Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids I know heading to Yale are legacies and have well known parents (at least in academic/political circles). All but one of the kids I know going to Harvard are legacyand/or children of well knowm public figures. The only non-hooked kid I know of going to an Ivy has does public interest work to such an extent they have a following of young people across the country. Hooks matter.

This. +1

So what. I know a half dozen going to Harvard, Yale and Princeton who are unhooked.

Not sure as to what is going on w other schools, but at Sidwell just about every Ivy admit has a standard hook: legacy/athlete/urm. Doesn't take away from the fact that these are all excellent students. But, yes, all hooked.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a Sidwell senior going to an Ivy. My DC is definitely unhooked. Zero legacy, not a recruited athlete and not an URM. Certainly not a VIP. I would agree that many Sidwell seniors headed to Ivies are hooked, but a handful are unambiguously unhooked. The nuance is that many of the hooked kids are in fact very strong students. The tension, however, is that the slight edge given to those with hooks probably did “steal” or at least lower the probability of a spot going to a very strong unhooked kid applying at the same Ivy at the same time, given two similarly strong applicants, one hooked and one not. Not a value statement about the “relative worthiness” of one hooked vs. an unhooked one. I can understand both points of view — why an unhooked kid might feel incredibly frustrated by disappointing outcomes and why a hooked kid might feel unjustifiably maligned given significant accomplishments. My takeaway as a parent of an unhooked kid who ultimately had several very good admits to Ivies is you need to fully accept and embrace the fact that that ED/SCEA/EA is NOT about your kid. Period. RD is for your kid who is unhooked and a very strong applicant. In hindsight, I wish I had understood this going into the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Sidwell senior going to an Ivy. My DC is definitely unhooked. Zero legacy, not a recruited athlete and not an URM. Certainly not a VIP. I would agree that many Sidwell seniors headed to Ivies are hooked, but a handful are unambiguously unhooked. The nuance is that many of the hooked kids are in fact very strong students. The tension, however, is that the slight edge given to those with hooks probably did “steal” or at least lower the probability of a spot going to a very strong unhooked kid applying at the same Ivy at the same time, given two similarly strong applicants, one hooked and one not. Not a value statement about the “relative worthiness” of one hooked vs. an unhooked one. I can understand both points of view — why an unhooked kid might feel incredibly frustrated by disappointing outcomes and why a hooked kid might feel unjustifiably maligned given significant accomplishments. My takeaway as a parent of an unhooked kid who ultimately had several very good admits to Ivies is you need to fully accept and embrace the fact that that ED/SCEA/EA is NOT about your kid. Period. RD is for your kid who is unhooked and a very strong applicant. In hindsight, I wish I had understood this going into the process.

Thanks for sharing your views/experience. Really refreshing to hear this balanced perspective. Could you elaborate a bit on your last point: why is ED/SCEA/EA not for an unhooked kid (as opposed to RD)? Not sure I follow. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that some top top students who are legacies at places like, say, Duke or Penn or Northwestern, might choose to apply early to those schools even if they're arguably strongly qualified for a shot at Harvard or Yale. They see it as the safer choice than taking their chances (to a greater degree) at HYPS. Not arguing one way or another regarding legacy, just pointing out that the legacies are often eminently qualified and may be playing the game the best they can themselves.

[Anonymous]

It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

Same at Sidwell and GDS. One or two admits without hooks in each school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

These extreme outcomes have been seriously dispiriting for unhooked students. Meritocracy in the traditional sense is basically dead. But, I suppose, we all knew that anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Sidwell senior going to an Ivy. My DC is definitely unhooked. Zero legacy, not a recruited athlete and not an URM. Certainly not a VIP. I would agree that many Sidwell seniors headed to Ivies are hooked, but a handful are unambiguously unhooked. The nuance is that many of the hooked kids are in fact very strong students. The tension, however, is that the slight edge given to those with hooks probably did “steal” or at least lower the probability of a spot going to a very strong unhooked kid applying at the same Ivy at the same time, given two similarly strong applicants, one hooked and one not. Not a value statement about the “relative worthiness” of one hooked vs. an unhooked one. I can understand both points of view — why an unhooked kid might feel incredibly frustrated by disappointing outcomes and why a hooked kid might feel unjustifiably maligned given significant accomplishments. My takeaway as a parent of an unhooked kid who ultimately had several very good admits to Ivies is you need to fully accept and embrace the fact that that ED/SCEA/EA is NOT about your kid. Period. RD is for your kid who is unhooked and a very strong applicant. In hindsight, I wish I had understood this going into the process.

Not a Sidwell parent, my kid is a senior in MCPS with similar outcome, and I completely agree about early admissions. Only did will with umd in early. The kids who got in early seemed to be largely lefacy. It was RD where they were looking for non legacy kids. While mine is unhooked by these standards, she did have a fair amount of awards, one national, which is another way to stand out.

I will say that at admitted students day, there really weren't many urms that we've seen. So legacy and athletics seem to be the stronger hooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

These extreme outcomes have been seriously dispiriting for unhooked students. Meritocracy in the traditional sense is basically dead. But, I suppose, we all knew that anyway.

you shouldn't be dispirited by a poster who doesn't know anything. people think they know but they don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Sidwell senior going to an Ivy. My DC is definitely unhooked. Zero legacy, not a recruited athlete and not an URM. Certainly not a VIP. I would agree that many Sidwell seniors headed to Ivies are hooked, but a handful are unambiguously unhooked. The nuance is that many of the hooked kids are in fact very strong students. The tension, however, is that the slight edge given to those with hooks probably did “steal” or at least lower the probability of a spot going to a very strong unhooked kid applying at the same Ivy at the same time, given two similarly strong applicants, one hooked and one not. Not a value statement about the “relative worthiness” of one hooked vs. an unhooked one. I can understand both points of view — why an unhooked kid might feel incredibly frustrated by disappointing outcomes and why a hooked kid might feel unjustifiably maligned given significant accomplishments. My takeaway as a parent of an unhooked kid who ultimately had several very good admits to Ivies is you need to fully accept and embrace the fact that that ED/SCEA/EA is NOT about your kid. Period. RD is for your kid who is unhooked and a very strong applicant. In hindsight, I wish I had understood this going into the process.

