Arlington: 2018 college admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no dog in this fight, because I don’t live in Arlington, but it has been demonstrated time and again that the magazines numbers are completely inaccurate so why are we continuing to talk about this?

You have no dog in the fight but you repeatedly scrutinize this matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, is "Legacy" really a guarantee admission? So, what one must do to earn a spot in "legacy"?

Depends on many factors. But for example, DH went to an Ivy, does some volunteer work for them but not loads, we donate every year but not more than a couple hundred dollars, we had three DCs apply in the last 6 years each of whom had the right grades, scores, recs, ECs, etc. and all three were waitlisted. A polite no under the circumstances. Just for fun number 4 will likely apply to see if she gets the same result.

Seems likely.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I live in the Yorktown zone, and based on the dynamics I see in my neighborhood, these statistics don't concern me. Most of my neighbors are not drowning in money like some people want to believe of 22207, they are people who stretched their budgets a bit more to buy a smaller house on a smaller lot than they could have gotten in Fairfax but who wanted shorter commutes for more family time and better overall quality of life. These same people tend to prefer UVa and similar over Ivies for college because they see it as a better value and thus a better route for setting their kids up for a good quality of life later (lower debt burden after college = less pressure and more flexibility). Yes, Ivies are great, but not the be-all and end-all that someone should bankrupt themselves over. Their kids are more like to apply early to UVa and forego Ivy applications if they get in even if they could be competitive for Ivies. Not everyone fits that mold, of course, but I've also seen a trend for the families who are really gunning for Ivies to put their kids into private school early on (or if they can't afford private move to Fairfax in the hopes of getting into TJ, because they don't want to drive their kid from Arlington to TJ and then back the other way for work every day) because they feel that will maximize their chances. What this leaves is an applicant pool from Yorktown that is somewhat self-selecting and less likely to strive for Ivy for the sake of Ivy.

So why 138 applications from Yorktown to Ivies last year? It's not the number of applications that is low, but the number of admissions.

Public schools elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic and elsewhere in the DMV fare much better. APS has really done a poor job with YHS.

Those applications also likely are not 138 kids but multiple applications from a smaller set of kids so you can't tell what the actual % admitted to at least one Ivy is.

It looks like it was 118 applications (not 138) and three acceptances to 2 schools (Cornell and Penn). It's possible that only two Yorktown students were admitted to those schools.

Given North Arlington demographics and how often people claim to move from DC for the schools, there's no way that isn't a disappointing outcome.

Why does moving "for the schools" = my kid must go to an Ivy? Some people really don't care. Or some might care a little but are in that spot where they can't afford those schools but make to much to get financial aid so they figure it's not worth applying when their kid will be fine at a strong state school or a lower-tier private that gives great merit aid (IME this is a lot of Arlington families). But those who do care a LOT about Ivy admission find it impossible to believe that others don't think it's super important. So this is an argument that will circle around endlessly.

Oh, the typical Arlington rationale when something doesn't come out on top like in Arlington's self-delusion.

Sucks when your kid doesn’t get in to TJ, doesn’t it?

Or AAP. Start of school always brings out the crazy in those parents as they have to watch other kids in the neighborhood head off to AAP/TJ while their kid is stuck in gen ed.

Fairfax County should start a support group for parents in that position. It really does suck, I’m told.

[Anonymous]

It is so tedious to keep seeing this post pop up in Recent Threads because trolls bump it up every time it falls off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is so tedious to keep seeing this post pop up in Recent Threads because trolls bump it up every time it falls off.

You just bumped it up again, didn't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I live in the Yorktown zone, and based on the dynamics I see in my neighborhood, these statistics don't concern me. Most of my neighbors are not drowning in money like some people want to believe of 22207, they are people who stretched their budgets a bit more to buy a smaller house on a smaller lot than they could have gotten in Fairfax but who wanted shorter commutes for more family time and better overall quality of life. These same people tend to prefer UVa and similar over Ivies for college because they see it as a better value and thus a better route for setting their kids up for a good quality of life later (lower debt burden after college = less pressure and more flexibility). Yes, Ivies are great, but not the be-all and end-all that someone should bankrupt themselves over. Their kids are more like to apply early to UVa and forego Ivy applications if they get in even if they could be competitive for Ivies. Not everyone fits that mold, of course, but I've also seen a trend for the families who are really gunning for Ivies to put their kids into private school early on (or if they can't afford private move to Fairfax in the hopes of getting into TJ, because they don't want to drive their kid from Arlington to TJ and then back the other way for work every day) because they feel that will maximize their chances. What this leaves is an applicant pool from Yorktown that is somewhat self-selecting and less likely to strive for Ivy for the sake of Ivy.

So why 138 applications from Yorktown to Ivies last year? It's not the number of applications that is low, but the number of admissions.

Public schools elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic and elsewhere in the DMV fare much better. APS has really done a poor job with YHS.

Those applications also likely are not 138 kids but multiple applications from a smaller set of kids so you can't tell what the actual % admitted to at least one Ivy is.

It looks like it was 118 applications (not 138) and three acceptances to 2 schools (Cornell and Penn). It's possible that only two Yorktown students were admitted to those schools.

Given North Arlington demographics and how often people claim to move from DC for the schools, there's no way that isn't a disappointing outcome.

Why does moving "for the schools" = my kid must go to an Ivy? Some people really don't care. Or some might care a little but are in that spot where they can't afford those schools but make to much to get financial aid so they figure it's not worth applying when their kid will be fine at a strong state school or a lower-tier private that gives great merit aid (IME this is a lot of Arlington families). But those who do care a LOT about Ivy admission find it impossible to believe that others don't think it's super important. So this is an argument that will circle around endlessly.

Oh, the typical Arlington rationale when something doesn't come out on top like in Arlington's self-delusion.

Sucks when your kid doesn’t get in to TJ, doesn’t it?

Or AAP. Start of school always brings out the crazy in those parents as they have to watch other kids in the neighborhood head off to AAP/TJ while their kid is stuck in gen ed.

Fairfax County should start a support group for parents in that position. It really does suck, I’m told.

Mostly for the kids who can see how ashamed their parents are, without having to see them troll on DCUM.