You bought your dad the most recent USNews ranking magazine, or sent him a link to the ranking? hehe
“Here, dad, look – it’s #1. Now you’ve heard of Princeton. Your grandson got into that school.”
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My money’s on essays. In one of my daughter’s classes they did a share your essay and she was shocked at just how bad most of them were - and these were all extremely capable students. The vast majority of teens really do see the college essay as a time to either tell all about their struggles or tell all about their relative’s journey to the US. My daughter’s co-sal who had pretty much identical stats to her was pretty much shutout and she absolutely attributes it to his essay about videogames.
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He asked a few times over the following two years whether the teaching is ok at Princeton, and whether it is sufficiently reputed etc. He hasn’t heard of it sufficiently.
I apologize but I remain confused. Are you saying that collusion goes on and that’s why we don’t see a lot of kids getting multiple offers?
Or are you saying that collusion isn’t taking place and that consequently we see a lot of kids getting multiple offers because the quality of their applications when subjected to a holistic review merit it.
Not sure which of your two comments you are suggesting is the current status quo?
I was responding to the OP’s question directly:
Why did this one student get accepted to all of their reach schools?
This one student was accepted to all of their reach schools because all of the offices that reviewed this student’s application had the same reaction to it for whatever holistic reasons. Thus, they were accepted to all of the reach schools. What appealed to the offices is probably not predictable as it is highly subjective and might change based on unpredictable institutional priorities and/or the current application season environment.
Only collision could result in a more equitable admissions outcome for comparable, equally qualified students in the same school or social orbit.
That’s all I have to say on this topic.
Thanks for clarifying. Totally agree that it was something unique to the students application that resonated with AOs resulting in the pattern of acceptances and not luck.
Sorry my mistake for misunderstanding this comment from earlier in the thread. Thanks again for clarifying.
I think true leadership has a lot to do with it. I feel many student’s resumes are filled with “president of math club”, “organized a winter coat drive”, “Beta Club VP”, etc. But things like Boy Scouts, JROTC leadership, Varsity Team captain, etc., combined with great writing ability is what really puts some of these kids on top.
Hi observer, blossom, and everybody else who is disturbed by the “middle-class” discussion,
We can actually all get along. 
I teach at a working-class college within reach of Atlanta, and one of my goals is to understand how college and the class system interact, so I can give my students the best chances. In California, making 150-200k might very well qualify as “middle class.” In Atlanta, it is upper-middle class. I would say that “upper-class” families in ATL could safely be categorized as making 300K upwards. So many people in this country, though, are making 50-120K as a family unit, and this is how I see “middle-class” in regions of the country that are not terribly overpriced and competitive. This is also what surveys of the U.S. say about who the solid “middle class” are. There are many, many poor people who do not make that much. A majority of my college’s students are on Pell grants. Anyway, that’s the statistical truth. I hear it has a liberal bias. 
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I’m not “disturbed” by the middle class discussion, and of course, we can all get along. My point was that there is a troubling moving of the goal posts that happens on CC when we talk income. And that helps NOBODY.
I have friends in the Bay area and they have “normal” jobs (think school teacher and nurse, those kinds of jobs). Of course they feel poor, because they are surrounded by people who have made millions of dollars and have cashed out their stock at age 35. And buying a “normal” house is a nightmare because no such thing exists. So when they whine that their kid who graduated from college with a solid degree got job offers for “only” 100K and how is he supposed to live on that-- and you remind them that 100K is a very nice lifestyle for a 22 year old in Tulsa or Cincinnati or St. Louis (three of the locations that the kid could choose from-- in addition to SF and Boston) they react with horror.
OK, so perpetuate the feeling that you are “poor” for another generation by insisting that your adult kid replicate your lifestyle in SF.
You can feel poor in SF on 100K but you can live VERY nicely in Tulsa (buy a house, join a tennis club if that’s your thing) for the same salary and not have to commute 45 minutes each way.
Choices. We all have choices. Snowball- the kids you teach have fewer choices than affluent kids so its’ great they have you in their corner. But if we start acting as though 400K is “middle class”, we’ve lost ALL perspective on how people in America actually live.
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Solidly in the middle class, here in the middle of nowhere 
I think twice about buying the seasonal pass for the tennis courts in township, and don’t buy them half the years.
Meaning that the median income in your area is 350-450K or so?
I find that hard to believe. The math doesn’t work. Does your region have ZERO families who qualify for free or reduced lunch?
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Feeling middle class and being middle class are two very different things.
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Probably more of what @beebee3 said above.
I am sure we make some expensive choices.
Still things would feel tight with that kind of money in our neck of the woods, with kids in college, desired retirement saving target, taxes – real estate and otherwise etc.
My point exactly. Things feeling tight- are you talking the copay for your kid to see the pediatrician with a high fever, or “desired retirement savings”? Don’t you see there’s a difference here?
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They are all the same. It is not some lavish retirement if that is what you are alluding to :-). Long life is a serious actuarial problem. I don’t lightly wish it on people unless I know they are comfortable. No expense is spared for the kids, but sometimes we avoid going to the doctor thinking about the co-pay. Our own visit feels unnecessary :-).
I think the correct way of framing this is to recognize that one expense is urgent, and the other one (saving) is not urgent but important.
Both are necessary, and need to be accounted for.
At the same time, it is necessary to invest in kid’s education as freely as possible because that investment is time sensitive, and makes a lot of difference. It is better they receive the 300k or whatever now than receiving more money 40 years from now.
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Respectfully, choosing to not engage in discretionary spending (buying yearly tennis court membership) does not indicate that an income of $400K/yr isn’t in the top 5% aka upper class.
Choosing as an adult not to visit the Dr. also doesn’t indicate that $400k/yr isn’t in the top 5% of all US income earning households, aka upper class.
You feel it is necessary. It is not objectively necessary to spend $300k on an excellent education. Again, this is a choice.
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In hindsight we have no regrets on this decision, and feel that as a result choices were available that would not have been available otherwise.
I’m glad you have no regrets on a very expensive purchase - that is the best possible outcome. You feeling no regrets and being happy with the outcome doesn’t:
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Make a $400k income any less upper class
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Prove it was at all necessary. It was a choice, and by all accounts - a good one of your part.
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You really need to condition this statement on the part of the country someone lives in. Otherwise that is a meaningless statement. The putative poor in this country can all go and live in Bangladesh and be rich. We don’t judge them by the standards in Bangladesh. Likewise we don’t judge people that live in nyc by the cost of living in the Florida pan handle.
This thread has officially jumped the shark.
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