Not a Sidwell parent, my kid is a senior in MCPS with similar outcome, and I completely agree about early admissions. Only did will with umd in early. The kids who got in early seemed to be largely lefacy. It was RD where they were looking for non legacy kids. While mine is unhooked by these standards, she did have a fair amount of awards, one national, which is another way to stand out.

I will say that at admitted students day, there really weren't many urms that we've seen. So legacy and athletics seem to be the stronger hooks.

It's different at the DC private schools because they have sizable populations of wealthy, highly educated URMs (many highly educated URMs in the DMV use private school due to historical stereotyping, etc in public). Something like 50% of the kids are URM at some of the elite high schools and they are very smart kids: top grades, top SATs. They are an elite college's dream!! Many of them go on to apply to the Ivys and they get the spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Sidwell senior going to an Ivy. My DC is definitely unhooked. Zero legacy, not a recruited athlete and not an URM. Certainly not a VIP. I would agree that many Sidwell seniors headed to Ivies are hooked, but a handful are unambiguously unhooked. The nuance is that many of the hooked kids are in fact very strong students. The tension, however, is that the slight edge given to those with hooks probably did “steal” or at least lower the probability of a spot going to a very strong unhooked kid applying at the same Ivy at the same time, given two similarly strong applicants, one hooked and one not. Not a value statement about the “relative worthiness” of one hooked vs. an unhooked one. I can understand both points of view — why an unhooked kid might feel incredibly frustrated by disappointing outcomes and why a hooked kid might feel unjustifiably maligned given significant accomplishments. My takeaway as a parent of an unhooked kid who ultimately had several very good admits to Ivies is you need to fully accept and embrace the fact that that ED/SCEA/EA is NOT about your kid. Period. RD is for your kid who is unhooked and a very strong applicant. In hindsight, I wish I had understood this going into the process.

Not a Sidwell parent, my kid is a senior in MCPS with similar outcome, and I completely agree about early admissions. Only did will with umd in early. The kids who got in early seemed to be largely lefacy. It was RD where they were looking for non legacy kids. While mine is unhooked by these standards, she did have a fair amount of awards, one national, which is another way to stand out.

I will say that at admitted students day, there really weren't many urms that we've seen. So legacy and athletics seem to be the stronger hooks.

It's different at the DC private schools because they have sizable populations of wealthy, highly educated URMs (many highly educated URMs in the DMV use private school due to historical stereotyping, etc in public). Something like 50% of the kids are URM at some of the elite high schools and they are very smart kids: top grades, top SATs. They are an elite college's dream!! Many of them go on to apply to the Ivys and they get the spots.

PP here. I was talking about at the Ivy admitted days we attended. One in particular was very white/Asian.

Granted, my typing is terrible, and it was probably hard to discern what I was saying! But, my kid is from MCPS with multiple Ivy admits and unhooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

These extreme outcomes have been seriously dispiriting for unhooked students. Meritocracy in the traditional sense is basically dead. But, I suppose, we all knew that anyway.

You are mssing the point. The "hooked" kids are also worthy of the spot. They are not lesser students. They just offer something more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

These extreme outcomes have been seriously dispiriting for unhooked students. Meritocracy in the traditional sense is basically dead. But, I suppose, we all knew that anyway.

Meritocracy? I want you to tell me how you think a student gets into Sidwell Friends School in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the same everywhere in 2022.
My daughter is at NCS and to my knowledge there is ONE Ivy admit this year who is not legacy/minority/recruited athlete. A SINGLE admit without a hook. I'm not sure STA has any to be honest.
My good friends at kids at Wilson and School without Walls and they are the same this year. Walls is sending quite a few kids to the Ivies (maybe 10?) and all but 1 or 2 are legacy or minorities.
Same with Wilson. The Ivy admits are almost all URM.
It used to be (even 2 years ago) that you could reliably get into the Ivy league from DCPS (Walls/Wilson) as an unconnected non-minority (simply as a very smart, accomplished kid). Not anymore.
Now you need a hook.

I would agree with the previous posters that the kids getting in ARE worthy of the admits. They'll do great in college. So this is not meant to disparage them.

These extreme outcomes have been seriously dispiriting for unhooked students. Meritocracy in the traditional sense is basically dead. But, I suppose, we all knew that anyway.

You are mssing the point. The "hooked" kids are also worthy of the spot. They are not lesser students. They just offer something more.

.

Maybe. Definitely not true across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that some top top students who are legacies at places like, say, Duke or Penn or Northwestern, might choose to apply early to those schools even if they're arguably strongly qualified for a shot at Harvard or Yale. They see it as the safer choice than taking their chances (to a greater degree) at HYPS. Not arguing one way or another regarding legacy, just pointing out that the legacies are often eminently qualified and may be playing the game the best they can themselves.

DC - not @ Sidwell. - did this. Ultimately decided that legacy was their best, safer shot. College counselor said same when DC kept mulling a certain Ivy. A bird in the hand....