ED - Carnage at the Big 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aw, poor generic privileged white kids.

There isn’t anything generic about these children. You, on the other hand, are as basic as could be.

How are they not generic? What do they bring to the table that others don’t? Good SAT scores? A laundry list of extracurricular? Generic.

Mostly the size of the pool, right?

Within their cohort, they are generic.

Compared to your kids, they are extraordinary.

Big 3 parents, ladies and gentlemen!
- Big3 grad going public largely because the environment consists of people like this

yeah - because there's no one like this at a wealthy public school in this area.

If you don't think the kids and parents at these privates are beyond elitist, I have no words.

not saying that parents at private schools in this area aren't elitist, just that it's not limited to these private schools. go to Whitman/Churchill/Langley and take a look at those parents. you're going to say with a straight face that THESE 1% parents aren't elitist?

I go to one of those publics listed, and have never heard anyone say anything resembling "Compared to your kids, they are extraordinary." It seems to me that if you are rich enough to be a 1%er and choose a public school over a private one, you are making a statement that you don't think your kids are so special that they need something better than what the decent large local school can provide.

+1

If you think what's designed for the public isn't good enough for your kid, you're much more likely to have that mentality than the average public school parent, even if they're wealthy.

spare me your self-righteous preaching.

To 99% of the country, you are the elite. Stop pretending that you're not because you want to clutch your pearls.

And if you don't think you've heard the phrase 'compared to your kids, they are extraordinary' at your school it's probably because you use a different formulation of the phrase like "I can't believe X got in, they're so much less qualified then my kid, it must have been because they were a [___________]". I'm sure you'll trot that one out if your kid doesn't get in to some school and you're looking for someone to blame.

My kids go to public school, so I'm not sure of your point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:URM = Unser represented minority
Big 3 - refers to 3 supposed best DC private schools. Usually defined as St Albany’s, GDS, Natl Cathedral School and Sidwell (yes that is 4 bc no one agrees on which are the 3)

St Albany’s

+1

It's near St Schenectady's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Questbrige and URM are basically a quota set aside for underachieving applicants.

Not the ones I know - high 1500s, weighted 4.89+, dozens of APs. Good luck thinking they bumped your child for unfair reasons.

Right? My son’s friend (QuestBridge AND an URM) got into any Ivy from a NoVa public with a 1570 SAT and top grades with a rigorous schedule. And he has an after school job and is a really nice kid. He deserves every good thing he gets. My kid has known him since 7th grade and says he has worked his tail off.

I don't think this is just an anecdote. There are a high percentage of middle class and up URM students in the DC area, and lots of programs to help those who might not have family support. So, it wouldn't surprise me if a significant portion of the URM's admitted to these highly competitive colleges come from places like DC. If HYPS/whatever are only going to admit a certain # of kids from any region, they're going to go for those qualified URM's first, which makes it harder for your unhooked white kid. They'll take the white kids from Wyoming and Alaska.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think folks are hopeful that the deferrals will magically turn into acceptances in the spring. It is highly unlikely given the very high numbers of early applicants deferred and the likely numbers of regular decision. Everyone has high stats and great ECs because we all think we have cracked the code on college admissions. There just aren’t enough spots. What was once unusually impressive is the norm now. We’ve given our kids every opportunity and they’ve pushed harder and harder, but there may never be a golden ticket at the end of this difficult journey. I am hugging my kids and making it clear that I was wrong to have such high expectations for college admissions. Their school is not doing enough to stay relevant in the college admissions world and when the word gets out, there are going to be a lot of disappointed families.

What exactly do you want your school to do to stay relevant with top colleges? Why blame the school? Is the school providing a good education? That is all they need to do.

what i don't understand is why you had such high expectations/hopes in the first place AND conveyed them to your child. have you been living under a rock for the past 5 years? admissions have been brutal for quite a few years. Doesn't everyone know this? I have a kid at a big 3 and one at a top public and 90%+ of the elite college acceptances at either school are 1)minority, 2) athletic recruits 3)legacy. Or 2/3 or 3/3. The is no chance that my white, A student, big3, non-athlete, non-legacy kid is going to get into an Ivy in 2 years. I know it. She knows it. Everyone with their head out of the sand knows it.

Relax. We all know incredibly successful happy people that managed to become so without enrolling in Harvard. Carry on and stop putting more importance on a college name then is warranted. It is important but not worth the current extreme level of angst.

Why does it always feel like the people saying "Relaaaax. Your kid is going to be fiiiinnnne" are the people who are benefiting from the existing system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Questbrige and URM are basically a quota set aside for underachieving applicants.

Not the ones I know - high 1500s, weighted 4.89+, dozens of APs. Good luck thinking they bumped your child for unfair reasons.

