schools that left a bad taste

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, there are thousands of kids who apply to these schools who look exactly like your kid. They literally cannot accept all of them. There are also a lot of kids that don’t look anything like your kid, yet the school believes they have something to contribute so they accept them. It’s disappointing when your child is not accepted, but that’s life. Mine was not accepted at at an in-state school that was his first choice, but he thrived at the school he ultimately selected — the ability to take what you have and do something with it is the definition of success.

Oh, and I agree that it leaves a bad taste when a school rejects your kid — I felt the same way about teh school that rejected my kid. That said, he is about to graduate from the school he selected and is likely far more successful than he would have been at the in-state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an unreasonably negative opinion of Harvard and Northwestern. The guides were dead inside. And it was like, yeah, look how you're turning out. No thanks.

I have a family member who was an athletic recruit for Harvard. He loved the coaches and was super excited about the school and the athletic program until he toured the school and thought it seemed completely joyless. He chose another Ivy instead.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern seemed to accept low stat kids and put them in their study abroad or other campus locations. Not sure those kids would meet T50 standards. I've also seen a few posts for kids doing state school for a year --> Cornell. Seems like another back door. The top south Florida privates and NYC/NJ area privates seem to have many, many T20 applicants, can all of the 5 kids to Duke, 5 to Penn, 3 to Stanford, 8 to Cornell all be in top 10%? I think not. For all of the Ivy hype, the kids are clearly not all #1 or 2 in class. Penn seems to have many admits for a top Ivy at some of these schools. I would expect Cornell, but Penn, Brown, Columbia, even Princeton too. Vandy was very present at these schools too.

[Anonymous]

So thankful for UChicago ED. Kid so excited to go, and didn't have to worry about anything else. AO so lovely and they send multiple welcome packages and messages. Wonderful experience here! A shout out to Pitt too, if you apply early, you find out quickly, and it's fair. These two schools deserve kudos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt won’t seem to accept anyone from our school (well regarded private). Every year we have dozens of students accepted to multiple Ivy’s and top 10s but it’s been years since a Vanderbilt acceptance. This year our valedictorian applied ED and didn’t get in. She ended up getting into Stanford, Uchicago, Penn, Dartmouth, and Yale! But not Vanderbilt…
The college counseling department pretty much warns families not to bother with Vanderbilt since they seem to have a weird dislike of our school.

It was Duke for our private. No one from our school has gotten into Duke in decades.

that's Dartmouth from our HS. although as a result, few kids apply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern and Case Western are the worst with their yield management.

Mine was accepted at Duke, Northwestern, and Michigan -- waitlisted at Case and BU.

(not complaining! but yield optimization shouldn't exist, it really just adds to the confusion and chaos)

I’ve seen many students accepted to BU along with other top schools, so I’m not sure whether this is a case of yield protection.

[Anonymous]

UVA
Middlebury
Maryland

[Anonymous]

HYP results at our school were enlightening but kinda left a bad taste in that the outcomes were clearly so based on legacy, rare instruments or sports, VIP parents, rather than who are the most talented and hardworking kids overall- the cutoff didnt seem to be highest rigor/best scores but more like very good/ some rigor plus hooks, with the emphasis clearly on hooks. Guess I was a bit clueless going into this. Kids, dont waste your childhood on top rigor, grades, sat, unless you happen to enjoy these things. The elite schools are really not about that.

Also the reality that a female 22 year old AO is the screener and may prefer centain types based on her own biases and immaturity. That felt very real for top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA
Middlebury
Maryland

What did they do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt won’t seem to accept anyone from our school (well regarded private). Every year we have dozens of students accepted to multiple Ivy’s and top 10s but it’s been years since a Vanderbilt acceptance. This year our valedictorian applied ED and didn’t get in. She ended up getting into Stanford, Uchicago, Penn, Dartmouth, and Yale! But not Vanderbilt…
The college counseling department pretty much warns families not to bother with Vanderbilt since they seem to have a weird dislike of our school.

It was Duke for our private. No one from our school has gotten into Duke in decades.

that's Dartmouth from our HS. although as a result, few kids apply

This leaves a bad taste with their admissions director and his nice guy routine

[Anonymous]

The university of Maryland system. Kid got rejected. 3.9uw, 3.6w from a Catholic with a tough grading scale. Taking 5 ap classes senior year. Captain of 2 varsity sports teams. Volunteered for 4 years. Great recommendation letters. Mature kid. We know lots of kids like this that didn’t get in. It wasn’t even their first choice but it ticked me off as a taxpayer.

For kids like this there is nowhere else to go. Umbc is a commuter school. Towson seems like huge step down. So it’s oos for her.

I’m not sure how Maryland selection works but it doesn’t seem right. And if it’s going to be like this they need a second university with some name recognition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why is UVA giving so many declines in state. All VA schools for that matter. It wasn’t like that 10, 15 years ago.

UVA in-state feels borderline impossible from NOVA. We had heard it for all those years, but being in it is definitely discouraging - you would think the state flagship could at least give kids who achieve a certain threshold a nod, but apparently not. The 33% OOS is not helping at all, either. They've become addicted to the OOS pay.

Honestly, I found the whole process discouraging.

The state cut funding over and over so they had to rely on OOS money.

There have been efforts to change the ratio over the years, but they failed in Appropriations.

It’s also not really a flagship when it comes to size. That’s JMU, GMU, and Tech. We need to think of UVA as a large honors college.

I agree it's like a large honors college. To get in there from VA.... the education, the campus, the social life. Such a deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The university of Maryland system. Kid got rejected. 3.9uw, 3.6w from a Catholic with a tough grading scale. Taking 5 ap classes senior year. Captain of 2 varsity sports teams. Volunteered for 4 years. Great recommendation letters. Mature kid. We know lots of kids like this that didn’t get in. It wasn’t even their first choice but it ticked me off as a taxpayer.

For kids like this there is nowhere else to go. Umbc is a commuter school. Towson seems like huge step down. So it’s oos for her.

I’m not sure how Maryland selection works but it doesn’t seem right. And if it’s going to be like this they need a second university with some name recognition.

Agree. 10 years ago at a public or private with, say, B or up and good recs and average scores you'd get in to UMD and UVA. Not anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan for sure. Messiness with ED and seemingly everyone who was deferred EA was waitlisted in RD. I just don’t understand what they’re doing - even the tippy top stats/narrative kids at our feeder private didn’t get in!

Our DC private has 5 Michigan admits year in and year out. This year only one in EA. The ED kids with the stats, legacy, etc. were deferred and waitlisted. How do you go from 5 annually to 1?

Same with our MD private. We usually have 5-7 Michigan admits per year but this year only one

I think Michigan is very test score-based, personally. That could explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan for sure. Messiness with ED and seemingly everyone who was deferred EA was waitlisted in RD. I just don’t understand what they’re doing - even the tippy top stats/narrative kids at our feeder private didn’t get in!

Our DC private has 5 Michigan admits year in and year out. This year only one in EA. The ED kids with the stats, legacy, etc. were deferred and waitlisted. How do you go from 5 annually to 1?

Same with our MD private. We usually have 5-7 Michigan admits per year but this year only one

I think Michigan is very test score-based, personally. That could explain.

My 35 ACT (not superscored) legacy was waitlisted and applied ED. Checks all the other boxes (rigor, GPA, ECs). 1 accepted from our private this year.