College admissions

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

The problem is the tens of thousands with the same scores, grades and activities that were rejected because there weren’t enough spots.

I don’t know anyone with a 4.5gpa and 1550 getting shut out of all T50 schools. Sure, he may not get into Harvard but he got into Georgia tech or Boston university or Purdue.

It’s the parents who whine about not getting into an Ivy or top ten, those are the ones who can’t take every qualified student. And if what you think is mediocre is an A/B student with a 1300 there are plenty of spots for them in the bottom half of the top 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

People keep saying that much of these classes are made up of first generation students, underrepresented minorities, athletes, etc etc and if you're not in that category, yes it's nearly impossible. What are you not getting about that? Watch some college decision reaction videos on YouTube, the ones that include stats. Then come back and tell us that those kids that are rejected from all T20s are "mediocre." The kids with 1550s and 4.0s and a million APs and impressive ECs. Until then, kindly shut your mouth.

These are uninformed people. We are at the beginning of a long decline in the number of college-going kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) move to an obscure state
2) divorce your husband and get a low paying job
3) “cut contact” with ex husband when kid is in HS and switch to cash child support so that there’s no trace
4) have a sob story about overcoming obstacles
5) have a perfect gpa, sat, solid extracurriculars or claim that the child was required to support the family and have some work on their resume
6) be an underrepresented minority

Boom! You are in a good school all expense paid

Yes, poor black people are the reason your DC is failing, your DC's failures have nothing to do with their parents. 👍

I don't understand why people here think less than Ivy is "failing" or less than T50 is "failing." The vast majority of college students do not attend T50+ schools. So you all think the vast majority of American students are failures. Nice. I am so sorry for your children having to meet your expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at polarislist.com . Even the worst inner city or rural schools are sending at least one student to MIT, Princeton or Harvard every single year. But somehow people say that it's impossible to get into these schools. That claim of impossibility sounds like a bullshit excuse to me. Own the excuse and be happy at George Mason.

I looked at polarislist. A total of 1500 out of 3500 schools sent at least 1 person to MIT or Princeton or Harvard in a THREE YEAR PERIOD. If you look only at schools that sent 3+ people in the same 3 year period (one per year or more) you get 610 schools. Again, out of 3500 schools.

So, no, "even the worst inner city or rural schools" are not sending at least one student to HPM every year. And those are relatively old data, and it's gotten even more competitive since.

Why do you all care so much about this?? Each school only has "x" number of seats to offer. "x" = a helluva lot more than their are # of graduating seniors. Period. Not everyone can get in. In fact, a relative few can get in. More than that, only a relative few of equally qualified students can get in. So what?! Get over it. Find a different school and stop making your kids think they're failures because they didn't get into MIT or Harvard. Many of the wealthiest and most successful people in the world didn't either.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You're right, you don't understand. It's a lot lower than 5% for these elite schools, closer to 3%, and once you take into account pulling in legacies, athletes, first generation, and underrepresented minorities, the chances go down to nearly non-existent.

Keep telling yourself it's simply "difficult."

At St. Ann's 48% will go to an Ivy, at Colligiate in Manhattan, 50+% will go to an Ivy.
I'll keep telling myself it's [sic] simply "difficult," while you keep making excuses for mediocrity.

Hmm…St. Anne’s shows 21 of 85 kids going to Ivy schools…is your math so bad that you calculated that at 48%?

Collegiate isn’t even consider one of the elite NYC schools so I doubt it’s higher than Trinity at around 40%.

Any more made up stats for us?

Maybe that person is including schools like Duke, Johns Hopkins, Williams, etc. that can get you close to 50%. You seem really triggered by this.

I just wrote above that we know many kids getting in but they all have smart parents who also attended top colleges.

DH and I went to HYP for grad schools and T30 undergrad. We have 3 kids who are stronger than us in every way. I expect they will do equal or better than us. While Dh and I come from humble beginnings. Our kids have had every resource available to them.

Oh, hon. Seriously, spend some more time on the college board so you don't get hit with a very rude awakening.

My oldest is a standout. He is far superior than Dh and me in every way. Of course nothing is guaranteed. Dh is very active at his schools. I have full confidence this kid will do just fine with UVA as his back up. With his stats from his school, he will at least get into UVA.

We are now in it preparing for college. All of friends have kids in high school or college. What I am saying is that if you have parents who went to T30 schools, have worked in law, medicine, tech, consulting, they have all recruited and seen how impressive these kids are. My kid is as good, at least my oldest one. If your mom went to Princeton, makes millions in finance, you go to a top private school in NYC, the likelihood of you getting into Penn is higher than your kid who has perfect stats from Fairfax high trying to get into Wharton.

