DD wants top SLACs But Doesn't Have Grades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To console your daughter...has she visited Amherst?

We did not like it. While the town look charming/fun, the campus is not really separate (my DD preferred Mount Holyoke, in that you could have quiet and peace to study OR take the shuttle 20 minutes to the fun/college town of Amherst). We found our tour guide (okay, that is one person but...) to be snobby/arrogant. For example, she said her favorite event on campus is when they have skits that MAKE FUN of the essays of kids who did not get in. I kid you not, that is what she said was her favorite "tradition" on campus. That was all we needed to hear....

Sorry you had a poor tour guide. She also explained that event incorrectly - of course they don't make fun of essays of kids who didn't get admitted. The skits are based on the essays of the admitted students and done for the incoming freshman as a bonding experience. They don't identify whose essay it's based on.

Sounds potentially hilarious to me, provided they don’t pick the 50% of essays where the kid lost his grandmother or she overcame some obstacle and then founded the future doctors club at her HS.

DP. Unless the tradition has fundamentally changed, it's not really about making fun of specific essays (and especially not essays of kids who weren't admitted), it's more making fun of essay cliches. So there might be a skit where the whole essay is nothing but famous quotes that aren't even on the same theme and are funny when read together. Or an essay about how your community service commitment to handknitting sweaters for fish fundamentally changed your life. Or how you overcame the great tragedy of a hangnail. Things that are so hyperbolic that it's clearly not targeting anyone in particular, but most people will recognize a smidge of something in their own essays, so everyone's kind of laughing at themselves and recognizing that we all can be kind of dorky at times so let's cut ourselves some slack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To console your daughter...has she visited Amherst?

We did not like it. While the town look charming/fun, the campus is not really separate (my DD preferred Mount Holyoke, in that you could have quiet and peace to study OR take the shuttle 20 minutes to the fun/college town of Amherst). We found our tour guide (okay, that is one person but...) to be snobby/arrogant. For example, she said her favorite event on campus is when they have skits that MAKE FUN of the essays of kids who did not get in. I kid you not, that is what she said was her favorite "tradition" on campus. That was all we needed to hear....

Sorry you had a poor tour guide. She also explained that event incorrectly - of course they don't make fun of essays of kids who didn't get admitted. The skits are based on the essays of the admitted students and done for the incoming freshman as a bonding experience. They don't identify whose essay it's based on.

Sounds potentially hilarious to me, provided they don’t pick the 50% of essays where the kid lost his grandmother or she overcame some obstacle and then founded the future doctors club at her HS.

DP. Unless the tradition has fundamentally changed, it's not really about making fun of specific essays (and especially not essays of kids who weren't admitted), it's more making fun of essay cliches. So there might be a skit where the whole essay is nothing but famous quotes that aren't even on the same theme and are funny when read together. Or an essay about how your community service commitment to handknitting sweaters for fish fundamentally changed your life. Or how you overcame the great tragedy of a hangnail. Things that are so hyperbolic that it's clearly not targeting anyone in particular, but most people will recognize a smidge of something in their own essays, so everyone's kind of laughing at themselves and recognizing that we all can be kind of dorky at times so let's cut ourselves some slack.

Good luck convincing this crowd. God forbid we laugh at ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To console your daughter...has she visited Amherst?

We did not like it. While the town look charming/fun, the campus is not really separate (my DD preferred Mount Holyoke, in that you could have quiet and peace to study OR take the shuttle 20 minutes to the fun/college town of Amherst). We found our tour guide (okay, that is one person but...) to be snobby/arrogant. For example, she said her favorite event on campus is when they have skits that MAKE FUN of the essays of kids who did not get in. I kid you not, that is what she said was her favorite "tradition" on campus. That was all we needed to hear....

Sorry you had a poor tour guide. She also explained that event incorrectly - of course they don't make fun of essays of kids who didn't get admitted. The skits are based on the essays of the admitted students and done for the incoming freshman as a bonding experience. They don't identify whose essay it's based on.

Sounds potentially hilarious to me, provided they don’t pick the 50% of essays where the kid lost his grandmother or she overcame some obstacle and then founded the future doctors club at her HS.

