Success stories this cycle
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Anonymous
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After hearing dozens of high stats stories for last few weeks where kids are disappointed, wondering about those of you who have happy kids.
Curious about success stories this cycle - for kids who had decent (3.8ish) stats and got into T25, and also kids who lower GPAs who far exceeded theirs (or your) expectations. Curious about the below. - background/stats of applicant - what do you think made the difference? - what admission surprised you? - what rejection surprised you? - what was the largest weakness in the applicant profile and how did kid overcome it? |
Anonymous
Accepted into four Top 25 schools, two publics and two privates (along with a handful of schools in the 26 - 75 range, a mix of publics and privates). After preparing for a bloodbath, acceptance into two Top 15 schools surprised us the most. DS has chosen one of the public schools, and seems to be very happy with the opportunity ahead. The lowest of his three safety schools was the most surprising rejection - ultimately, it's challenging to overcome a pedestrian GPA when a school doesn't consider testing, essays, or recommendations. Hard to pin that one on yield protection, but maybe. Who knows? But it was a surprise, to say the least. GPA at time of submission, which was the largest weakness - overcome, I'd guess, through overall rigor and grade trending: 3.72 unweighted / 3.95 UC weighted, capped / 4.13 weighted / 4.20 UC weighted / uncapped AP classes: 8 (6 tested by May 2023, all 5s) GPA at time of mid-year update: 3.76 unweighted / 3.95 UC weighted, capped / 4.21 weighted / 4.29 UC weighted / uncapped. AP Classes (at graduation): 14 (6 more to be tested in May 2024). Standardized testing: 1600 SAT, one admin. (along with AP test results, the tip of the spear in his applications - but not even considered by 1/3 of the schools applied to). Extracurriculars: Good ECs including mix of varsity team sports, sustained volunteerism in community, and targeted research at local university in area of interest for undergraduate and grad. study. Awards: Not really, but basic ones like NMSF, team captain, AP Scholar with Distinction, etc. Essays / PIQs: Good essays, but difficult to calibrate against others. Recommendations: Probably average, at best. DS isn't an apple polisher, so we were not expecting miracles here. Demographics: White male, full pay, no hooks, public high school in affluent coastal community. |
Anonymous
Forgot to mention the primary lessons learned: 1. Tend carefully to your GPA, which can have far too great of a role in college admissions these days. DS will graduate with probably 13 - 14 Bs over the course of his high school career (but none in the AP classes, thank goodness). All but one of those Bs landed within a single point of securing an A in the respective classes. All of them resulted from simply failing to turn in basic assignments. The carousel of frustration is a real downer, but you gotta play the game; and 2. Ignore anyone who tries to convince you that your kid with pedestrian grades has no shot at this school or that school. They are typically uninformed, at best. |
Anonymous
Wow. Such a feel good story. More of these please!!! Congrats to him (and you!!) Can you share some of school names? Assume UCLA? Northwestern? Rice seems like they love this kid… |
Anonymous
How is this a feel good story? The kid got a 1600 and had 14 APs! And I have read there’s a way to slip in your scores once the application is submitted. PP did your child do that? Not trying to diminishing what is obviously a great outcome by what sounds like a great kid, but I don’t think it’s all that surprising of an outcome unless I’m missing something? |
Anonymous
Come on. He had Bs - a lot of them. Anyone who’s been through this process in the last year or two will tell you grades matter two times as much as test scores. |
Anonymous
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Sorry…it’s not a feel good story. It’s a humble brag.
The other pose of the kid getting into MIT and Princeton (if true) is a feel good story. OP, you are tone deaf for starting this thread. |
Anonymous
You raise great points, but I think what made it so unexpected was that we DID listen to the noise. From that noise, we DID expect a bloodbath. That's why it was surprising to us, anyway. I listed my second lesson for that reason. And you're right, there were definitely some strong aspects to his application. The challenge was the fact that he came along either a few years too late or a few years too early because those strengths barely had space to matter. At times during this process, we started to feel that his test scores were almost transforming into a disadvantage in some ways (e.g., we grew up in a timeframe when his scores would have meant quite a lot in the admissions process, but based on everything we read from others, we began to view them as a potential distraction. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but suffice it to say that the SAT score was the subject of a few arguments in our house). He did include the NMSF as one of the awards in the Common App and UC app, but not sure if / how much that would matter. We didn't send his SAT score or AP scores to the UC schools. Again, understanding the odds, the outcome was surprising to us. |
Anonymous
Tone deaf? I’m navigating this process. Would like to hear more real stories with this detail rather than ppl debating if Vandy is an Ivy. That kind of detail was really helpful and not a brag imo. But who knows, I guess. Maybe you’ve been through this process in the last decade and like to come back here to lord over the rest of us. For those of us trying to navigate choppy waters, truly detailed analysis like this helps. If you don’t like it, move away. |
Anonymous
Who brags that their kid had 13-14 B grades (not semester system, of course)? I think you're missing the point. We are extremely grateful and appreciative that he has options despite what most would consider pedestrian grades. That's it. Not promoting the path he took, just relaying it so that anyone whose kid might not have a perfect unweighted GPA understands that the "Give up and try community college!" vultures should not be taken seriously. |
Anonymous
Your kid scored a 1600…just own up to the fact you want to flaunt that. The whole post is obnoxious and if you don’t see it…well, that’s on you. This thread has already gone sideways. |
Anonymous
What did you expect me to do? Reduce the score 30 - 40 points to satisfy your feelings? How weird. That was the score. On the other hand, he had frustrating grades for a while. You're ridiculous, and insecure, to boot. |
Anonymous
Why are you not patrolling the "SAT 1600 Score, CS Major" thread and teeing off on everyone who posts there, but especially the OP? |
Anonymous
They mentioned 13-14 B’s - so that is a success story. |
Anonymous
You are so triggered that now this whole thread is f**ked. Congrats. Your kid did well…it’s not a surprise…it’s not a success story. |