Big 3 Nightmare

[Anonymous]

I'm a Big 3 parent. My DC has been a lifer. When we decided on a school for our DC, we had no thought about college acceptances back in Pre-K. We just wanted the best education we could afford for our DC. Now our DC is a senior and has been through the process of applying to college.

Our DC decided that big state universities were something that would be challenging and new to DC after spending so many years at a small school. Wanted school spirit, big sports and a large campus etc. Didn't want to attend SLACS or other small LACs. We are cool with that, it's what HE wants.

3.7 gpa 35 ACT. Rejected at many state flagships (Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and UNC). Accepted at five others. I am proud of my DC and he has choices that so many other kids across the US don't have!

I'm not really sure about the "bloodbath" and "brutal" posts on this site from Big 3 schools.parents. I know that his fiends have been accepted to many T1 through T-30 schools. My son didn't want that, to each their own.

Maybe some Big 3 parents thought their kids were not admitted to T20 schools because of grade inflation at other schools in the DMV or the new test optional idea. This may be true. I don't have an argument with you.

However, as I stated before, my kid was accepted to 5 State schools that are exceptional and have some of the top ranked schools for his major. I am so happy for him!

I wish you all well in your children's acceptances and college experiences!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big 3 senior parent. Hearing many RD bloodbath stories. Like zeroed out on targets and certainly reaches. I’m counting WL as a zero.

Have heard 5 or 6 of these just since last night.

RD was a waste this year. ED I and ED II are the only way now for a high/high middle stats kid who is unhooked or only hook is legacy. Legacy alone days are done. Legacy kids need a double hook and ED.

RD is not just a lottery but powerball lottery odds

I’m sure many here will troll this post.

What kind of schools are you talking about? Where will these kids end up attending?

All these dramatic posts are useless without actual college examples. We don't know if you're talking about top 20% kids getting shut out of Ivies or getting shut out of every top 50 school they applied to. Or worse-getting shut out period. These posts could literally mean any of the above. I'm a Big3 parent of a 10tb grader and I'd love to know what is actually meant (with examples)

OK, I'll bite. Here are some of the schools that said "Nope!" to my niece who attends either Sidwell or NCS: UCSB. UCSD. Wash U. Barnard. BU. Davidson. UVA.

This is a young woman in the top 20% or so, highest math/science track, 1500 SAT and killer ECs. White. Not VIP.

They have 2 options in the USNWR ~200 range, and one of those scammy options where you get the name of the school on your diploma but never attend class at the main campus, because you're in Amsterdam or something for $100k a year

I am sorry that your niece is unhappy. That stinks. Is she really top 15 kids (20%)? Because you are correct, those results would be out of sync with other local privates. Kids with those stats at my kid’s HS are generally into top 20, or at least top 40 with options like UVA and UNC.

PP back -- I don't want to out my niece, but she does have one other option that I cannot say, lest I identify her.

She really is near the top of her class, yes. And I am told that the people around her are faring similarly, but of course I don't know. She is a legacy at my and her mother's school (which is why I know so much about her process). Still Nope! well, WL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big 3 senior parent. Hearing many RD bloodbath stories. Like zeroed out on targets and certainly reaches. I’m counting WL as a zero.

Have heard 5 or 6 of these just since last night.

RD was a waste this year. ED I and ED II are the only way now for a high/high middle stats kid who is unhooked or only hook is legacy. Legacy alone days are done. Legacy kids need a double hook and ED.

RD is not just a lottery but powerball lottery odds

I’m sure many here will troll this post.

What kind of schools are you talking about? Where will these kids end up attending?

All these dramatic posts are useless without actual college examples. We don't know if you're talking about top 20% kids getting shut out of Ivies or getting shut out of every top 50 school they applied to. Or worse-getting shut out period. These posts could literally mean any of the above. I'm a Big3 parent of a 10tb grader and I'd love to know what is actually meant (with examples)

OK, I'll bite. Here are some of the schools that said "Nope!" to my niece who attends either Sidwell or NCS: UCSB. UCSD. Wash U. Barnard. BU. Davidson. UVA.

This is a young woman in the top 20% or so, highest math/science track, 1500 SAT and killer ECs. White. Not VIP.

They have 2 options in the USNWR ~200 range, and one of those scammy options where you get the name of the school on your diploma but never attend class at the main campus, because you're in Amsterdam or something for $100k a year

She's going to a school ranked at 200? like the University of Detroit?

She took BC calc, physics C in 11th grade?

-and she's going to someplace like University of Detroit or Robert Morris University?

I'm sorry.

Oh FFS, there are plenty of good schools in the top 400!! There are 4,000 colleges and universities in the US!

Those are just examples of schools ranked near 200. the poster said her niece only had options ranked at 200. I just thought it extremely unbelievable that a kid would have no options between top 30 schools and the University of Detroit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Big 3 parent. My DC has been a lifer. When we decided on a school for our DC, we had no thought about college acceptances back in Pre-K. We just wanted the best education we could afford for our DC. Now our DC is a senior and has been through the process of applying to college.

Our DC decided that big state universities were something that would be challenging and new to DC after spending so many years at a small school. Wanted school spirit, big sports and a large campus etc. Didn't want to attend SLACS or other small LACs. We are cool with that, it's what HE wants.

3.7 gpa 35 ACT. Rejected at many state flagships (Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and UNC). Accepted at five others. I am proud of my DC and he has choices that so many other kids across the US don't have!

I'm not really sure about the "bloodbath" and "brutal" posts on this site from Big 3 schools.parents. I know that his fiends have been accepted to many T1 through T-30 schools. My son didn't want that, to each their own.

Maybe some Big 3 parents thought their kids were not admitted to T20 schools because of grade inflation at other schools in the DMV or the new test optional idea. This may be true. I don't have an argument with you.