Right? My son’s friend (QuestBridge AND an URM) got into any Ivy from a NoVa public with a 1570 SAT and top grades with a rigorous schedule. And he has an after school job and is a really nice kid. He deserves every good thing he gets. My kid has known him since 7th grade and says he has worked his tail off.

Meh, great anecdote.

Do you want to hear my anecdotes about the white boys getting in ED to top colleges despite lackluster credentials because they are athletes, and how their parents bought and paid for years of private coaching, ferried them around on "travel" teams, paid for them to play in all the right tournaments to get exposure to coaches, and then hauled their asses over the finish line by spending thousands on SAT tutors and then writing their essays for them?

Anecdotes are for imbeciles.....I’ll stick with the data. And your petty prejudices are just as abhorrent as those on this board that assume every URM was admitted to a selective college solely because of affirmative action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can parents who are really bummed at a rejection from an Ivy or UChicago or MIT help me understand why this is such a big deal? Surely you all work with people from a variety of educational backgrounds who have been super successful, and surely most of you have graduate degrees and have seen that those degrees matter more than your undergrad.

Is there some specific career track or life plan that's spoiled by this setback?

No. Of course not. But these schools are in a position to offer significant financial assistance because of their wealth. For some families, if they can actually get their student in, they could in fact accept the offer. Alternative might be having to decline an offer from an elite but less generous institution due to affordability.

It was not my impression that UChicago offers the generous aid that Harvard and MIT do. Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Sorry, what is URM???? TIA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STA has had a stellar year so far. Really impressive.

Which is kind of amazing because last year’s class was stronger academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Sorry, what is URM???? TIA

St Albans is doing great. They got 15 kids out of 80 in early to ivy league schools. Sidwell got in about 18 out of 128 ED so not quite as large a percentage but still not bad at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Doesn't this pretty much sum up who is getting into the most elite colleges, especially ED/SCEA, regardless of where they went to high school?

URM
Questbridge
Recruited Athlete
Legacy
1600s + 4.0 UW

"Normal balanced" kids are a dime a dozen. And the normal, balanced kids who attend a Big 3 aren't going to be at the top of their class, which makes it even more of a long shot.

Yes, this is why the majority of kids in elite colleges are URMs and Questbridge. No more room for 'normal, balanced kids' which is your way of saying white kids in Trump speak.

Please tell me this is sarcasm. Because the number of first-gen and URMs at top 10 universities and colleges is small https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/24/us/affirmative-action.html

I read it as sarcasm.
I always wonder at people who complain about URMs stealing their kids' spots. If they were right, there would be 100% of URMs at these Ivy league schools.

Agreed, lots of unwarranted vitriol against "URMs."

"Even after decades of affirmative action, black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities than they were 35 years ago, according to a New York Times analysis.

The share of black freshmen at elite schools is virtually unchanged since 1980. Black students are just 6 percent of freshmen but 15 percent of college-age Americans, as the chart below shows.

More Hispanics are attending elite schools, but the increase has not kept up with the huge growth of young Hispanics in the United States, so the gap between students and the college-age population has widened."

Quoting the share of population means nothing. To determine who should be at elite colleges, you look first at the percentage of those who are “college-ready”, then to those with the statistics that indicate potential for success in a highly competitive environment. Blacks and Hispanics number among that group, but in very low percentages. Hence multiple acceptances for those who meet the bar. This is all well documented. No URM is being persecuted or unfairly excluded from elite schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think folks are hopeful that the deferrals will magically turn into acceptances in the spring. It is highly unlikely given the very high numbers of early applicants deferred and the likely numbers of regular decision. Everyone has high stats and great ECs because we all think we have cracked the code on college admissions. There just aren’t enough spots. What was once unusually impressive is the norm now. We’ve given our kids every opportunity and they’ve pushed harder and harder, but there may never be a golden ticket at the end of this difficult journey. I am hugging my kids and making it clear that I was wrong to have such high expectations for college admissions. Their school is not doing enough to stay relevant in the college admissions world and when the word gets out, there are going to be a lot of disappointed families.

What exactly do you want your school to do to stay relevant with top colleges? Why blame the school? Is the school providing a good education? That is all they need to do.

what i don't understand is why you had such high expectations/hopes in the first place AND conveyed them to your child. have you been living under a rock for the past 5 years? admissions have been brutal for quite a few years. Doesn't everyone know this? I have a kid at a big 3 and one at a top publguaranteeic and 90%+ of the elite college acceptances at either school are 1)minority, 2) athletic recruits 3)legacy. Or 2/3 or 3/3. The is no chance that my white, A student, big3, non-athlete, non-legacy kid is going to get into an Ivy in 2 years. I know it. She knows it. Everyone with their head out of the sand knows it.

Relax. We all know incredibly successful happy people that managed to become so without enrolling in Harvard. Carry on and stop putting more importance on a college name then is warranted. It is important but not worth the current extreme level of angst.

