Ridiculous reject train ride 2022

Is there a question in the original post?

There were some but I think they were rhetorical. My best guess is that the OP is just really disappointed and wanted to vent. I am sympathetic to that; with how unpredictable the process currently seems, I can easily picture myself being in the same position next year.

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So this is the kind of music-based community service project I am talking about.

I am sure these kids found each other organically, but the cynical part of me wonders if they had the same private college counselor.

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Rice’s acceptance was 8.5% this year. It’s been between mid/high 8% - low 9% for the last 4 years or so.

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You know your kid is very smart. Whatever kids plans to do in any college , he/she will do great. Commitment to do hard work and drive to succeed are the two most important factors in life and success will come sooner or later. We have seen that enough in our life as adults to know that. Trust that best things are in store and year from now it will not suck as of now. And you know hard work never gets unrewarded, at some point she will see the benefit of all the efforts, just have patience!

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Would be tough to “use” ED for Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Stanford as none of them have an ED option.

They do offer various flavors of REA or SCEA that are non-binding, as opposed to binding ED programs.

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You know what I meant! Don’t waste restrictive EA on HYPS.

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The Harvard litigation data/analysis showed a bump for REA applicants to Harvard, controlling for “hook” factors.

If your student is competitive and one of these is his/her clear first choice, they should go for it. I would not have my kid apply ED1 unless that school were a clear favorite and finance were not an issue. The best strategy is still to apply EA or rolling to your state or other state schools (allowed by all REA schools that I am aware of) and others that are safety/matches (if no applicable REA/ED restrictions). The results of those applications will help shape your RD (even ED2) list as to both how competitive the applicant/application is and whether you can go reach heavy or focus more on safety/matches.

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My kid “conceived, recruited staff, initiated, and continued” something like this in our town during the pandemic. It was a great thing, and it did help keep up the younger kids’ instrumental skills during lockdown, but the motivation was also college applications. And there was no college counselor involved.

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Back to the OP please…no reason to go on about ECs it is too late to pursue

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We have a fundamental problem with grade inflation that colleges are struggling with. The average high school GPA last year was 3.48. Average. Colleges can fill classes 2-3x over with kids with perfect scores and 4+ averages. It’s beyond crazy.

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I would disagree with this, if she would have enjoyed it, why not, she could have eventually had a title in the organization, might have made for a good essay and she could have linked to herself performing or teaching on her college applications

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Ohio I’m guessing :+1:t2:

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Some schools require official transcripts when you apply while others allow you to self report and then supply a final transcript if admitted and enrolled.

I guess you could lie on the self reported grades and hope they don’t notice on the final transcript.
If caught lying grounds for offer to be rescinded.

If a school isn’t test optional then having high scores means you passed the first bar. It doesn’t increase your chances of acceptance. It just means you’re in the running.

Your daughter is more than her test scores. Colleges consider all of those other factors when making acceptance decisions. They’re particularly important for schools that could fill their seats several times over with the number of qualified applicants they get in a single year. How much aid you need is a big one, but there are others. If your daughter has an acceptance that’s affordable, is a good fit, and she’s happy to attend then she’s in a great spot. It sounds like she’ll do great wherever she lands.

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Reading the tea leaves over the last few years, AOs are increasingly preferring kids who are doing real jobs over things that spiff up the package but require economic privilege. And, frankly, I would be very unhappy if any of my collegekids were ‘disheartended’ or looked down on the kid in the dorm room next year who spent the summer earning money to pay for their college expenses instead of being an unpaid intern a lab b/c the next door neighbor’s mom had a contact / taking a (pricey) ACT review course / paying for a summer class at Columbia / etc.

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I’ll be real here, having some experience of $$$$ private schools. Nobody looks down on anyone so much. But(!) people who have different budgets do not hang out much.

The great equalizers are looks and sporting prowess.

Colleges try to engineer diversity but they can’t mandate that people socialize with each other.

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Agree! And who is going to contribute to the life of the school community?

Imagine being a teenager who must exercise authority over a large group of people across all age groups, and who carries the burden of enforcing safety and saving lives after passing a grueling, physically demanding certification process. That’s what a lifeguard does. It’s called leadership. Schools want that. Purposeful activities and demonstrated leadership do often win out over check-the-boxes resume building, and thank goodness for that!

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They do a good job a sons school due to the dorm culture. His friend group includes all types of kids from different backgrounds. It also helps that there isn’t much to do around campus so socially everything is centered around the campus.

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