Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

I know the kids you're talking about, because my kid is their peer and in most of their classes.

What you didn't include in your otherwise instructive post is that most of these kids picked a very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED -- with absolutely foreseeable results. I think that's the most relevant detail, actually. Also, most didn't ED2, so the 'stranded' characterization is premature at best and, it must be pointed out, it's a risk to forego ED2 and they chose to take that risk. Finally, a number of these kids have at least one EA in hand at a top 25 school. No one is "stranded" when they can go to Chicago or Michigan next fall.

I seem to have an outlier view of the purpose and capabilities of a college counselor at Sidwell, Dalton, Westlake, New Trier, Andover, etc. I don't view them as agents who earn their money by securing prime bookings for their top talent. Nor are they talented litigators who get paid more when they successfully persuade skeptical juries to come around. Not saying you do, but not a few parents in this class talk this way. It upsets my own senior because they talk as if the CC office is the help and it's gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

As a DMV parent whose DC does not attend Sidwell yet did fairly well with admissions this year, I am so annoyed with the annual hackneyed 'woe is my DC' whining that I read every year coming from this school. There are many qualified students from the DMV that are considered for seats each year to top schools. And having met some over the years, I would honestly say that our best and brightest overall tend to come from the magnets, though there are top students from other schools as well. My DC is going top 10 (chose nor to use my legacy) but is happy, yet DC's peers are in at top 10/Ivies and yes, they did not attend a top 3.

It just always comes across as distasteful whenever I read these complaints, year after year. Please do better. There is tremendous talent in this area that is very deserving of those seats as well, and do get them.

Oh FFS. No one asked you to read the posts. Your complaint is equally annoying. Please do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

As a DMV parent whose DC does not attend Sidwell yet did fairly well with admissions this year, I am so annoyed with the annual hackneyed 'woe is my DC' whining that I read every year coming from this school. There are many qualified students from the DMV that are considered for seats each year to top schools. And having met some over the years, I would honestly say that our best and brightest overall tend to come from the magnets, though there are top students from other schools as well. My DC is going top 10 (chose nor to use my legacy) but is happy, yet DC's peers are in at top 10/Ivies and yes, they did not attend a top 3.

It just always comes across as distasteful whenever I read these complaints, year after year. Please do better. There is tremendous talent in this area that is very deserving of those seats as well, and do get them.

Oh FFS. No one asked you to read the posts. Your complaint is equally annoying. Please do better.

I'll do better when you stop with the complaints. The last time I checked, this forum was open to all with an interest in college admissions. I don't see any other school parents, other than Sidwell's, complaining year after year on this forum when admissions doesn't go quite the way they expected. We all just deal with it and get better at improving our situation down the road. It's nothing but "blame the CCO" or "blame the URM" each year from Sidwell parents. It's very privileged and rather annoying and very broken at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

I know of at least 1 Sidwell NMSF deferred at Wisconsin so I take umbrage with your premise.

But being a NMSF says nothing about that student’s GPA or other attributes. It just means they had a good day on the PSAT. And it seems that Wisconsin was overwhelmed this year and that many of those deferrals may turn into acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC’s immediate circle, all got their first choice schools in EA. My sense is that it’s going well but how would we know at this point. It’s all anecdotal.

I will say without question that Sidwell (6th through 12) gave my kid an amazing education and foundation. And helped my kid mature into a decent, thinking human.

Congratulations to you. Unfortunately in my DC's immediate circle students who took most difficult math and science courses, most are deferred or rejected. Most of the students who got in EA are either URM or big connection.

My kid is in the advanced track for math and science/physics. Almost all of their classmates in this track gained ED/SCEA acceptances. My kid didn't, just to be clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

Another parent of a SFS senior here, and I suspect we're friends. I like your style! Thank you for this - well said and very fair on all counts.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

Yes, the issue is that Wisconsin, Michigan and Northeastern all deferred the overwhelming majority of applicants, so even if one was considering those as a target, with those postponements and a lack of clear path on the reaches, it leaves a lot of anxiety.

[Anonymous]

One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

The rest of this post was great but I have to call bs on this, as another senior parent. This level of procrastination is absolutely the fault of the student and no one else. These two students received literally dozens of contacts from the CCO beginning in the summer that included very, very specific timelines and interim deadlines. They received blast emails and so did their parents spelling out the interim deadlines for deliverables, such as first draft of essays. They received repeated communication from CCO about when to sign up for mock interviews, when to turn in draft essays, when to fill out FAFSA, fafsa workshops, where and when to go to free workshops on writing essays, filling out the common app, fiilling out the UC specific app, filling out UK schools app. Then they got 800 reminders about the same.

