GDS - Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are obsessed. Why do you worry about anybody else’s kid but your own? And why are you competing schools against each other?

I come to these threads to remind myself to be thankful that I have a regular kid going to a regular school and who doesn’t stress about it.

I like to sit on the sidelines and watch these competitive people tear each other, kids and schools apart. It’s like theater of the living!

Some are just competitive strivers, but some are actually really great students who are going to thrive in a high-caliber post-secondary institution. They're proven they are ready for the next academic step and it is being offered to them. It's not all just about one-upping. It's pretty basic to wholesale disparage kids who go to Ivy Leagues schools just because you're kid isn't interested in academics.

Just because your kid isn't interested in academics? Where on Earth did you get the idea that this poster's kids are not interested in academics? Is that a statement about students who happily attend most small liberal arts colleges and most public universities?

The poster isn't disparaging high school kids. They are disparaging their status and prestige obsessed privileged parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Legacy really doesn't help that much folks. My kid was rejected from the 2 Ivies my DH and I attended....accepted at another Ivy.

You are missing the point. Legacy doesn't equal admission.

It's that when you look at Ivy/T20 attendees from these competitive DMV schools - it is usually only a couple of kids who are unhooked.

Hooks come in many varieties (and often have multiple) of VIP, legacy, URM, athlete. Many of the legacy admits from our Big 3 were in two of those categories. URM legacy or VIP parent whose spouse is an Ivy legacy and sometimes it was a grandparent legacy+VIP that tipped the scale. Many of the URMs were less apparent.

Our DCs class had just 3 unhooked (minus the Chicago ED admits) among the LARGE number of T20 admits. And no shade on them, they are great kids and will all be wonderful additions to their T20 schools and will succeed academically. And their high stats unhooked classmates who were shut out of T20 will do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grad school legacy doesn't count at Harvard.

Grandparents do count however.

True - especially when lots of $$ also involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Know of non-legacy student admitted to multiple Ivies.

It's likely you are unaware of their hooks. Nobody is advertising those. And they shouldn't have to.... but nobody who is truly unhooked should kid themselves - it is extremely unlikely you will get into an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of the URMs were less apparent.

This is gobbledygook.

Also, your definition of "VIP parent" and their supposed influence is way overbroad/overstated.

[Anonymous]

Looks like a bunch of new people have posted

[Anonymous]

And?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how helpful the legacy info is if comparing GDS to Sidwell, STA/NCS. Presumably, there are similar percentages of parents at these schools who are alum of top colleges and universities.

There is variation in Legacy - or other hooks - among those schools from year to year.

In the past 10-15 years, sometimes StA or NCS has a much better set of acceptances, sometimes Sidwell does, and sometimes GDS does. There is no trend line, just a lot of year to year variation.