All these rejections and deferrals reported on DCUM and CC are shocking and discouraging

[Anonymous]

I have been lurking on this board and College Confidential since DC started freshman year in the fall and I am so shocked and sad for so many of what seem to be stellar students on paper getting deferred or even outright rejected from what used to be deemed "safety' schools. I know we're in a bit of a bubble in the DC area and it can be more competitive trying to get into certain schools from certain school systems (or at least that's what I'm told) but it seems to be especially bad this year? Do you think some of it is a result of COVID with '21 and '22 students taking gap years, and will normalize over time or do you think it will only get worse?

[Anonymous]

You're thinking about it all wrong. There are many more great schools, students, and professors than there were when we were kids. That's cause for celebration, not despair. It's only if you refuse to broaden your view to acknowledge that improvement beyond the traditional elites that things look grim. Adjust your thinking to fit reality for the sake of your own mental health--and especially for your kid's.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone knows.
Test optional policies have increased the pool of qualified applicants to the top schools by many fold.

Also, the class applying this year had Covid-era grading for 2 years of the 3 that are considered for applications. In DCPS (for instance) the lowest grade a kid could get was a B if he/she did any work. MCPS bumped all final grades up by one letter grade. Lots of stuff like this happened all around the country in giant school districts (so hundreds of thousands of students impacted).

The class of 2025 will be the first that will have all 4 years back in a classroom with normal grading scales.

[Anonymous]

I've been volunteering with students of varying GPAs and test scores who are applying to college. So far, they're in at their safeties. The keys thing is comparing them to the school's current profile (not the 1980s/1990s profile or our memories).

[Anonymous]

It's the test-optional mess, OP. The gap year was only for 2021. Test-optional has meant many more applicants to all schools that have the Common or Coalition App and as a result some high stats kids are deferred/rejected. They get lost in the shuffle, essentially. TO is not an advantage for selective schools unless the profile is highly unusual and the score would only detract from that, so it's not that going TO is better, quite the contrary. It's that there are too many applicants applying "just to see" and it's hard to admissions officers to triage. This is a self-perpetuating cycle as high-achieving kids then start to apply to more and more schools (shotgunning) to be sure of admission to at least one - which from their perspective is entirely understandable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're thinking about it all wrong. There are many more great schools, students, and professors than there were when we were kids. That's cause for celebration, not despair. It's only if you refuse to broaden your view to acknowledge that improvement beyond the traditional elites that things look grim. Adjust your thinking to fit reality for the sake of your own mental health--and especially for your kid's.

Op here. You're so right and I appreciate your perspective. I'm certainly not immune to getting caught up the types of schools I think DC should go and equating acceptance rates with prestige. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. We are fortunate that there are so many great schools in this area.

[Anonymous]

The Covid era grading is the biggest issue, especially for kids coming from a school or district where grading was not impacted during Covid. My dc are in private school (not DC) and while they were given the option to go P/F in spring 2020, after that, grading was as usual, even though school stayed online for another 6 months! In other places, kids were given As without even turning on cameras, which means that there are many high GPA kids.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone knows.
Test optional policies have increased the pool of qualified applicants to the top schools by many fold.

Also, the class applying this year had Covid-era grading for 2 years of the 3 that are considered for applications. In DCPS (for instance) the lowest grade a kid could get was a B if he/she did any work. MCPS bumped all final grades up by one letter grade. Lots of stuff like this happened all around the country in giant school districts (so hundreds of thousands of students impacted).

The class of 2025 will be the first that will have all 4 years back in a classroom with normal grading scales.

[Anonymous]

Great point about many schools going TO. That said, I'm also seeing an incredible number of students with 1400+ SAT scores. I get that I need to not draw from my experience in the 90s when it was rare to hear of someone getting such high or near perfect scores but what is up with so many high scores these days? Has the scoring changed since I remember it? Or has the test itself gotten easier? Or maybe those are the only ones we hear about on here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been lurking on this board and College Confidential since DC started freshman year in the fall and I am so shocked and sad for so many of what seem to be stellar students on paper getting deferred or even outright rejected from what used to be deemed "safety' schools. I know we're in a bit of a bubble in the DC area and it can be more competitive trying to get into certain schools from certain school systems (or at least that's what I'm told) but it seems to be especially bad this year? Do you think some of it is a result of COVID with '21 and '22 students taking gap years, and will normalize over time or do you think it will only get worse?

