Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Sidwell senior got into 3 Ivies. All in RD. Going to one. It does happen. Completely unhooked. Not legacy, not URM, not first generation, not an athlete. Very high stats. Hugely disappointing outcomes in early round, including safeties. Kid then wrote roughly 30 unique essays derived from 9 “root” essays, which I think made a critical difference IMO in the RD round. Kid’s passion for deep intellectual inquiry came through loud and clear. The essays were not perfunctory. We accepted the reality that my kid “checked no boxes” in the early round. If unhooked, accept the fact that in the early round colleges focus on their institutional priorities and my unhooked kid doesn’t fall into any of those categories. Stay focused on making the essays extraordinary because high stats kids may have a tendency to undervalue the importance of the essays. It took me a long time to convince my kid of this, but it finally broke through and fortunately worked out. All the while, my kid remained very happy for the hooked kids and felt almost all were fully deserving of the opportunities they got. Kid was constructive and so was I. I’m trying not to sound preachy, but focus on what you can control not what you cannot.

You do sound preachy. How do you know the other parents didn't do all this and still didn't get into ivies or any of the other top schools? They are allowed to feel disappointed and upset. I do think that Sidwell does not serve its students well but that's another story for another day.

I am not the pp you are replying to, but it is fine to be upset about college results, people need to remember, that no one is entitled to seats at a school. It is ridiculous what the parent community - this is not focused at Sidwell, but in the region generally, has devolved to. Ridiculous that people think there are like 20 schools that are acceptable and that if your kid isn't going to one of them, they are somehow less, and that the school they went to is a "scam"

People really need to check themselves.

I'd recommend you google PBS Newshour college admissions. A fascinating piece that aired earlier this week. It highlighted a young woman who was admitted to Emory this admissions season. She got an 18 on the ACT (yep, an 18). In the era of test optional she simply didn't send the test result, a result that would have rightly eliminated her from consideration at such a university. The piece showed the admissions staff praise themselves for "opening up" admissions to candidates like this young woman.

Parents, do you think this is so great? An 18 on the ACT?

In this area, it takes a tremendous amount of work and to get even a B+ at Sidwell, GDS or STA, so standardized test scores reinforce that these students are strong academic high flyers. These kids are not the ones getting anything close to an 18 on an ACT. (Say what you will about test prep around the margins, but getting an 18 means you are not an academic high flyer.)

This year, just as the PBS piece highlights, plenty of high achieving students were displaced by students from less rigorous high schools and who were were able to hide their low standardized test results. In this case, the admissions staff at Emory seemed very proud of this fact, as if admission were itself an entitlement to be doled out vs. earned by demonstrable achievement.

That unprecedented dynamic is why this year was especially rough for a lot of kids. Let's please stop minimizing what happened this year by suggesting it is "entitlement" by kids who got rejected. One could argue that it is entitlement to earn an 18 on the ACT and believe you should have a spot at Emory, let alone get that spot.

This is one of the grossest posts I have read on here in awhile.

And I don't care how hard you think students at $50,000/year tuition prep schools ''work.''

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Sidwell senior got into 3 Ivies. All in RD. Going to one. It does happen. Completely unhooked. Not legacy, not URM, not first generation, not an athlete. Very high stats. Hugely disappointing outcomes in early round, including safeties. Kid then wrote roughly 30 unique essays derived from 9 “root” essays, which I think made a critical difference IMO in the RD round. Kid’s passion for deep intellectual inquiry came through loud and clear. The essays were not perfunctory. We accepted the reality that my kid “checked no boxes” in the early round. If unhooked, accept the fact that in the early round colleges focus on their institutional priorities and my unhooked kid doesn’t fall into any of those categories. Stay focused on making the essays extraordinary because high stats kids may have a tendency to undervalue the importance of the essays. It took me a long time to convince my kid of this, but it finally broke through and fortunately worked out. All the while, my kid remained very happy for the hooked kids and felt almost all were fully deserving of the opportunities they got. Kid was constructive and so was I. I’m trying not to sound preachy, but focus on what you can control not what you cannot.

You do sound preachy. How do you know the other parents didn't do all this and still didn't get into ivies or any of the other top schools? They are allowed to feel disappointed and upset. I do think that Sidwell does not serve its students well but that's another story for another day.

I am not the pp you are replying to, but it is fine to be upset about college results, people need to remember, that no one is entitled to seats at a school. It is ridiculous what the parent community - this is not focused at Sidwell, but in the region generally, has devolved to. Ridiculous that people think there are like 20 schools that are acceptable and that if your kid isn't going to one of them, they are somehow less, and that the school they went to is a "scam"

People really need to check themselves.

