So Ivies and top colleges are ALWAYS REACH?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the above is harsh. OP doesn't even know yet if reaches will happen or not. Not all Ivies are HYP in terms of hooked majorities. Using the early card, his kid has a decent shot at Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth and Ivy equivalents such as MIT, Caltech and UChicago. Harvey Mudd and CMU CS are also highly respected. A 4.0 unweighted at a STEM magnet is a time intensive, tough accomplishment.

A 4.0 will not get you into most state flagships, certainly not UVA. Since OP didn't mention whether the 4.0 is weighted or not BUT mentions AP classes but fails to mention test scores, I am assuming that the 4.0 is weighted and that son didn't do so well in those AP courses, which is also why she doesn't mention test scores. UVA's scores run from 4.10 to 4.47 for top 25% median.

OP here. The GPA is unweighted. Many of the courses are magnet courses as part of the magnet pathway and more rigorous than the usual AP offerings. Students will take APs and SAT subject tests easily in STEM subjects after taking the magnet courses - even though not all magnet classes is listed as an AP class. Got 5 in all AP exams by Collegeboard and got straight As in every single course. I do not believe that this is a common stat for most students. The fact that my son comes from a middle class Asian-American family is the reason that we have an issue.

We all are watching how people get their kids into colleges now, don't we? The story about lack of seats for qualified students is BS
.

define "qualified."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am getting pissed now. High achieving Asian-American male student in magnet STEM program. 4.0 GPA, NMF, 10 APs, 1 state level EC, hundreds of hours of community service, member of a number of honor societies, started two clubs, research experience....and Ivies are just reach for him? FU%K IT!!!!!!!

I've been a Harvard interviewer for decades. In this area, a high GPA in the school's most rigorous courseload, several 5's on APs taken as a junior with several more in progress as a senior, and 1500 plus M+V SAT's, gets you into the top 30-40 percent of the applicant pool. The school has freshman dorm space for 4.5 percent of the applicant pool. So that top group still has to be reduced by 80%.

Once you have established that a student is academically prepared, what the universities like to see is that a student is getting off the sofa and doing things. They would rather have a 1500 SAT scorer who gets things done, than a 1600 whose hasn't contributed much. The 1500 who gets things done is far more likely to be successful, and either give a wad o' cash to the university, or make the university look good by creating something.

With a state level EC, lots of community service, and starting clubs, your son has demonstrated that he is proactive. If the research was designed by him and yielded some results that he wrote up, he will demonstrate original/scientific thinking (We see kids at the STEM magnets publishing in scientific journals every year). He will get in somewhere good. Can he count on a particular Ivy? No. This country has 330 million people. At this moment, a kid on Bainbridge Island off of Seattle with 1600 SATS is observing wildlife for the 330th day in a row, and is writing up the results or recording them for a research team at UW. A kid in the Berkshires is composing a concerto. A kid in Minnesota will be written up in the local rag for taking the most APs of anyone in the county. All of this is really good for us as a nation. It means we have a lot of centers of academic excellence around the country. Meeting these kids gives me hope, They, their scientific training, and their motivation will outlive Trump and his pile of old angry white guys.

Thanks for an informative and encouraging post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a sense of entitlement, OP. You think nobody else's kid is accomplished? There are thousands of kids with similar stats and it is a reach for all of them. Your child is obviously very accomplished and will succeed whether he hits the Ivy lottery or not.

Correction - legacy admissions that are not based on such excellent stats are the ones with the unearned sense of entitlement. It is the elitist manipulation of the educational system, that gives us grossly under qualified people like Trump in the WH. Or maybe merit no longer matters.

For the non-legacy, non-hook, people with the excellent stats? it's just a lament on an anon board.

I'm the one you quoted. I agree that legacy admissions are the height of entitlement. However, OP seems to think great grades and test scores entitles one to Ivy when it does not. There are not enough Ivy seats to go around for all of the kids like that. It's the baseline (unless you have some other hook) and they are looking for more. It's the same story for all of our kids. That's life.

Private university slots are not paid for by public funds or held to some objective metric that you have voted on that has a checkbox of "deserves X, so you can be forced to give him X." They are private institutions with their own goals and plans. They do not belong to you. You are not in charge of them.

If that is the way you want it to work, you have to start and fund your own. But they have gotten the reputation they have for making their own decisions, not just the decisions that people who feel they deserve to be in charge have wanted them to make.

And yes, it is not extraordinarily special to a highest tier university that your child has this list of accomplishments. That is normal for their applicants. Your child is, of course, special to you. He or she does not have to be special to a university for that.

THIS...your children aren't owed anything, and they aren't being "cheated"...

