Are The HYPSM Kids As Special As They Seem?

[Anonymous]

Basically title - and I'm not being sarcastic. I looked at the resume of a local kid going to Harvard and my mind was blown. National merit finalist. 4.0. But those were a given. After that, he racked up at least 7 individual awards including the Harvard book award from Junior year, a superintendent award given to one student per district. He also had mind blowing extra curriculars that he led/founded. This led me to another one from my town who played a niche sport, sang as a soloist and in a huge choir but also racked up tons of science fair awards and grants. Both of these students could have been three students with the amount of success they'd seen in high school. Are they ALL like this? Are your kids like this?

[Anonymous]

Some not as impressive, but they have crazy connections (including legacy), or they were recruited.

[Anonymous]

As a Yale grad who got into HYS, and married a similar combo and who mostly has friends who have some connection to those institutions and now is spending a lot of time with current students there, I would say that what you’re describing is more of an aberration. I see fewer kids who are doing a laundry list of things well as was more common in the late 90s or early 2000sx and instead see kids who are doing 1-2 interesting things, have solid GPAs and crazy test scores. But the real differentiator is that they have something about the way they interact with people, talk about themselves and their plans, and think and talk about ideas and other people. That’s what makes them stand out. This isn’t a good analogy, but you talk to these kids or some of my fellow alumni and it’s like seeing something in 3D and comparing it to the same thing in 2D.

Also stuff like book awards are typically chosen by the principal or guidance counselor or a local alum, so it’s meaningless to the institution to which you’re applying. And superintendents awards are an equally passive, meaningless thing. Colleges don’t actually care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some not as impressive, but they have crazy connections (including legacy), or they were recruited.

Disagree about most recruited athletes. I’m the HYS alum and I am associated with a P4 sports team that brought in a ton of Ivy athletes in the last few years who were using their 5th year of eligibility. Those athletes are remarkably different compared to their D1 peers. The majority of them are equal to or more intelligent and accomplished than non-athlete classmates at the ivies they came from, and a totally differently caliber than their 5th year teammates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some not as impressive, but they have crazy connections (including legacy), or they were recruited.

There aren’t that many athletes to make a difference. My kids are legacy Harvard but they still wouldn’t get in because they don’t have the grades.

I do think most of the applicants are similar to who the OP was referring to.

[Anonymous]

I disagree that the book awards are meaningless. I don't know how the Yale alum is involved in admissions - or if they even are - but you'll see it time and again, the recipients of these awards go to the top schools. The teachers and administration of the high schools are helping identify stars. I'm assuming that's the goal of the award. I believe the Dartmouth award states it explicitly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Yale grad who got into HYS, and married a similar combo and who mostly has friends who have some connection to those institutions and now is spending a lot of time with current students there, I would say that what you’re describing is more of an aberration. I see fewer kids who are doing a laundry list of things well as was more common in the late 90s or early 2000sx and instead see kids who are doing 1-2 interesting things, have solid GPAs and crazy test scores. But the real differentiator is that they have something about the way they interact with people, talk about themselves and their plans, and think and talk about ideas and other people. That’s what makes them stand out. This isn’t a good analogy, but you talk to these kids or some of my fellow alumni and it’s like seeing something in 3D and comparing it to the same thing in 2D.

Also stuff like book awards are typically chosen by the principal or guidance counselor or a local alum, so it’s meaningless to the institution to which you’re applying. And superintendents awards are an equally passive, meaningless thing. Colleges don’t actually care.

The OPs example wasn’t over scheduled at all. It didn’t look like one of those applications where the parents directed the student on what they needed to do for activities. He had two time consuming interests. Book awards might be passive but you do include them on your application. He had great grades. You don’t know how well this kid interacts with people or discusses his future plans so you can’t say it’s not a good analogy.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know what to tell you, but no amount of desperate questions on this board are going to crack the admissions code nor reveal that getting a certain award will indicate a certain path through admissions.

There’s no magic answer and that’s incredibly uncomfortable, but everyone obsessing over who has the right formula or who gets in with what is wasting time that they could spend actually living their life in an authentic way.

[Anonymous]

My DS got into Harvard REA in December. Today we were invited to a reception for admits and their family that the local Harvard Club is hosting next Saturday. I am astonished by what many of these kids have accomplished across diverse disciplines. One general truism is that their EC stories are sufficiently unique that if you really knew what they were doing, they would essentially be publicly declaring themselves (confirming the idea that high stats are table stakes for entry, necessary but not sufficient).

[Anonymous]

Op you described my kid very closely. She is at Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that the book awards are meaningless. I don't know how the Yale alum is involved in admissions - or if they even are - but you'll see it time and again, the recipients of these awards go to the top schools. The teachers and administration of the high schools are helping identify stars. I'm assuming that's the goal of the award. I believe the Dartmouth award states it explicitly.

My kids did recd the Harvard book award and is at Harvard. However the previous 15 recipients of the award were not accepted by Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. Previous 15 recipients did not go to other top school either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Yale grad who got into HYS, and married a similar combo and who mostly has friends who have some connection to those institutions and now is spending a lot of time with current students there, I would say that what you’re describing is more of an aberration. I see fewer kids who are doing a laundry list of things well as was more common in the late 90s or early 2000sx and instead see kids who are doing 1-2 interesting things, have solid GPAs and crazy test scores. But the real differentiator is that they have something about the way they interact with people, talk about themselves and their plans, and think and talk about ideas and other people. That’s what makes them stand out. This isn’t a good analogy, but you talk to these kids or some of my fellow alumni and it’s like seeing something in 3D and comparing it to the same thing in 2D.

Also stuff like book awards are typically chosen by the principal or guidance counselor or a local alum, so it’s meaningless to the institution to which you’re applying. And superintendents awards are an equally passive, meaningless thing. Colleges don’t actually care.

Agree. It’s the way they interact with the world around them that makes them stand out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS got into Harvard REA in December. Today we were invited to a reception for admits and their family that the local Harvard Club is hosting next Saturday. I am astonished by what many of these kids have accomplished across diverse disciplines. One general truism is that their EC stories are sufficiently unique that if you really knew what they were doing, they would essentially be publicly declaring themselves (confirming the idea that high stats are table stakes for entry, necessary but not sufficient).

Same for Stanford REA reception that we attended in January. Describing those kids’ ECs would be outing them. To be fair, I have no idea if the RD admit pool (which of course is much larger) is similarly, more, or less unique in their stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what to tell you, but no amount of desperate questions on this board are going to crack the admissions code nor reveal that getting a certain award will indicate a certain path through admissions.

There’s no magic answer and that’s incredibly uncomfortable, but everyone obsessing over who has the right formula or who gets in with what is wasting time that they could spend actually living their life in an authentic way.

+1. Also stop being mind blown by 17 year olds. It’s an indication you are way too deep into this and have lost perspective.