Parents of the HS Class of 2024

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
6824

Kenyon is a great example. Strong academically in general, really strong in some areas, lovely campus.

But they only got 8116 applications last year, and then had to admit 2784 to yield 531 (19.1% yield rate). So their admit rate was 34.3%, which is shockingly high by coastal standards.

Interestingly, this does not necessarily mean their kids are academically a lot less qualified. Obviously they cannot be quite as selective as their coastal peers, but usually their numbers are just a notch off peer privates (and way above peer publics). And their outstanding students are truly outstanding.

But . . . yeah, not an easy sell location-wise.

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6825

It is a great pool and a great swim school. S24 turned down an offer because they train like Div. I. He loved the team and the coach. Coach Book is a wonderful coach. He also loved the college but he wants more balance between academics and swim. Thatā€™s why heā€™s looking at SLACs. You canā€™t argue with that.

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6826

Totally agree with this. If any one asks our S24where he hopes to be going he says " I am ASU bound. Harvard of the west " :smile:

It has removed some stress for sure.

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6827

Super grateful to the people on this site that recommended rolling admissions at Pitt and Delaware. Having those in hand has made all the difference.

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6828

In anticipation of the impending ED decisions, Iā€™ve been pondering deferrals. Specifically, what would cause a college to defer a candidate? (Iā€™m talking about colleges who defer only a small share of candidates, not the ones that kick the can down the road and defer almost everyone who is not admitted.) Are they thinking that this candidate clears the bar and would be a successful student at the school, but is not compelling enough to admit before seeing the full pool? Have they not seen enough applicants with that particular profile and want to get a more complete sense of the pool in the regular cycle? I imagine sometimes the school is on the fence and wants to see another semester of grades? Do they ever defer legacy candidates or the like as a courtesy (similar to waitlist)?

6829

I feel like Iā€™m going through every event as - last of high school ā€¦ last concert, last band performance, last school dance. I donā€™t know if everyone does this but itā€™s definitely making me emotional!!

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6830

Last trip to the Christmas tree lot definitely got meā€¦

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6831

From what I understand grades can be a factor. Things are pointing in the right direction but they want the kid to stay on their toes. At least, thatā€™s one reason Iā€™ve been told. Itā€™s possible they got a large number of great candidates at the ED stage but didnā€™t want to over admit at that stage??? Someone opened a fortune cookie and it told them to defer the student in question. AOs work in mysterious ways.

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6832

My D was deferred from a NESCAC and ultimately accepted. In her case, I think she fell into ā€œthis candidate clears the bar and would be a successful student at the school, but is not compelling enough to admit before seeing the full pool.ā€ She was an unhooked, majority candidate from an overrepresented city. She had stellar grades, strong SATs, and focused, but not unusual, ECs. The only significant change between ED and RD was that she decided to submit a visual art portfolio which was mentioned in her acceptance letter. Good luck!

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6833

I think yes to all of those things.

My understanding is a lot of colleges these days are using sophisticated yield models to track how they are doing in terms of various institutional goals. They may also have some fairly specific boxes to check (the famous orchestra tuba player from North Dakota), and so on. But there is always uncertainty about the best ways to optimize across all these goals.

And so they have various ways of managing uncertainty. The waitlist is the obvious one, and I understand very often they will try to check unchecked boxes off the waitlist. But more broadly, they do things like come up with provisional decisions, and then adjust some actual decisions at the end to optimize the admit class in light of their yield model.

Deferral is really just another mechanism like that, delaying a truly final decision until they can optimize their admit class.

But they canā€™t defer everyone, indeed ED schools presumably get the best results when locking in some people they know they really want, and then building the rest of the admit class around them.

OK, so at a high level, ED admit versus deferral is a decision between whether you want to lock in and build around that applicant, or wait to see whether admitting them really optimizes your yield model. And for that matter, deferral versus denial is about whether you want to wait or if you basically know there is no real chance they will end up being admitted in the final optimization.

That last is a bit fuzzy and you can see why some colleges used to hand out a lot of deferrals. I mean, what is really in it for them to cancel an option, even if there is only a tiny chance they will want to exercise that option? But people pointed out how unfair that was, and pressured these colleges to deny more kids.

All right, so if you are deferred, it means two things basically. You were not so compelling they knew they wanted to build the admit class around you. But, at least if they are being ethical about it, you might still be part of the final admit class depending on how it evolves. And again, assuming ethical deferrals, they legitimately donā€™t know yet how that will break.

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6834

So it sounds that the consensus is that a deferral means your kid met the basic (high) requirements for admission but may or may not ultimately fit institutional needs? For a kid who applied to a ā€œrealistic reachā€ in the ED round, that is whose qualifications were in the right range for their particular school, there doesnā€™t seem to be much new information in a deferral then.

What about a denial? Do we think denials in the ED round send a clear signal about perceived qualifications? Or are many qualified candidates denied in the ED round because there are simply too many strong candidates with that particular profile, similar to RD? If the denial signals any information, that could be helpful for application decisions in the ED2 and RD rounds.

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6835

Many schools are still offering the test optional option in the name of offering more equitable passage to college admission, yet itā€™s pretty clear that making tests mandatory actually provides useful informations to AOs.

Essays themselves are in fact a lot less equitable, since applicants can benefit from this party assistance from parents, friends, and a long list of consultants advertising their trade on/offline. As a result, some wonderful essays are probably entirely scripted by professional hired guns.

But some may even argue itā€™s a fair battle when the other side has a battery of aggressive online marketing, institutional goals, yield protection, and provides for numerous hooks.

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6836

I would think a denial means you are ā€œnotā€ a qualified candidate. The school will expect to have a ā€œmoreā€ qualified candidate during the RD round.

6837

Yes

6838

I would be careful with this line of thought. Plenty of kids get rejected from one top school, only to be accepted at another.

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6839

I am thinking they meant from that specific school but I could be wrong.

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6840

Was hoping to hear from both these schools by now and watching the EA threads semi-anxiously :face_with_peeking_eye: every day. Glad that D24 got acceptances from 3 other matches so we are not super stressed.

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6841

WL would really be meaningful if admission from a 3-20% school selected a WL with a subsequent 30%-50% admit rate, which would demonstrate a careful WL selection process, coupled with a real meaningful chance of RD admission off the WL. Otherwise, it doesnā€™t mean anything but admissions buying themselves optionality.

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6842

Hopefully soon! Our daughter submitted in late sept to pitt and early October to UD.

6843

may be they are processing apps by submission date. D24 applied last week of October along with the rest of EA apps.