Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy these days?

[Anonymous]

I keep hearing about these high stat kids getting rejected. On social media, I have seen posts about ridiculous students with extremely long crazy impressive extracurriculars.

Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy?

My kid has the scores and grades. He plays 3 sports and is on several academic teams. He is not nationally ranked in anything but good at everything. DH and I both attended T25 colleges and ivy grad schools. Our kid is better than DH and me in every single category.

[Anonymous]

No. A normal straight A unhooked kid cannot get into an ivy. That is my observation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. A normal straight A unhooked kid cannot get into an ivy. That is my observation.

Except Cornell!

[Anonymous]

Probably not. It also doesn't matter. The faculty, students, facilities, everything at a T50 or even T75 today are better than they were at your T25 back in the day.

[Anonymous]

Not if he’s white or Asian.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think so. I was a normal smart kid admitted to an Ivy regular decision in 1998. Even then, I got to campus and realized I was out of my league and my straight-A gpa, varsity sport, 1510 SAT put me in maybe the bottom 25% of students at the time.

The world is so much more competitive now and that bottom quartile of normal smart American kids has long been bumped for smart international kids and actual smart kids who would never have been able attend 25 years ago because they weren’t offering zero-cost attendance at the time. With cost of attendance off the table for poor brilliant kids and the international student population more than doubling, anyone who is truly normal getting an accept is powerball territory.

[Anonymous]

I would say yes, if they have a quirky, unusual but well written essay. Otherwise no

[Anonymous]

Look at the stats for your county. I was shocked at how few APS kids went to Ivys... especially in North Arlington where the parents pay for tutors, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing about these high stat kids getting rejected. On social media, I have seen posts about ridiculous students with extremely long crazy impressive extracurriculars.

Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy?

My kid has the scores and grades. He plays 3 sports and is on several academic teams. He is not nationally ranked in anything but good at everything. DH and I both attended T25 colleges and ivy grad schools. Our kid is better than DH and me in every single category.

So many parents who attended top schools in their day come on here and say this. You were only applying against a sliver of qualified students. The Common App, colleges understanding what CoA really means for first gen kids, and thousands and thousands of able and well-heeled international students has changed that equation.

The reality is that there were students better than you, but they didn't have a way of attending.

[Anonymous]

Your kid sounds well rounded, qualified for college and will likely get into a number of good schools. This is not the profile of a student the ivies want to educate these days. Today, Ivies want to educate either (a) students who are so phenomenal at a single thing that they will benefit from being with the best in that field or (b)students who could really benefit from the economic boost an ivy name gives them.

You are not alone. There are thousands of us parents who went to Ivies in the last century as well rounded students and who would not get in today. For the most part, our kids are not the profile of who the Ivies want to educate now and I’m okay with that. My well rounded, smart kids who get good grades - whether they go to a SLAC or a state flagship - will do just fine.

[Anonymous]

Yes. DC attends a top Ivy, and only about half the kids are hooked. You do need to excel at something, though, in order to be admitted unhooked.

[Anonymous]

Why isn’t he trying to be nationally ranked? Why should he get in over the kids who are actually excelling?

[Anonymous]

No. You must EXCEL in one area, on top of having top stats, and bring dynamic energy to campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think so. I was a normal smart kid admitted to an Ivy regular decision in 1998. Even then, I got to campus and realized I was out of my league and my straight-A gpa, varsity sport, 1510 SAT put me in maybe the bottom 25% of students at the time.

The world is so much more competitive now and that bottom quartile of normal smart American kids has long been bumped for smart international kids and actual smart kids who would never have been able attend 25 years ago because they weren’t offering zero-cost attendance at the time. With cost of attendance off the table for poor brilliant kids and the international student population more than doubling, anyone who is truly normal getting an accept is powerball territory.

This but more so. I think you are misremembering if you think 1510 was bottom quartile in 1998. I remember from my Princeton Review guide perusing days that even the best schools had 25th percentile at high 1300s to low 1400s. (Fellow 1998 HS grad here).

Okay, googled it and check this out https://pr.princeton.edu/profile/06/08.htm

[Anonymous]

You have to be hooked or have some sort of exceptional skill or achievement. Regular standard smart? No.