What does the future hold for kids applying in the next 5 years?

[Anonymous]

I’m reading about some of the rejections and it’s intense. Mind you Ivy League was never the goal in our household but kids are getting rejected left and right from state schools. Is all this craziness worth it? I want my DC to have a good high school experience. Reading these threads I’m like…well they can either find the cure for cancer and get in to decent schools OR they can just be normal kids and settle somewhere else. What are the strategies for parents with kids applying in the next 5 years? I’m thinking at the very least save more money in case in states are out and we need to go less well known privates?

[Anonymous]

There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

[Anonymous]

The current situation is that colleges have become less predictable in whom they accept, in part due to test-optional admissions. It's not so much that college admission is more selective across the board, although it has certainly become so at the top universities and colleges, but that students are forced to widen their search and apply to more schools to ensure admission at one of them. And tuition increases every year, faster than salaries can keep up.

And that's a very bad thing. It puts the burden on the student and their family to navigate an extremely complex, non-transparent, process. Colleges and universities profit from the murkier admissions criteria ("holistic" and "equitable" my foot) to cherry-pick the class that suits them that year, to sculpt their brand and image. Profit, in the form of reputation and money, is the end goal, at the expense of individual students.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading about some of the rejections and it’s intense. Mind you Ivy League was never the goal in our household but kids are getting rejected left and right from state schools. Is all this craziness worth it? I want my DC to have a good high school experience. Reading these threads I’m like…well they can either find the cure for cancer and get in to decent schools OR they can just be normal kids and settle somewhere else. What are the strategies for parents with kids applying in the next 5 years? I’m thinking at the very least save more money in case in states are out and we need to go less well known privates?

The only moms who post stats here are the moms of academic superstars. And there are 3-4 “normal” kids for each superstar, and they’re all going to UMD/VT. Your child will be fine.

[Anonymous]

…hold up, let me get my crystal ball and tea leaves…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The current situation is that colleges have become less predictable in whom they accept, in part due to test-optional admissions. It's not so much that college admission is more selective across the board, although it has certainly become so at the top universities and colleges, but that students are forced to widen their search and apply to more schools to ensure admission at one of them. And tuition increases every year, faster than salaries can keep up.

And that's a very bad thing. It puts the burden on the student and their family to navigate an extremely complex, non-transparent, process. Colleges and universities profit from the murkier admissions criteria ("holistic" and "equitable" my foot) to cherry-pick the class that suits them that year, to sculpt their brand and image. Profit, in the form of reputation and money, is the end goal, at the expense of individual students.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

This is an odd thing to say. Very few state schools act like this toward their instate students. What you describe is mostly the practice of private schools.

[Anonymous]

There are two PPs who do not realize that some state schools have become a lot more selective. Namely, UVA, and to a lesser but still very significant extent, UMD. UVA has rejected a lot of good local students. And if you want aid at UMD, you need a stellar application.

Please beware.

[Anonymous]

I think, as the cost of those so-called top-tier colleges keeps increasing, More and more parents of really strong students are just not willing to pay these outrageous prices, or we are unwilling to pay them. People are unwilling to take on debt to pay 40, 50, 60, $70,000 a year. A lot of parents right here on DC urban mounts managed to save a full tuition for their kids, but in the rest of the world most of us have not. As a result we are steering our kids to more reasonably priced state colleges. This makes state schools more competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The current situation is that colleges have become less predictable in whom they accept, in part due to test-optional admissions. It's not so much that college admission is more selective across the board, although it has certainly become so at the top universities and colleges, but that students are forced to widen their search and apply to more schools to ensure admission at one of them. And tuition increases every year, faster than salaries can keep up.

And that's a very bad thing. It puts the burden on the student and their family to navigate an extremely complex, non-transparent, process. Colleges and universities profit from the murkier admissions criteria ("holistic" and "equitable" my foot) to cherry-pick the class that suits them that year, to sculpt their brand and image. Profit, in the form of reputation and money, is the end goal, at the expense of individual students.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

This is an odd thing to say. Very few state schools act like this toward their instate students. What you describe is mostly the practice of private schools.

DP, but the mere existence of ED/EA1/EA2 puts all the pressure on the applicant and none on the university. It helps one side of the equation only: the university. And last I checked, most of the sought after state flagships participate in ED/EA.

I hear the argument that ED/EA allow student to signal to colleges it is their top choice, but the same thing could be accomplished by ranked preference choice in admissions, and would alleviate the pressure on 17 year olds.

