Success stories this cycle

[Anonymous]

NP. Seems there are already several threads that are a variation on this topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry…it’s not a feel good story. It’s a humble brag.

The other pose of the kid getting into MIT and Princeton (if true) is a feel good story.

OP, you are tone deaf for starting this thread.

Who brags that their kid had 13-14 B grades (not semester system, of course)? I think you're missing the point. We are extremely grateful and appreciative that he has options despite what most would consider pedestrian grades. That's it. Not promoting the path he took, just relaying it so that anyone whose kid might not have a perfect unweighted GPA understands that the "Give up and try community college!" vultures should not be taken seriously.

Your kid scored a 1600…just own up to the fact you want to flaunt that.

The whole post is obnoxious and if you don’t see it…well, that’s on you.

This thread has already gone sideways.

What did you expect me to do? Reduce the score 30 - 40 points to satisfy your feelings? How weird. That was the score. On the other hand, he had frustrating grades for a while. You're ridiculous, and insecure, to boot.

You are so triggered that now this whole thread is f**ked. Congrats.

Your kid did well…it’s not a surprise…it’s not a success story.

Trolling is about as pathetic of a pastime as I can imagine. I hope your mental health is otherwise OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After hearing dozens of high stats stories for last few weeks where kids are disappointed, wondering about those of you who have happy kids.

Curious about success stories this cycle - for kids who had decent (3.8ish) stats and got into T25, and also kids who lower GPAs who far exceeded theirs (or your) expectations. Curious about the below.


- background/stats of applicant
- what do you think made the difference?
- what admission surprised you?
- what rejection surprised you?
- what was the largest weakness in the applicant profile and how did kid overcome it?

Accepted into four Top 25 schools, two publics and two privates (along with a handful of schools in the 26 - 75 range, a mix of publics and privates). After preparing for a bloodbath, acceptance into two Top 15 schools surprised us the most.

DS has chosen one of the public schools, and seems to be very happy with the opportunity ahead.

The lowest of his three safety schools was the most surprising rejection - ultimately, it's challenging to overcome a pedestrian GPA when a school doesn't consider testing, essays, or recommendations. Hard to pin that one on yield protection, but maybe. Who knows? But it was a surprise, to say the least.

GPA at time of submission, which was the largest weakness - overcome, I'd guess, through overall rigor and grade trending:
3.72 unweighted / 3.95 UC weighted, capped / 4.13 weighted / 4.20 UC weighted / uncapped

AP classes: 8 (6 tested by May 2023, all 5s)

GPA at time of mid-year update:
3.76 unweighted / 3.95 UC weighted, capped / 4.21 weighted / 4.29 UC weighted / uncapped.

AP Classes (at graduation): 14 (6 more to be tested in May 2024).

Standardized testing: 1600 SAT, one admin. (along with AP test results, the tip of the spear in his applications - but not even considered by 1/3 of the schools applied to).

Extracurriculars: Good ECs including mix of varsity team sports, sustained volunteerism in community, and targeted research at local university in area of interest for undergraduate and grad. study.

Awards: Not really, but basic ones like NMSF, team captain, AP Scholar with Distinction, etc.

Essays / PIQs: Good essays, but difficult to calibrate against others.

Recommendations: Probably average, at best. DS isn't an apple polisher, so we were not expecting miracles here.

Demographics: White male, full pay, no hooks, public high school in affluent coastal community.

Ignore the troll/insecure parent, PP. I really appreciated your post and found it helpful. Congrats to your son!

[Anonymous]

Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

My DS also got into a top CA public with many Bs but most Bs were in 9th grade and then the subsequent Bs were all in foreign language. He was also National Merit Finalist and had a lot of community service and nationally ranked in his EC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

It’s not mostly Bs. Quarter system, so more like 3/4 As, 1/4 Bs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

DP: A 3.7 GPA is an A- (90-93%) average; it can't be mostly B's.

[Anonymous]

I came here to see if there are actually any success stories, but all of these posts have been about questioning the validity of the one person who did post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

My DS also got into a top CA public with many Bs but most Bs were in 9th grade and then the subsequent Bs were all in foreign language. He was also National Merit Finalist and had a lot of community service and nationally ranked in his EC.

The UC schools don’t look at freshman or senior year grades, just sophomore and junior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

My DS also got into a top CA public with many Bs but most Bs were in 9th grade and then the subsequent Bs were all in foreign language. He was also National Merit Finalist and had a lot of community service and nationally ranked in his EC.

The UC schools don’t look at freshman or senior year grades, just sophomore and junior.

i appreciated the post. I wouldn't have thought the kid would do so well given the grades. Awesome work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry…it’s not a feel good story. It’s a humble brag.

