TJ Class of 2017 College Destination List

[Anonymous]

Among the list of students accepted to Stanford is a kid named by Forbes magazine as a Top 30 under 30 for starting his own cutting edge biotech company. Clearly, some of these kids have achieved more by 18 than most of us will in a lifetime. Is that what it takes to get into the elite schools these days? If so, my bright well rounded straight A kids with more conventional teenage interests don't stand a chance. Back in my day the early 90s, Stanford accepted over 20% of applicants vs. 4.6% today. Am I the only one who thinks college admissions espe at the elite schools has gotten too much like the Hunger Games?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Among the list of students accepted to Stanford is a kid named by Forbes magazine as a Top 30 under 30 for starting his own cutting edge biotech company. Clearly, some of these kids have achieved more by 18 than most of us will in a lifetime. Is that what it takes to get into the elite schools these days? If so, my bright well rounded straight A kids with more conventional teenage interests don't stand a chance. Back in my day the early 90s, Stanford accepted over 20% of applicants vs. 4.6% today. Am I the only one who thinks college admissions espe at the elite schools has gotten too much like the Hunger Games?

Agree it's getting crazy. They have so many super-qualified applicants to choose from... you need something extra to get noticed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, I graduated from TJ almost two decades ago and I think more than 100 people in my class went to U.Va. I wonder if it's harder to get in now or if more TJ students are turning U.Va down.

Probably both. We don't have this year's accepted/admitted numbers, but generally more than 300 kids apply and about 2/3 get in.

The list was accepted by students to go to UVA, but not admitted by school. Maybe more students decided not to go to UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, I graduated from TJ almost two decades ago and I think more than 100 people in my class went to U.Va. I wonder if it's harder to get in now or if more TJ students are turning U.Va down.

Probably both. We don't have this year's accepted/admitted numbers, but generally more than 300 kids apply and about 2/3 get in.

The list was accepted by students to go to UVA, but not admitted by school. Maybe more students decided not to go to UVA.

Historically, UVA about 1/3 of kids accepted to UVA attend. We don't have this year numbers.

[Anonymous]

well I think its a mighty impressive list

[Anonymous]

Very impressive. You must realize that many of these students are attending engineering schools and some to direct entry medical school programs. DCUM is obsessed with SLACS. 20 to HYPS and and this list includes all of the Top 10 engineering programs in the country.

[Anonymous]

Also, they release a list of colleges acceptances at some point. It's interesting to see this too, since we all must weigh college reputation and cost of attending.

[Anonymous]

The COA at UVa has increased from what it used to be. Some of these kids might be getting solid merit scholarship offers from slightly lower ranked schools and so they go where the costs will be lower for them.

The prospect of graduating from college and starting adult life without loan payments is a huge attraction to those schools for a lot of families who make too much to be considered for financial aid at higher ranked schools that don't give out merit scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks similar to the data from my public HS in the Midwest. I'm not that impressed.

Curious, what Midwest public school sends 55 kids to the Ivys and more than 1/3 of the class to top 25 colleges?

I count 36 to Ivys, but I don't see Dartmouth.

Yeah but the drop out rate for mid West graduates is very high

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The COA at UVa has increased from what it used to be. Some of these kids might be getting solid merit scholarship offers from slightly lower ranked schools and so they go where the costs will be lower for them.

The prospect of graduating from college and starting adult life without loan payments is a huge attraction to those schools for a lot of families who make too much to be considered for financial aid at higher ranked schools that don't give out merit scholarships.

+1 We know a TJ senior who is getting a full ride to Univ of Alabama honors program. There are quite a few others getting full rides or near full rides to other schools so the list is even more impressive when you factor in all the merit scholarships.

[Anonymous]

The TJ Today list isn't even 100% accurate - ie: kid listed as going to Coast Guard Academy graduated in 2015 & no one's going from this class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks similar to the data from my public HS in the Midwest. I'm not that impressed.

Curious, what Midwest public school sends 55 kids to the Ivys and more than 1/3 of the class to top 25 colleges?

Not many.

Most average, public, high schools, not located in the northeast or near affluent cities, send the majority of their graduates to local state schools and community colleges, assuming they are college-bound at all. I went to a no-name, public, high school in the south and did not know anyone who went to any Ivy, or anywhere remotely prestigious, except for one girl who went to Oxford. She was from a very wealthy family.

There's no question that these elite high schools have a significant advantage over average high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well I think its a mighty impressive list

Me, too. I think the naysayers have an unrealistic notion of what it takes to pay for college. I think they also don't understand that it isnt' the goal of every kid to go to the most prestigious school in the eyes of middle-aged lawyers. Some kids are choosing specific programs that we just don't know about.

Congrats to all.

[Anonymous]

That was the best thing I've read on this board in a long time. Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The TJ Today list isn't even 100% accurate - ie: kid listed as going to Coast Guard Academy graduated in 2015 & no one's going from this class.

I'm glad. We got a W-L list that enabled me to identify specific kids, not all of whom I knew well enough. I'd rather a recent average over recent years.