College admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You’re a newbie with young kids. It is really hard to get into certain colleges today. I attended a T20 school and was accepted to a few others as well. No way would that happen to me today with the stats I had.

It's so hard to get in that 1 out of 20 applicants are doing it. (It's only hard for mediocre students.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just spend a little time in the College forum. And then tiptoe back out and enjoy your kids while they’re little.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You’re a newbie with young kids. It is really hard to get into certain colleges today. I attended a T20 school and was accepted to a few others as well. No way would that happen to me today with the stats I had.

It's so hard to get in that 1 out of 20 applicants are doing it. (It's only hard for mediocre students.)

It’s the same top applicant who applied to 15+ top colleges who is getting in, then picking one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You’re a newbie with young kids. It is really hard to get into certain colleges today. I attended a T20 school and was accepted to a few others as well. No way would that happen to me today with the stats I had.

It's so hard to get in that 1 out of 20 applicants are doing it. (It's only hard for mediocre students.)

Mediocre students don’t apply to Harvard - I know, I’m the parent of one. It’s essentially 5% of the tippy top, 4.0 students get in. That can be pretty jarring to a family who thinks that a 4.0 high stats kid has a good shot at Harvard. They still don’t, because 5% is still a long shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You’re a newbie with young kids. It is really hard to get into certain colleges today. I attended a T20 school and was accepted to a few others as well. No way would that happen to me today with the stats I had.

It's so hard to get in that 1 out of 20 applicants are doing it. (It's only hard for mediocre students.)

Mediocre students don’t apply to Harvard - I know, I’m the parent of one. It’s essentially 5% of the tippy top, 4.0 students get in. That can be pretty jarring to a family who thinks that a 4.0 high stats kid has a good shot at Harvard. They still don’t, because 5% is still a long shot.

Yup. 5% of the super high GPA, great SAT score, amazing extracurriculars, started a non-profit, etc kids. Take those kids, then pick 1 in 20. It’s essentially like a lottery at that point (not to mention the cost). Good news is that people can have great, successful lives without attending an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mediocre students don’t apply to Harvard - I know, I’m the parent of one. It’s essentially 5% of the tippy top, 4.0 students get in. That can be pretty jarring to a family who thinks that a 4.0 high stats kid has a good shot at Harvard. They still don’t, because 5% is still a long shot.

David Hogg got accepted to Harvard with a bad SAT and ok GPAs. LOL.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You’re a newbie with young kids. It is really hard to get into certain colleges today. I attended a T20 school and was accepted to a few others as well. No way would that happen to me today with the stats I had.

It's so hard to get in that 1 out of 20 applicants are doing it. (It's only hard for mediocre students.)

Mediocre students don’t apply to Harvard - I know, I’m the parent of one. It’s essentially 5% of the tippy top, 4.0 students get in. That can be pretty jarring to a family who thinks that a 4.0 high stats kid has a good shot at Harvard. They still don’t, because 5% is still a long shot.

Yup. 5% of the super high GPA, great SAT score, amazing extracurriculars, started a non-profit, etc kids. Take those kids, then pick 1 in 20. It’s essentially like a lottery at that point (not to mention the cost). Good news is that people can have great, successful lives without attending an Ivy.

This. And it's not just Harvard that is at this level. What is very different from when we (the parents) applied is that places like Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Rice, and the top 10 liberal arts colleges are now Harvard's level in terms of difficulty: 5-7% of the pool of kids with perfect grades/scores/extracurriculars and highest rigor in classes get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You suck at stats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

not impossible, but pretty difficult. the problem is also complete lack of transparency, so you don't even know what you need to do - apart from having 4.0, 10+ APs, 99% SAT - to get in. and if you try to help your kid, it looks manufactured, but if you don't, they won't know how to package themselves as having "leadership" and "impact".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mediocre students don’t apply to Harvard - I know, I’m the parent of one. It’s essentially 5% of the tippy top, 4.0 students get in. That can be pretty jarring to a family who thinks that a 4.0 high stats kid has a good shot at Harvard. They still don’t, because 5% is still a long shot.

David Hogg got accepted to Harvard with a bad SAT and ok GPAs. LOL.....

Does your child have a national profile? Not saying he deserved etc etc, but he was very unique in that respect and that was the reason he was accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mediocre students don’t apply to Harvard - I know, I’m the parent of one. It’s essentially 5% of the tippy top, 4.0 students get in. That can be pretty jarring to a family who thinks that a 4.0 high stats kid has a good shot at Harvard. They still don’t, because 5% is still a long shot.