Parents say that every year.. this year is especially bad?? No its been like this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great point about many schools going TO. That said, I'm also seeing an incredible number of students with 1400+ SAT scores. I get that I need to not draw from my experience in the 90s when it was rare to hear of someone getting such high or near perfect scores but what is up with so many high scores these days? Has the scoring changed since I remember it? Or has the test itself gotten easier? Or maybe those are the only ones we hear about on here?

SAT scores have been "recentered" a couple of times since the 90s. Subtract about 150 points for the score equivalent back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been lurking on this board and College Confidential since DC started freshman year in the fall and I am so shocked and sad for so many of what seem to be stellar students on paper getting deferred or even outright rejected from what used to be deemed "safety' schools. I know we're in a bit of a bubble in the DC area and it can be more competitive trying to get into certain schools from certain school systems (or at least that's what I'm told) but it seems to be especially bad this year? Do you think some of it is a result of COVID with '21 and '22 students taking gap years, and will normalize over time or do you think it will only get worse?

Parents say that every year.. this year is especially bad?? No its been like this

+1. Yes, parents say that every.single.year. Process hasn’t changed and it isn’t any worse. What has changed is now it’s your kid’s turn to go thru the meat grinder and that makes it look and feel much worse than years before.

[Anonymous]

The test has changed - it's easier to get a good score now. They also allow superscoring, which means if you take the test 3 times, they will only use your best score from each section of the test. For the ACT, this is particularly relevant since there are 4 sections.

Anonymous wrote:Great point about many schools going TO. That said, I'm also seeing an incredible number of students with 1400+ SAT scores. I get that I need to not draw from my experience in the 90s when it was rare to hear of someone getting such high or near perfect scores but what is up with so many high scores these days? Has the scoring changed since I remember it? Or has the test itself gotten easier? Or maybe those are the only ones we hear about on here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great point about many schools going TO. That said, I'm also seeing an incredible number of students with 1400+ SAT scores. I get that I need to not draw from my experience in the 90s when it was rare to hear of someone getting such high or near perfect scores but what is up with so many high scores these days? Has the scoring changed since I remember it? Or has the test itself gotten easier? Or maybe those are the only ones we hear about on here?

The SAT was recentered in 1994 or 1995. Then the writing portion was added, then taken away. The general consensus is that scores are higher now than in the 1990s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been lurking on this board and College Confidential since DC started freshman year in the fall and I am so shocked and sad for so many of what seem to be stellar students on paper getting deferred or even outright rejected from what used to be deemed "safety' schools. I know we're in a bit of a bubble in the DC area and it can be more competitive trying to get into certain schools from certain school systems (or at least that's what I'm told) but it seems to be especially bad this year? Do you think some of it is a result of COVID with '21 and '22 students taking gap years, and will normalize over time or do you think it will only get worse?

Parents say that every year.. this year is especially bad?? No its been like this

+1. Yes, parents say that every.single.year. Process hasn’t changed and it isn’t any worse. What has changed is now it’s your kid’s turn to go thru the meat grinder and that makes it look and feel much worse than years before.

That isn’t correct, the test optional years have been harder given the huge increase in applications to top schools. Thar said, this year is pretty similar to last year in terms of results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Covid era grading is the biggest issue, especially for kids coming from a school or district where grading was not impacted during Covid. My dc are in private school (not DC) and while they were given the option to go P/F in spring 2020, after that, grading was as usual, even though school stayed online for another 6 months! In other places, kids were given As without even turning on cameras, which means that there are many high GPA kids.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone knows.
Test optional policies have increased the pool of qualified applicants to the top schools by many fold.

Also, the class applying this year had Covid-era grading for 2 years of the 3 that are considered for applications. In DCPS (for instance) the lowest grade a kid could get was a B if he/she did any work. MCPS bumped all final grades up by one letter grade. Lots of stuff like this happened all around the country in giant school districts (so hundreds of thousands of students impacted).

The class of 2025 will be the first that will have all 4 years back in a classroom with normal grading scales.

I know so many kids struggled and didn't get the support system they needed during Covid. And I completely understand the well meaning efforts to give them a lift but I also feel for the kids who continued to put in the hard work and not just ride it out to only get "lost" in the inflated pool of applicants.