Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

most are white and Asians. Almost no URM applied for Brown

But the URM gets the blame, all the time, because there could be no other reason why DC didn't get admitted. A seat had to have been stolen by an under qualified URM, right?

Try this on for fact: There are a lot -- no, A LOT of talented and high performing students out there. There are many in this area. Do not knock the talent and achievement of the magnet schools in this area. Also, there are great students all over, maybe not as concentrated in one spot as at Sidwell. But they do get in to top schools as well.

Unfortunately kids all know who took the most challenge courses and who took the easy pass. There are published lists for NMSF and presidential scholar candidates. The facts are just there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

It's always been my impression that Brown in very heavy on legacy admits - even among top academic performers. So if you don't have another hook, forget it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email today from the head of the CCO implies a good amount of frustration bubbling up.

Also strange that the CCO would need to send an email at this late stage clarifying their role. Maybe they should have spent more time talking about that kind of thing in the grade level meetings instead of just going over checklists that anyone could look at online.

They said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Sorry if you don't recall that. They were crystal clear. Having to send that email today should be an embarrassment to the parents who are complaining.

PP here. I am not a parent who has complained. I do disagree that they ever clearly explained their role to parents or that they said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Rather than saying parents should be embarrassed, maybe the CCO should be embarrassed that their role is not crystal clear to everyone. The fact that there are apparently enough parents with different expectations that an email is necessary should be evidence of the confusion.

They said in meetings in 10th and 11th grade that they do not make the decisions, they cannot call and lobby Admissions officers, etc. They can advocate for an applicant if an AO calls and they can make sure all of the paperwork is in on time and they can help develop lists based on the questions asked of the parents and students in 11th grade.

I don't know what to tell you or the people who apparently are complaining to the CCO.

Junior parent here. This topic has never been covered at all in the 10th or 11th grade meetings that I attended, but we haven't attended our individual meeting yet....

That said, I have no expectation that the CCO is calling AO's to lobby for applicants. I don't know how they would have the time (the CCO or the AO's!). Furthermore, I can only imagine the way this would play out in terms of favoritism and equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email today from the head of the CCO implies a good amount of frustration bubbling up.

Also strange that the CCO would need to send an email at this late stage clarifying their role. Maybe they should have spent more time talking about that kind of thing in the grade level meetings instead of just going over checklists that anyone could look at online.

They said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Sorry if you don't recall that. They were crystal clear. Having to send that email today should be an embarrassment to the parents who are complaining.

PP here. I am not a parent who has complained. I do disagree that they ever clearly explained their role to parents or that they said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Rather than saying parents should be embarrassed, maybe the CCO should be embarrassed that their role is not crystal clear to everyone. The fact that there are apparently enough parents with different expectations that an email is necessary should be evidence of the confusion.

They said in meetings in 10th and 11th grade that they do not make the decisions, they cannot call and lobby Admissions officers, etc. They can advocate for an applicant if an AO calls and they can make sure all of the paperwork is in on time and they can help develop lists based on the questions asked of the parents and students in 11th grade.

I don't know what to tell you or the people who apparently are complaining to the CCO.

Junior parent here. This topic has never been covered at all in the 10th or 11th grade meetings that I attended, but we haven't attended our individual meeting yet....

That said, I have no expectation that the CCO is calling AO's to lobby for applicants. I don't know how they would have the time (the CCO or the AO's!). Furthermore, I can only imagine the way this would play out in terms of favoritism and equity.

And yet yesterday’s email says they are very busy right now, supporting and advocating for seniors. If they are not calling, what are they doing that they are very busy working for seniors right now? Waiting for the phone to ring?

[Anonymous]

Yes, exactly. Waiting for the phone to ring. They are NOT calling AO's - no one does that any more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

It's always been my impression that Brown in very heavy on legacy admits - even among top academic performers. So if you don't have another hook, forget it.

At my kids’ school, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford admits seem most legacy driven. Brown, Columbia much less so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

most are white and Asians. Almost no URM applied for Brown

But the URM gets the blame, all the time, because there could be no other reason why DC didn't get admitted. A seat had to have been stolen by an under qualified URM, right?

Try this on for fact: There are a lot -- no, A LOT of talented and high performing students out there. There are many in this area. Do not knock the talent and achievement of the magnet schools in this area. Also, there are great students all over, maybe not as concentrated in one spot as at Sidwell. But they do get in to top schools as well.

Unfortunately kids all know who took the most challenge courses and who took the easy pass. There are published lists for NMSF and presidential scholar candidates. The facts are just there.

I think that some parents in this area could use some added perspective. I really think they lack perspective and understanding about college admissions and who gets in and why. I just find the incessant threads on the disappointment of Sidwell parents to be a tad bit overbearing when it's like the same broken record. Mine did okay with this process (got in at schools ranked lower than top 20), but we are not Sidwell folk, and we have a limit to how much we were looking to spend on college for DC.

