Which level kid goes to which schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At DC’s private school, over the past couple of years:

Top 10 percent: Harvard, Yale, Duke, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Michigan, UVA, BC, etc.

This is quite accurate except for Chicago. Chicago will take kids down to about the 50% line if they ED1 or ED2.
The kids matriculating at Chicago from our private range from those at the very top (many of them ED2 if they don't get their Ivy ED1) down to middle of the class.
They're all prepared and do well but it's a huge range. The other deciles are quite accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It always amuses me when people presume to know so much about other kids. A very unassuming kid with no school involvement got into a T5 and I started to form an opinion, and then quickly realized I have no clue what this kid does so who am I to judge. I later saw a write-up on them for a merit scholarship and that was absolutely the case, doing very cool stuff no one would know about outside of school.

+1. And it’s not just knowing some stats. It’s knowing it down to the relevant rank of the kid, then tying that to where the kids go, which of course never breaks down cleanly (higher ranked kids at “lower” schools than lower ranked kids, one kid lower rank but higher SAT, etc). So it’s all just generalized nonsense guided by people’s bias about which schools are better and worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It always amuses me when people presume to know so much about other kids. A very unassuming kid with no school involvement got into a T5 and I started to form an opinion, and then quickly realized I have no clue what this kid does so who am I to judge. I later saw a write-up on them for a merit scholarship and that was absolutely the case, doing very cool stuff no one would know about outside of school.

This is family and area dependent. A lot of us send kids to the high schools we attended, and even our parents and grandparents attended. This is more usual than not (maybe?). I've known 80% of these kids since they were born, and have been at their swim meets or robotic tournaments forever. I've donated to the fundraising when some kid got an opportunities for a competitive summer program or bought wrapping paper for their team's travel to regionals. I can tell you what street their grandparents live on and if their uncle was a good football player. I sometimes know sadder stories about the extended family than the kid has been told.

I think the DC area might be an area that people move to for work and they're going to new schools with new families. But some of us do know a lot so I wouldn't be too amused by that.

I’m sure that exists and true in your case, but not the norm these days due to transient lifestyles, so I stand by what I said that there are too many people making assumptions. Even from our private that is very family oriented and has some degree of longevity, people tend to be more tight lipped as things have gotten so competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would probably be helpful to list location of private school. It makes a difference.

Midwest privates definitely get kids closer to top 40% of class into Michigan, WashU, Emory etc. This whole exercise is so school specific.

It's full of lies. 50% of Emory students went to private high schools, yet 85% are in the Top 10% so just so happens DMV private students make up the other 15% at Emory? Not low income urm students?

it is 85% of the schools that rank that are in the top 10%. very few private schools rank. Deciles can be inferred from data and college counseling offices always say the best thing they can say(they will say she is the current valedictorian or he is in the current top few students) but if the policy on the profile is the school does not rank then that school's data will not be included in the CDS under % in the top10%.

DP, DMV private, and ours does not do as well as the midwest private poster above but EMORY ED for non-athletes is common down into the third decile, occasionally 4th especially for Oxford-emory ED. RD Emory is very common in the second decile, IVIES/T10s are common in the second decile IF they ED and if they have top rigor, not-quite top privates like ChicagoED unhooked happens into the third decile some years, and yes our school releases lists of the top and second decile, they tell parents and students what decile they are at the start of senior year and kids talk and compare GPA all the time. Scoir is by year with recruited athletes removed. parents know almost every dot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having had a girl and a boy go through the college admissions process at a private school, I will tell you the girls know a lot more about everyone’s scores, stats, and special hooks. Boys are just not as in the weeds on this stuff and frankly don’t care as much.

So if you are a girl mom and have good Intel, that counts for a lot

True. My boys went to a boys' school and no one had any clue what anyone else was doing unless the moms were really routing around for intel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DMV selective private:

--Top 10% or high stats + hook: HYP+ Columbia + Penn (Wharton), Duke
--High stats, missing national level ECs or hook: Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Williams
—national ECs (stats irrelevant): Stanford; (and sometimes) Duke
--High stats + normal ECs OR some flaw on their record (like a bad grade or two) and hook - Cornell, Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Georgetown
--Mid stats + no hook - Michigan; UCLA; Cal; WashU; Emory

Impressive for mid stats IMO!

I wouldn’t buy what OP is selling. At our magnet, top 10% are going to multiple "tiers" on this list. Kids, top 10% with national awards in at Brown, Northwestern and Dartmouth. These are not 2nd or 3rd "tier. " Such a weird waste of time.

Of course there are nuances. A couple years ago there was a kid at our school so desirable they could have gone anywhere (I can't give specifics, it would totally out them). Kid chose Brown for ED. We joked that the AO who saw the application probably cried with joy.

I agree with this. Plus the desirability of Harvard /Columbia has faded significantly the past few years.

Agree. Today, the very top students are more likely to choose Duke and Brown over Harvard and Columbia. Things aren't as hierarchical as people assume. There aren't rigid tiers. Maybe MIT and Stanford, but everything else is very variable. This generation of students - to their credit - is far more mindful of fit than prior classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having had a girl and a boy go through the college admissions process at a private school, I will tell you the girls know a lot more about everyone’s scores, stats, and special hooks. Boys are just not as in the weeds on this stuff and frankly don’t care as much.

So if you are a girl mom and have good Intel, that counts for a lot

++yes indeed they made rank lists and kept track of each others' GPAs plus they edit each other's common app essays in AP LIT in 11th grade after the AP, and go over how to enter GPA, scores, courses into common app. They know everything about each other including ECs. My son knows nothing and his friends do not talk but the girls are starting to pepper him with questions after teachers called him out as high scorer on a few things. I am the one who showed him naviance, where his sister was and how he is definitely near the very top for gpa. He is nonchalant and clueless, probably better that way.

