Senior parents at Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA; are you happy with college results?

[Anonymous]

So now that the 2024 season is over and only a little waitlist movement remains; are you happy with the results?
More importantly, is your kid happy?

And if you care to share, any lessons learned in the process or advice to give?

[Anonymous]

Um you can just look to the instagrams if you want a sense of the results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now that the 2024 season is over and only a little waitlist movement remains; are you happy with the results?
More importantly, is your kid happy?

And if you care to share, any lessons learned in the process or advice to give?

Please stop trolling. Clearly you are not a parent at these schools and you are trolling and how many times can you ask the same question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now that the 2024 season is over and only a little waitlist movement remains; are you happy with the results?
More importantly, is your kid happy?

And if you care to share, any lessons learned in the process or advice to give?

Are you and your child happy? Worry about yourself and your own family.

[Anonymous]

Where can I find STAs results? They don’t post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um you can just look to the instagrams if you want a sense of the results

Instagram postings have sort of killed the narrative of good year and terrible year and what-not. It’s mixed every year for every school and the percentages change a little year to year, but not that dramatically. Everyone seems to be doing pretty well overall.

[Anonymous]

Instagram doesn't tell much. Maybe the kid going to Georgetown really, really wanted to go to a top 20 liberal arts college but settled on Georgetown because that's there they got in. Maybe they got in because that's where their parent works.

Maybe the kid going overseas really wanted to stay somewhere domestically but didn't get in.

Maybe the kid going to a small liberal arts college really wanted a large state school but didn't get in.

There can be a huge disconnect between the final result which may look good to an outside observer and what the kid really wanted.

(These above scenarios are all made up).

[Anonymous]

What is your point OP?

That public’s do as well if not better on college admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your point OP?

That public’s do as well if not better on college admissions?

Interesting that you try to pull public schools into this conversation when OP doesn't mention them. What’s your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your point OP?

That public’s do as well if not better on college admissions?

sour grapes from a typical pub school parent.

[Anonymous]

Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instagram doesn't tell much. Maybe the kid going to Georgetown really, really wanted to go to a top 20 liberal arts college but settled on Georgetown because that's there they got in. Maybe they got in because that's where their parent works.

Maybe the kid going overseas really wanted to stay somewhere domestically but didn't get in.

Maybe the kid going to a small liberal arts college really wanted a large state school but didn't get in.

There can be a huge disconnect between the final result which may look good to an outside observer and what the kid really wanted.

(These above scenarios are all made up).

I think all of the above is why the OP is asking (which might also be why you are giving these examples).

My DC from one of these schools fits into one of these categories for '23. They were not happy about it but are "settled in" at the school in which they landed and did not try to transfer. I know of many others that also found themselves in the categories above. Most of them are also settled in and learned to love the school that loved (accepted) them - I don't have info on whether anyone tried to transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Helpful post - thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Happy kid, happy parents.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not share where you are touring schools. There will always be a mom in your kid's class who will take it upon herself to decide whether your kid is qualified to be touring said school.

2. Advise your kid to hide his/her grades from nosey peers. These kids are often grilled by their parents to try to figure out if your kid might be competition for theirs.

3. Trust the college counselors as counselors. They can't get your kid in, they can only advise what may or may not be possible and direct your kid in ways to help him/her give each application its best shot.


My kid is very happy with results. I think his/her results surprised some, but only because he/she kept stats close to the vest -- wanted to stay off of other's radar.

Finally, my kid had decent rigor and grades, but so do a lot of kids. I think his/her standardized testing and faculty recommendations are what set them apart. There will always be exceptions, but we just recently learned that most of the kids in their class who got into the top schools did submit test scores.

Good luck!

Not all of the schools listed by OP have counselors that will advise......just sayin'. It's ridiculous, but true. Ours literally gave ZERO advice or feedback and clearly did not know the kids. Pure paper pushing and making sure each student has a true likely. (..which most of our DC's friends already had).

can you share which school so we can avoid?