I'd recommend you google PBS Newshour college admissions. A fascinating piece that aired earlier this week. It highlighted a young woman who was admitted to Emory this admissions season. She got an 18 on the ACT (yep, an 18). In the era of test optional she simply didn't send the test result, a result that would have rightly eliminated her from consideration at such a university. The piece showed the admissions staff praise themselves for "opening up" admissions to candidates like this young woman.

Parents, do you think this is so great? An 18 on the ACT?

In this area, it takes a tremendous amount of work and to get even a B+ at Sidwell, GDS or STA, so standardized test scores reinforce that these students are strong academic high flyers. These kids are not the ones getting anything close to an 18 on an ACT. (Say what you will about test prep around the margins, but getting an 18 means you are not an academic high flyer.)

This year, just as the PBS piece highlights, plenty of high achieving students were displaced by students from less rigorous high schools and who were were able to hide their low standardized test results. In this case, the admissions staff at Emory seemed very proud of this fact, as if admission were itself an entitlement to be doled out vs. earned by demonstrable achievement.

That unprecedented dynamic is why this year was especially rough for a lot of kids. Let's please stop minimizing what happened this year by suggesting it is "entitlement" by kids who got rejected. One could argue that it is entitlement to earn an 18 on the ACT and believe you should have a spot at Emory, let alone get that spot.

Unfortunately, this student will most likely struggle at Emory or any college. A college-ready ACT score is at least a composite score of 22. I hope Emory has support/courses to help this student succeed.

Signed, a college professor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is a scam. They admit the parents and situation. The kid is a byproduct.

Funny how the vast majority of Sidwell parents went to Ivy or other too schools. Thus assuring the legacy bump the child would have received from any school.

If the parent isn’t from an Ivy or other too school, you can bet the child is a URM, first in family to go to college or exceptional athlete.

The admissions office stacks the deck. These children would have had the same outcome from any school in the DMV.

But a scam is a scam.

I seriously doubt there are any first-generation applicants at Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is a scam. They admit the parents and situation. The kid is a byproduct.

Funny how the vast majority of Sidwell parents went to Ivy or other too schools. Thus assuring the legacy bump the child would have received from any school.

If the parent isn’t from an Ivy or other too school, you can bet the child is a URM, first in family to go to college or exceptional athlete.

The admissions office stacks the deck. These children would have had the same outcome from any school in the DMV.

But a scam is a scam.

This. And if your kid / parent isn’t one of these categories, they are most certainly full pay financing the other categories. Tulane here you come.

I agree with this.
We're in the "sucker" category. Academically top kid but no hook: not legacy, URM or recruit.
I watched it play out this year. It was more apparent than ever that my kid will get into a worse college by attending Sidwell than he would have by attending public school.

I'm sorry you feel this way and I can hear the disappointment and pain in your post.

Although my senior was admitted to one of their top choice schools, many similar high achieving classmates were in your child's position. This year, more than any other, top grades and scores were just table stakes. A 4.0 or a top SAT score was no guarantee of success. Having high stats meant your child landed in the right pile for consideration but internships, writing samples, recommendations, ECs and other interests separated the rejections from the acceptances. It was quite simply a very tough and unprecedented admissions cycle.

Ultimately, all of these kids are all headed to good schools. Even if your child is disappointed and headed to a safety or target school, they are in good company. Embrace it, they'll be fine.

A word of caution, don't be one of the parents who down talks the kids who had great outcomes. It's a very bad look and everyone hears about it.

Do you hear yourself? You are one of the parents talking down. Kids who had all the application contents you describe were shut out of their top choices. Your kid just got lucky.

[Anonymous]

I know of another case where the student whose grades (and probably standardized test scores as well) were not great but got into Emory. Emory will shoot itself in the foot with these sort of shenanigans. No high performing students will apply in the future.

I suspect that colleges (it probably extends beyond Emory) are accepting first gen because the US. news ranking started including share of first gen students in their criteria for ranking. I think since 2020 or 2021. So all colleges are now increasing their admissions of first gen students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know of another case where the student whose grades (and probably standardized test scores as well) were not great but got into Emory. Emory will shoot itself in the foot with these sort of shenanigans. No high-performing students will apply in the future.

I suspect that colleges (it probably extends beyond Emory) are accepting first gen because the US. news ranking started including share of first gen students in their criteria for ranking. I think since 2020 or 2021. So all colleges are now increasing their admissions of first gen students.

