Prep Schools and super selective colleges have a symbiotic relationship. It’s in their interests to have close ties, and they do. The Deerfield Head of College Advising can absolutely call any school with a 15% admit rate, and get his/hercall taken. A super selective school has an admissions department that’s a well oiled machine – which means they will have a rep that covers the Northeast, and one that covers prep schools.
Now, not every College has this. But a sub-15% admit rate school? They all do.
That said, I am certainly open to being corrected if I am wrong.
@cinnamon1212 - I will out the school AFTER the RD decisions are posted
My sense from what the AO shared with kiddo is that they are Jonesing for numbers and upping their standing in the USNWR game. He mentioned something about “Trying to build a class with very high stats for ED, looking for high rankings….high SAT’s even though they are test optional”.
I think I will have to start a new thread after RD for all the good stories we can share!
One reads this kind of story and it reinforces why it can be possible to become very cynical about college admissions, especially given the flowery “holistic” language many college admissions offices deploy.
Just curious. Has anyone from you son’s school gone to that particular college in the past, say 5 years? If so they should have heard of the school at least.
I also agree that it’s not likely that AO has never heard of DA. Could it be his interview strategy to put a little pressure on your son to see how he handles it?
Here is one of the best videos that helps us understand why our cynicism is fueled by the college admissions process. It’s from a while ago (old SAT scoring). My favorite part is at @ 6:35 when she says “This boy taught himself German, but really didn’t do anything with it - he could have gone to Germany and done something for the environment”
I also agree that some schools, maybe most schools, will cave to pressure from many stakeholders to improve their rankings. Both The Gatekeepers and Who gets in and why books mentioned this. So I think the 1% vs 10% argument is real.
I often see Unis trumpet “XX% of freshmen were in the top 10% of their high school class”, but not “top 1%”. From a rankings standpoint, it’s usually the top 10% metric that matters.
That AO is annoying. I hope she isn’t illustrative of how AOs typically approach an applicant. I get what she is saying, but good grief. How pathetic that the kid didn’t go to Germany and translate short stories for the underprivileged. What was he thinking?
How great that he is a leader in academic ECs, but it is a red flag that he isn’t a leader in anything else, but it is also a red flag that he has listed so many things that it would be impossible for him to do what he is already doing. But he should have found the time to go to Germany. Make up your mind, woman!
Nice that she would pick up the phone to call the GC. Yeah, right.
I don’t really buy it. Not as “it didn’t happen” but as in, “context is wrong.”
First off, at many schools, the informational interviews are done by students and recent grads.
That’s why they are called informational and not evaluative. This isn’t like the BS process – it’s far less personal. These “interviewers” will have no impact on admissions. Their “job” is to know something about their school, not your high school. Sounds like you got someone who’s really off script! I could relay a few nutty convos we had at a number of colleges with kids who had admissions gigs. It’s one of the many reasons there is such serendipity in how a visit unfolds. But I would not give this another moment of thought.
The AO will know your school and if there is any doubt that it’s not the case, have the DA CC reach out. BS kids are dialed into selective colleges so it seems unlikely that DA will be an unknown to the app reader (who will be reading apps from MA.)
If this was a school that interested you, your chances are not being hurt by coming from DA. (And it doesn’t sound like you’ll have any competition from other DA classmates, because, wow – your kid has to be the best one applying!)
There’s a lot about her analysis and delivery to be negative about, but she was positive about the student teaching themself German (twice) and was giving examples of the kind of thing others might do to present a theme and tie different interests together for an AO.
Check out 7:55 - about asking what did he do with the German - contradicts herself about being incredulous about all the EC’s this kid has, but says struggling to find out what makes him stand out. Looking for a “theme”.
from 7:53 to 7:58 she says “A neat thing to do would be to go do something in Germany, focused on the environment”. She isn’t saying anything negative, she’s attempting to give insight into (as you note) creating a theme.
The suggestion itself borders on insane, because it assumes privilege and wealth (It would be neat if I could go to Germany … but I’m still saving for Stanford). Her background at the time of this film was college consulting, so she’s obviously selling her “insights” to some wealthy folks looking for an edge.
We aren’t going to agree on this…but I don’t see her as being negative. She’s trying to take positive items and make them memorable so that the AO has an easier time giving you labels in later talks with AO’s. I have heard countless AO’s talk about “that” story, and I still remember a few (a Broccolli story, my mother’s cooking… walking in the CO mountains… all stories they remembered years later and repeated in sessions I attended…and now I remember them).
There are better ways into Stanford anyway…a$k the $ailing coach!
I think what she was trying to say in a polite way was that the kid sounded a little phony, and the activities seemed all over the place and picked to make an impressive resume rather than out of genuine interest. Based on the experience with my two kids, in HS they had 1-2 interests and fit their activities around that. Also, after a certain age, they were mostly motivated by the prospect of socializing with their existing friends or making more friends. Both my kids are very passionate about Spanish mostly because they spent their summers in camps in Spain which they loved and where the majority of the kids did not speak English. My daughter also did Amigos in Costa Rica so knowing Spanish opened the door to another culture.
I also have a hard time imagining that a kid will spontaneously decide to learn German for no reason. It would be different if he was going there. Anyway, it is easy to judge a hypothetical kid.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that a kid would learn a language on his own, but it would be nice to know the motivation.
I think what she is trying to say, and doing it badly, is that they are looking for authenticity and passion, not resume fillers. She can’t tell whether the kid is a resume filler or authentic.
I sense that Stanford and the other elites have moved on and refined their approach in the past few years. Her advice is dated. Gone is appreciation for a well-rounded kid (which btw many boarding schools have historically endeavored to produce). Spikes are where it’s at. Be great at academics AND something else. World-class dabblers need not apply. That kid she is reviewing doesn’t have a non-academic spike - an authentic deep interest in something. Dabbling in German doesn’t cut it.
Many thanks to this discussion. I am in a similar situation as the OP. The perspectives shared here are helpful to me – as @gardenstategal said “These are formative years and your kid will hopefully be changed by them.” Thank you all
