School advising kids to "try again next year" regarding college applications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:applied to 20+ schools

At which DC area private schools are the students applying to this many places? My understanding is that some recommend a limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First of all "Big 3" does not guarantee admission anywhere.

Publics always do better in this area.

Parents need to do their jobs and have their kids target safeties as well.

OP here.
These are kids who applied only to schools 50-125 and are not getting in. They thought they had safeties.

The RD round of decisions hasn't even happened yet, so this is complete BS.

yes.
But the kids that the college advising office is talking about have been rejected from all (or all but one) of their EA options and applied to 20+ schools.
This is what is being talked about: kids who applied to places like Auburn, Wisconsin, Indiana, Clemson, Wake Forest, Penn State etc---all ED and EA and all outright rejections (not deferrals).

Why would those schools want someone in the bottom half of their class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:applied to 20+ schools

At which DC area private schools are the students applying to this many places? My understanding is that some recommend a limit.

I think only one of the high schools has a limit and they are relaxing it this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think colleges should review dcum postings and reject anyone whose parents have ever used the term “big 3” in case it’s hereditary.

Did we agree what are the big 3 schools are?

Just stop already. Nobody cares. The top 3 are what you think they are.

Big 3 is just short hand for the expensive, non-Catholic schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that advising kids to matriculate to one of the schools that accepted them is hardly alarming advice, and that, if they are opposed to that then advising them that their other options are to take a gap year or go to a school that accepted them and try to transfer in a year is just speaking truth.

What else would you want them to say to a kid who chose their matches and safeties badly and is now upset at their options? Is there some other option missing?

OP.
The problem (as I hear it) is that what can be considered a safety has shifted. What was a safety even last year is no longer a safety.
The kids in the lower 50% of the class are getting shut out or close to shut out.

I heard the above from Texas but with the opposite outcome. Because they stayed open for full school throughout it Covid and had highly educated parents sub as needed for contact tracing numbers, they did very well with their APs, ECs, and classes the last four years and outperformed for college acceptances versus previous years. These are districts that have tons of test in magnet schools and speciality high schools (engineering, culinary, premed, etc tracks).

Did y’all’s kids write about Covid shutdowns in their essays? That may have been more of a disadvantage than you realize.

Private schools here did not shut down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from my kid that results are so bad this year at our (Big3) school that the college counseling office is now telling kids
to either take a gap year OR matriculate at a lower tier school and "try again next year".

Have you heard this? It is worrisome or typical advice?

I heard that you are making sh*t up. What schools have released RD decisions?

Someone keeps making this point, but a lot of kids apply almost entirely EA. There are many schools where is you look at the scattergrams at NCS, plenty of students apply EA and no one applies RD, and they tend to be lower ranked schools that have become more unpredictable. So while I think results will shake out in March to be better than they are now, many kids have heard from a slew of EA schools and may not be waiting on many if any RD schools.

This isn't true. My DC applied to many schools that only had ED and RD as options and the top school on DC's list only has RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think colleges should review dcum postings and reject anyone whose parents have ever used the term “big 3” in case it’s hereditary.

Did we agree what are the big 3 schools are?

Just stop already. Nobody cares. The top 3 are what you think they are.

Big 3 is just short hand for the expensive, non-Catholic schools.

Exactly. Clearly it's a trigger for some but I use it when I want to get an opinion from parents with kids who might be having a similar experience as we are without naming my kids' actual school and throwing it under the bus in a public manner.
If I just say "private school" then I get replies from parents from any private school you can think of: from Sidwell to Gonzaga to Fairfax Christian to some random school in Iowa (by a family who used to live in DC and still frequents DCUM). Not really relevant because their experiences (positive and negative) are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from my kid that results are so bad this year at our (Big3) school that the college counseling office is now telling kids
to either take a gap year OR matriculate at a lower tier school and "try again next year".

Have you heard this? It is worrisome or typical advice?

I heard that you are making sh*t up. What schools have released RD decisions?