I went to an Ivy, and this idea that they are filled with brilliant kids, and the collaborative learning process is a mind meld of genius level students all elevating each other is absolute nonsense...LMAO

You have dumb kids at Ivies...kids who test well (or took hours upon hours of rigorous test prep courses to help them test well), kids who peaked in high school, druggies, smart kids, average kids, loners, losers, popular kids, athletes, frat boys, a sprinkling of minorities...and a good amount of legacy kids.

The reason for admitting legacy kids is one of self preservation for the institutions, because those families are MUCH more likely to consistently give back to the schools and support their existence if a string of the members of their family went there.

The reason for admitting everyone else is because college is supposed to be...FUN...and a collection of geeks isn't fun...nor is it at all representative of the actual world that the graduates will face...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a sense of entitlement, OP. You think nobody else's kid is accomplished? There are thousands of kids with similar stats and it is a reach for all of them. Your child is obviously very accomplished and will succeed whether he hits the Ivy lottery or not.

Correction - legacy admissions that are not based on such excellent stats are the ones with the unearned sense of entitlement. It is the elitist manipulation of the educational system, that gives us grossly under qualified people like Trump in the WH. Or maybe merit no longer matters.

For the non-legacy, non-hook, people with the excellent stats? it's just a lament on an anon board.

I'm the one you quoted. I agree that legacy admissions are the height of entitlement. However, OP seems to think great grades and test scores entitles one to Ivy when it does not. There are not enough Ivy seats to go around for all of the kids like that. It's the baseline (unless you have some other hook) and they are looking for more. It's the same story for all of our kids. That's life.

Private university slots are not paid for by public funds or held to some objective metric that you have voted on that has a checkbox of "deserves X, so you can be forced to give him X." They are private institutions with their own goals and plans. They do not belong to you. You are not in charge of them.

If that is the way you want it to work, you have to start and fund your own. But they have gotten the reputation they have for making their own decisions, not just the decisions that people who feel they deserve to be in charge have wanted them to make.

And yes, it is not extraordinarily special to a highest tier university that your child has this list of accomplishments. That is normal for their applicants. Your child is, of course, special to you. He or she does not have to be special to a university for that.

THIS...your children aren't owed anything, and they aren't being "cheated"...

I went to an Ivy, and this idea that they are filled with brilliant kids, and the collaborative learning process is a mind meld of genius level students all elevating each other is absolute nonsense...LMAO

You have dumb kids at Ivies...kids who test well (or took hours upon hours of rigorous test prep courses to help them test well), kids who peaked in high school, druggies, smart kids, average kids, loners, losers, popular kids, athletes, frat boys, a sprinkling of minorities...and a good amount of legacy kids.

The reason for admitting legacy kids is one of self preservation for the institutions, because those families are MUCH more likely to consistently give back to the schools and support their existence if a string of the members of their family went there.

The reason for admitting everyone else is because college is supposed to be...FUN...and a collection of geeks isn't fun...nor is it at all representative of the actual world that the graduates will face...

The reason for admitting entitled white kids is because college is supposed to be...FUN...and a collection of geeks isn't fun...nor is it at all representative of the actual world that the graduates will face...

Fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the above is harsh. OP doesn't even know yet if reaches will happen or not. Not all Ivies are HYP in terms of hooked majorities. Using the early card, his kid has a decent shot at Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth and Ivy equivalents such as MIT, Caltech and UChicago. Harvey Mudd and CMU CS are also highly respected. A 4.0 unweighted at a STEM magnet is a time intensive, tough accomplishment.

A 4.0 will not get you into most state flagships, certainly not UVA. Since OP didn't mention whether the 4.0 is weighted or not BUT mentions AP classes but fails to mention test scores, I am assuming that the 4.0 is weighted and that son didn't do so well in those AP courses, which is also why she doesn't mention test scores. UVA's scores run from 4.10 to 4.47 for top 25% median.

OP here. The GPA is unweighted. Many of the courses are magnet courses as part of the magnet pathway and more rigorous than the usual AP offerings. Students will take APs and SAT subject tests easily in STEM subjects after taking the magnet courses - even though not all magnet classes is listed as an AP class. Got 5 in all AP exams by Collegeboard and got straight As in every single course. I do not believe that this is a common stat for most students. The fact that my son comes from a middle class Asian-American family is the reason that we have an issue.

We all are watching how people get their kids into colleges now, don't we? The story about lack of seats for qualified students is BS
.

define "qualified."

RIGHT...qualified students are those who can do the work, and who don't flunk out...PERIOD.

everything else is ego stroking nonsense...

"They" got the spot that...*gasp*...my child deserved...the numbers aren't that precise. They can always accept another handful of kids in any given year...