Is there an emoji for the '80s finger-pointing-into-the-mouth "barf" symbol?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) move to an obscure state
2) divorce your husband and get a low paying job
3) “cut contact” with ex husband when kid is in HS and switch to cash child support so that there’s no trace
4) have a sob story about overcoming obstacles
5) have a perfect gpa, sat, solid extracurriculars or claim that the child was required to support the family and have some work on their resume
6) be an underrepresented minority

Boom! You are in a good school all expense paid

Yes, poor black people are the reason your DC is failing, your DC's failures have nothing to do with their parents. 👍

I don't understand why people here think less than Ivy is "failing" or less than T50 is "failing." The vast majority of college students do not attend T50+ schools. So you all think the vast majority of American students are failures. Nice. I am so sorry for your children having to meet your expectations.

Not to mention the 60% or so of Americans who don’t even have a 4-year college degree….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) move to an obscure state
2) divorce your husband and get a low paying job
3) “cut contact” with ex husband when kid is in HS and switch to cash child support so that there’s no trace
4) have a sob story about overcoming obstacles
5) have a perfect gpa, sat, solid extracurriculars or claim that the child was required to support the family and have some work on their resume
6) be an underrepresented minority

Boom! You are in a good school all expense paid

Yes, poor black people are the reason your DC is failing, your DC's failures have nothing to do with their parents. 👍

I don't understand why people here think less than Ivy is "failing" or less than T50 is "failing." The vast majority of college students do not attend T50+ schools. So you all think the vast majority of American students are failures. Nice. I am so sorry for your children having to meet your expectations.

It's a little upsetting to read as someone whose children will not go to a Top 50 school. Places like this make you realize that you're surrounded with awful judgmental people who look down on others, including your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are still in elementary school but what exactly goes into college admissions today? Is it still an application, SAT scores and a written essay?

Hoo boy. If you haven't figured this out yet, you're too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

People keep saying that much of these classes are made up of first generation students, underrepresented minorities, athletes, etc etc and if you're not in that category, yes it's nearly impossible. What are you not getting about that? Watch some college decision reaction videos on YouTube, the ones that include stats. Then come back and tell us that those kids that are rejected from all T20s are "mediocre." The kids with 1550s and 4.0s and a million APs and impressive ECs. Until then, kindly shut your mouth.

Yes, blame your failures on the black kids. Great way to raise a child and assure that they don't fail.

What? I'm not against affirmative action. If you don't understand that your chances are harder if you are white or an overrepresented minority, you are ignorant, don't understand math, or both.

Someone skipped he chapter on conditional probability...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) move to an obscure state
2) divorce your husband and get a low paying job
3) “cut contact” with ex husband when kid is in HS and switch to cash child support so that there’s no trace
4) have a sob story about overcoming obstacles
5) have a perfect gpa, sat, solid extracurriculars or claim that the child was required to support the family and have some work on their resume
6) be an underrepresented minority

Boom! You are in a good school all expense paid

Yes, poor black people are the reason your DC is failing, your DC's failures have nothing to do with their parents. 👍

I don't understand why people here think less than Ivy is "failing" or less than T50 is "failing." The vast majority of college students do not attend T50+ schools. So you all think the vast majority of American students are failures. Nice. I am so sorry for your children having to meet your expectations.

they have small brains, dont get out alot and definitely did not go to these schools themselves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You're right, you don't understand. It's a lot lower than 5% for these elite schools, closer to 3%, and once you take into account pulling in legacies, athletes, first generation, and underrepresented minorities, the chances go down to nearly non-existent.

Keep telling yourself it's simply "difficult."

At St. Ann's 48% will go to an Ivy, at Colligiate in Manhattan, 50+% will go to an Ivy.
I'll keep telling myself it's [sic] simply "difficult," while you keep making excuses for mediocrity.

Does you child attend one of these schools?

My DC is attending a school with similar stats and would be a legacy. (We're not super rich, just super smart.) Nevertheless, I recognize that getting in will still be difficult.

But even at Fairfax HS, 2 kids get into Princeton or MIT EVERY year. Difficult, but hardly impossible ... stop excusing mediocrity.

Except you are making up both your sets of stats. No school in the DMV has 50%+ getting into the Ivy schools.

At best, 50% are getting into top 20 if you include top 20 SLACs (which is debatable). Remove the SLACs and only like 30% and that’s top 20…not Ivy.

What’s also funny, is often no kids at STA and at best one kid at Sidwell gets into MIT (and that’s like every other year) which doesn’t count legacy.

So…either name the school your kid goes to or shut the f**k up because you are making up a ton of shit and making yourself look stupid.

