What regrets to you have to the 2023 college cycle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m advising my next kid to fight for every half grade in every class. Not a lot of room for error with grades.

Teachers will hate your child.

Not a smart thing to teach them for college either.

Caitlin Flanagan writes about exactly this during her time teaching at Harvard-Westlake in an essay called “They Had it Coming,” in the Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/what-college-admissions-scandal-reveals/586468/

My comment was taken out of context. My DS had a problematically relaxed attitude towards grades. He needed to be focused more focused like all the other kids are. Grade inflation is rampant and B’s don’t cut it anymore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m advising my next kid to fight for every half grade in every class. Not a lot of room for error with grades.

Teachers will hate your child.

Not a smart thing to teach them for college either.

Caitlin Flanagan writes about exactly this during her time teaching at Harvard-Westlake in an essay called “They Had it Coming,” in the Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/what-college-admissions-scandal-reveals/586468/

This was a great article…both laugh out loud funny AND a sad reflection of our times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m advising my next kid to fight for every half grade in every class. Not a lot of room for error with grades.

Teachers will hate your child.

Not a smart thing to teach them for college either.

Caitlin Flanagan writes about exactly this during her time teaching at Harvard-Westlake in an essay called “They Had it Coming,” in the Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/what-college-admissions-scandal-reveals/586468/

My comment was taken out of context. My DS had a problematically relaxed attitude towards grades. He needed to be focused more focused like all the other kids are. Grade inflation is rampant and B’s don’t cut it anymore

FYI her own sons went to Harvard Westlake then NYU, completing a trustfundbaby major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m advising my next kid to fight for every half grade in every class. Not a lot of room for error with grades.

Teachers will hate your child.

Not a smart thing to teach them for college either.

Caitlin Flanagan writes about exactly this during her time teaching at Harvard-Westlake in an essay called “They Had it Coming,” in the Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/what-college-admissions-scandal-reveals/586468/

This was a great article…both laugh out loud funny AND a sad reflection of our times.

Fantastic article! This part is awesome:

"A successful first meeting often consisted of walking them back from the crack pipe of Harvard to the Adderall crash of Middlebury and then scheduling a follow-up meeting to douse them with the bong water of Denison."

[Anonymous]

Article is behind a paywall - can anyone copy and paste?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Article is behind a paywall - can anyone copy and paste?

It’s too long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hired a college counselor which in our case was mostly a waste; definitely should have paid by the hour rather than a package
Maybe undershot given all the hysteria about admissions. DC got in everywhere so far (high stats kid); maybe just a fluke.

College counselors really seem to promote the easier schools and talk you out of the prestige mindset and pound the table on fit. But it makes their life easier if your expectations are adjusted downward and you get accepted into schools anyone with decent stats could get into

At the same time, everyone (except the absolute best applicants) starts the process with overly high expectations, in part because most parents are familiar with a much easier era. So it’s a balancing act. The good news is you can apply to 20 schools so lots of room for reaches targets and safeties

My kid is a junior and the school counselor just recommended ED1 Boston College, ED2 ... Lehigh. (Surely there is something in between, like Villanova?) I think the counselor just wants to be sure they get in "somewhere."

You think Villanova is better than Lehigh? I think Lehigh has a lot more to offer.

I know. Lehigh is a great school! I grew up in the Phila. suburbs and Villanova was a "good" school but not THAT good. It has certainly climbed in the rankings. Lehigh was always known as a very strong school, certainly not below Villanova. I think basketball has put Villanova on the map. Just my two cents. I didn't go to either school and have no loyalty to either one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter will say she regrets studying and taking the SAT since she ended up going TO. But we didn't know at the time she took them that all the schools she'd apply to would be TO. C'est la vie.

Otherwise, no regrets. Got into all 4 schools she applied to (large public colleges ranked in the 50-100 range) with exactly the merit we expected. Now she needs to pick one!

.
Great outcome. Would you share what her gpa was?

GPA was 3.9 UW; 4.5W. Wouldn't have gone TO if she had a less-than-stellar GPA. Got into UMass; VATech; Delaware; NC State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m advising my next kid to fight for every half grade in every class. Not a lot of room for error with grades.

