools on his list.
The thing that bothers me the most is really the timing of everything. He will only know about his ED and one of the safeties before winter break, and RD is basically a month before any of the other EA schools give their decisions. It would even be better if EA was a month earlier for both application and decisions.

1 Like

so….do they consider legacy in admissions? confused. just bc there is no “set aside” or “scale-tipping” per se, doesn’t mean it isn’t a factor in holistic admissions. They don’t say it is irrelevant. Sorta cagey language, in my opinion.

3 Likes

Do they mean they would call for certain kids and not others? Who are they talking about when they say equity?

1 Like

They will not call for anyone - regarding equity they are referring to all the kids that attend schools that do not have a well funded and highly experienced college staff. They said it was an agreement with several other independent day peer schools in our area too. They will still host college visits on campus - but no more advocating. They will still be able to write very personal letters, create balanced lists with the background of knowing who your child is “competing”
against and guide the students in class and extracurricular choices.

sounds like they made personal calls to college admission office to advocate for URM students but they decided to discontinue based on the SC decision.

As a number of posters across various threads have mentioned their private school counselors reaching out to college admissions offices, and as I don’t believe the vast majority of them were URM families, I don’t agree with your supposition.

I think the counselors that @coffeat3’s referring to are referring to the fact that making calls on behalf of students at private schools that are primarily funded by high tuition bills is inequitable because most public school students don’t get that same level of access to colleges’ admissions officers.

16 Likes