Discussion on abysmal APS college results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you basing the current APS college admissions results with the New Trier admissions when you were in high school? My dear, college admissions is a completely different ballgame now, nationwide.

Educate yourself.

+1. It's a whole different ballgame now compared to when we all applied.

[Anonymous]

I have a senior in APS. Acceptances have been solid at their school and at other AP schools that I have been loosely following.

[Anonymous]

Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand your criteria. College acceptances seems pretty solid to me this year in APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

Every single UVA or Va Tech grad in Arlington wants their kid to be the one child in Arlington who gets into Harvard or Yale, regardless of how much they love their alma mater or think UVA/Va Tech provide an excellent education. Come on.

[Anonymous]

Chicagoland is CHEAP. People can more easily afford expensive private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

Every single UVA or Va Tech grad in Arlington wants their kid to be the one child in Arlington who gets into Harvard or Yale, regardless of how much they love their alma mater or think UVA/Va Tech provide an excellent education. Come on.

NP here. I’m sure they don’t if they can’t afford Harvard or Yale, which is true for many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

Every single UVA or Va Tech grad in Arlington wants their kid to be the one child in Arlington who gets into Harvard or Yale, regardless of how much they love their alma mater or think UVA/Va Tech provide an excellent education. Come on.

NP here. I’m sure they don’t if they can’t afford Harvard or Yale, which is true for many.

Admission is need blind. I said admitted. And it’s one kid so I’m guessing it’s not really a problem you are grappling with ….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicagoland is CHEAP. People can more easily afford expensive private schools.

Not only is that true but, perhaps more importantly, this areas concentration of both legacies and the most educated parent population in the world is what really hurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

Every single UVA or Va Tech grad in Arlington wants their kid to be the one child in Arlington who gets into Harvard or Yale, regardless of how much they love their alma mater or think UVA/Va Tech provide an excellent education. Come on.

NP here. I’m sure they don’t if they can’t afford Harvard or Yale, which is true for many.

Admission is need blind. I said admitted. And it’s one kid so I’m guessing it’s not really a problem you are grappling with ….

You clearly aren’t too deep into investigating college. Many UMC families in areas like Arlington don’t bother with ivies anymore. Too expensive and no merit aid. The price tag is nuts and you will not get any financial aid. My husband and I both went to ivies. We can’t afford that for our kids. They understand that. So they aren’t applying.

[Anonymous]

Based on my reading of the college boards (here and on Reddit), kids with 4.3+ GPAs, 1500+ SAT scores, more than 8 AP classes and tons of extracurriculars get rejected from Ivies and other top 20 schools all the time. Regular parents and high schools are putting a lot more into college preparation, colleges are chasing rankings, and the common app lets kids apply to tons of schools so applicants are part of a much larger and more competitive pool. Its a total crapshoot, there are gazillions of kids chasing basically the same number of spots and its harder than ever to get in. I don't think APS's results are abysmal--and I don't think its helpful to make comments like that about the school system or the kids--I think they are pretty normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you basing the current APS college admissions results with the New Trier admissions when you were in high school? My dear, college admissions is a completely different ballgame now, nationwide.

Educate yourself.

j

This. We left APS for private, so I’m no booster. But the fact you made the comparison between APS and your HS 25 years ago is absurd. College acceptances aren’t even the same as Pre-COVID/TO. Read threads on here. Some argue private results are worse than public because of grade inflation. Educate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

Every single UVA or Va Tech grad in Arlington wants their kid to be the one child in Arlington who gets into Harvard or Yale, regardless of how much they love their alma mater or think UVA/Va Tech provide an excellent education. Come on.

Have you actually gone through this yourself? So many students do not even apply to Harvard or Yale knowing they would not be able to afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges are a bit more expensive now, you know. Ivy League schools were already highly expensive and are even more so now.

I agree with the sentiments of other comments that it's different today. With so many "valedictorians" and 5.0 students, it is more difficult to stand out among a larger pool of applicants. More students look the same on paper. More students are applying to colleges. Fewer are getting in with better stats than their parents had decades ago.

Arlington is also a small County. Many attend private high schools. Colleges aren't looking to get all their students from the same schools or same geographical area. APS doesn't stand as far above the rest as it once did; but I don't know how its application and acceptance rates to the Ivies has been over the decades.

And here in Arlington, there are a lot of UVA-ers and VA-techers who revere those schools more than they do Harvard and Yale.

Every single UVA or Va Tech grad in Arlington wants their kid to be the one child in Arlington who gets into Harvard or Yale, regardless of how much they love their alma mater or think UVA/Va Tech provide an excellent education. Come on.

NP here. I’m sure they don’t if they can’t afford Harvard or Yale, which is true for many.

Admission is need blind. I said admitted. And it’s one kid so I’m guessing it’s not really a problem you are grappling with ….

Clearly you have no idea how this works. Need blind is irrelevant for many in the middle. There are many families who do not qualify for financial aid but still cannot afford 90K a year for Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand your criteria. College acceptances seems pretty solid to me this year in APS.

Maybe it's the same Ivy obsessed poster from AEM