Rookie mistakes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put stats in CollegeVine. If it’s over 90% chance of admission, believe it that’s a safety. My kid applied to way too many “safeties” and got in to all because of getting caught up in the belief it’s hard to get in, even at GMU.

Don’t listen to all hype, stick to a list, and even go for the reaches if the school is really where they want to go AND if it may may be possible based on their high school resume considering GPA, test scores, and EC. Keep it real though, so not setting up an unrealistic application. However, if you don’t apply, then your chance is zero.

I would be careful about this. This was a few years ago, and the algorithm has since changed, but CV had my kid at well over 90% for a school where my kid was deferred, then waitlisted, and did not get in. School is known for yield protection and caring about interest, which right there makes it not a safety for anyone, but those particular reasons for denial were not, or at least shouldn't have been, applicable to my kid's situation.

Right. Be wary of any school that offers ED (especially if two rounds). Those are schools that care about their yield and prefer a lower stats student that loves them back to a higher stats one that might not attend.

So, half the top 20?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put stats in CollegeVine. If it’s over 90% chance of admission, believe it that’s a safety. My kid applied to way too many “safeties” and got in to all because of getting caught up in the belief it’s hard to get in, even at GMU.

Don’t listen to all hype, stick to a list, and even go for the reaches if the school is really where they want to go AND if it may may be possible based on their high school resume considering GPA, test scores, and EC. Keep it real though, so not setting up an unrealistic application. However, if you don’t apply, then your chance is zero.

I would be careful about this. This was a few years ago, and the algorithm has since changed, but CV had my kid at well over 90% for a school where my kid was deferred, then waitlisted, and did not get in. School is known for yield protection and caring about interest, which right there makes it not a safety for anyone, but those particular reasons for denial were not, or at least shouldn't have been, applicable to my kid's situation.

CollegeVine is a solid tool if you take the time to put in ALL of the inputs and try to rank the ECs correctly. My kid is in the app pool this year, so we'll see for sure by April, but it seems to err both on the high and low chances. For example, Pitt was listed as 73% when we knew it was probably 99%. The other thing I don't think Collegevine accounts for is major, which can make things more selective depending on the major and particular college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the more useful threads on this board.

Two kids in, here are my tips:

1. Get some sort of draft of the main essay done in the summer before senior year.

2. Only need one safety that you love. Not worth it applying to a bunch of your kid is meh on them.

3. Don’t underestimate how many supplemental essays the top schools require.

4. Don’t be surprised if your kid changes their mind about the sort of school they want mid-stream. Both of mine did, and wound up at places I’d never have expected them to, heading into senior year.

Good luck to us all.

Ps- And Chicago did what it did for purely financial reasons. And ruined their brand as a result.

First, this is all good advice.

As to Chicago, I don't disagree with you BUT I am not sure their brand would have survived the hard swing towards preprofessionalism. Many SLACs are dying on the vine right now. Time will tell if it was the right choice for them or losing their brand will hurt in the long run.

Name 3. Seriously, name a few of note that are dying on the vine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the more useful threads on this board.

Two kids in, here are my tips:

1. Get some sort of draft of the main essay done in the summer before senior year.

2. Only need one safety that you love. Not worth it applying to a bunch of your kid is meh on them.

3. Don’t underestimate how many supplemental essays the top schools require.

4. Don’t be surprised if your kid changes their mind about the sort of school they want mid-stream. Both of mine did, and wound up at places I’d never have expected them to, heading into senior year.

Good luck to us all.

Ps- And Chicago did what it did for purely financial reasons. And ruined their brand as a result.

First, this is all good advice.

As to Chicago, I don't disagree with you BUT I am not sure their brand would have survived the hard swing towards preprofessionalism. Many SLACs are dying on the vine right now. Time will tell if it was the right choice for them or losing their brand will hurt in the long run.

Name 3. Seriously, name a few of note that are dying on the vine.

Wesleyan, Barnard, Grinnell. Next question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the more useful threads on this board.

Two kids in, here are my tips:

1. Get some sort of draft of the main essay done in the summer before senior year.

2. Only need one safety that you love. Not worth it applying to a bunch of your kid is meh on them.

3. Don’t underestimate how many supplemental essays the top schools require.

4. Don’t be surprised if your kid changes their mind about the sort of school they want mid-stream. Both of mine did, and wound up at places I’d never have expected them to, heading into senior year.

Good luck to us all.

Ps- And Chicago did what it did for purely financial reasons. And ruined their brand as a result.

First, this is all good advice.

As to Chicago, I don't disagree with you BUT I am not sure their brand would have survived the hard swing towards preprofessionalism. Many SLACs are dying on the vine right now. Time will tell if it was the right choice for them or losing their brand will hurt in the long run.

Name 3. Seriously, name a few of note that are dying on the vine.

Wesleyan, Barnard, Grinnell. Next question?

Credibility duly diminished. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Not telling my kid to enjoy high school enough, live a little, and just aim reasonably low for college. Its crapshoot anyways for the unhooked despite the high stat!!!

SAT score doesn't need to be high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the more useful threads on this board.

Two kids in, here are my tips:

1. Get some sort of draft of the main essay done in the summer before senior year.

2. Only need one safety that you love. Not worth it applying to a bunch of your kid is meh on them.

3. Don’t underestimate how many supplemental essays the top schools require.

4. Don’t be surprised if your kid changes their mind about the sort of school they want mid-stream. Both of mine did, and wound up at places I’d never have expected them to, heading into senior year.