Good. The process of high school and then applying to college as a first-generation student is really hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I will give an anecdote: College pricing is bizarrely structured nowadays that my child with a 1300 SAT (equivalent to a 28 ACT) and 3.7 GPA and AP courses ended up at a state school with an 84% acceptance rate and a 66% 6-year graduation rate. After applying to 10 colleges, my DC got merit at about half of them (applied to small LACs, big state schools, small state schools, and everything in between) but we definitely could not swing over approx. $25k/year and merit wasn't bringing any schools but two of them under that. The school DC is at is not a good fit, but it is what it is.

This is an honest question (not meant to be snarky at all).... Why did your DC have a school on their application list that was not a good fit? I understand that the school may not be your DC's favorite out of their acceptances, or that it might be less of a fit compared to the others but that they needed to go this school based on financial fit. But I don't understand if it is truly a "bad fit"?

Here are some (non-snarky) scenarios I am imagine but genuinely curious about what happened so we can avoid this at our house, if possible:
DC ran out of steam in researching schools?
DC did not fully understand that every school on that list is a true potential outcome?
DC wasn't able to get a true sense of the school before hand (or had a different interpretation than it turned out to be)?

[Anonymous]

So many 1%ers on here clutching their pearls that their little cubs will finally have to compete with kids who've had to overcome way more challenges than theirs. Keep 'em coming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I will give an anecdote: College pricing is bizarrely structured nowadays that my child with a 1300 SAT (equivalent to a 28 ACT) and 3.7 GPA and AP courses ended up at a state school with an 84% acceptance rate and a 66% 6-year graduation rate. After applying to 10 colleges, my DC got merit at about half of them (applied to small LACs, big state schools, small state schools, and everything in between) but we definitely could not swing over approx. $25k/year and merit wasn't bringing any schools but two of them under that. The school DC is at is not a good fit, but it is what it is.

This is an honest question (not meant to be snarky at all).... Why did your DC have a school on their application list that was not a good fit? I understand that the school may not be your DC's favorite out of their acceptances, or that it might be less of a fit compared to the others but that they needed to go this school based on financial fit. But I don't understand if it is truly a "bad fit"?

Here are some (non-snarky) scenarios I am imagine but genuinely curious about what happened so we can avoid this at our house, if possible:
DC ran out of steam in researching schools?
DC did not fully understand that every school on that list is a true potential outcome?
DC wasn't able to get a true sense of the school before hand (or had a different interpretation than it turned out to be)?

It is a valid question. The issue was that we settled in a state without realizing how stratified the costs of the instate public universities are here. The good ones are very expensive, and the much lesser ones, like the one my child goes to, are all dramatically less expensive. Yes, DC was not able to get a true sense of the school before hand due to COVID, and we wish we had toured it. I went to college 40 years ago and did not realize how different the costs and process are today, which I vow to research better in time for my next child. DC was accepted to 9 out of the 10 schools and would have been happy at several of them, but we had DC apply not knowing the merit possibilities and warned them that just because they applied did not mean the school would end up being an affordable, possible option. I don't think it would have been wise for us to cull most of the schools beforehand based on cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of another case where the student whose grades (and probably standardized test scores as well) were not great but got into Emory. Emory will shoot itself in the foot with these sort of shenanigans. No high-performing students will apply in the future.

I suspect that colleges (it probably extends beyond Emory) are accepting first gen because the US. news ranking started including share of first gen students in their criteria for ranking. I think since 2020 or 2021. So all colleges are now increasing their admissions of first gen students.

Good. The process of high school and then applying to college as a first-generation student is really hard.

Being socially conscious is a good objective but having a college ranking based on a "social justice factor" is not useful because it is not an indicator of the quality of the education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I will give an anecdote: College pricing is bizarrely structured nowadays that my child with a 1300 SAT (equivalent to a 28 ACT) and 3.7 GPA and AP courses ended up at a state school with an 84% acceptance rate and a 66% 6-year graduation rate. After applying to 10 colleges, my DC got merit at about half of them (applied to small LACs, big state schools, small state schools, and everything in between) but we definitely could not swing over approx. $25k/year and merit wasn't bringing any schools but two of them under that. The school DC is at is not a good fit, but it is what it is.

This is an honest question (not meant to be snarky at all).... Why did your DC have a school on their application list that was not a good fit? I understand that the school may not be your DC's favorite out of their acceptances, or that it might be less of a fit compared to the others but that they needed to go this school based on financial fit. But I don't understand if it is truly a "bad fit"?