DP. Unless the tradition has fundamentally changed, it's not really about making fun of specific essays (and especially not essays of kids who weren't admitted), it's more making fun of essay cliches. So there might be a skit where the whole essay is nothing but famous quotes that aren't even on the same theme and are funny when read together. Or an essay about how your community service commitment to handknitting sweaters for fish fundamentally changed your life. Or how you overcame the great tragedy of a hangnail. Things that are so hyperbolic that it's clearly not targeting anyone in particular, but most people will recognize a smidge of something in their own essays, so everyone's kind of laughing at themselves and recognizing that we all can be kind of dorky at times so let's cut ourselves some slack.

Good luck convincing this crowd. God forbid we laugh at ourselves.

The anecdote above is not about laughing at ourselves; it is about laughing at other people - people who were not admitted to the school that you attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To console your daughter...has she visited Amherst?

We did not like it. While the town look charming/fun, the campus is not really separate (my DD preferred Mount Holyoke, in that you could have quiet and peace to study OR take the shuttle 20 minutes to the fun/college town of Amherst). We found our tour guide (okay, that is one person but...) to be snobby/arrogant. For example, she said her favorite event on campus is when they have skits that MAKE FUN of the essays of kids who did not get in. I kid you not, that is what she said was her favorite "tradition" on campus. That was all we needed to hear....

Sorry you had a poor tour guide. She also explained that event incorrectly - of course they don't make fun of essays of kids who didn't get admitted. The skits are based on the essays of the admitted students and done for the incoming freshman as a bonding experience. They don't identify whose essay it's based on.

Sounds potentially hilarious to me, provided they don’t pick the 50% of essays where the kid lost his grandmother or she overcame some obstacle and then founded the future doctors club at her HS.

DP. Unless the tradition has fundamentally changed, it's not really about making fun of specific essays (and especially not essays of kids who weren't admitted), it's more making fun of essay cliches. So there might be a skit where the whole essay is nothing but famous quotes that aren't even on the same theme and are funny when read together. Or an essay about how your community service commitment to handknitting sweaters for fish fundamentally changed your life. Or how you overcame the great tragedy of a hangnail. Things that are so hyperbolic that it's clearly not targeting anyone in particular, but most people will recognize a smidge of something in their own essays, so everyone's kind of laughing at themselves and recognizing that we all can be kind of dorky at times so let's cut ourselves some slack.

Good luck convincing this crowd. God forbid we laugh at ourselves.

The anecdote above is not about laughing at ourselves; it is about laughing at other people - people who were not admitted to the school that you attend.

Nope. Read carefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To console your daughter...has she visited Amherst?

We did not like it. While the town look charming/fun, the campus is not really separate (my DD preferred Mount Holyoke, in that you could have quiet and peace to study OR take the shuttle 20 minutes to the fun/college town of Amherst). We found our tour guide (okay, that is one person but...) to be snobby/arrogant. For example, she said her favorite event on campus is when they have skits that MAKE FUN of the essays of kids who did not get in. I kid you not, that is what she said was her favorite "tradition" on campus. That was all we needed to hear....

Sorry you had a poor tour guide. She also explained that event incorrectly - of course they don't make fun of essays of kids who didn't get admitted. The skits are based on the essays of the admitted students and done for the incoming freshman as a bonding experience. They don't identify whose essay it's based on.

Sounds potentially hilarious to me, provided they don’t pick the 50% of essays where the kid lost his grandmother or she overcame some obstacle and then founded the future doctors club at her HS.

DP. Unless the tradition has fundamentally changed, it's not really about making fun of specific essays (and especially not essays of kids who weren't admitted), it's more making fun of essay cliches. So there might be a skit where the whole essay is nothing but famous quotes that aren't even on the same theme and are funny when read together. Or an essay about how your community service commitment to handknitting sweaters for fish fundamentally changed your life. Or how you overcame the great tragedy of a hangnail. Things that are so hyperbolic that it's clearly not targeting anyone in particular, but most people will recognize a smidge of something in their own essays, so everyone's kind of laughing at themselves and recognizing that we all can be kind of dorky at times so let's cut ourselves some slack.

Good luck convincing this crowd. God forbid we laugh at ourselves.

The anecdote above is not about laughing at ourselves; it is about laughing at other people - people who were not admitted to the school that you attend.

I am aware of what pp said. What I'm saying is that, as someone with personal knowledge of this tradition, I think there was a miscommunication between pp and the tour guide about the nature of the tradition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To console your daughter...has she visited Amherst?

