If your high-scorer didn't get in anywhere: where are they now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this post is so gross I came on here expecting the thrashing OP deserves, and instead people are actually agreeing that accepting a legitimate offer constitutes not getting in “anywhere.” What’s more, many of these “nowhere” schools are reaches for most high-performing students (e.g. Barnard, UVA). The lack of perspective on this board is staggering.

What schools do you think constitute not getting in anywhere? Somehow everyone knew what was meant.

I would define “anywhere” as any safety on the list. And I don’t think “everyone” knew what OP meant, and if they did, they’re just as entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Tufts, Occidental

Tufts' 25th-75th percentile range was 1480-1560 and its acceptance rate was 10 percent. Maybe it wasn't the reachiest of reach schools you were hoping for, but unless you bought a building it wasn't a safety.

Did I say it was a safety? No. I said that the person in question didn’t get into any of the schools that they really wanted to go to and they wound up at Tufts. I thought that was the assignment per OP.

OP asked about students who “didn’t get in anywhere” not students who didn’t get in to their first choice. Come on let’s not be ridiculous and pretend “wound up at Tufts” is on par with having to go to community college when all Ivies failed.

Apparently you don’t understand how much Tufts is disliked in some circles. (Eg, Elaine on “Seinfeld” was disgraced by having gone there)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rejected everywhere but Princeton. Was a nail biting app season!

Our condolences. Hope the poor kid was able to keep their chin up & maybe rescue their self-respect by getting into a decent grad school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Very strange. Must've been yield protection or something.

Where did kid end up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Same for DD with 1570 in 2023

I genuinely don’t get this. How is Northeastern rejecting kids with 1570 on the SATs? I know I’m old, but are there that many kids with scores like that out there?

Yield protection. They care a lot about college rankings so they are helped by letting fewer kids in who they don’t think will actually attend.

Or how about, NEU gets 100K applications. And they consider any SAT over 1500 (or maybe even 1480) to be "high enough" and after that, they don't care and look at the rest of the application. I'm going to bet 60-75K of the applications have SAT over 1480, if not way more. So they are going to reject many many many many many highly qualified kids. That's not yield protection. That's just having 75K+ great applicants and only 2-5 K total spots (they want 2.5K in Boston and another 1K around the world. ).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A close friend’s high score DC made the mistake of applying to all super reaches with one safety and ended up at the safety (RIT), which is still an excellent school. DC goes to the same school one grade lower, she heard his mistake was he didn’t check who else in his class applied to the same top schools. He was the #2 or 3 applying to reaches that typically only take 1 or 2 kids max from our HS, or the other kids applying has his similar stats but better sports or are legacy. My friend told me a classmate with a super profile (rich, top scorer, top athlete, great ECs, black, this was pre-supreme court case, double Ivy legacy) applied to all the reaches her son applied to and got accepted into almost all, essentially taking up one spot for each school in his entire list.

Well the Big mistake was mostly that the kid applied to ALL REACHES and then RIT (Safety). If you want to get more than 1 acceptance, you need several safeties and several Targets. And some of the targets should be 35%+ acceptance rates and your kid's stats at/above 75% (Not 22% acceptance rates and your kid at 25-40%).

But yes, you do need to know the numbers game for Reaches from your HS. But in reality, it's not uncommon to get rejected by all Reaches. So it's on the kid for not having targets and more safeties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is at Wisconsin, which was a safety. He has said a couple of times that if he had known this was where he was going, he would have had a little more fun in high school and wouldn't have killed himself taking such hard classes. In the end, no one understood what happened -- other than the two rounds of ED didn't work out and then he was stuck in the seventh circle of waitlist hell until early July. He got into one or two schools that might be considered better than Wisconsin but there are more opportunities in his major in Madison. I wish the process hadn't sucked so much and I wish he had been more proud of how it turned out but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter and he is happy.

Then he might not have gotten into Wisconsin!

Doesn't seem that way based on the GPAs/scores/ECs of the other kids who went from his school. He graduated in the top 10 of a pretty good NYC private and had a 1550 (perfect math score) SAT. Took such high level math in high school that he couldn't even place into it at Wisconsin. He definitely didn't need this to get in. His first semester has been sort of a joke to be honest and even though he's in the honors college my impression is it won't ramp up until probably second semester sophomore year. Whatever, he's enjoying this time and looks at it like he's getting the fun he missed in high school. It's a good lesson about life balance.

Hey PP, my son had a similar experience at a different school. He had fun, graduated magna cum laude and is now a full fledged finance bro working with a bunch of Ivy grads. It didn’t get challenging for him till second semester sophomore year, plus he spent a semester overseas. It helped that he could devote a ton of time to interview rounds as he did not have to study much.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go to a safety? Which safety? Did they stay? Did they take a gap year?

1560 uva in state. WL or rejected every other T25. Asian male. Loves uva!! 2023 was the hardest graduation year for our high school for anyone without hooks

I feel 2023 was the hardest year for MCPS grads, too. DS also rejected to T15 with super high stats (1580 sat), granted he's a CS major.

Everybody thinks their kids year is the hardest year. It just means you weren’t truly paying attention before. It also likely means you didn’t believe people when they told you this would be the result.

well, yes, he's my oldest child, and I went to school in CA eons ago. Didn't look at any other colleges outside of CA.

But I do think 2023 had the most students applying for college, and most colleges were TO which probably hurt high stats kids the most.

You are wrong. This year will be the hardest - highest population of students applying and tons of kids who deferred due to FAFSA fiasco.