[Anonymous]

Stats is the one thing I do know. I have 5 years of data w Naviance, and our school omits nothing. They keep the outliers (the one green dot way down and to the left for the athlete that one year etc).

I think you can move up or down a "level" based on your extracurriculars, but outside revenue generating sports, it's just one level. The national debate champion with a B average and 1400 SAT score is still getting rejected SCEA from Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO this is a very interesting post.

Shows that your high school's relationship with certain colleges is likely a very underrated part of the process.

And also, which goes hand in hand, that the kid's peers' perception of certain colleges matters as well.

So agree, the high school relationship is key, so it’s kind of annoying when people treat their own high school’s record as gospel for the whole.

That’s why 80% of the advice here is irrelevant.
Ask around in your school.
Follow the stats and admissions for years in your school.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DMV selective private:

--Top 10% or high stats + hook: HYP+ Columbia + Penn (Wharton), Duke
--High stats, missing national level ECs or hook: Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Williams
—national ECs (stats irrelevant): Stanford; (and sometimes) Duke
--High stats + normal ECs OR some flaw on their record (like a bad grade or two) and hook - Cornell, Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Georgetown
--Mid stats + no hook - Michigan; UCLA; Cal; WashU; Emory

Impressive for mid stats IMO!

I wouldn’t buy what OP is selling. At our magnet, top 10% are going to multiple "tiers" on this list. Kids, top 10% with national awards in at Brown, Northwestern and Dartmouth. These are not 2nd or 3rd "tier. " Such a weird waste of time.

Of course there are nuances. A couple years ago there was a kid at our school so desirable they could have gone anywhere (I can't give specifics, it would totally out them). Kid chose Brown for ED. We joked that the AO who saw the application probably cried with joy.

I agree with this. Plus the desirability of Harvard /Columbia has faded significantly the past few years.

Agree. Today, the very top students are more likely to choose Duke and Brown over Harvard and Columbia. Things aren't as hierarchical as people assume. There aren't rigid tiers. Maybe MIT and Stanford, but everything else is very variable. This generation of students - to their credit - is far more mindful of fit than prior classes.

True at our school too. I think another factor is they are covid kids and lost some time so prioritize fit even more. Also social media with day in the life videos give them so much more access to information to mull through.

[Anonymous]

This thread is a shockingly vivid reminder of how corrupt the entire college admissions process is. Top 10% of a private-school graduating class go to top 5 schools, next 10% go to the next 5... so the top *half* all go to T50 schools?

At my kid's public school, no one goes to any T50 school, not even the top 1% of a graduating class -- kids with perfect grades, 1580-1600 SATs, and course rigor generated in part by dual-enrolling at a local research university and out-performing the actual college students there.

I don't think your kids are smarter or working harder, but *half* of the kids at your kid's school are going to schools that *none* of the kids at my kid's school can even dream of attending. Good work buying your kid's success at the expense, in part, of my kid's success!

Of course, I already knew this was true, but seeing it exemplified so vividly in this discussion is nonetheless shocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a shockingly vivid reminder of how corrupt the entire college admissions process is. Top 10% of a private-school graduating class go to top 5 schools, next 10% go to the next 5... so the top *half* all go to T50 schools?

At my kid's public school, no one goes to any T50 school, not even the top 1% of a graduating class -- kids with perfect grades, 1580-1600 SATs, and course rigor generated in part by dual-enrolling at a local research university and out-performing the actual college students there.

I don't think your kids are smarter or working harder, but *half* of the kids at your kid's school are going to schools that *none* of the kids at my kid's school can even dream of attending. Good work buying your kid's success at the expense, in part, of my kid's success!

Of course, I already knew this was true, but seeing it exemplified so vividly in this discussion is nonetheless shocking.

If it makes you feel any better, mine got to do it for free at a magnet school and didn’t have to pay a dime like many on this post. I get the frustration, it’s all so unfair, out of the game for some kids before it even started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It always amuses me when people presume to know so much about other kids. A very unassuming kid with no school involvement got into a T5 and I started to form an opinion, and then quickly realized I have no clue what this kid does so who am I to judge. I later saw a write-up on them for a merit scholarship and that was absolutely the case, doing very cool stuff no one would know about outside of school.

This is family and area dependent. A lot of us send kids to the high schools we attended, and even our parents and grandparents attended. This is more usual than not (maybe?). I've known 80% of these kids since they were born, and have been at their swim meets or robotic tournaments forever. I've donated to the fundraising when some kid got an opportunities for a competitive summer program or bought wrapping paper for their team's travel to regionals. I can tell you what street their grandparents live on and if their uncle was a good football player. I sometimes know sadder stories about the extended family than the kid has been told.

I think the DC area might be an area that people move to for work and they're going to new schools with new families. But some of us do know a lot so I wouldn't be too amused by that.

Agree. NonDMV private here

[Anonymous]

Yes to the above- at my kids’ school, a private college prep, there is MAYBE 1 kid a year who gets into an ivy. A handful (2-5) each year going to T30s, but the vast majority are hitting state schools, T75, etc. This whole idea of a significant proportion of the class attending ridiculously competitive schools is mind blowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DC’s private school, over the past couple of years:

Top 10 percent: Harvard, Yale, Duke, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Michigan, UVA, BC, etc.

This is quite accurate except for Chicago. Chicago will take kids down to about the 50% line if they ED1 or ED2.
The kids matriculating at Chicago from our private range from those at the very top (many of them ED2 if they don't get their Ivy ED1) down to middle of the class.
They're all prepared and do well but it's a huge range. The other deciles are quite accurate.

What school is this? I have a hard time believing they will take down to the 50% mark. At our private, Chicago takes only from top 20%, even ED.