Geographical diversity vs. being unprepared for college

[Anonymous]

What state is it?

[Anonymous]

I love how you just assume your kids will be at the top of their high school class if you move. In a town full of faculty brats no less. That’s some hubris.

[Anonymous]

Yes I would move. But even then I wouldn’t check the Asian box (and probably not the white one as well). Check the URM box unless the kids look very white or very Asian or have very Asian names (I assume there are no white names)

[Anonymous]

Times have changed and the differences have narrowed. You have assumed your child will rise to the top of the academic ladder. You assume your child will seamlessly move to another school district. Lots of variables and none are a sure bet. Move if the new job is something you desire, not for college prospects.

[Anonymous]

T25 university. Did you go to UVA?

[Anonymous]

The bump isn’t as big as you think. I grew up on the middle of the country in a college town. Even 30 years ago there wasn’t much of a bump. It was still very hard for top students to get into top schools.

[Anonymous]

People are completely delusional about this “easier state” nonsense. It’s so much harder to be a worthy applicant from these places/schools. Unless your kid has some insane hook top schools are not going to be wowed. And the school has no idea how to help with top school admissions (or doesn’t care). The teachers won’t know how to write helpful recommendation letters. Because perfect GPAs aren’t so important, grading can be inconsistent/idiosyncratic. The top 25 schools your kid is applying from might have *never* sent a kid to an ivy school.

[Anonymous]

Sioux Falls is great, love it!

[Anonymous]

OP, how old are your kids? If they're already in HS, don't move them if you can help it - it's way too disruptive socially and academically. If they're not already in HS, then you're really overthinking this - you have no way to know if they're actually going to be competitive for T25 schools, in part because the landscape for college admissions has gotten ten times more insane during the pandemic.

Unless your kid has an Olympic gold medal, at least half of the T25 schools are mostly a lottery. You can't game your way into HYPS/whatever - there are just too many incredibly accomplished and interesting kids applying for very few spots.

An URM applying from Idaho might get a tiny bump, but it's not significant enough to be the driver for moving your family across the country. If you want the job, take the job - but don't do it because you think it's somehow going to be a magic Ivy League ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How big is the high school? As long as there are decent AP classes (e.g. calc and physics) I wouldn't worry about it. Check the AP courses, looking for 5+ that your kid would potentially take. Look at the math track.

It is more than calc and physics. You need BC Calc, not just AB and you need Physics C- the other ones are more of a honors HS physics class. This is to not be under prepared if you are going up against students who have those classes to take.

University towns are usually much better academically and you can usually tell which ES is the one where the professor kids are. Look a the HS classes that are offered. Talk with some of the people there who have students in the HS to get a sense of how many kids will be in the cohort. Do they rely more on the county CC for kids to take higher level classes in HS?

[Anonymous]

OP, how small is the town? Is there more than one high school in the area? If it's on the size of Bozeman, go for it. Consider proximity to other towns/cities and whether that matters or not - the west is more spread out, driving time is an added factor for various activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bump isn’t as big as you think. I grew up on the middle of the country in a college town. Even 30 years ago there wasn’t much of a bump. It was still very hard for top students to get into top schools.

I grew up in the south and went to a New England SLAC. I suspect the bump was huge for me because there are a few states that the schools claiming 47 or 48 states represented are always missing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How big is the high school? As long as there are decent AP classes (e.g. calc and physics) I wouldn't worry about it. Check the AP courses, looking for 5+ that your kid would potentially take. Look at the math track.

It is more than calc and physics. You need BC Calc, not just AB and you need Physics C- the other ones are more of a honors HS physics class. This is to not be under prepared if you are going up against students who have those classes to take.

University towns are usually much better academically and you can usually tell which ES is the one where the professor kids are. Look a the HS classes that are offered. Talk with some of the people there who have students in the HS to get a sense of how many kids will be in the cohort. Do they rely more on the county CC for kids to take higher level classes in HS?

This is just public school thinking right here. For, let me guess, CS? You don’t “need” these things at all for a top school if your game plan isn’t STEM and you’re not coming from MCPS or FCPS. Ask me how we know.

OP you’re trolling. Surprised nobody has called you out yet. Someone as panicky as your troll persona is about distant college admissions isn’t settling for an academic position at Boise State. Also? It’s a complete tell that you mention no other factors in your first post. Such as, the ages of your “kids” and their current school situation and whether your “family” wants to move.

An actual parent would have described these types of things. A college confidential troll would try to stir sh!t with a post 100% focused on admissions odds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a job offer in a state that is known to be underrepresented in college admissions (think: Mississippi, but not Mississippi. The Mississippi of the North/ West). On one hand, I feel like this will improve my kids' chances of getting into a top college (they will also have legacy status at a top 25 university, but I don't know if it would be a good fit for them, since it wasn't for me). I also feel like it will be fairly easy to be near the top of the class at any high school there.

OTOH, everyone I knew at my fancy college who went to random public high school in a rural state was VERY unprepared to compete with people who went to Exeter or Sidwell (or even a W school). I feel like it was a big hit to their self-esteem to lose their "big fish in a small pond" status. Private school locally would not be an option (would have to go to boarding school, but then would lose the geographical diversity bonus). So what say you, DCUM? Is it worth the tradeoff?

And since someone will inevitably ask (or, this being DCUM, assume), my kids are multiracial (part Asian, part URM, a little bit white, could check multiple boxes or none at all). Not sure if that makes them less or more likely to benefit from geographical diversity (which, after all, was invented to keep colleges mostly white and Christian).

In the 1980s, this kind of thinking made sense.

In the age of Khan Academy, there’s just no way an affluent kid who deserves to be at a T25 school needs to be spoon fed AP courses. A bright kid should be able to use a combination of web classes, self-study and tutoring to get up to speed, and affluent, T25-worthy kids should be the ones in charge of making that kind of thing happen. If you have to do more than pay bills and sign permission slips, your kid isn’t really a great T25 applicant.

[Anonymous]

I know my former state of Arkansas allowed free AP exams in its high schools. However entire classes got 1-2 on AP exams. The kids just wanted the GPA bump. It’s easy to get lab research jobs in high school if you know a friend, there’s no competition. If you can fix problem areas with online instruction you’ll be able to keep up with the competitive areas of the US.