That’s because very few apply. STA and Sidwell provide liberal arts educations, and do not support the science research and activities needed to be a standout applicant at MIT. On rare occasion, a kid — usually guided by a STEM-savvy parent — does the independent research and/or special activities needed. More often than not, those who apply don’t have the STEM credentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

People keep saying that much of these classes are made up of first generation students, underrepresented minorities, athletes, etc etc and if you're not in that category, yes it's nearly impossible. What are you not getting about that? Watch some college decision reaction videos on YouTube, the ones that include stats. Then come back and tell us that those kids that are rejected from all T20s are "mediocre." The kids with 1550s and 4.0s and a million APs and impressive ECs. Until then, kindly shut your mouth.

These are uninformed people. We are at the beginning of a long decline in the number of college-going kids.

Some people just don’t know any better, even college educated adults who did not attend elite colleges. I have an acquaintance friend who is a dentist who thinks her daughter is a genius. The daughter is definitely smart but has zero extracurricular activities, not even academic ones. I am sure parents think her child will get into any and all colleges and may be surprised when she doesn’t get in. Maybe she will but it seems unlikely with no extracurriculars. Being smart is not enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

The problem is the tens of thousands with the same scores, grades and activities that were rejected because there weren’t enough spots.

I don’t know anyone with a 4.5gpa and 1550 getting shut out of all T50 schools. Sure, he may not get into Harvard but he got into Georgia tech or Boston university or Purdue.

It’s the parents who whine about not getting into an Ivy or top ten, those are the ones who can’t take every qualified student. And if what you think is mediocre is an A/B student with a 1300 there are plenty of spots for them in the bottom half of the top 50.

Not all schools are equal. My friend’s son just graduated from Bronx science and ~100 kids get into ivy schools per year. My friend’s son and his friends didn’t even post on the instagram so it is far from complete. My friend’s kid got into 3 ivy colleges but ended up going to another T10 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

The problem is the tens of thousands with the same scores, grades and activities that were rejected because there weren’t enough spots.

I don’t know anyone with a 4.5gpa and 1550 getting shut out of all T50 schools. Sure, he may not get into Harvard but he got into Georgia tech or Boston university or Purdue.

It’s the parents who whine about not getting into an Ivy or top ten, those are the ones who can’t take every qualified student. And if what you think is mediocre is an A/B student with a 1300 there are plenty of spots for them in the bottom half of the top 50.

Not all schools are equal. My friend’s son just graduated from Bronx science and ~100 kids get into ivy schools per year. My friend’s son and his friends didn’t even post on the instagram so it is far from complete. My friend’s kid got into 3 ivy colleges but ended up going to another T10 school.

Bronx Science sends 4 students (out of 735) to Harvard per year. See the polarislist. So 100 getting into an Ivy is suspect, especially given this braggy insta generation. But even if it's true, 100 (out of 735) per year would be on par with other top schools ... good, hardly spectacular.

ust on par with other top schools, but nothing spectacular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse has a Ph.D. from Harvard, I have a J.D. and joint M.B.A. from a T10. We have a DC in 2nd grade at a private. If DC doesn't get into a, say, T50, it will be because we the parents screwed up or because the DC screwed up. It won't be because of black applicants or because of affirmative action or because it was always "impossible."

It wasn't always impossible. It is now. I am glad you don't realize this - you should not be thinking about college admissions with a 2nd grader. By the time they are a teen, you'll find out what college admissions is actually like at the most elite schools, and at some point you'll make peace with it. Apparently, that day is not today.

It's apparently not impossible for the tens of thousands who get into T50's every year. It's only impossible for the mediocre DC's.

The problem is the tens of thousands with the same scores, grades and activities that were rejected because there weren’t enough spots.

I don’t know anyone with a 4.5gpa and 1550 getting shut out of all T50 schools. Sure, he may not get into Harvard but he got into Georgia tech or Boston university or Purdue.

It’s the parents who whine about not getting into an Ivy or top ten, those are the ones who can’t take every qualified student. And if what you think is mediocre is an A/B student with a 1300 there are plenty of spots for them in the bottom half of the top 50.

Not all schools are equal. My friend’s son just graduated from Bronx science and ~100 kids get into ivy schools per year. My friend’s son and his friends didn’t even post on the instagram so it is far from complete. My friend’s kid got into 3 ivy colleges but ended up going to another T10 school.

Bronx Science sends 4 students (out of 735) to Harvard per year. See the polarislist. So 100 getting into an Ivy is suspect, especially given this braggy insta generation. But even if it's true, 100 (out of 735) per year would be on par with other top schools ... good, hardly spectacular.

ust on par with other top schools, but nothing spectacular.

What school do you consider spectacular then?

Just give credit where credit is due.