S/O - Question to those who think having all kids in a family go to a top school is "no big deal"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's just the world you're in OP. In my world the kids were all professors kids and went to top schools, so it's normal. I don't know what else to tell you. The fact is that it's not that hard to get into Duke Law if you have great LSATs, great undergrad record, and something in your background indicating you actually want to be a lawyer. Those schools are filled with "lily white" kids who are very smart and very hard working, contrary to the fever dreams of people obsessed with how "URMs" and "hooked" kids are ruining their kids chances. Ultimately if you are very smart (ie top 95-99% standardized test scores), and work hard (ie good grades) you are going to get into good schools and grad schools.

"filled with" like it's 70,000 student Arizona State lol

Duke University School of Law, no. 10 US News
Enrollment: 715
70% Caucasian = 500

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Athletics play a HUGE role too. My DS got into 3 top LACs due to his sport. Btw, he had excellent stats ( Val + high SATs), but did not get into the ivy he hoped for.

Was he recruited by the ivy coach? There is a big gap in the quality of play - for example soccer - between ivy and nescAc.

Ivy is D1, Nescac is D3. My DS could look at current stats for the school and knew where he would be competitive. He then contacted each school coach, visited when the coach would be there to show interest and then kept in contact. He was a swimmer so he had timed results of his own so he did not require films. He was accepted to 2 Nescacs and 1 SLAC--all regular decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

"filled with" like it's 70,000 student Arizona State lol

Duke University School of Law, no. 10 US News
Enrollment: 715
70% Caucasian = 500

3.6+ undergrad GPA
90+ percentile LSAT
221 students enrolled from 5,095 applicants
Acceptance rate: 19%

So easy, anyone's kid can waltz into a top 10 law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's just the world you're in OP. In my world the kids were all professors kids and went to top schools, so it's normal. I don't know what else to tell you. The fact is that it's not that hard to get into Duke Law if you have great LSATs, great undergrad record, and something in your background indicating you actually want to be a lawyer. Those schools are filled with "lily white" kids who are very smart and very hard working, contrary to the fever dreams of people obsessed with how "URMs" and "hooked" kids are ruining their kids chances. Ultimately if you are very smart (ie top 95-99% standardized test scores), and work hard (ie good grades) you are going to get into good schools and grad schools.

"filled with" like it's 70,000 student Arizona State lol

Duke University School of Law, no. 10 US News
Enrollment: 715
70% Caucasian = 500

My point is that IF you are very smart and capable you'll be in that pool of people who get admitted. If in your world it is very rare to see people go to Duke Law then you are not in that pool of very smart, accomplished people. The overall point is that white kids still get admitted on merit to elite schools. if it is unusual to you to see an "unhooked" white family with accomplished kids, don't attribute that to them somehow overcoming a system stacked against them due to affirmative action. It's because they are very smart.

[Anonymous]

I never said it was "no big deal," rather, it is not uncommon among people I know. I also know plenty of people whose children don't get into good schools.

[Anonymous]

Even the average connected rich family has 1 goofball out of 3...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a spin off from the thread about the middle class family who has three daughters who have attended/earned degrees from Duke, Wharton, and a chemical engineering degree from an unspecified school. I am truly shocked by the number of posters who seemed to think this was typical results for academically minded middle class families. Speaking as someone who is very academically minded and middle class, I do not see this type of college attendance as normal at all among children of middle class families, even those who stress education. My own children are only in middle school and so far have earned all A's. However, despite being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, I do not see them building the impressive resumes that are necessary to attend colleges of this caliber. I simply do not have the money/time to spend on doing what is needed to have my children perform at a very advanced level in their chosen activities. For those of you who think attending schools like Duke and Penn are ordinary for children of smart, middle class parents. What types of things are you doing (especially on the extracurricular activity front) to make this seem like no big deal?

Average extracurricular activities that demonstrate a sustained interest, straight As, and mid 1500s on the SATs will get it done. The kids going to Duke and Penn didn't cure cancer.

Not in our case, it merely got him on the waitlist where he was a legacy and "no" elsewhere ( if we only count 'dcum elite' schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a spin off from the thread about the middle class family who has three daughters who have attended/earned degrees from Duke, Wharton, and a chemical engineering degree from an unspecified school. I am truly shocked by the number of posters who seemed to think this was typical results for academically minded middle class families. Speaking as someone who is very academically minded and middle class, I do not see this type of college attendance as normal at all among children of middle class families, even those who stress education. My own children are only in middle school and so far have earned all A's. However, despite being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, I do not see them building the impressive resumes that are necessary to attend colleges of this caliber. I simply do not have the money/time to spend on doing what is needed to have my children perform at a very advanced level in their chosen activities. For those of you who think attending schools like Duke and Penn are ordinary for children of smart, middle class parents. What types of things are you doing (especially on the extracurricular activity front) to make this seem like no big deal?

Average extracurricular activities that demonstrate a sustained interest, straight As, and mid 1500s on the SATs will get it done. The kids going to Duke and Penn didn't cure cancer.

Not in our case, it merely got him on the waitlist where he was a legacy and "no" elsewhere ( if we only count 'dcum elite' schools).

So where did he get admitted?

[Anonymous]

DC is a white collar town OP. You would have different results in Trump country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a spin off from the thread about the middle class family who has three daughters who have attended/earned degrees from Duke, Wharton, and a chemical engineering degree from an unspecified school. I am truly shocked by the number of posters who seemed to think this was typical results for academically minded middle class families. Speaking as someone who is very academically minded and middle class, I do not see this type of college attendance as normal at all among children of middle class families, even those who stress education. My own children are only in middle school and so far have earned all A's. However, despite being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, I do not see them building the impressive resumes that are necessary to attend colleges of this caliber. I simply do not have the money/time to spend on doing what is needed to have my children perform at a very advanced level in their chosen activities. For those of you who think attending schools like Duke and Penn are ordinary for children of smart, middle class parents. What types of things are you doing (especially on the extracurricular activity front) to make this seem like no big deal?