The other pose of the kid getting into MIT and Princeton (if true) is a feel good story.

OP, you are tone deaf for starting this thread.

Who brags that their kid had 13-14 B grades (not semester system, of course)? I think you're missing the point. We are extremely grateful and appreciative that he has options despite what most would consider pedestrian grades. That's it. Not promoting the path he took, just relaying it so that anyone whose kid might not have a perfect unweighted GPA understands that the "Give up and try community college!" vultures should not be taken seriously.

Your kid scored a 1600…just own up to the fact you want to flaunt that.

The whole post is obnoxious and if you don’t see it…well, that’s on you.

This thread has already gone sideways.

What did you expect me to do? Reduce the score 30 - 40 points to satisfy your feelings? How weird. That was the score. On the other hand, he had frustrating grades for a while. You're ridiculous, and insecure, to boot.

You are so triggered that now this whole thread is f**ked. Congrats.

Your kid did well…it’s not a surprise…it’s not a success story.

Trolling is about as pathetic of a pastime as I can imagine. I hope your mental health is otherwise OK.

+1
Hoping someone checks on this crazy poster….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without more, I am not buying this story. No student is getting into a T15 with mostly Bs, regardless of what the SAT score is.

It’s not mostly Bs. Quarter system, so more like 3/4 As, 1/4 Bs.

Most schools only submit semester grades on transcripts, possible the Bs were not even seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After hearing dozens of high stats stories for last few weeks where kids are disappointed, wondering about those of you who have happy kids.

Curious about success stories this cycle - for kids who had decent (3.8ish) stats and got into T25, and also kids who lower GPAs who far exceeded theirs (or your) expectations. Curious about the below.


- background/stats of applicant
- what do you think made the difference?
- what admission surprised you?
- what rejection surprised you?
- what was the largest weakness in the applicant profile and how did kid overcome it?

Accepted into four Top 25 schools, two publics and two privates (along with a handful of schools in the 26 - 75 range, a mix of publics and privates). After preparing for a bloodbath, acceptance into two Top 15 schools surprised us the most.

DS has chosen one of the public schools, and seems to be very happy with the opportunity ahead.

The lowest of his three safety schools was the most surprising rejection - ultimately, it's challenging to overcome a pedestrian GPA when a school doesn't consider testing, essays, or recommendations. Hard to pin that one on yield protection, but maybe. Who knows? But it was a surprise, to say the least.

GPA at time of submission, which was the largest weakness - overcome, I'd guess, through overall rigor and grade trending:
3.72 unweighted / 3.95 UC weighted, capped / 4.13 weighted / 4.20 UC weighted / uncapped

AP classes: 8 (6 tested by May 2023, all 5s)

GPA at time of mid-year update:
3.76 unweighted / 3.95 UC weighted, capped / 4.21 weighted / 4.29 UC weighted / uncapped.

AP Classes (at graduation): 14 (6 more to be tested in May 2024).

Standardized testing: 1600 SAT, one admin. (along with AP test results, the tip of the spear in his applications - but not even considered by 1/3 of the schools applied to).

Extracurriculars: Good ECs including mix of varsity team sports, sustained volunteerism in community, and targeted research at local university in area of interest for undergraduate and grad. study.

Awards: Not really, but basic ones like NMSF, team captain, AP Scholar with Distinction, etc.

Essays / PIQs: Good essays, but difficult to calibrate against others.

Recommendations: Probably average, at best. DS isn't an apple polisher, so we were not expecting miracles here.

Demographics: White male, full pay, no hooks, public high school in affluent coastal community.

Ignore the troll/insecure parent, PP. I really appreciated your post and found it helpful. Congrats to your son!

Me too. So helpful.
Any others who can share?

[Anonymous]

Hoping to get more success stories from senior parents from this cycle....

Hearing Duke and Vanderbilt are the two hardest schools to get into this year. Is that true?

Hearing test scores should go down and submitting a 1490/33 everywhere makes sense now?

Also was told to research the underlying priorities of the school - that many colleges have admissions task forces and give you clues as to the specific type of student they are looking for. Anyone have links to this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hoping to get more success stories from senior parents from this cycle....

Hearing Duke and Vanderbilt are the two hardest schools to get into this year. Is that true?

Hearing test scores should go down and submitting a 1490/33 everywhere makes sense now?

Also was told to research the underlying priorities of the school - that many colleges have admissions task forces and give you clues as to the specific type of student they are looking for. Anyone have links to this?

While Duke and Vanderbilt have gotten much harder this year according to some college counselors, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Caltech remain the hardest. Yale and Harvard are very tough admits as well. Some may say Duke is just as hard as Yale and Harvard.