Someone keeps making this point, but a lot of kids apply almost entirely EA. There are many schools where is you look at the scattergrams at NCS, plenty of students apply EA and no one applies RD, and they tend to be lower ranked schools that have become more unpredictable. So while I think results will shake out in March to be better than they are now, many kids have heard from a slew of EA schools and may not be waiting on many if any RD schools.

This isn't true. My DC applied to many schools that only had ED and RD as options and the top school on DC's list only has RD.

Your post makes no sense.
Your child applied to an RD school but the NCS scattergrams say the majority apply to only EA schools. So you are saying what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from my kid that results are so bad this year at our (Big3) school that the college counseling office is now telling kids
to either take a gap year OR matriculate at a lower tier school and "try again next year".

Have you heard this? It is worrisome or typical advice?

If I spent 200k on a high school and that was the outcome, I'd want a refund

Hmmm. So it is the school's job to place your child in their dream school for college, or the experience wasn't worth anything? I disagree completely. I have a child at NCS/STA and I know my child will be beyond well prepared for college. They will start to visit schools next year or this summer and we will look at many different sorts of schools, not just those everyone else will apply to. If they are applying to "lower tier" schools they will be schools that are great fits with excellent programs that fit my child's personal goals and interests. Then no matter which application leads to an acceptance letter things will be okay. Will the option to transfer if need be be open, of course. A gap year, yes if there is a solid plan to make it worthwhile. But to say that four years of solid curriculum, athletics, arts and hard studying which led to great amounts of learning are meaningless if they don't get into Yale,etc? Well that, madam, is ridiculous and beside to point.

I feel bad for kids who aren't counseled to only to apply to schools they are excited to go to (in a variety of acceptance ranges). They can be found.

Maybe folks can perhaps explain the dichotomy between selecting a top private school for HS, but then in the same breath justifying a "lower tier" college.

There are tons of private schools in the DC area, and yet STA/NCS, Sidwell & (what is #3...GDS? Potomac?) are the equivalent of HYP in terms of how they are viewed on DCUM.

It just doesn't make a ton of sense that parents specifically sought out the HYP of private DC schools, and then claim it had nothing to do with where they went to college. It just feels like parents are trying to rationalize their kids' college results coming in below expectations based on attending the HYP or private DC schools.

Well, for one....my DC was not interested in applying to HYP. So there's that.

Great non-answer...any other useless commentary to add?

The ANSWER is that my child is driving the bus on their college education choice. They ALSO drove the bus on choosing which high schools to apply to and which school to attend once they were accepted. I personally wouldn't have chosen Sidwell, but they did. It is, by no means, a perfect place (no school is) but they like where they landed.

The choice to be at Sidwell wasn't to seek out the HYP of DC high schools. So many on DCUM don't understand that there are families that are willing to spend $ on a good educational match for your child. We are lucky to have those resources. Other families have those resources and choose public for their kids and they thrive - it was a good match for them. They spend their money on second houses, on vacations, on whatever....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First of all "Big 3" does not guarantee admission anywhere.

Publics always do better in this area.

Parents need to do their jobs and have their kids target safeties as well.

OP here.
These are kids who applied only to schools 50-125 and are not getting in. They thought they had safeties.

The RD round of decisions hasn't even happened yet, so this is complete BS.

yes.
But the kids that the college advising office is talking about have been rejected from all (or all but one) of their EA options and applied to 20+ schools.
This is what is being talked about: kids who applied to places like Auburn, Wisconsin, Indiana, Clemson, Wake Forest, Penn State etc---all ED and EA and all outright rejections (not deferrals).

20 rejections already? Or 5 EA rejections at schools that don't think your child will attend because of the Sidwell name?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:applied to 20+ schools

At which DC area private schools are the students applying to this many places? My understanding is that some recommend a limit.

Sidwell doesn't limit applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from my kid that results are so bad this year at our (Big3) school that the college counseling office is now telling kids
to either take a gap year OR matriculate at a lower tier school and "try again next year".

Have you heard this? It is worrisome or typical advice?