Here are some (non-snarky) scenarios I am imagine but genuinely curious about what happened so we can avoid this at our house, if possible:
DC ran out of steam in researching schools?
DC did not fully understand that every school on that list is a true potential outcome?
DC wasn't able to get a true sense of the school before hand (or had a different interpretation than it turned out to be)?

It is a valid question. The issue was that we settled in a state without realizing how stratified the costs of the instate public universities are here. The good ones are very expensive, and the much lesser ones, like the one my child goes to, are all dramatically less expensive. Yes, DC was not able to get a true sense of the school before hand due to COVID, and we wish we had toured it. I went to college 40 years ago and did not realize how different the costs and process are today, which I vow to research better in time for my next child. DC was accepted to 9 out of the 10 schools and would have been happy at several of them, but we had DC apply not knowing the merit possibilities and warned them that just because they applied did not mean the school would end up being an affordable, possible option. I don't think it would have been wise for us to cull most of the schools beforehand based on cost.

Thanks for this answer. Hopefully your DC will find their place at the school and be happy. So often in life, fit is what you make of it. So dream school, it may not be - but it could turn out to be a fit afterall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of another case where the student whose grades (and probably standardized test scores as well) were not great but got into Emory. Emory will shoot itself in the foot with these sort of shenanigans. No high-performing students will apply in the future.

I suspect that colleges (it probably extends beyond Emory) are accepting first gen because the US. news ranking started including share of first gen students in their criteria for ranking. I think since 2020 or 2021. So all colleges are now increasing their admissions of first gen students.

Good. The process of high school and then applying to college as a first-generation student is really hard.

Being socially conscious is a good objective but having a college ranking based on a "social justice factor" is not useful because it is not an indicator of the quality of the education.

I both loathe test-optional admissions and wish the SAT could be made more rigorous so that if any kid from absolute “terrible” (poor) gets a really high score on it, they’ll get into a top school where they belong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Sidwell senior got into 3 Ivies. All in RD. Going to one. It does happen. Completely unhooked. Not legacy, not URM, not first generation, not an athlete. Very high stats. Hugely disappointing outcomes in early round, including safeties. Kid then wrote roughly 30 unique essays derived from 9 “root” essays, which I think made a critical difference IMO in the RD round. Kid’s passion for deep intellectual inquiry came through loud and clear. The essays were not perfunctory. We accepted the reality that my kid “checked no boxes” in the early round. If unhooked, accept the fact that in the early round colleges focus on their institutional priorities and my unhooked kid doesn’t fall into any of those categories. Stay focused on making the essays extraordinary because high stats kids may have a tendency to undervalue the importance of the essays. It took me a long time to convince my kid of this, but it finally broke through and fortunately worked out. All the while, my kid remained very happy for the hooked kids and felt almost all were fully deserving of the opportunities they got. Kid was constructive and so was I. I’m trying not to sound preachy, but focus on what you can control not what you cannot.

Congratulations -- quite an impressive achievement. Do you mind sharing the range of your DC's "very high stats"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of another case where the student whose grades (and probably standardized test scores as well) were not great but got into Emory. Emory will shoot itself in the foot with these sort of shenanigans. No high-performing students will apply in the future.

I suspect that colleges (it probably extends beyond Emory) are accepting first gen because the US. news ranking started including share of first gen students in their criteria for ranking. I think since 2020 or 2021. So all colleges are now increasing their admissions of first gen students.

Good. The process of high school and then applying to college as a first-generation student is really hard.

Being socially conscious is a good objective but having a college ranking based on a "social justice factor" is not useful because it is not an indicator of the quality of the education.

I both loathe test-optional admissions and wish the SAT could be made more rigorous so that if any kid from absolute “terrible” (poor) gets a really high score on it, they’ll get into a top school where they belong.

That's exactly why MIT brings back SAT. Too bad, it's too little, too late for my kiddo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of another case where the student whose grades (and probably standardized test scores as well) were not great but got into Emory. Emory will shoot itself in the foot with these sort of shenanigans. No high-performing students will apply in the future.

I suspect that colleges (it probably extends beyond Emory) are accepting first gen because the US. news ranking started including share of first gen students in their criteria for ranking. I think since 2020 or 2021. So all colleges are now increasing their admissions of first gen students.

Good. The process of high school and then applying to college as a first-generation student is really hard.

Being socially conscious is a good objective but having a college ranking based on a "social justice factor" is not useful because it is not an indicator of the quality of the education.

Oooh oooh oooh, I see privilege speaking!