Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not if he’s white or Asian.

"Normal" good smart kids can get in if they are URM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing about these high stat kids getting rejected. On social media, I have seen posts about ridiculous students with extremely long crazy impressive extracurriculars.

Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy?

My kid has the scores and grades. He plays 3 sports and is on several academic teams. He is not nationally ranked in anything but good at everything. DH and I both attended T25 colleges and ivy grad schools. Our kid is better than DH and me in every single category.

If by normal you mean "from a wealthy family," absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Not happening. There is some chance here so every once is a while some kids get lucky but odds are low

Good news though, many non Ivy choices

[Anonymous]

Not unless they are first gen, rural, a recruitable athlete, URM, or have famous/powerful connections.

Otherwise they go to Big State U with a ton of merit aid and/or the honors college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing about these high stat kids getting rejected. On social media, I have seen posts about ridiculous students with extremely long crazy impressive extracurriculars.

Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy?

My kid has the scores and grades. He plays 3 sports and is on several academic teams. He is not nationally ranked in anything but good at everything. DH and I both attended T25 colleges and ivy grad schools. Our kid is better than DH and me in every single category.

Of course they can don't listen to this board.

However the 3 sports no school cares.

Mine did in recent years. No sports jobs paying jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing about these high stat kids getting rejected. On social media, I have seen posts about ridiculous students with extremely long crazy impressive extracurriculars.

Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy?

My kid has the scores and grades. He plays 3 sports and is on several academic teams. He is not nationally ranked in anything but good at everything. DH and I both attended T25 colleges and ivy grad schools. Our kid is better than DH and me in every single category.

So many parents who attended top schools in their day come on here and say this. You were only applying against a sliver of qualified students. The Common App, colleges understanding what CoA really means for first gen kids, and thousands and thousands of able and well-heeled international students has changed that equation.

The reality is that there were students better than you, but they didn't have a way of attending.

+1

When I was a high school senior, Ivy acceptance rates were 20-25%. Today they are 3-6%!!

[Anonymous]

This is a good time to recalibrate your expectations. Forget how things were for our generation. Find some new schools to love! Our safeties are now targets or even reaches for many of our kids.

[Anonymous]

DC is a nationally ranked athlete, not Olympic level but still ranked. Valedictorian. Multiple extracurriculars and 200+service hours in high school.

Not expecting an offer of admission to a T20 school. Qualified medically, academically, and physically for service academies but turned down for nominations after solid interviews. I see this as a harbinger of what is to come with the two T20 schools he applied RD to, so he is trying to decide between two excellent ranked schools that no one mentions on DCUM or College Confidential.

I’m so glad that I encouraged him to apply to schools that are a great fit but also aren’t favorites by USNews. Otherwise he would not be looking forward the fall like he is today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. DC attends a top Ivy, and only about half the kids are hooked. You do need to excel at something, though, in order to be admitted unhooked.

False. THe Harvard suit showed us this. Hooked include legacies, URMs, first generation, POC, athletes, extraordinary musician that the orchestra needs, geographical representation, international, faculty kids, staff kids and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not unless they are first gen, rural, a recruitable athlete, URM, or have famous/powerful connections.

Otherwise they go to Big State U with a ton of merit aid and/or the honors college.

This is true, but don’t count on in state flagship in MD or VA either. Non flagship yes. Excellent OOS flagships yes to all of the above esp if student doesn’t qualify for federal financial aid.

Legacy is not a hook anymore. It’s a liability in admissions.

[Anonymous]

OP, you didn’t even go to an Ivy yourself. And it was easier to get in back then. You and your husband went to Ivies for grad school but that is NOT the same thing.

So saying that your kid is “better than us in all respects“ doesn’t mean anything because apparently you weren’t all that yourself.

[Anonymous]

This is the reality these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not if he’s white or Asian.

Tell that to White dad I was talking to this afternoon. Great kid. Wealthy family but working wealthy. No inheritance / trust fund. Just a family that keeps to the straight and narrow. In at an Ivy!

[Anonymous]

If everyone at an ivy is either the child of an international oligarch or a first generation college student, is that really where you want to send your kid?

I'm not saying it's bad to be either, but having those two extremes and nothing in the middle sounds like a car crash.

[Anonymous]

This is what that 5% admit rate is for. Possible maybe, but not very likely.