Applying to Harvard and Princeton “for fun”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I similarly take issue with high stats kids who apply to Pitt with absolutely no intention of going because it's fun to get an acceptance in September ("it makes it official that I'm going to college," said by 4.9 GPA IB kids with higher SAT scores is pretty ridiculous!). My average good kid who loved Pitt for whom Pitt is a solid target will have to compete with those kids next year and it seems really unfair.

Your average good kid who loved Pitt should have worked harder in high school.

I don’t think you can begrudge kids who apply as a legit safety meaning they would go there. But no need to have two safeties. Pick one and measure your other choices against it. If you would choose school X over Pitt then don’t apply to Pitt.

Plenty of kids out there who get into a Yale and rejected from safeties. Kids have to do what is in their own best interest not meet your bizarre sense of fairness

To use your example, if they got into Yale why would they need unlimited safeties?

Uh because they didn’t find out until March? Do you understand how time works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it's greedy. Never would hire someone like that

+1 Same here. Will watch out for these

You often ask applicants to outline where they applied to college in high school and when they submitted those applications? If so, you’re insane.

It’s actually quite easy to recognize someone who was raised in—or comes from—a zero-sum culture. It is not hard. Try reading your own post.

And it’s pretty easy to see who thinks their own personal gain should require sacrifices from everyone else - and then attack a bunch of high school kids who are making one of the biggest decisions of their lives up to that point. Are you going to repeat this for grad school? For jobs? Promotions? If I live in a nice house am I not allowed to buy a house you want?

You sound like those people from xhs

Not even sure what that means, but I’m comfortable on telling my kid not to worry if someone else applies to the same school. That’s how life works not everyone clearing out of the way to make your life easier. Are you ever going to stop snowplowing for your kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I similarly take issue with high stats kids who apply to Pitt with absolutely no intention of going because it's fun to get an acceptance in September ("it makes it official that I'm going to college," said by 4.9 GPA IB kids with higher SAT scores is pretty ridiculous!). My average good kid who loved Pitt for whom Pitt is a solid target will have to compete with those kids next year and it seems really unfair.

Your average good kid who loved Pitt should have worked harder in high school.

I don’t think you can begrudge kids who apply as a legit safety meaning they would go there. But no need to have two safeties. Pick one and measure your other choices against it. If you would choose school X over Pitt then don’t apply to Pitt.

Plenty of kids out there who get into a Yale and rejected from safeties. Kids have to do what is in their own best interest not meet your bizarre sense of fairness

To use your example, if they got into Yale why would they need unlimited safeties?

Uh because they didn’t find out until March? Do you understand how time works?

To be fair, I would say you aren’t understanding me. Have kid find one safety they would attend and apply. For my current kid, that safety was Pitt. Would have been happy to go there. But once that acceptance was in-hand then they didn’t apply RD to Wisconsin bc they would have chosen Pitt. I am not saying apply to no safeties. And, for some kids maybe they need a few merit offers so they will have more than one or apply to two bc deadlines overlap. What I am advocating against is the kid who applies to a school with absolutely no intention of going there… they haven’t done the research ahead of time, they want to see if they would get in, whatever. Most of us know of kids who do this and it drives up the temperature.

I am on my third go round with kids’ college apps, and this has worked well this way for each of my kids with a different safety. In fact, last kid resisted the urge to apply to Pitt even though rolling would be “nice” to have bc they knew they wouldn’t go there and felt reasonably confident about a few other choices even though they came back a little later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids had a friend who did this last year - applied to Harvard, Penn, Princeton and MIT after Stanford REA acceptance. He didn’t get in anywhere else.

It seems Stanford attracts a certain “type”

The Stanford "type" is very much the kind of student that gets in SCEA to their first choice college, and then continues to gather acceptances to elite schools for sh%ts and giggles, knowing very well they are screwing over their classmates. These students lack empathy. That is the typical Stanford student today, whether FGLI or wealthy. The Stanford of today is not the Stanford of 30 years ago. It very much attracts a "type." And that type is sociopath.

A lot of Stanford alum are appalled by the direction the school has taken in recent years. The character of the students very much reflects the character of the administration.

My kid just got accepted and they’re not this type at all. I actually think they got in because they demonstrated good fit for the school along with positive character attributes shown in recommendations and activities.

Very good stats but not perfect either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That sucks for the other top students at their high school…unless they are seriously considering.

Students don't compete with each others in their school for X spots. So no, it doesn't suck for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I similarly take issue with high stats kids who apply to Pitt with absolutely no intention of going because it's fun to get an acceptance in September ("it makes it official that I'm going to college," said by 4.9 GPA IB kids with higher SAT scores is pretty ridiculous!). My average good kid who loved Pitt for whom Pitt is a solid target will have to compete with those kids next year and it seems really unfair.

