It really is SUCH a huge disadvantage to be applying to college from the DMV

[Anonymous]

I couldn't sleep last night and was watching 2025 "watch me as I open my acceptances" videos on youtube.
Many kids getting in to a half dozen top20 schools with a 3.9/1400/33/10 APs from schools in underrepresented states. I'm not even talking about Mississippi but places like Oregon, Arizona, etc.
It's the same on Reddit. Kids have these INSANE results (like they're choosing between Princeton, Duke and Penn) and then you read their stats and they have a 33 and no AP exams (despite taking 10 AP classes) and they're ASIAN or white as can be.
It's freaking night and day.

[Anonymous]

Try living in NJ if you think the DMV is bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try living in NJ if you think the DMV is bad.

+1. Or suburban NY.

[Anonymous]

OP, just make your peace with it and move on. I do believe the DMV kids will do better in those slightly less selective colleges, big fish small pond and all that. And in the end, it will be ok. And maybe college will be a more well rounded experience for them, not so cutthroat.

Wasn't there some study that kids who apply to Ivys have the same outcomes, whether they get in/go?

[Anonymous]

Yes the best thing you can do if you want your kid to get into an elite college is move to Mississippi or Alaska. Thats been known for decades. Do you want to? Probably not…

[Anonymous]

It’s selection bias. Only winners are posting. Please stay off the internet and stop comparing your kid. If you’ve raised them well, they will do fabulously wherever they go.

[Anonymous]

No. People from the Bay Area, NYC, and every other significant congregation of the upper middleclass have the same complaint. I suspect confirmation bias. I live in an underrepresented state (much more so than Oregon) and kids aren't getting into any T20 with those stats unless they are recruited athletes or FGLI.

[Anonymous]

Donut hole white kid with college educated parents from metro-NYC says hold my drink.

It wasn't as bad when we were going to college but was still a thing. I recall a teacher from my highly competitive suburban northeastern HS saying do not worry about keeping up academically anywhere you get in because you are as well qualified (or likely better qualified) than anyone else there.

That being said, I knew a lot of crazy smart people in college from odd places.

[Anonymous]

Would you be willing to live in Arizona or Oregon, and send your kid through public schools there?

Geographic diversity at top school is also really valuable. These schools can get very intensive group think from the coastal bubbles. It actually does matter. It results in a better education for everyone, not just a great opportunity for the kids from these other places.

Also consider that the kid from Arizona with the 33 and a few AP exams likely had to work very hard to seize every academic opportunity that came their way to get to the point where they are applying to and getting into these schools. They tend to be special kids and real standouts. You only see their numbers but you're talking valedictorians, class presidents, kids who are standout musicians, debaters, mathletes, etc. And again, doing this in environments where academics are not always prioritized and where they don't have a zillion peers doing the same stuff. They have to be self motivated in a way that kids in the DMV never have to self motivate because of the culture here, because of who their parents are, because their peers are often all pushing in that same direction.

Like sure, it feels unfair when you look at it on the surface. But in reality those kids are EARNING their admission to those schools, and you just don't see it because you are comparing apples (your kid and all the kids like your kid in the DMV area) to oranges (these kids from far less represented areas who are like the standout Ivy League hope of their entire school or hometown and have never had a chance to be in a school environment filled with kids similar to them).

I was an orange and now I live in DC and am raising an apple. You don't know. It's not the easy gift you think it is. It's hard. My kid has a zillion more and better opportunities than I did growing up where I did, and is also just savvier about the world and speaks the language of professionals better than I did even up graduating college. And she might wind up at a perfectly good but not tip top college despite having better grades, more APs, better test scores. Guess what? She's going to be fine and she will have far fewer barrier to success than I did. She doesn't have to learn a whole new world and navigate everything with parents who have no clue and are suspicious and overwhelmed by it all. She's still better off even if she doesn't go to an Ivy.

Perspective, OP. You need to step outside your bubble a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Donut hole white kid with college educated parents from metro-NYC says hold my drink.

It wasn't as bad when we were going to college but was still a thing. I recall a teacher from my highly competitive suburban northeastern HS saying do not worry about keeping up academically anywhere you get in because you are as well qualified (or likely better qualified) than anyone else there.

That being said, I knew a lot of crazy smart people in college from odd places.

The reason it wasn't as bad is that it was much harder to graduate high school with an unweighted 4.0. So, there were fewer "qualified" kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you be willing to live in Arizona or Oregon, and send your kid through public schools there?

Geographic diversity at top school is also really valuable. These schools can get very intensive group think from the coastal bubbles. It actually does matter. It results in a better education for everyone, not just a great opportunity for the kids from these other places.

Also consider that the kid from Arizona with the 33 and a few AP exams likely had to work very hard to seize every academic opportunity that came their way to get to the point where they are applying to and getting into these schools. They tend to be special kids and real standouts. You only see their numbers but you're talking valedictorians, class presidents, kids who are standout musicians, debaters, mathletes, etc. And again, doing this in environments where academics are not always prioritized and where they don't have a zillion peers doing the same stuff. They have to be self motivated in a way that kids in the DMV never have to self motivate because of the culture here, because of who their parents are, because their peers are often all pushing in that same direction.

Like sure, it feels unfair when you look at it on the surface. But in reality those kids are EARNING their admission to those schools, and you just don't see it because you are comparing apples (your kid and all the kids like your kid in the DMV area) to oranges (these kids from far less represented areas who are like the standout Ivy League hope of their entire school or hometown and have never had a chance to be in a school environment filled with kids similar to them).

