Help with Ivy fascinated kid

[Anonymous]

In the long run, it would probably be best to let her make this choice and live with the consequences. If she gets in, then no harm done. If she doesn’t get in anywhere, maybe it will smack some of arrogance out of her.

[Anonymous]

My kid goes to a top DC private and there was exactly ONE kid admitted to an Ivy last year who was not a recruited athlete, legacy or URM. The top academic kids were not admitted except for this ONE kid (and others who had one or more of the above 3 hooks).

Again, there was ONE kid admitted to an Ivy on academic merit alone. ONE.
This is a DC Big3.

[Anonymous]

OP, I dealt with this a bit with my DD last year. She knew she didn't have the stats for an Ivy, but was obsessed anyway. One thing that helped was stressing that there are far too many "top" kids for the Ivies, so they have to go somewhere else. That means there are plenty of super-smart, accomplished, ambitious kids at every T50 school (and at lots of schools below the T50!).

DD is now at at a school full of students who were, like her, top 10% of their high school class. She has plenty of peers at her level academically -- and plenty smarter than her too. DD felt much better about her choice after watching her "hot shot" friends get rejected from every Ivy they applied to.

[Anonymous]

OP hard to know where you start with the attitude. Let her apply to her dream ED/ Restricted EA 1 and then apply to UChicago ED2. there will be tons of smart kids there and she can maybe get in

[Anonymous]

I think this is a troll post -- 1:15am and throwing in post-bait of only-Ivies, NEU and JHU? Plus a schload of arrogance (or hubris) tempting DCUMers to pounce!

I sure hope this kid isn't for real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is fascinated with the ivies and is planning to apply to everyone of them. Brown and princeton are her favorites. She goes to a top private and has the reputation as being a hot shot there. So she is confident that she won’t apply to any safeties like northeastern or even targets like jhu. Her college counselor pleaded with her to add more schools. But she argues that her school has never been shut out of the ivies (true) and if someone gets in it would her (since she feels she is the best in her batch). Is that a compelling argument? Or is she in for a surprise. Any suggestions on what to do as parents. I don’t want to ruin her confidence. But want her to be more realistic. Can someone explain why a place like brown and Princeton has this mystique that captures young minds. Growing up in Europe we just went to a local university that gave a solid education. So I am puzzled.

JHU isn't a target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op - I hope you are a troll or you are kidding. I interview for my top ivy college every year and if any student came off as this arrogant I think it would drastically hurt their chances. That’s part of why they have alumni interviews - to suss out arrogance and hubris. The rest of the 4000 colleges in the United States aren’t good enough for her. Give me break. I hope she at least learns to fake some humility or she is going to turn off some of these schools - who all have extremely low admissions rates anyway.

Alumni interviews are given zero weight in admissions. It's something the Ivies do to make the alumni feel connected and like they have a voice. They don't use them for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - I hope you are a troll or you are kidding. I interview for my top ivy college every year and if any student came off as this arrogant I think it would drastically hurt their chances. That’s part of why they have alumni interviews - to suss out arrogance and hubris. The rest of the 4000 colleges in the United States aren’t good enough for her. Give me break. I hope she at least learns to fake some humility or she is going to turn off some of these schools - who all have extremely low admissions rates anyway.

Alumni interviews are given zero weight in admissions. It's something the Ivies do to make the alumni feel connected and like they have a voice. They don't use them for admissions.

While I generally agree, notes are included in the file and could have a negative impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a troll post -- 1:15am and throwing in post-bait of only-Ivies, NEU and JHU? Plus a schload of arrogance (or hubris) tempting DCUMers to pounce!

I sure hope this kid isn't for real.

I am certain your thoughts are correct.

[Anonymous]

OP, if she actually believes she is shockingly ignorant about selective college admissions and not too bright when it comes to this topic.

I do alumni interviews and most of the very impressive kids I talk to are extremely humble. Your DD's mindset is unusual. If a student I met gave off these vibes, I'd be embarrassed for them.

But hey, maybe it will work out. And if it doesn't, a gap year and reset may be just what she needs.

A kid with the chops to apply to Ivies should understand the repercussions of no safeties. Her choice.

[Anonymous]

My dd's backstory was a little different (only interested in ONE top Ivy school, obsessively so, though she did not assume she'd get in) and I had to drag her to look at other schools. She didn't want to visit any of them. The good news is she came away from a number of those visits more favorably impressed than she expected to be. There is something powerful for these kids to actually get on campus, listen to the cool tour guide, see lots of students wandering around living their college lives. So I think your task as a parent is just to get her physically on to campuses beyond Brown and Princeton. Maybe Vassar and schools in that general range?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She thinks she will be out of place in a non Ivy and would rather take a gap year if she doesn’t get into brown princeton or another Ivy.

OP, I think your kid has an amazing and very failproof plan...go with it 100% and do not listen to any of these other negative ninnies. She has the right idea, there is no way someone of her incredible intellect would ever be at home with all of the other lowly mouth breathers of non Ivy colleges. I suspect it would be very detrimental to her well being because she would expend too much energy trying to intellectually elevate all of her other intellectually inferior classmates. Stick with the plan OP, it's the only way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She thinks she will be out of place in a non Ivy and would rather take a gap year if she doesn’t get into brown princeton or another Ivy.

I would have her apply ED to whatever he first choice is. And then tell her she must apply to the "big in state" school because you are making her. Whatever that is.

I work with someone who felt like this. She didn't get in to her dream school even though she was valedictorian and it CRUSHED HER. It is never a guarantee with the Ivies because they have to reject highly qualified candidates. She ended up having a mental breakdown, took a year off, and going to a highly specialized school for the career she ended up in. It worked out, but was brutal and she still talks about it pretty intensely 15+ years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - I hope you are a troll or you are kidding. I interview for my top ivy college every year and if any student came off as this arrogant I think it would drastically hurt their chances. That’s part of why they have alumni interviews - to suss out arrogance and hubris. The rest of the 4000 colleges in the United States aren’t good enough for her. Give me break. I hope she at least learns to fake some humility or she is going to turn off some of these schools - who all have extremely low admissions rates anyway.

Alumni interviews are given zero weight in admissions. It's something the Ivies do to make the alumni feel connected and like they have a voice. They don't use them for admissions.

While I generally agree, notes are included in the file and could have a negative impact.

Agree. No positive impact, but potentially negative impact. Almost better to not have an interview IMO

[Anonymous]

Well, this may present the comeuppance which she so sorely needs.

This is the type of applicant who gets in nowhere. I am not saying that is the definite outcome, but I really would show her the odds per school, and make her say out loud that a very possible outcome is that she will get in nowhere.

If that happens, it will teach her an important life lesson. You really are not all that, and the rules (of probability) really do apply to you too.