However, as I stated before, my kid was accepted to 5 State schools that are exceptional and have some of the top ranked schools for his major. I am so happy for him!

I wish you all well in your children's acceptances and college experiences!

I endorse this post.

My kid did some of this. Not all. Thankfully kid went orthogonal on at least one school applied to. And that’s the one that is the best choice for this kid.

Kid wanted out of the SLAC universe many of the Big 3 go to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First, the term big 3 is not helpful. These private schools are all very different and lumping them together does not produce a useful data point.

My take is that seniors at my kid’s school are doing just fine. It is definitely true that it is no longer the 1950s where a third of the class got into Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The landscape is vastly more competitive for everyone, including private schools. But I would hold my head high to be at a number of the schools where graduates plan to matriculate.

Kids (beyond athletes) have been accepted to Chicago (in droves), UVA, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Hopkins, UNC, Notre Dame, Davidson, Williams, BC, and Tulane off the top of my head. At other privates, the list feels pretty similar for the kids I know. Also, UMD (if you are in-state) was not as difficult an admit as a PP claimed.

My kid loved high school and is excited for college. That is enough for me to consider tuition a worthwhile investment for our family.

Is this STA?
It sounds like it by the kids I know. The school is doing well.

And most of these kids are hooked

This. There are hooks other than recruited athlete, and the PP who announced that "everything's the same as it ever was" over on the Close neglected to mention these hooks exist. Which I get -- we shouldn't be identifying individuals here -- but it's disingenuous to intimate that Dartmouth still loves STA guys, for example, but is over GDS and Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

An HYP board of trustees member told me after SCEA round this year that legacy requires double hook. Meaning legacy plus one more hook. Legacy recruited athlete. Or legacy URM. Or legacy mega donor in the millions. Or legacy national academic award winner.

What he intimated was that legacy alone is increasingly not itself anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That doesn't make any sense. you niece has a 3.8+ and didn't apply anywhere in the gap from top 30 to top 200?

No penn state? Delaware? Michigan state? Indiana? Colorado? There are a ton of schools in the 30-200 band that would take her.

She did actually. Two other schools just like the ones you list. Waitlisted! One a state flagship, the other something like Boston College-y

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who decided to pull their kid out of a big three just for senior year. Sent the kid to public for senior year to boost gpa (grade inflation) and have the chance to take all APs (further bumping gpa and appearing most rigorous). The kid was less stressed with a lower workload and fewer out of classroom requirements to graduate. The kid seemed happy. This was a while ago but I wonder if we will start seeing more people do that.

That's pretty dumb. Public school grading in this area is on the semester timetable, so the kid would have no public school grades on their transcript during ED/EA applications. And even for RD applications, whatever "bump" they would get from the public school "grade inflation" wouldn't move their GPA very much (1 semester out of 7.)

[Anonymous]

I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who decided to pull their kid out of a big three just for senior year. Sent the kid to public for senior year to boost gpa (grade inflation) and have the chance to take all APs (further bumping gpa and appearing most rigorous). The kid was less stressed with a lower workload and fewer out of classroom requirements to graduate. The kid seemed happy. This was a while ago but I wonder if we will start seeing more people do that.

That's pretty dumb. Public school grading in this area is on the semester timetable, so the kid would have no public school grades on their transcript during ED/EA applications. And even for RD applications, whatever "bump" they would get from the public school "grade inflation" wouldn't move their GPA very much (1 semester out of 7.)

Needs to be done starting junior year to really work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An HYP board of trustees member told me after SCEA round this year that legacy requires double hook. Meaning legacy plus one more hook. Legacy recruited athlete. Or legacy URM. Or legacy mega donor in the millions. Or legacy national academic award winner.

What he intimated was that legacy alone is increasingly not itself anything.

Surprising that a board member would be out of the loop or late to the game but their interactions with Admissions are limited. Legacy status alone has only been a small plus and only in the early round for some schools for quite a while. The board member is smart to significantly temper expectations when chatting with alums though; I'm sure they consistently do that. If you are well connected to a board member and they are willing to vouch for it, that helps a lot (I temporarily worked in Admissions at a highly selective non-HYP school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An HYP board of trustees member told me after SCEA round this year that legacy requires double hook. Meaning legacy plus one more hook. Legacy recruited athlete. Or legacy URM. Or legacy mega donor in the millions. Or legacy national academic award winner.

What he intimated was that legacy alone is increasingly not itself anything.

Surprising that a board member would be out of the loop or late to the game but their interactions with Admissions are limited. Legacy status alone has only been a small plus and only in the early round for some schools for quite a while. The board member is smart to significantly temper expectations when chatting with alums though; I'm sure they consistently do that. If you are well connected to a board member and they are willing to vouch for it, that helps a lot (I temporarily worked in Admissions at a highly selective non-HYP school).

Yes at this HYP, board are not allowed to submit names to a “dean’s list” for kids to be prioritized as even occurred 5 years ago. Else that was the story I was told to temper my expectations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That doesn't make any sense. you niece has a 3.8+ and didn't apply anywhere in the gap from top 30 to top 200?

No penn state? Delaware? Michigan state? Indiana? Colorado? There are a ton of schools in the 30-200 band that would take her.

She did actually. Two other schools just like the ones you list. Waitlisted! One a state flagship, the other something like Boston College-y

https://www.nacacnet.org/college-openings-update/

Forward this to your niece. It’s not up yet for 2023 but should soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

Uh I don’t think so. That’s reserved for Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Dakotas type places. Not Newport, RI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

Uh I don’t think so. That’s reserved for Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Dakotas type places. Not Newport, RI.

Rural Maine town are aplenty.