Telling my special snowflake he's not so special

[Anonymous]

DS is a superior student/athlete/artist/overall human being to his parents who matriculated HYPSM. 20+ years ago when we were going through it, however, college admissions wasn't a nuclear arms race. I'm fairly certain we would NEVER be accepted if we were applying now. I've been trying to drill this into DS's head since middle school, but he's now a junior and still has delusions of grandeur. I cannot for the life of me get him excited about safety colleges. Advice?

[Anonymous]

Has he looked at scattergrams for his HS yet? My DS is HS freshman and we just got access to ours; too a peek this weekend. Sobering experience.

[Anonymous]

Soon enough you’ll be proven right.

[Anonymous]

When he isn't accepted reality will hit. No need to be the one who sinks his ship. Life will do that for him.

[Anonymous]

have him go visit friends at the schools that kids actually have fun at.

[Anonymous]

Does he need to be excited? Or does he just need to pick a few to apply to. Now that my DS is hearing about "smarter" classmates getting deferred or rejected from their ED schools his attitude about his likelies has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has he looked at scattergrams for his HS yet? My DS is HS freshman and we just got access to ours; too a peek this weekend. Sobering experience.

Edited to add: If he's legacy this may not have as much an effect for him as it did for our kid though.

[Anonymous]

He has a much better shot as a legacy. He'll need to apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a superior student/athlete/artist/overall human being to his parents who matriculated HYPSM. 20+ years ago when we were going through it, however, college admissions wasn't a nuclear arms race. I'm fairly certain we would NEVER be accepted if we were applying now. I've been trying to drill this into DS's head since middle school, but he's now a junior and still has delusions of grandeur. I cannot for the life of me get him excited about safety colleges. Advice?

Are you white?

[Anonymous]

Have him look at the college results subreddit with attention to his top choice schools. It’s pretty sobering!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a superior student/athlete/artist/overall human being to his parents who matriculated HYPSM. 20+ years ago when we were going through it, however, college admissions wasn't a nuclear arms race. I'm fairly certain we would NEVER be accepted if we were applying now. I've been trying to drill this into DS's head since middle school, but he's now a junior and still has delusions of grandeur. I cannot for the life of me get him excited about safety colleges. Advice?

he will probably get in via legacy route. don't worry too much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When he isn't accepted reality will hit. No need to be the one who sinks his ship. Life will do that for him.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When he isn't accepted reality will hit. No need to be the one who sinks his ship. Life will do that for him.

This.

I disagree. I’d certainly let him apply where he wanted but it seems cruel not to try to provide context to kid. If he wants to use an ED on a moonshot he should go for it but it’s absolutely better if he has some understanding that’s it’s unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a superior student/athlete/artist/overall human being to his parents who matriculated HYPSM. 20+ years ago when we were going through it, however, college admissions wasn't a nuclear arms race. I'm fairly certain we would NEVER be accepted if we were applying now. I've been trying to drill this into DS's head since middle school, but he's now a junior and still has delusions of grandeur. I cannot for the life of me get him excited about safety colleges. Advice?

he will probably get in via legacy route. don't worry too much

Ummm, do you have any idea how many legacy students are applying? Enough to find some safety schools that the DS would be happy with.

[Anonymous]

OP he’s probably assuming he’ll be getting a big legacy leg up. That’s what you need to dissuade him from.