If your DC's secondary school appears to have a pipeline to a specific Top 10 college...

[Anonymous]

I would dig deep into that "pipeline" and figure out why so many students from that high school are accepted. Are a disproportionate number of them legacies? Is it a nearby college that many parents work for?

8 students in my high school class were accepted to Princeton (out of 88 students.) If you scrutinized the acceptances, you would learn that at least 3 had family members who worked for the university, at least 2 others were legacies, and one was a recruited athlete. So, that pipeline to Princeton was not the sure thing that some people might have thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would dig deep into that "pipeline" and figure out why so many students from that high school are accepted. Are a disproportionate number of them legacies? Is it a nearby college that many parents work for?

8 students in my high school class were accepted to Princeton (out of 88 students.) If you scrutinized the acceptances, you would learn that at least 3 had family members who worked for the university, at least 2 others were legacies, and one was a recruited athlete. So, that pipeline to Princeton was not the sure thing that some people might have thought.

No, this particular pipeline isn't due to legacy, faculty, or athletics, which is part of the reason why Parent 1 likes it so much. The hooked students at DC's school tend to go HYPS, as in your Princeton example.

[Anonymous]

I’d encourage my kid to apply to their dream school, and apply RD to the pipeline school since lresumably there is still some advantage there if HYPS does not work out.

[Anonymous]

Have you checked whether the pipeline is only for kids who ED?

I actually disagree that a school has to be your top choice to ED to it. It could be your 2nd choice, but if your changes of ED are to #2 are good while any acceptance to #1 is remote, might make sense to ED to #2. Lest you end up with #3. That could be a rational choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d encourage my kid to apply to their dream school, and apply RD to the pipeline school since lresumably there is still some advantage there if HYPS does not work out.

College counselor was candid in saying this college cares a great deal about yield and all bets are off if applying RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you checked whether the pipeline is only for kids who ED?

I actually disagree that a school has to be your top choice to ED to it. It could be your 2nd choice, but if your changes of ED are to #2 are good while any acceptance to #1 is remote, might make sense to ED to #2. Lest you end up with #3. That could be a rational choice.

That is the same advice the school college counselor gave my child (a junior). Their top choice is about a 10% acceptance rate, but their second and third choices are around 20% if you apply ED (unhooked, majority student). She suggested that we STRONGLY consider applying ED1 to the second choice school, to give them the best shot of an acceptance at one of their top three favorites.

[Anonymous]

Icarus died.

But if your son is #1 or #2 and a legacy, I'd let him apply to Harvard/Yale/Princeton. If he gets deferred and panics, he can apply ED2 to Chicago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Icarus died.

But if your son is #1 or #2 and a legacy, I'd let him apply to Harvard/Yale/Princeton. If he gets deferred and panics, he can apply ED2 to Chicago.

+1. This was our strategy in a similar situation.

[Anonymous]

Why is everyone assuming this is UChicago and not Hopkins, UPenn, or Duke? All four are in USNWR's top 10 national universities (for 2022-23 anyway) and utilize ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Icarus died.

But if your son is #1 or #2 and a legacy, I'd let him apply to Harvard/Yale/Princeton. If he gets deferred and panics, he can apply ED2 to Chicago.

+1. This was our strategy in a similar situation.

How'd it work out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone assuming this is UChicago and not Hopkins, UPenn, or Duke? All four are in USNWR's top 10 national universities (for 2022-23 anyway) and utilize ED.

I think in recent years STA has sent a noticeably high number of students to Chicago. Don't recall seeing mention of any other such concentration. But it could be another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone assuming this is UChicago and not Hopkins, UPenn, or Duke? All four are in USNWR's top 10 national universities (for 2022-23 anyway) and utilize ED.

At our school, unhooked kids get into Johns Hopkins and Chicago ED. Not the case for Penn & Duke. Though Penn is generous for kids in Philly area, so OP could be based there.

[Anonymous]

People suspect Chicago because it is well known for its preference for a certain private schools. In any case, both Hopkins and Chicago offer ED2 and MIT doesn’t really have a higher acceptance rate for EA over RD, so unless the school is Duke, there is no reason not to apply early at the actual preferred Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People suspect Chicago because it is well known for its preference for a certain private schools. In any case, both Hopkins and Chicago offer ED2 and MIT doesn’t really have a higher acceptance rate for EA over RD, so unless the school is Duke, there is no reason not to apply early at the actual preferred Ivy.

It could be Duke or Penn. As you pointed out, both UC and JHU have ED2, so there’s no conflict there.

[Anonymous]

I also think it is Chicago. Does your kid want to go to Chicago? I haven't seen how RD plays out for HYPSM this year but so far REA acceptances were not just legacy - but legacy plus VIP/$$.