We did not like it. While the town look charming/fun, the campus is not really separate (my DD preferred Mount Holyoke, in that you could have quiet and peace to study OR take the shuttle 20 minutes to the fun/college town of Amherst). We found our tour guide (okay, that is one person but...) to be snobby/arrogant. For example, she said her favorite event on campus is when they have skits that MAKE FUN of the essays of kids who did not get in. I kid you not, that is what she said was her favorite "tradition" on campus. That was all we needed to hear....

Sorry you had a poor tour guide. She also explained that event incorrectly - of course they don't make fun of essays of kids who didn't get admitted. The skits are based on the essays of the admitted students and done for the incoming freshman as a bonding experience. They don't identify whose essay it's based on.

Sounds potentially hilarious to me, provided they don’t pick the 50% of essays where the kid lost his grandmother or she overcame some obstacle and then founded the future doctors club at her HS.

DP. Unless the tradition has fundamentally changed, it's not really about making fun of specific essays (and especially not essays of kids who weren't admitted), it's more making fun of essay cliches. So there might be a skit where the whole essay is nothing but famous quotes that aren't even on the same theme and are funny when read together. Or an essay about how your community service commitment to handknitting sweaters for fish fundamentally changed your life. Or how you overcame the great tragedy of a hangnail. Things that are so hyperbolic that it's clearly not targeting anyone in particular, but most people will recognize a smidge of something in their own essays, so everyone's kind of laughing at themselves and recognizing that we all can be kind of dorky at times so let's cut ourselves some slack.

Good luck convincing this crowd. God forbid we laugh at ourselves.

The anecdote above is not about laughing at ourselves; it is about laughing at other people - people who were not admitted to the school that you attend.

I am aware of what pp said. What I'm saying is that, as someone with personal knowledge of this tradition, I think there was a miscommunication between pp and the tour guide about the nature of the tradition.

+1 And you're nicely polite about it. I'm betting the PP let her biases shape how she heard the tour guide and went off in a huff because there's no way a tour guide would get this wrong. And now PP is spreading misinformation about these snobby kids at these snobby schools etc. This tradition is definitely in the 'let's laugh at ourselves' mode and is bonding and helps first year students not take themselves so seriously. Not an iota of demeaning others. Nothing to dislike about it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good suggestions for SLACs, but it wasn't entirely clear to me from your post that she even wants an SLAC. Just that she is interested because she thinks it would be easier to get into ED. Am I misunderstanding the priorities and thinking?

There are many reasons why someone would like a SLAC but is that what she wants or does she just think she is more likely to get in?

Sorry for the late response. OP here. Little of both. She likes the smaller atmosphere and also thinks it might be easier to get in given the ED rates for an Amherst or a Middlebury.

OP, as another poster mentioned, those ED rates are falsely inflated by the recruited athletes, URMs and legacies who are have a considerably higher chance of admission. Take those special cases out and an unhooked applicant has no better chance at admission than they would during RD.

With more B's than A's, Middlebury and Amherst are going to be tough.

So focus on UVA and William and Mary? William and Mary is smaller so probably a better fit.

GPA matter more at UVA/W&M than many private SLACs. Although both are holistic in their application process, not to the same degree as smaller private SLACs. Average GPA from FCPS is 4.3/4.4 with 1430 SAT.

More like 4.48+, 34 ACT and 1480 SAT if not hooks. http://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good suggestions for SLACs, but it wasn't entirely clear to me from your post that she even wants an SLAC. Just that she is interested because she thinks it would be easier to get into ED. Am I misunderstanding the priorities and thinking?

There are many reasons why someone would like a SLAC but is that what she wants or does she just think she is more likely to get in?

Sorry for the late response. OP here. Little of both. She likes the smaller atmosphere and also thinks it might be easier to get in given the ED rates for an Amherst or a Middlebury.

OP, as another poster mentioned, those ED rates are falsely inflated by the recruited athletes, URMs and legacies who are have a considerably higher chance of admission. Take those special cases out and an unhooked applicant has no better chance at admission than they would during RD.

With more B's than A's, Middlebury and Amherst are going to be tough.

So focus on UVA and William and Mary? William and Mary is smaller so probably a better fit.

GPA matter more at UVA/W&M than many private SLACs. Although both are holistic in their application process, not to the same degree as smaller private SLACs. Average GPA from FCPS is 4.3/4.4 with 1430 SAT.