They won't really. Pitt accounts for that in the number of acceptances they give. If those cracked kids didn't apply, then Pitt would send fewer acceptances and your kid would still have just as difficult a time getting in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD's friend last year REA'd to Harvard and got in, but proceeded to apply to MIT, Princeton and Yale (despite our school discouraging this). She told my DD she had no plans of going to MIT but wanted to see if she could get in. Just that type of kid. Not surprised though, she also told DD she felt pressured by her parents to apply as "low income" (they have a cash business but are clearly not poor- designer clothes, fancy car, able to fly anywhere they want). Using every advantage.

I wish there were a system to screen out kids who try to cheat or gain unfair advantages. I’ve seen those kids get into top schools without any shame.

A significant proportion could be outed by examining parents’ original visa applications…

a bigot in our mist

? This will have education info and expose those lying about being first gen….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That sucks for the other top students at their high school…unless they are seriously considering.

Students don't compete with each others in their school for X spots. So no, it doesn't suck for them.

Of course they do. Your high school counselor will confirm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids had a friend who did this last year - applied to Harvard, Penn, Princeton and MIT after Stanford REA acceptance. He didn’t get in anywhere else.

This is very typical from the applications to the acceptances

Stamford kids are not Harvard Yale or Princeton qualified slightly below when it comes to acceptances not capably of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A student from our school was accepted to Princeton SCEA for the class of 2023. He went on to apply to Yale and Harvard. He was accepted to both and attends Harvard. No one from our school has been accepted to Princeton since. It’s selfish behavior that has possible ramifications for the whole school.

This is a stupid take

Every kid has a right to apply wherever they want!

We still at this moment live in the United States of America with that freedom of choice. What’s wrong with you your kid not good enough is probably the answer!

[Anonymous]

I would encourage my kid to apply to any schools they wanted as long as they did the work not me.

Our society is unequal as not all kids can afford multiple apps or many college tuitions. It does not mean a kid should not apply on a whim

Too many parents fail at explaining the financial ramifications and possibilities of unemployment after graduation which is why the college app situation is a mess.

My kids got into all of those schools from a public HS I would never discourage them from
applying wherever they wanted it’s their life.

OP is just jealous and a fool.

Our Public sends multiple kids to these two schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For every kid like this, there are kids who do the opposite. Kids who, not only don’t apply elsewhere, but also pull applications after hearing non-binding SCEA bc they know others were waiting on those schools. He had no regrets.

He didn’t think he would get in everywhere but he also felt he wanted the AOs to focus on the applications of kids who would attend.

You can only go to college in one place.

That was my son. But honestly, I think the system is terrible. Puts all the power in the school’s hands. I think there should be REA, ED or Ea. Just RD, acceptances / rejections, then the kids own decision among all the places they got in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids had a friend who did this last year - applied to Harvard, Penn, Princeton and MIT after Stanford REA acceptance. He didn’t get in anywhere else.

It seems Stanford attracts a certain “type”

The Stanford "type" is very much the kind of student that gets in SCEA to their first choice college, and then continues to gather acceptances to elite schools for sh%ts and giggles, knowing very well they are screwing over their classmates. These students lack empathy. That is the typical Stanford student today, whether FGLI or wealthy. The Stanford of today is not the Stanford of 30 years ago. It very much attracts a "type." And that type is sociopath.

A lot of Stanford alum are appalled by the direction the school has taken in recent years. The character of the students very much reflects the character of the administration.

My kid just got accepted and they’re not this type at all. I actually think they got in because they demonstrated good fit for the school along with positive character attributes shown in recommendations and activities.

Very good stats but not perfect either.

Don’t sweat it. These people bash any school that rejects their precious child - it’s how they cope with failure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That sucks for the other top students at their high school…unless they are seriously considering.

Students don't compete with each others in their school for X spots. So no, it doesn't suck for them.

Of course they do. Your high school counselor will confirm

m

Then why do colleges accept varying numbers of students from a high school year over year?

[Anonymous]

Dalton requires you to attend the SCEA/REA school you apply to, in part to avoid these issues. This is good for those SCEA/REA schools. For example, the four(?) Dalton kids accepted SCEA to Princeton this year are now guaranteed to attend Princeton. This is a better deal for Princeton, as they know those kids will come and they don’t have to worry about the kids shopping around at other elite schools. It turns Princeton into an ED school, but only for Dalton and the other elite privates who play this game.