Good luck to us all.

Ps- And Chicago did what it did for purely financial reasons. And ruined their brand as a result.

100%

1-4 so true for my kid last year

[Anonymous]

Not learning earlier to manage my own anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is absolutely a better university than Penn. There is no question. (I am an academic fwiw.) But of course most kids who are gunning for highly selective schools would rather go to Penn. This comes back to the branding: Chicago once had a very distinct brand (unapologetically intellectual with conservative leanings, etc.) and now it is trying to compete directly with Ivies that are not peers in academic terms but have more perceived prestige. It's a weird strategy but I guess they think it works. I know lots of people who went there a 25 years ago who think joining the Common App was the turning point.

I think it's more that rich>smart.

Wharton=$$$

Not sure that people hear "Chicago school of economics" and think $$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the more useful threads on this board.

Two kids in, here are my tips:

1. Get some sort of draft of the main essay done in the summer before senior year.

2. Only need one safety that you love. Not worth it applying to a bunch of your kid is meh on them.

3. Don’t underestimate how many supplemental essays the top schools require.

4. Don’t be surprised if your kid changes their mind about the sort of school they want mid-stream. Both of mine did, and wound up at places I’d never have expected them to, heading into senior year.

Good luck to us all.

Ps- And Chicago did what it did for purely financial reasons. And ruined their brand as a result.

First, this is all good advice.

As to Chicago, I don't disagree with you BUT I am not sure their brand would have survived the hard swing towards preprofessionalism. Many SLACs are dying on the vine right now. Time will tell if it was the right choice for them or losing their brand will hurt in the long run.

Name 3. Seriously, name a few of note that are dying on the vine.

Wesleyan, Barnard, Grinnell. Next question?

Delusional

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not realizing that Bucknell has a Strong Pipeline to The Street. Waste of time to apply anywhere else if you're interested in finance / IB.

Love you, pp 😏

[Anonymous]

Thinking DC could get into a T20 LAC ED with 3.3ish gpa (even with high test scores and high rigor and full pay)

Pivoted to T30-40 LAC ED2. Got in.

Do a really thorough scrub of realistic reaches before deciding where to shoot your ED bullets

[Anonymous]

1. Ditto above about getting the parental anxiety management piece controlled. Kid is anxious enough and I 100% made it worse with my anxiety.
2. Tied into above I think kid undershot with their ED because of all the anxiety. Should have trusted Scoir but instead believed the hype that everything post covid/TO made schools impossible.
3. Still continuation of above, SERIOUSLY weigh pros and cons of ED. You get a bump but it’s at a big cost of not weighing options come April. As a PP mentioned do not be surprised when your kid evolves and changes their preferences during this process. My kid did and rewrote 80% of his list in October senior year. Then got in his ED. I can’t help but wonder if he was in the midst of a sort of mental/character growth spurt and if he had kept his options open through RD it might have led him to different conclusions as he matured and evolved. But once admitted to the ED everything stopped. It is what it is. And he is in to an amazing school but if we could do it all over I’d argue against any ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
1. Ditto above about getting the parental anxiety management piece controlled. Kid is anxious enough and I 100% made it worse with my anxiety.
2. Tied into above I think kid undershot with their ED because of all the anxiety. Should have trusted Scoir but instead believed the hype that everything post covid/TO made schools impossible.
3. Still continuation of above, SERIOUSLY weigh pros and cons of ED. You get a bump but it’s at a big cost of not weighing options come April. As a PP mentioned do not be surprised when your kid evolves and changes their preferences during this process. My kid did and rewrote 80% of his list in October senior year. Then got in his ED. I can’t help but wonder if he was in the midst of a sort of mental/character growth spurt and if he had kept his options open through RD it might have led him to different conclusions as he matured and evolved. But once admitted to the ED everything stopped. It is what it is. And he is in to an amazing school but if we could do it all over I’d argue against any ED.

It's a REALLY tough call. For every parent I know who feels like they undershot ED or their DC might have made a different choice, I know at least one who regrets not choosing a realistic ED and being done with the process.

Another way of thinking about it: There's really no way to know which college is best for your kid without actually attending said college. You're always making this decision in a void. So why prolong the process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put stats in CollegeVine. If it’s over 90% chance of admission, believe it that’s a safety. My kid applied to way too many “safeties” and got in to all because of getting caught up in the belief it’s hard to get in, even at GMU.

Don’t listen to all hype, stick to a list, and even go for the reaches if the school is really where they want to go AND if it may may be possible based on their high school resume considering GPA, test scores, and EC. Keep it real though, so not setting up an unrealistic application. However, if you don’t apply, then your chance is zero.

I would be careful about this. This was a few years ago, and the algorithm has since changed, but CV had my kid at well over 90% for a school where my kid was deferred, then waitlisted, and did not get in. School is known for yield protection and caring about interest, which right there makes it not a safety for anyone, but those particular reasons for denial were not, or at least shouldn't have been, applicable to my kid's situation.

Right. Be wary of any school that offers ED (especially if two rounds). Those are schools that care about their yield and prefer a lower stats student that loves them back to a higher stats one that might not attend.

How about preferring a high stats student that loves them? 🙂