I heard that you are making sh*t up. What schools have released RD decisions?

Someone keeps making this point, but a lot of kids apply almost entirely EA. There are many schools where is you look at the scattergrams at NCS, plenty of students apply EA and no one applies RD, and they tend to be lower ranked schools that have become more unpredictable. So while I think results will shake out in March to be better than they are now, many kids have heard from a slew of EA schools and may not be waiting on many if any RD schools.

This isn't true. My DC applied to many schools that only had ED and RD as options and the top school on DC's list only has RD.

Your post makes no sense.
Your child applied to an RD school but the NCS scattergrams say the majority apply to only EA schools. So you are saying what?

What NCS scattergrams are these? Link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that advising kids to matriculate to one of the schools that accepted them is hardly alarming advice, and that, if they are opposed to that then advising them that their other options are to take a gap year or go to a school that accepted them and try to transfer in a year is just speaking truth.

What else would you want them to say to a kid who chose their matches and safeties badly and is now upset at their options? Is there some other option missing?

OP.
The problem (as I hear it) is that what can be considered a safety has shifted. What was a safety even last year is no longer a safety.
The kids in the lower 50% of the class are getting shut out or close to shut out.

I heard the above from Texas but with the opposite outcome. Because they stayed open for full school throughout it Covid and had highly educated parents sub as needed for contact tracing numbers, they did very well with their APs, ECs, and classes the last four years and outperformed for college acceptances versus previous years. These are districts that have tons of test in magnet schools and speciality high schools (engineering, culinary, premed, etc tracks).

Did y’all’s kids write about Covid shutdowns in their essays? That may have been more of a disadvantage than you realize.

Private schools here did not shut down.

Your memory is short. Not as long as the publics, but GDS US, for one, was closed for months. I remember the wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. The Catholics got it done though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from my kid that results are so bad this year at our (Big3) school that the college counseling office is now telling kids
to either take a gap year OR matriculate at a lower tier school and "try again next year".

Have you heard this? It is worrisome or typical advice?

I heard that you are making sh*t up. What schools have released RD decisions?

Someone keeps making this point, but a lot of kids apply almost entirely EA. There are many schools where is you look at the scattergrams at NCS, plenty of students apply EA and no one applies RD, and they tend to be lower ranked schools that have become more unpredictable. So while I think results will shake out in March to be better than they are now, many kids have heard from a slew of EA schools and may not be waiting on many if any RD schools.

This isn't true. My DC applied to many schools that only had ED and RD as options and the top school on DC's list only has RD.

Your post makes no sense.
Your child applied to an RD school but the NCS scattergrams say the majority apply to only EA schools. So you are saying what?

My post wasn't about NCS.

Side question, I've never seen a scattergram that identifies whether an application is ED/E/RD. Ours doesn't. How does that show up in the dots?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that advising kids to matriculate to one of the schools that accepted them is hardly alarming advice, and that, if they are opposed to that then advising them that their other options are to take a gap year or go to a school that accepted them and try to transfer in a year is just speaking truth.

What else would you want them to say to a kid who chose their matches and safeties badly and is now upset at their options? Is there some other option missing?

OP.
The problem (as I hear it) is that what can be considered a safety has shifted. What was a safety even last year is no longer a safety.
The kids in the lower 50% of the class are getting shut out or close to shut out.

I heard the above from Texas but with the opposite outcome. Because they stayed open for full school throughout it Covid and had highly educated parents sub as needed for contact tracing numbers, they did very well with their APs, ECs, and classes the last four years and outperformed for college acceptances versus previous years. These are districts that have tons of test in magnet schools and speciality high schools (engineering, culinary, premed, etc tracks).

Did y’all’s kids write about Covid shutdowns in their essays? That may have been more of a disadvantage than you realize.

Private schools here did not shut down.

Your memory is short. Not as long as the publics, but GDS US, for one, was closed for months. I remember the wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. The Catholics got it done though.

Ah, that explains it. Our kids were at a Catholic school. I didn't know GDS shut down.