I was an orange and now I live in DC and am raising an apple. You don't know. It's not the easy gift you think it is. It's hard. My kid has a zillion more and better opportunities than I did growing up where I did, and is also just savvier about the world and speaks the language of professionals better than I did even up graduating college. And she might wind up at a perfectly good but not tip top college despite having better grades, more APs, better test scores. Guess what? She's going to be fine and she will have far fewer barrier to success than I did. She doesn't have to learn a whole new world and navigate everything with parents who have no clue and are suspicious and overwhelmed by it all. She's still better off even if she doesn't go to an Ivy.

Perspective, OP. You need to step outside your bubble a bit.

I don't understand this comment whatsoever. I assume the Scottsdale public schools or wealthy suburban Portland public schools are great...as they usually are in nearly all UMC locations.

We have friends in a nice area of Tucson and they said their public schools are equivalent to what they left in Bethesda (admittedly, they moved when kids were in middle school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you be willing to live in Arizona or Oregon, and send your kid through public schools there?

Geographic diversity at top school is also really valuable. These schools can get very intensive group think from the coastal bubbles. It actually does matter. It results in a better education for everyone, not just a great opportunity for the kids from these other places.

Also consider that the kid from Arizona with the 33 and a few AP exams likely had to work very hard to seize every academic opportunity that came their way to get to the point where they are applying to and getting into these schools. They tend to be special kids and real standouts. You only see their numbers but you're talking valedictorians, class presidents, kids who are standout musicians, debaters, mathletes, etc. And again, doing this in environments where academics are not always prioritized and where they don't have a zillion peers doing the same stuff. They have to be self motivated in a way that kids in the DMV never have to self motivate because of the culture here, because of who their parents are, because their peers are often all pushing in that same direction.

Like sure, it feels unfair when you look at it on the surface. But in reality those kids are EARNING their admission to those schools, and you just don't see it because you are comparing apples (your kid and all the kids like your kid in the DMV area) to oranges (these kids from far less represented areas who are like the standout Ivy League hope of their entire school or hometown and have never had a chance to be in a school environment filled with kids similar to them).

I was an orange and now I live in DC and am raising an apple. You don't know. It's not the easy gift you think it is. It's hard. My kid has a zillion more and better opportunities than I did growing up where I did, and is also just savvier about the world and speaks the language of professionals better than I did even up graduating college. And she might wind up at a perfectly good but not tip top college despite having better grades, more APs, better test scores. Guess what? She's going to be fine and she will have far fewer barrier to success than I did. She doesn't have to learn a whole new world and navigate everything with parents who have no clue and are suspicious and overwhelmed by it all. She's still better off even if she doesn't go to an Ivy.

Perspective, OP. You need to step outside your bubble a bit.

Stop preaching. OP here and I grew up in rural America.
I got a great education in a town in a red state that most of DCUM would scoff at. YOU need to get out of your DC bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you be willing to live in Arizona or Oregon, and send your kid through public schools there?

Geographic diversity at top school is also really valuable. These schools can get very intensive group think from the coastal bubbles. It actually does matter. It results in a better education for everyone, not just a great opportunity for the kids from these other places.

Also consider that the kid from Arizona with the 33 and a few AP exams likely had to work very hard to seize every academic opportunity that came their way to get to the point where they are applying to and getting into these schools. They tend to be special kids and real standouts. You only see their numbers but you're talking valedictorians, class presidents, kids who are standout musicians, debaters, mathletes, etc. And again, doing this in environments where academics are not always prioritized and where they don't have a zillion peers doing the same stuff. They have to be self motivated in a way that kids in the DMV never have to self motivate because of the culture here, because of who their parents are, because their peers are often all pushing in that same direction.

Like sure, it feels unfair when you look at it on the surface. But in reality those kids are EARNING their admission to those schools, and you just don't see it because you are comparing apples (your kid and all the kids like your kid in the DMV area) to oranges (these kids from far less represented areas who are like the standout Ivy League hope of their entire school or hometown and have never had a chance to be in a school environment filled with kids similar to them).

I was an orange and now I live in DC and am raising an apple. You don't know. It's not the easy gift you think it is. It's hard. My kid has a zillion more and better opportunities than I did growing up where I did, and is also just savvier about the world and speaks the language of professionals better than I did even up graduating college. And she might wind up at a perfectly good but not tip top college despite having better grades, more APs, better test scores. Guess what? She's going to be fine and she will have far fewer barrier to success than I did. She doesn't have to learn a whole new world and navigate everything with parents who have no clue and are suspicious and overwhelmed by it all. She's still better off even if she doesn't go to an Ivy.

Perspective, OP. You need to step outside your bubble a bit.

I don't understand this comment whatsoever. I assume the Scottsdale public schools or wealthy suburban Portland public schools are great...as they usually are in nearly all UMC locations.

We have friends in a nice area of Tucson and they said their public schools are equivalent to what they left in Bethesda (admittedly, they moved when kids were in middle school).

Yes, this poster's diatribe, writing off ENTIRE STATES' schools is SO -F-ING TIRED.
THIS is someone who needs to get out of the DMV bubble.

[Anonymous]

Definitely truw.
My sisters kids are all at ivies. She lives in an eastern state considered competitive but in the rural part of the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try living in NJ if you think the DMV is bad.

+1. Or suburban NY.

or NYC as an non-legacy, non-FGLI, non-athlete.