These two students also likely received targeted reminders tailored to their specific situations, like my kid did.

Their parents attended the mandatory meeting with the CCO at least once in late summer and that meeting included a timeline leading up to Nov 15 with interim targets. I can cut and paste mine here if that's useful to nonbelievers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

I know of at least 1 Sidwell NMSF deferred at Wisconsin so I take umbrage with your premise.

+1

So, here's the thing... NO ONE at Sidwell thinks that Michigan or Northwestern is a safety, for ANY student.

I'm always impressed at the number of posters who, absent any facts or personal knowledge, think they know EXACTLY what's going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email today from the head of the CCO implies a good amount of frustration bubbling up.

Also strange that the CCO would need to send an email at this late stage clarifying their role. Maybe they should have spent more time talking about that kind of thing in the grade level meetings instead of just going over checklists that anyone could look at online.

They said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Sorry if you don't recall that. They were crystal clear. Having to send that email today should be an embarrassment to the parents who are complaining.

PP here. I am not a parent who has complained. I do disagree that they ever clearly explained their role to parents or that they said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Rather than saying parents should be embarrassed, maybe the CCO should be embarrassed that their role is not crystal clear to everyone. The fact that there are apparently enough parents with different expectations that an email is necessary should be evidence of the confusion.

They said in meetings in 10th and 11th grade that they do not make the decisions, they cannot call and lobby Admissions officers, etc. They can advocate for an applicant if an AO calls and they can make sure all of the paperwork is in on time and they can help develop lists based on the questions asked of the parents and students in 11th grade.

I don't know what to tell you or the people who apparently are complaining to the CCO.

Then explain what they mean by this: “This is actually a very busy time within the CCO, and we want to express to each of you that your senior is our priority, and we are honored to extend our enthusiastic support for your senior’s college applications.”

You really think that the CCO office phones are ringing off the hook right now with college admissions offices calling them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

I know the kids you're talking about, because my kid is their peer and in most of their classes.

What you didn't include in your otherwise instructive post is that most of these kids picked a very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED -- with absolutely foreseeable results. I think that's the most relevant detail, actually. Also, most didn't ED2, so the 'stranded' characterization is premature at best and, it must be pointed out, it's a risk to forego ED2 and they chose to take that risk. Finally, a number of these kids have at least one EA in hand at a top 25 school. No one is "stranded" when they can go to Chicago or Michigan next fall.

I seem to have an outlier view of the purpose and capabilities of a college counselor at Sidwell, Dalton, Westlake, New Trier, Andover, etc. I don't view them as agents who earn their money by securing prime bookings for their top talent. Nor are they talented litigators who get paid more when they successfully persuade skeptical juries to come around. Not saying you do, but not a few parents in this class talk this way. It upsets my own senior because they talk as if the CC office is the help and it's gross.

Are you saying those kids applied very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED also got accepted into Chicago as EA? Chicago RD has not come out yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

I know of at least 1 Sidwell NMSF deferred at Wisconsin so I take umbrage with your premise.

+1

So, here's the thing... NO ONE at Sidwell thinks that Michigan or Northwestern is a safety, for ANY student.

I'm always impressed at the number of posters who, absent any facts or personal knowledge, think they know EXACTLY what's going on.

Maybe not out loud, buy when mom went to Princeton and got her JD from Yale and dad has the Harvard BA paired with the Penn MBA, then in the privacy of their home or with their close friends, do you really think they don't view Michigan as a safety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

most are white and Asians. Almost no URM applied for Brown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

most are white and Asians. Almost no URM applied for Brown

But the URM gets the blame, all the time, because there could be no other reason why DC didn't get admitted. A seat had to have been stolen by an under qualified URM, right?

Try this on for fact: There are a lot -- no, A LOT of talented and high performing students out there. There are many in this area. Do not knock the talent and achievement of the magnet schools in this area. Also, there are great students all over, maybe not as concentrated in one spot as at Sidwell. But they do get in to top schools as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

I’m another parent of a current senior whose kid is done with the process. I agree with all of this 100%, especially the bolded parts.