Why does it always feel like the people saying "Relaaaax. Your kid is going to be fiiiinnnne" are the people who are benefiting from the existing system?

I think that too. It's a dirty non-secret but being at a name school makes the future path easier. You have be a top student at a non-elite school to get the same considerations at grad school or future employers. That is not at all to say it's impossible as so many of posters on this site can attest to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Sorry, what is URM???? TIA

St Albans is doing great. They got 15 kids out of 80 in early to ivy league schools. Sidwell got in about 18 out of 128 ED so not quite as large a percentage but still not bad at all.

How can you know both schools? (I think Sidwell had more ED acceptances than that)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Sorry, what is URM???? TIA

St Albans is doing great. They got 15 kids out of 80 in early to ivy league schools. Sidwell got in about 18 out of 128 ED so not quite as large a percentage but still not bad at all.

How can you know both schools? (I think Sidwell had more ED acceptances than that)

Contacts at both places. Sidwell’s numbers could be higher if kids didn’t share admit results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Doesn't this pretty much sum up who is getting into the most elite colleges, especially ED/SCEA, regardless of where they went to high school?

URM
Questbridge
Recruited Athlete
Legacy
1600s + 4.0 UW

"Normal balanced" kids are a dime a dozen. And the normal, balanced kids who attend a Big 3 aren't going to be at the top of their class, which makes it even more of a long shot.

Yes, this is why the majority of kids in elite colleges are URMs and Questbridge. No more room for 'normal, balanced kids' which is your way of saying white kids in Trump speak.

Please tell me this is sarcasm. Because the number of first-gen and URMs at top 10 universities and colleges is small https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/24/us/affirmative-action.html

I read it as sarcasm.
I always wonder at people who complain about URMs stealing their kids' spots. If they were right, there would be 100% of URMs at these Ivy league schools.

Agreed, lots of unwarranted vitriol against "URMs."

"Even after decades of affirmative action, black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities than they were 35 years ago, according to a New York Times analysis.

The share of black freshmen at elite schools is virtually unchanged since 1980. Black students are just 6 percent of freshmen but 15 percent of college-age Americans, as the chart below shows.

More Hispanics are attending elite schools, but the increase has not kept up with the huge growth of young Hispanics in the United States, so the gap between students and the college-age population has widened."

Quoting the share of population means nothing. To determine who should be at elite colleges, you look first at the percentage of those who are “college-ready”, then to those with the statistics that indicate potential for success in a highly competitive environment. Blacks and Hispanics number among that group, but in very low percentages. Hence multiple acceptances for those who meet the bar. This is all well documented. No URM is being persecuted or unfairly excluded from elite schools.

And no white students are being persecuted or unfairly excluded from elite schools either.

IT's like they want all the privilege AND to call themselves the victims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The game is up. The bill has come due. Unless you were URM, Questbridge, RA or Alumni you weren’t getting in. Exception were perfect test scores and GPA. Ugly ugly year. Think the scandal from last year changed the game. Normal balanced kids aren’t getting in - don’t kid yourself.
Was a horrible year at STA, Sidwell, NCS and GDS.

Doesn't this pretty much sum up who is getting into the most elite colleges, especially ED/SCEA, regardless of where they went to high school?

URM
Questbridge
Recruited Athlete
Legacy
1600s + 4.0 UW

"Normal balanced" kids are a dime a dozen. And the normal, balanced kids who attend a Big 3 aren't going to be at the top of their class, which makes it even more of a long shot.

Yes, this is why the majority of kids in elite colleges are URMs and Questbridge. No more room for 'normal, balanced kids' which is your way of saying white kids in Trump speak.

Please tell me this is sarcasm. Because the number of first-gen and URMs at top 10 universities and colleges is small https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/24/us/affirmative-action.html

I read it as sarcasm.
I always wonder at people who complain about URMs stealing their kids' spots. If they were right, there would be 100% of URMs at these Ivy league schools.

Agreed, lots of unwarranted vitriol against "URMs."

"Even after decades of affirmative action, black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities than they were 35 years ago, according to a New York Times analysis.

The share of black freshmen at elite schools is virtually unchanged since 1980. Black students are just 6 percent of freshmen but 15 percent of college-age Americans, as the chart below shows.

More Hispanics are attending elite schools, but the increase has not kept up with the huge growth of young Hispanics in the United States, so the gap between students and the college-age population has widened."

Quoting the share of population means nothing. To determine who should be at elite colleges, you look first at the percentage of those who are “college-ready”, then to those with the statistics that indicate potential for success in a highly competitive environment. Blacks and Hispanics number among that group, but in very low percentages. Hence multiple acceptances for those who meet the bar. This is all well documented. No URM is being persecuted or unfairly excluded from elite schools.

And no white students are being persecuted or unfairly excluded from elite schools either.

IT's like they want all the privilege AND to call themselves the victims.

What are you blathering on about? Honestly, you sound deranged.