[Anonymous]

No, state schools are NOT out for good, but not stellar, students. If UVA or VT don't work out, there's always JMU or VCU or CNU, etc. And in Maryland, there's UMDBC, Towson, etc. If these schools aren't "decent" enough for your DC, that's your problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

Posts like this contribute to the severe increase in anxiety we're seeing in teenagers today. It basically says "If you don't get into an elite college, it's because you didn't do your homework on what's necessary to make it". This sends everyone into a frenzy trying to get a leg up on everyone else, with no end to the 'I should always be doing more, more, more' mentality.

Encourage your kids to work hard, but also to recognize when their stress levels are getting high enough that they should take a rest. Take the most challenging courses they can get As and Bs in without harming themselves mentally or physically, and be willing to admit when it's not working. If they're doing this, they'll have plenty of options for colleges that will provide them with the opportunity to build themselves a bright future. Maybe it will be a T20 school, maybe it won't. If it is, celebrate. If it's not, celebrate. They're going to be fine either way.

[Anonymous]

I read who gets in and why too, and while very insightful, I’m not sure it gives a magic formula.

What I took away from WGIAW it was:

Be very smart and get an A and 5 on BC Calc junior year (especially if female as this illustrates high quant IQ.)
Take the other hardest courses at your school and get As
Apply ED and EA
Be full pay
Be recruited for a sport
Most importantly, admission officers are human and make many seemingly random decisions

Anyway, this “recipe” is not possible for most kids. For my kids, we are going to do a lot of rolling and EA schools and be happy with those schools. We are not getting attached to any one perfect school. I am encouraging my kid to apply to schools they fit their areas of interest but have admission rates above 50%. Maybe they will try for one harder to get into school for ED but that will be balanced with others that are more likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read who gets in and why too, and while very insightful, I’m not sure it gives a magic formula.

What I took away from WGIAW it was:

Be very smart and get an A and 5 on BC Calc junior year (especially if female as this illustrates high quant IQ.)
Take the other hardest courses at your school and get As
Apply ED and EA
Be full pay
Be recruited for a sport
Most importantly, admission officers are human and make many seemingly random decisions

Anyway, this “recipe” is not possible for most kids. For my kids, we are going to do a lot of rolling and EA schools and be happy with those schools. We are not getting attached to any one perfect school. I am encouraging my kid to apply to schools they fit their areas of interest but have admission rates above 50%. Maybe they will try for one harder to get into school for ED but that will be balanced with others that are more likely.

My kid is a male and has done all of this except for recruited athlete (4 year varsity sport and captain senior year) and still didn't get in to any of the "T20" schools. Also scored well above 1500 on the SAT in a test optional environment.

[Anonymous]

“
Encourage your kids to work hard, but also to recognize when their stress levels are getting high enough that they should take a rest. Take the most challenging courses they can get As and Bs in without harming themselves mentally or physically, and be willing to admit when it's not working. If they're doing this, they'll have plenty of options for colleges that will provide them with the opportunity to build themselves a bright future. Maybe it will be a T20 school, maybe it won't. If it is, celebrate. If it's not, celebrate. They're going to be fine either way.”

THIS.

Yes the process is stressful, but it is mostly stressful bc everyone is this area is mistakenly convinced that their child’s life will be ruined if they don’t get into particular schools beloved of USN.

These are bright, hardworking kids. They will be fine, whether they go to Harvard or Mary Washington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read who gets in and why too, and while very insightful, I’m not sure it gives a magic formula.

What I took away from WGIAW it was:

Be very smart and get an A and 5 on BC Calc junior year (especially if female as this illustrates high quant IQ.)
Take the other hardest courses at your school and get As
Apply ED and EA
Be full pay
Be recruited for a sport
Most importantly, admission officers are human and make many seemingly random decisions

Anyway, this “recipe” is not possible for most kids. For my kids, we are going to do a lot of rolling and EA schools and be happy with those schools. We are not getting attached to any one perfect school. I am encouraging my kid to apply to schools they fit their areas of interest but have admission rates above 50%. Maybe they will try for one harder to get into school for ED but that will be balanced with others that are more likely.

My kid is a male and has done all of this except for recruited athlete (4 year varsity sport and captain senior year) and still didn't get in to any of the "T20" schools. Also scored well above 1500 on the SAT in a test optional environment.

Well, the formula says he needed to be recruited for a sport, so…