[Anonymous]

There is no reason a high scoring kid wouldn't get into "anywhere", unless they only apply to reaches. This is why so many people apply to Pitt, or other schools with rolling admissions. You need a school you are pretty sure you can get into and you need that acceptance at the beginning of the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Mine is applying to NEU regular admission but really, really likes the school. She's high stats, 35 ACT + good sports, jobs and ECs and she's not at all confident of admission. I know there's a lot of hate, but our experience has been it's a tough admit for strong applicants. Based upon local experience, she's more confident about BC and BU, which are down her list.

How do people not understand that the good programs at NEU are mostly filled in ED. There are just not enough spots left in RD to accommodate all the little geniuses who didn’t bother to look at the CDS.

Even then, NEU gets 100K applications. They want yield of 2.5-2.8K for Boston campus. And another 1 to 1.3 K for the "non Boston NEU campuses" (which isn't counted in the numbers because they will admit 8-10K for that knowing that they might only get 1K or less, and if they get extra oh well, they will collect all the $$$ and figure out a way to eventually squeeze them onto the Boston campus) So yes, 100K for under 3K seats in Boston. Of course top students will get turned away. Lots of highly qualified students will get turned away. That is why many kids who really really want NEU will take NUIn or NUBound (or whatever it is currently called--1 year in London or Oakland), because it's a very hard admit.

The reason they get 100K is because it's one of the few Top 50-60 schools without any supplemental essays. Just click submit and pay in the common app. And yes, it's in Boston which is a fun college town. But yes, why not give it a whirl and see if you get admitted when it's literally $100 and paying to submit your scores and send your HS information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Same for DD with 1570 in 2023

I genuinely don’t get this. How is Northeastern rejecting kids with 1570 on the SATs? I know I’m old, but are there that many kids with scores like that out there?

.

It’s a super score probably after having taken the test eight times

DD’s 1570 is once and done (800 math) I guess it is too much for NEU ..

once again--100K applications. NEU very likely considers everyone with an SAT over 1480/1500 to be "qualified" After that, the SAT doesn't matter any more. So they look at everything else. And yes with that many applications, who knows how they decide. But fact is 60-70% of the applications are probably all "highly qualified" candidates.


My 1480, 8 AP (mostly STEM), 3.97 UW, good ECs kid got into NEU--for NUBound.. But they still got admitted. After freshman year they would be on Boston Campus. Now it wasn't for my kid (they didn't want to go abroad freshman year) and they got into some better schools and chose one of those. But they got an acceptance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this post is so gross I came on here expecting the thrashing OP deserves, and instead people are actually agreeing that accepting a legitimate offer constitutes not getting in “anywhere.” What’s more, many of these “nowhere” schools are reaches for most high-performing students (e.g. Barnard, UVA). The lack of perspective on this board is staggering.

What schools do you think constitute not getting in anywhere? Somehow everyone knew what was meant.

I would define “anywhere” as any safety on the list. And I don’t think “everyone” knew what OP meant, and if they did, they’re just as entitled.

Well that is on them for not having great safeties. And 3-4 good targets. Hard not to get into at least 1 or 2 true targets if you do it right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is at Wisconsin, which was a safety. He has said a couple of times that if he had known this was where he was going, he would have had a little more fun in high school and wouldn't have killed himself taking such hard classes. In the end, no one understood what happened -- other than the two rounds of ED didn't work out and then he was stuck in the seventh circle of waitlist hell until early July. He got into one or two schools that might be considered better than Wisconsin but there are more opportunities in his major in Madison. I wish the process hadn't sucked so much and I wish he had been more proud of how it turned out but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter and he is happy.

Sounds like my kid's experience. Ended up at Mason saying the same thing as your kid about how they should have blown off more of high school and had more fun. Graduated last year into a career that was as good or better than friends and former classmates who went to much more prestigious schools.

Once the sting wears off, bloom where you are planted.

Inspiring advice, PP! Something to keep in mind

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Same for DD with 1570 in 2023

I genuinely don’t get this. How is Northeastern rejecting kids with 1570 on the SATs? I know I’m old, but are there that many kids with scores like that out there?

Yield protection. They care a lot about college rankings so they are helped by letting fewer kids in who they don’t think will actually attend.

Or how about, NEU gets 100K applications. And they consider any SAT over 1500 (or maybe even 1480) to be "high enough" and after that, they don't care and look at the rest of the application. I'm going to bet 60-75K of the applications have SAT over 1480, if not way more. So they are going to reject many many many many many highly qualified kids. That's not yield protection. That's just having 75K+ great applicants and only 2-5 K total spots (they want 2.5K in Boston and another 1K around the world. ).

Sounds about right, however if NEU even had ONE supplemental essay required, applications would be cut in half. 50k would still be huge however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Same for DD with 1570 in 2023

I genuinely don’t get this. How is Northeastern rejecting kids with 1570 on the SATs? I know I’m old, but are there that many kids with scores like that out there?

Yield protection. They care a lot about college rankings so they are helped by letting fewer kids in who they don’t think will actually attend.

Or how about, NEU gets 100K applications. And they consider any SAT over 1500 (or maybe even 1480) to be "high enough" and after that, they don't care and look at the rest of the application. I'm going to bet 60-75K of the applications have SAT over 1480, if not way more. So they are going to reject many many many many many highly qualified kids. That's not yield protection. That's just having 75K+ great applicants and only 2-5 K total spots (they want 2.5K in Boston and another 1K around the world. ).

Sounds about right, however if NEU even had ONE supplemental essay required, applications would be cut in half. 50k would still be huge however.

Yes, they artificially drive up the interest by not having a single supplemental essay. I know my kid toured, liked it so applied, because the application fee doenst' matter to us.
They will always be popular simply because "Boston". It's an exciting college town, so many will apply to all the "not MIT or Harvard schools" in hopes of getting to spend 4 years in Boston and then possibly also start after graduation in the area.