Average extracurricular activities that demonstrate a sustained interest, straight As, and mid 1500s on the SATs will get it done. The kids going to Duke and Penn didn't cure cancer.

Not in our case, it merely got him on the waitlist where he was a legacy and "no" elsewhere ( if we only count 'dcum elite' schools).

So where did he get admitted?

. UMD-CP Honors and RPI were the higher level schools to which he was admitted. We are in NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a spin off from the thread about the middle class family who has three daughters who have attended/earned degrees from Duke, Wharton, and a chemical engineering degree from an unspecified school. I am truly shocked by the number of posters who seemed to think this was typical results for academically minded middle class families. Speaking as someone who is very academically minded and middle class, I do not see this type of college attendance as normal at all among children of middle class families, even those who stress education. My own children are only in middle school and so far have earned all A's. However, despite being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, I do not see them building the impressive resumes that are necessary to attend colleges of this caliber. I simply do not have the money/time to spend on doing what is needed to have my children perform at a very advanced level in their chosen activities. For those of you who think attending schools like Duke and Penn are ordinary for children of smart, middle class parents. What types of things are you doing (especially on the extracurricular activity front) to make this seem like no big deal?

Average extracurricular activities that demonstrate a sustained interest, straight As, and mid 1500s on the SATs will get it done. The kids going to Duke and Penn didn't cure cancer.

From my experience the bolded is not true. I have seen kids with these stats not get into schools of this caliber. And by mid 1500s SAT scores, are you basing it on a 1600 scale, cause that would be damn near perfect and extremely atypical for kids from any background to achieve.

Yes, even under the new SAT scoring system (under which the vast majority of students score higher than they would have in the past), mid-1500 SAT scores are still extremely rare, especially since the higher a score is, the less of a "bump" it got thanks to the new system. Even the majority of kids admitted to Stanford & Harvard this year did not have mid-1500 SAT scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a spin off from the thread about the middle class family who has three daughters who have attended/earned degrees from Duke, Wharton, and a chemical engineering degree from an unspecified school. I am truly shocked by the number of posters who seemed to think this was typical results for academically minded middle class families. Speaking as someone who is very academically minded and middle class, I do not see this type of college attendance as normal at all among children of middle class families, even those who stress education. My own children are only in middle school and so far have earned all A's. However, despite being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, I do not see them building the impressive resumes that are necessary to attend colleges of this caliber. I simply do not have the money/time to spend on doing what is needed to have my children perform at a very advanced level in their chosen activities. For those of you who think attending schools like Duke and Penn are ordinary for children of smart, middle class parents. What types of things are you doing (especially on the extracurricular activity front) to make this seem like no big deal?

Average extracurricular activities that demonstrate a sustained interest, straight As, and mid 1500s on the SATs will get it done. The kids going to Duke and Penn didn't cure cancer.

I'm curious to know what your idea of "average extracurricular activities that demonstrate sustained interest" are? Would you consider playing flute for all 4 years in the Marching Band to be good enough? Being an average player on the soccer team throughout high school?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Who cares where you or your kids go to college? You guys are insecure idiots. Jesus. For all the "successful" people in DC, I think if you scratch the surface, you all are equally image-obsessed (only ivy vs beauty) and superficial as the worst stereotype of LA person out there. Vapid and lacking any character. I can't think of anything worse than somebody who thinks where people go to school is interesting, except maybe somebody that talks about reality tv incessantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's just the world you're in OP. In my world the kids were all professors kids and went to top schools, so it's normal. I don't know what else to tell you. The fact is that it's not that hard to get into Duke Law if you have great LSATs, great undergrad record, and something in your background indicating you actually want to be a lawyer. Those schools are filled with "lily white" kids who are very smart and very hard working, contrary to the fever dreams of people obsessed with how "URMs" and "hooked" kids are ruining their kids chances. Ultimately if you are very smart (ie top 95-99% standardized test scores), and work hard (ie good grades) you are going to get into good schools and grad schools.

Then why do I know so many middle class kids with top grades, super high SAT scores, and good extracurriculars that have been rejected by the likes of UVA? What pray tell are these professor families doing that other middle class families of similar incomes, aren't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a spin off from the thread about the middle class family who has three daughters who have attended/earned degrees from Duke, Wharton, and a chemical engineering degree from an unspecified school. I am truly shocked by the number of posters who seemed to think this was typical results for academically minded middle class families. Speaking as someone who is very academically minded and middle class, I do not see this type of college attendance as normal at all among children of middle class families, even those who stress education. My own children are only in middle school and so far have earned all A's. However, despite being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, I do not see them building the impressive resumes that are necessary to attend colleges of this caliber. I simply do not have the money/time to spend on doing what is needed to have my children perform at a very advanced level in their chosen activities. For those of you who think attending schools like Duke and Penn are ordinary for children of smart, middle class parents. What types of things are you doing (especially on the extracurricular activity front) to make this seem like no big deal?

Average extracurricular activities that demonstrate a sustained interest, straight As, and mid 1500s on the SATs will get it done. The kids going to Duke and Penn didn't cure cancer.

From my experience the bolded is not true. I have seen kids with these stats not get into schools of this caliber. And by mid 1500s SAT scores, are you basing it on a 1600 scale, cause that would be damn near perfect and extremely atypical for kids from any background to achieve.

Yes, 1550+ on the SAT is tough. But the SAT is a learnable skill, and getting a high score is easier having an extracurricular talent that stands out on a national level.