If OP had moved to West Virginia for Junior and Senior year, their child would have gotten into EVERY Ivy...LOL

[Anonymous]

And if it's still THAT important that your child go to an Ivy...go to whatever school they want...BEAST OUT...and then apply as a transfer student.

Transferring into an Ivy isn't remotely as difficult as getting in as a freshman...and the student will have proven that they were indeed able to hack it away from home, on their own...achieving for the first time on their own individual merit.

That first year's performance in college is weighted far far far more heavily than someone's lil bullshit high school career...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And if it's still THAT important that your child go to an Ivy...go to whatever school they want...BEAST OUT...and then apply as a transfer student.

Transferring into an Ivy isn't remotely as difficult as getting in as a freshman...

Sorry, this is completely incorrect:

http://transferweb.com/stats/transfer-acceptance-rates/#.XIks8ChKiUk

Most elite transfers are to fill specific institutional needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the above is harsh. OP doesn't even know yet if reaches will happen or not. Not all Ivies are HYP in terms of hooked majorities. Using the early card, his kid has a decent shot at Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth and Ivy equivalents such as MIT, Caltech and UChicago. Harvey Mudd and CMU CS are also highly respected. A 4.0 unweighted at a STEM magnet is a time intensive, tough accomplishment.

A 4.0 will not get you into most state flagships, certainly not UVA. Since OP didn't mention whether the 4.0 is weighted or not BUT mentions AP classes but fails to mention test scores, I am assuming that the 4.0 is weighted and that son didn't do so well in those AP courses, which is also why she doesn't mention test scores. UVA's scores run from 4.10 to 4.47 for top 25% median.

OP here. The GPA is unweighted. Many of the courses are magnet courses as part of the magnet pathway and more rigorous than the usual AP offerings. Students will take APs and SAT subject tests easily in STEM subjects after taking the magnet courses - even though not all magnet classes is listed as an AP class. Got 5 in all AP exams by Collegeboard and got straight As in every single course. I do not believe that this is a common stat for most students. The fact that my son comes from a middle class Asian-American family is the reason that we have an issue.

We all are watching how people get their kids into colleges now, don't we? The story about lack of seats for qualified students is BS.

OP. It is fine to question why this society values certain kinds of personal characteristics above others (athletic prowess, race, family background). At the end of the day though your child will have to come to terms with the fact that getting into an elite academic institution is really tough especially if you are unhooked. It is important to stress that his identity should not be wrapped up in his success/failure in the college lottery. He needs to hear that from the most important person in his life - you. It is too much pressure to put on a kid to expect a very specific outcome when so much of the process is out of their control. Celebrate his accomplishments (straight As at Blair magnet is no joke!) and reassure him that he will do well no matter where he ends up. 40% of the program ends up at UMD and these kids thrive. Also focus on what he has gained from the program - the classes, the teachers, the peers, the sense of community.

[Anonymous]

Why are Asian's obsessed with ivy league schools? I was told by my white single mother that I was not to apply for an ivy league school because it's too expensive. My Asian divorced cheater father gave no input and didn't care if I went to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are Asian's obsessed with ivy league schools? I was told by my white single mother that I was not to apply for an ivy league school because it's too expensive. My Asian divorced cheater father gave no input and didn't care if I went to college.

well then clearly one Asian is not obsessed, troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are Asian's obsessed with ivy league schools? I was told by my white single mother that I was not to apply for an ivy league school because it's too expensive. My Asian divorced cheater father gave no input and didn't care if I went to college.

well then clearly one Asian is not obsessed, troll.

Clearly he's not obsessed. Also, not a troll although I did consider saying "not a troll" but I doubt that would have helped. Literally everything I wrote is a fact. Just because he's an Asian doesn't make him less of a deadbeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are Asian's obsessed with ivy league schools? I was told by my white single mother that I was not to apply for an ivy league school because it's too expensive. My Asian divorced cheater father gave no input and didn't care if I went to college.

well then clearly one Asian is not obsessed, troll.

Clearly he's not obsessed. Also, not a troll although I did consider saying "not a troll" but I doubt that would have helped. Literally everything I wrote is a fact. Just because he's an Asian doesn't make him less of a deadbeat.

Well, I do not doubt you. You certainly did not win the good Asian-American parents lottery. In many ways, you are the exception that proves the rule and the cautionary tale about not marrying deadbeat men - Asian or otherwise. I hope you defied the odds and did ok in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am getting pissed now. High achieving Asian-American male student in magnet STEM program. 4.0 GPA, NMF, 10 APs, 1 state level EC, hundreds of hours of community service, member of a number of honor societies, started two clubs, research experience....and Ivies are just reach for him? FU%K IT!!!!!!!

Sorry he's of the wrong race and gender. We all know that he will be held on different standard just like the African American parents know their kids are more likely to be pulled over by police.