We did a LOT of research for undergrad and it helped. My kid's CCO was pretty good, which we augmented with our own research. We googled a lot, and read Selingo's book, among many. We took trips to campuses and talked with alumni BEFORE even applying to the schools, and so much more. My DC drafted their list and completed the application/essays/etc. without the CCO. We had minimal/basic access to Naviance. And it worked out, I think because we were very assertive in wanting this to work for our DC.

As a parent, I think it's critical to be very involved with the process if you are looking to reach a desired outcome. Can't say that it will help everyone, but it helped us out a lot. I think there may be this thought that "I paid for DC to go to xyz school, and they will handle this for us" mentality. I think for us, a nearly $400k investment of our dollars for DCs college was enough for us to want to understand this process as much as we could, inside and out, and to ensure that we set up our kid to have some good options, which they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, exactly. Waiting for the phone to ring. They are NOT calling AO's - no one does that any more.

But they said that this is actually a very busy time advocating for and supporting seniors within the CCO. Why would that be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, exactly. Waiting for the phone to ring. They are NOT calling AO's - no one does that any more.

But they said that this is actually a very busy time advocating for and supporting seniors within the CCO. Why would that be?

I thought some schools like Tulane still did

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

I’m another parent of a current senior whose kid is done with the process. I agree with all of this 100%, especially the bolded parts.

I'm not a Senior parent, but I'd like the school as a whole to stop this messaging. They even tell the kids this! It makes parenting of a teen quite difficult when administration is telling them their parents are overbearing. As if my teen needs any excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sick of this fake fairness argument. On the one hand, SFS CCO strongly advises against getting a private Counsellor. On the other, they appear not to be providing the kind of services applicants need. Provide the high level of service to all that ask for it, problem solved. There, got that off my chest….

I completely agree. As the parent of a senior, we regretted not hiring one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sick of this fake fairness argument. On the one hand, SFS CCO strongly advises against getting a private Counsellor. On the other, they appear not to be providing the kind of services applicants need. Provide the high level of service to all that ask for it, problem solved. There, got that off my chest….

I completely agree. As the parent of a senior, we regretted not hiring one.

what kind of services do they provide that you regret not seeking out?
thx for any thoughts (current underclass parent here).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Meh...my 3.8 SFS senior didn't apply to any Ivies.

Following....we have a similar student who will most likely not apply to Ivies (or maybe just one for RD).

Was your DC successful in EA/ED? What types of schools did they apply to (as many non-Ivy/Stanford/MIT schools are also a crapshoot)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email today from the head of the CCO implies a good amount of frustration bubbling up.

Also strange that the CCO would need to send an email at this late stage clarifying their role. Maybe they should have spent more time talking about that kind of thing in the grade level meetings instead of just going over checklists that anyone could look at online.

They said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Sorry if you don't recall that. They were crystal clear. Having to send that email today should be an embarrassment to the parents who are complaining.

PP here. I am not a parent who has complained. I do disagree that they ever clearly explained their role to parents or that they said it a million times at meetings in 10th and 11th grade. Rather than saying parents should be embarrassed, maybe the CCO should be embarrassed that their role is not crystal clear to everyone. The fact that there are apparently enough parents with different expectations that an email is necessary should be evidence of the confusion.

They said in meetings in 10th and 11th grade that they do not make the decisions, they cannot call and lobby Admissions officers, etc. They can advocate for an applicant if an AO calls and they can make sure all of the paperwork is in on time and they can help develop lists based on the questions asked of the parents and students in 11th grade.

I don't know what to tell you or the people who apparently are complaining to the CCO.

Junior parent here. This topic has never been covered at all in the 10th or 11th grade meetings that I attended, but we haven't attended our individual meeting yet....

That said, I have no expectation that the CCO is calling AO's to lobby for applicants. I don't know how they would have the time (the CCO or the AO's!). Furthermore, I can only imagine the way this would play out in terms of favoritism and equity.

It might be going on. My DC is a senior at a highly-competitive private in a different metro area whose students are the children of really wealthy people. Donor families get assigned a particular college counselor who I’m sure is lobbying for them. A lot of parents have buyers’ remorse by the end of their children’s tenure at the school when they see how things played out. My DC, who has plans to major in STEM, has learned how to write and reason, which is a rare thing these days. I had no illusions going in. He’ll do well wherever he goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, exactly. Waiting for the phone to ring. They are NOT calling AO's - no one does that any more.

But they said that this is actually a very busy time advocating for and supporting seniors within the CCO. Why would that be?

I thought some schools like Tulane still did

Who cares about #42 school