College counselor aiming too high

[Anonymous]

My DS is going to be valedictorian or salutatorian at his competitive public high school in suburban Boston. After hearing horror stories from others, I have been prepping him to use ED wisely, not aim mit etc, and expect to not even get into t20 or most t40 schools rd. We just hired a college counselor who recommending keeping Harvard and Stanford on our teach list. Now he likely won’t Ed to a school like tufts thinking those schools could be possible. He is a full pay white boy and has no hook and lackluster ecs without leadership. Are these schools possible? Is this college counselor leading us to disappointment?

[Anonymous]

This is a DMV-centered website. We don't know shit about suburban Boston public high schools. How are we supposed to know?

You're paying some dude to advise you. Listen to him. Not us.

[Anonymous]

I am a big believer in shooting for the stars. That being said, he will not get into Stanford, Harvard, or MIT with "lackluster ECs." He should apply broadly and I see no reason why he can't get into a top 25 if he has excellent grades and test scores and writes compelling essays. I would not recommend he ED to a school like Tufts if he does not absolutely love it.

[Anonymous]

T40 seems low ball.

I would ED0/1/2 to T10 or T20. If that didn’t work out, adjust RD school list accordingly. Also, EA case western, Michigan, USC, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a DMV-centered website. We don't know shit about suburban Boston public high schools. How are we supposed to know?

You're paying some dude to advise you. Listen to him. Not us.

Except lackluster ECs significantly hurts the applicant. We know that.

[Anonymous]

Are the horror stories from similarly ranked kids at your school? Have you looked at scattergrams on Naviance or Scoir ( or whatever your school uses) ?

[Anonymous]

Ask your school counselor where the last 5 valedictorian and salutatorians have gone. Your school will have better data than the private counselor.

[Anonymous]

Check your school scattergrams. Our competitive public in Massachusetts usually has a few kids getting into Harvard each year, and another handful getting into other Ivy League, and maybe another 10 getting into T20. Other schools have more I think. Not many go to Stanford tho unless athletes. Unfortunately the scattergrams don’t show who are athletes, who are legacy, who are donors, etc but word usually gets around and kids know. Maybe a dozen amazing unhooked kids do win the “lottery” each year, but dozens more amazing unhooked kids do not. You have to know your child’s tolerance for risk, and willingness to go to a lower target school in RD if ED1 and ED2 (don’t forget that possibility for Tufts, which is also a fantastic school esp for premed) don’t go their way.

[Anonymous]

PP, rereading your OP post, it’s true the amazing unhooked kids getting in I referred to above have great ECs so that’s something your school counselor would have to put in context for your child

[Anonymous]

I agree with the scattergrams - that's the relevant data. What are his SAT scores? Is it like Newton schools or other districts that send kids to top schools?

[Anonymous]

Ask your local message board. We don't care.

[Anonymous]

very school dependent. at DC's strong MA public, 35/550 (6%) kids went to T20 schools and 35-50 went to T21-40 schools. usually send 4-8 harvard, cornell, brown each year but few get into yale, duke, stanford, penn. higher than normal accept rate to bu, tufts, and neu given boston proximity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask your school counselor where the last 5 valedictorian and salutatorians have gone. Your school will have better data than the private counselor.

This is excellent advice.

Keep any school he loves on his reach list, at least for RD, and I would not encourage him to ED a target school (which, for him, Tufts probably is) unless he REALLY loves it. ED is for the school you re dying to attend, regardless of other acceptances. The same kid who REAs Harvard would not REA Stanford; ditto to MIT EA, IMO. At most of those schools, applying early does not give you a real edge. I would not ED any school that has ED2 unless it is his absolute favorite.

Don't get caught up in the "my white son will not get into a great school," because it honestly just buys into a racist trope - and by the way, being full pay is the single biggest advantage any applicant has at any school. His grades and scores seem as good as they can be, assuming highest rigor. The lackluster ECs matter less, IMO, than the story they can tell. If they do not yet tell a compelling story, preferably tied into his academic interests, I would make that happen between now and November. Both my kids had what most on this board would consider lackluster ECs - theater, sports (did not go recruitment route), etc. But both put real work not just into writing their personal statements, but in creating the application as a whole, and they used the summer before senior year to close that loop with summer ECs that made their apps truly sing. Both had, I am sure, excellent LORs, and both got into their early schools in December and never looked back.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask your school counselor where the last 5 valedictorian and salutatorians have gone. Your school will have better data than the private counselor.

I think, for a great Boston suburban public school, this mechanism is risky. Chances are that several of the validictorians and salutatorians had parents who worked at Harvard or MIT, and/or had strong hooks at other top universities. Lots of fac brats at those schools. (And yes, those fac brats likely had perfect scores and top grades -- academics generally value and push for academic excellence in their children.)

Agree with the point of -- why did you hire this private counselor that you don't seem to trust?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is going to be valedictorian or salutatorian at his competitive public high school in suburban Boston. After hearing horror stories from others, I have been prepping him to use ED wisely, not aim mit etc, and expect to not even get into t20 or most t40 schools rd. We just hired a college counselor who recommending keeping Harvard and Stanford on our teach list. Now he likely won’t Ed to a school like tufts thinking those schools could be possible. He is a full pay white boy and has no hook and lackluster ecs without leadership. Are these schools possible? Is this college counselor leading us to disappointment?

What's his SAT, EC's?