More like 4.48+, 34 ACT and 1480 SAT if not hooks. http://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

You pulled the 75% numbers from UVA. PP aid right about the median numbers from UVA (120/4.33). And WM median stats are 1400/4.24 as the median.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good suggestions for SLACs, but it wasn't entirely clear to me from your post that she even wants an SLAC. Just that she is interested because she thinks it would be easier to get into ED. Am I misunderstanding the priorities and thinking?

There are many reasons why someone would like a SLAC but is that what she wants or does she just think she is more likely to get in?

Sorry for the late response. OP here. Little of both. She likes the smaller atmosphere and also thinks it might be easier to get in given the ED rates for an Amherst or a Middlebury.

OP, as another poster mentioned, those ED rates are falsely inflated by the recruited athletes, URMs and legacies who are have a considerably higher chance of admission. Take those special cases out and an unhooked applicant has no better chance at admission than they would during RD.

With more B's than A's, Middlebury and Amherst are going to be tough.

So focus on UVA and William and Mary? William and Mary is smaller so probably a better fit.

GPA matter more at UVA/W&M than many private SLACs. Although both are holistic in their application process, not to the same degree as smaller private SLACs. Average GPA from FCPS is 4.3/4.4 with 1430 SAT.

More like 4.48+, 34 ACT and 1480 SAT if not hooks. http://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

You pulled the 75% numbers from UVA. PP aid right about the median numbers from UVA (120/4.33). And WM median stats are 1400/4.24 as the median.

No, I'm using the 2018 ENTERING class stats. Entering class stats are lower than ACCEPTED stats. because some higher stats accepted kids peel off for the Ivies or other choices. So if you really want to nail it, especially coming from a NOVA public like Langley and Potomac, and are not a URM, first generation, low income, Questbridge, legacy, yada yada yada, then you better bet you need to hit those entering class 25% median figures. There's a lot of kids at UVA with higher GPAs than the 75% entering figures on SCHEV and come in with 56 college credits, all As.

[Anonymous]

Stop worrying about which college she'll attend and get her junior year grades up. Transcript and coarse load are the most important factors in the application.

[Anonymous]

People.

Stop saying "top" school. It doesn't matter.

The difficultly inherent in judging the caliber of a school is WHY things like ACT, SAT, SAT subject tests, and AP tests have been implemented.

If you're not doing well on those measures, it doesn't matter what high school you graduate from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People.

Stop saying "top" school. It doesn't matter.

The difficultly inherent in judging the caliber of a school is WHY things like ACT, SAT, SAT subject tests, and AP tests have been implemented.

If you're not doing well on those measures, it doesn't matter what high school you graduate from.

I agree. Some people need to rationalize spending $160,000 for high school by hoping that their private school will give them a leg up in getting their kid into college. Unfortunately it won't. If they don't have the grades, the dream school isn't going to happen.

[Anonymous]

I know. A friend with a child in private school seems to always what to know what my child is learning in public school. It is like she has a need to confirm they are getting their money's worth. Sometimes, she seems sorely disappointed when the public has more/better offerings!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't think she has the grades. Junior. She thinks SLACs are easier with 40 Plus ED rate. She has mostly Bs and some As (three B's to every two As). Courses are somewhat rigorous but not as much as it could be. Top local private. Excellent EC. ACT not taken but getting 31-32 on practices. Foreign background that would be considered Asian but not traditional Asian countries you would think of i.e. not Chinese or Korean.

Visited Middlebury but thought it to be isolated. Likes Amherst because less isolated. External adviser said aiming high. Wants to visit Haverford. Thoughts on other schools that might be similar to these. She wants to be a SLACer.

My caucasian DD with straight As was shut down at most colleges that would not be considered reaches for her. The fact is, OP, Caucasian and Asian kids have a much harder time with admissions, and being a girl, it's worse! Then we have the "DC factor", i.e. the high social pressure that girls feel about getting into an 'accepted' DCUM college. Tell her my DD got into one of those colleges and came home last summer telling me that while she loves her school, it was not as necessary as she thought to go to one of these prestige colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People.

Stop saying "top" school. It doesn't matter.

The difficultly inherent in judging the caliber of a school is WHY things like ACT, SAT, SAT subject tests, and AP tests have been implemented.

If you're not doing well on those measures, it doesn't matter what high school you graduate from.

I agree. Some people need to rationalize spending $160,000 for high school by hoping that their private school will give them a leg up in getting their kid into college. Unfortunately it won't. If they don't have the grades, the dream school isn't going to happen.

What my kids DID get for that extra money was a better curriculum and smaller classes. And better teachers.