are the top kids you know even applying to the Ivies and other top 20 schools?

[Anonymous]

My kid and many friends are top students.
We're all visiting the same colleges which are those in the 25-75 range. No one seems to be even considering the top tier.
Have you noticed this as well?

[Anonymous]

My kid is applying mostly to top 25 and then 2 state schools and 2 safeties.

[Anonymous]

Yes, not everyone wants a small school. Or, they are obsessed with college football, like my DS and many of his friends he met at college. Many people want to go where parents did, and on…

[Anonymous]

They didn't pay attention to the rankings, the parents did, they pay attention to the things that will make them happy.

[Anonymous]

The numbers on naviance at our school are certainly disheartening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid and many friends are top students.
We're all visiting the same colleges which are those in the 25-75 range. No one seems to be even considering the top tier.
Have you noticed this as well?

Visits and applications are not the same thing. It completely makes sense to focus visits in the 25-75 range so you can find good target/safety options. Then you throw in some reach apps. No need to visit those until/if you get accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid and many friends are top students.
We're all visiting the same colleges which are those in the 25-75 range. No one seems to be even considering the top tier.
Have you noticed this as well?

Visits and applications are not the same thing. It completely makes sense to focus visits in the 25-75 range so you can find good target/safety options. Then you throw in some reach apps. No need to visit those until/if you get accepted.

That's what we did. Spent the most time and energy exploring matches and safeties. Kid happened to get into a reach so we visited for the first time along with revisiting some matches and safeties, but the reach is where they ulitmately decided to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid and many friends are top students.
We're all visiting the same colleges which are those in the 25-75 range. No one seems to be even considering the top tier.
Have you noticed this as well?

Visits and applications are not the same thing. It completely makes sense to focus visits in the 25-75 range so you can find good target/safety options. Then you throw in some reach apps. No need to visit those until/if you get accepted.

This is a good point. I'll be interested to see what actually happens. My kid (stats for a lottery ticket but choosing not to buy one) is hoping to ED at a school ranked around 30.
It makes me nervous if many top kids do the same as the competition will just shift downward.

[Anonymous]

One unhooked kid who I think didn't have a chance last year, applied and was waitlisted at Harvard (never got in). Went to second-tier.

One kid who I think SHOULD apply, refuses to apply this year. She just does not even want the stress of waiting to be rejected while athletes and other hooked kids get in, and would rather just go directly to second tier. I understand the mindset, but I also think she could attempt one HYP application.

But ultimately, all of these kids are smart and able, and they can be trusted to make their own decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid and many friends are top students.
We're all visiting the same colleges which are those in the 25-75 range. No one seems to be even considering the top tier.
Have you noticed this as well?

Yes, but it's mostly because the top schools are need based schools and don't offer merit. But everyone is adding UVA, which offers littler merit but is instate for my group of friends.

[Anonymous]

10:16 again, to your question of whether this creates more competition for second-tier institutions:

Greater selectivity was always going to create more competition for the second and third tiers anyway! Not because a few families are declining the lottery, but because it's a lottery in the first place!

You may not be looking at UMD or UVA closely if your kids are HYPSM-capable, but plenty of decent students are getting rejected from their state university as well. Decent, meaning weighted GPA of more than 4, multiple AP classes, normal extra-curriculars.

The college landscape has changed completely from what it used to be a decade ago.

[Anonymous]

I think most top kids will apply to a couple top schools, but like everyone else, include matches and safeties. Only those that want to be on social media apply to all 8 ivies, Stanford AND MIT. Last cycle DS applied to 2 ivies and 10 25-75.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid and many friends are top students.
We're all visiting the same colleges which are those in the 25-75 range. No one seems to be even considering the top tier.
Have you noticed this as well?

Visits and applications are not the same thing. It completely makes sense to focus visits in the 25-75 range so you can find good target/safety options. Then you throw in some reach apps. No need to visit those until/if you get accepted.

This is a good point. I'll be interested to see what actually happens. My kid (stats for a lottery ticket but choosing not to buy one) is hoping to ED at a school ranked around 30.
It makes me nervous if many top kids do the same as the competition will just shift downward.

Already the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:16 again, to your question of whether this creates more competition for second-tier institutions:

Greater selectivity was always going to create more competition for the second and third tiers anyway! Not because a few families are declining the lottery, but because it's a lottery in the first place!

You may not be looking at UMD or UVA closely if your kids are HYPSM-capable, but plenty of decent students are getting rejected from their state university as well. Decent, meaning weighted GPA of more than 4, multiple AP classes, normal extra-curriculars.

The college landscape has changed completely from what it used to be a decade ago.

Or even three years ago.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of people apply to the Ivies and then keep quiet about it.