David Hogg got accepted to Harvard with a bad SAT and ok GPAs. LOL.....

But a hook of being a famous douche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

You’re a newbie with young kids. It is really hard to get into certain colleges today. I attended a T20 school and was accepted to a few others as well. No way would that happen to me today with the stats I had.

It's so hard to get in that 1 out of 20 applicants are doing it. (It's only hard for mediocre students.)

It’s the same top applicant who applied to 15+ top colleges who is getting in, then picking one.

+1
The lack of limit on how many schools you can apply to is feeding the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

not impossible, but pretty difficult. the problem is also complete lack of transparency, so you don't even know what you need to do - apart from having 4.0, 10+ APs, 99% SAT - to get in. and if you try to help your kid, it looks manufactured, but if you don't, they won't know how to package themselves as having "leadership" and "impact".

I wonder about this for Ivies actually. Doesn't that focus on leadership and impact attract awful, power-hungry people? Thinking Vance and DeSantis types. Why can't a kid be bright, but have no leadership ambition and just want to be a good, solid human and member of society? You can be a great, quiet researcher whose only ambition is to work in a lab and come up with a cure to something. And ideally, politicians should be community-minded people who don't want limelight, ego and fortune. So when it comes to stuff like kids who started charities to show "impact and leadership", I think it's more impressive for a kid to have worked at a food pantry for years getting absolutely no accolades but providing needed grunt work. The system does not seem to favor humility or good values at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

not impossible, but pretty difficult. the problem is also complete lack of transparency, so you don't even know what you need to do - apart from having 4.0, 10+ APs, 99% SAT - to get in. and if you try to help your kid, it looks manufactured, but if you don't, they won't know how to package themselves as having "leadership" and "impact".

I wonder about this for Ivies actually. Doesn't that focus on leadership and impact attract awful, power-hungry people? Thinking Vance and DeSantis types. Why can't a kid be bright, but have no leadership ambition and just want to be a good, solid human and member of society? You can be a great, quiet researcher whose only ambition is to work in a lab and come up with a cure to something. And ideally, politicians should be community-minded people who don't want limelight, ego and fortune. So when it comes to stuff like kids who started charities to show "impact and leadership", I think it's more impressive for a kid to have worked at a food pantry for years getting absolutely no accolades but providing needed grunt work. The system does not seem to favor humility or good values at all.

yes, and it also does not value well-rounded kids with high EQs. Go tour some top20 universities. The kids (especially those on the tours) are a noticeably odd, intense bunch. It is striking. My kids are top students but pretty laid back, super social kids. they don't see "their people" at these schools at all--even at schools that were historically known to be smart but more social (Northwestern, Vanderbilt). this is a VERY common refrain among their school friends as they also tour schools and posters on DCUM as well (there have been multiple posts about this).

It is a certain type of kid who is going to put up with the BS of the top college admissions game needed in 2024 and it it often isn't those who are socially well adjusted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand that College forum. Parents act like the Ivy acceptance rate is 0.00001% and that DC needs a Nobel Prize to be competitive. In fact, the Harvard acceptance rate is 5% (1 in 20 is getting in). Difficult, but hardly impossible.

not impossible, but pretty difficult. the problem is also complete lack of transparency, so you don't even know what you need to do - apart from having 4.0, 10+ APs, 99% SAT - to get in. and if you try to help your kid, it looks manufactured, but if you don't, they won't know how to package themselves as having "leadership" and "impact".

I wonder about this for Ivies actually. Doesn't that focus on leadership and impact attract awful, power-hungry people? Thinking Vance and DeSantis types. Why can't a kid be bright, but have no leadership ambition and just want to be a good, solid human and member of society? You can be a great, quiet researcher whose only ambition is to work in a lab and come up with a cure to something. And ideally, politicians should be community-minded people who don't want limelight, ego and fortune. So when it comes to stuff like kids who started charities to show "impact and leadership", I think it's more impressive for a kid to have worked at a food pantry for years getting absolutely no accolades but providing needed grunt work. The system does not seem to favor humility or good values at all.

A agree with you but I don't think this is what the school are seeking. They want "leaders", obnoxious as that sounds. And yes, having a job has actually become popular recently to show "lack of privilege", but as more and more power hungry kids start faking interest interest in regular jobs that's going to go away as well.