Teachers will hate your child.

Not a smart thing to teach them for college either.

Caitlin Flanagan writes about exactly this during her time teaching at Harvard-Westlake in an essay called “They Had it Coming,” in the Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/what-college-admissions-scandal-reveals/586468/

My comment was taken out of context. My DS had a problematically relaxed attitude towards grades. He needed to be focused more focused like all the other kids are. Grade inflation is rampant and B’s don’t cut it anymore

FYI her own sons went to Harvard Westlake then NYU, completing a trustfundbaby major.

She was an English teacher and a counselor at Harvard-Westlake. It was inappropriate to comment on her experiences there

[Anonymous]

I really don’t know most of what all these very knowledgeable moms are talking about, all the insider talk and acronyms etc. it’s quite intimidating junior and sophomore moms, but don’t sweat too much. Fwiw I have no regrets—dd got into 5 of 6 schools she applied to, across the range of safety, mid range and stretch. Of course the one she didn’t get was her first choice but she was smart about only applying where she wanted to go and to a program that she wanted. So it worked out, as it has for her friends. Almost no one got their number one but that’s how it goes. For junior parents I would say do not get your ego involved, make sure the kid applies to a range and let them do their own work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We reached on ED1, got the memo, and played it safer for ED2, which worked out. I think DC is in at the best possible school and most importantly a great fit. If we had reached again for ED2, it probably wouldn’t have worked and DC would be obliterated in RD, just looking at all these kids with 35s and 4.0s getting rejected. Nothing wrong with playing it safe sometimes when you can lock in a very good outcome with high probability! If you’ve got a school that you really like and it’s a target, don’t hesitate to pull the ED trigger

we did same but i am feeling threw in towel. was your dc deferred or rejected ed 1?

Rejected. Actually think DC will be better off and happier at ED2 school, notwithstanding a few slots down in USNWR

Please stop feeding into the USNWR list as if it meant anything.

USNWR does matter no matter how much you cry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m advising my next kid to fight for every half grade in every class. Not a lot of room for error with grades.

Teachers will hate your child.

Not a smart thing to teach them for college either.

Caitlin Flanagan writes about exactly this during her time teaching at Harvard-Westlake in an essay called “They Had it Coming,” in the Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/what-college-admissions-scandal-reveals/586468/

My comment was taken out of context. My DS had a problematically relaxed attitude towards grades. He needed to be focused more focused like all the other kids are. Grade inflation is rampant and B’s don’t cut it anymore

I get you, PP.
-NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We reached on ED1, got the memo, and played it safer for ED2, which worked out. I think DC is in at the best possible school and most importantly a great fit. If we had reached again for ED2, it probably wouldn’t have worked and DC would be obliterated in RD, just looking at all these kids with 35s and 4.0s getting rejected. Nothing wrong with playing it safe sometimes when you can lock in a very good outcome with high probability! If you’ve got a school that you really like and it’s a target, don’t hesitate to pull the ED trigger

we did same but i am feeling threw in towel. was your dc deferred or rejected ed 1?

Rejected. Actually think DC will be better off and happier at ED2 school, notwithstanding a few slots down in USNWR

Please stop feeding into the USNWR list as if it meant anything.

USNWR does matter no matter how much you cry about it.

It also happens to be a pretty decent representation of selectivity aka how difficult it is to get in there. In that sense it’s useful for reference purposes.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why parents think grade inflation is an issue. If your school consistently does this the colleges will know, because the students will not perform to the level expected of their grades. Your school will be blackballed and will find it difficult to send future students to the school.

Each school has a regional representative that knows the school's track record well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why parents think grade inflation is an issue. If your school consistently does this the colleges will know, because the students will not perform to the level expected of their grades. Your school will be blackballed and will find it difficult to send future students to the school.

Each school has a regional representative that knows the school's track record well.

There are a couple of posters that always say grade inflation at certain schools is a problem for their kid but everyone else understands that the colleges adjust for this issue