Competitive, but not most Competitive

[Anonymous]

I would demand a refund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, Vanderbilt is ranked 17th. That's pretty damn good if you ask me.

No offense OP, but do your research before posting. Vanderbilt is a top 20 school.

[Anonymous]

This just happened in September -- we were standing in line at Princeton waiting to get our daughter's room key. The lady behind us was super friendly going on and on about her embarassed daughter standing right there. She got into Princeton, but not Vanderbilt. She said they were from TN and everyone in TN wants to go to Vandy -- so they don't all get in. So, if I were the original poster here -- I wouldn't count my chickens before they were hatched.

There were girls at my daughter's elite hs (yes one of the ones always mentioned) -- some of the girls w/ top SATs, SAT subject tests, AP tests and grades had a hard time getting into places ranked way below Vandy or U Mich. Whoever started this forum must not have had anyone apply to colleges recently. It's not easy to get in anywhere anymore including what used to be considered "safteties" a long time ago such as UMD, OSU and other places that are now highly regarded.

[Anonymous]

I really appreciate this thread today. The OP has quite unintentionally made me feel better about having children in independent schools. Based on some of the recent threads, I was beginning to think I was some kind of freak for viewing independent schools as a great place to send a child for a well-rounded education.

I seriously was starting to think I was going to have to pull the kids and move to MoCo to get away from Ivy madness, although then I guess I would have had to figure out what all this fuss about consortiums, down county and whatever is about. Now that I know there are a few people like me for whom the tuition check is not viewed as some kind of deposit down on a guaranteed Ivy spot (and that an Ivy spot is the only thing worth having), I think I'll keep the kids right where they are.

[Anonymous]

We chose a private school for DD based on what her experience will be now, today. She is getting a great education and would get a great education at a great number of area school public and private.
Will I be disappointed if she does not go to a top college or to college? Only if I think she did not do her best, that she was lazy. If that is the outcome, I think the responsibility will lie on my shoulders as her parent and not on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose a private school for DD based on what her experience will be now, today. She is getting a great education and would get a great education at a great number of area school public and private.
Will I be disappointed if she does not go to a top college or to college? Only if I think she did not do her best, that she was lazy. If that is the outcome, I think the responsibility will lie on my shoulders as her parent and not on the school.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This just happened in September -- we were standing in line at Princeton waiting to get our daughter's room key. The lady behind us was super friendly going on and on about her embarassed daughter standing right there. She got into Princeton, but not Vanderbilt. She said they were from TN and everyone in TN wants to go to Vandy -- so they don't all get in. So, if I were the original poster here -- I wouldn't count my chickens before they were hatched.

There were girls at my daughter's elite hs (yes one of the ones always mentioned) -- some of the girls w/ top SATs, SAT subject tests, AP tests and grades had a hard time getting into places ranked way below Vandy or U Mich. Whoever started this forum must not have had anyone apply to colleges recently. It's not easy to get in anywhere anymore including what used to be considered "safteties" a long time ago such as UMD, OSU and other places that are now highly regarded.

Agree. I suspect many of the people obsessed with Ivy League schools are parents of 4 year olds, not 17 year olds. It's a different world now, and may be an even different world by the time the 4 YOs are ready to apply to college.

[Anonymous]

Parents with young children who think their offspring are destined for Yale, Harvard or Princeton remind me of women pregnant with their first child who expect childbirth to go according to script and then sink into a depression when it doesn't. Folks, you have to be ready for anything. You have no idea what your child will be like in eighth grade! That is my child's age. DC is intelligent, but I do not believe DC is Ivy bound. I'd be thrilled if DC got into any of the schools on this list, Ivy or otherwise.

Amherst
Art Center College of Design
Art Institute of Chicago
Barnard
Bates
Bowdoin
Brandeis
Brown
Bryn Mawr
Caltech
Cambridge
Carleton College (MN)
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont Colleges
Colby
Colgate
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Georgetown
Grinnell
Hamilton
Harvard
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
Juilliard
McGill
Medical School
Middlebury
Military Academy
MIT
Mount Holyoke
Northwestern
NYU
Oberlin
Oxford
Princeton
Queen's
Radcliffe
Reed
Rice
RISD
Smith
Stanford
Swarthmore
Tufts
U of Chicago
U of Michigan
U of Notre Dame
U of Pennsylvania
U of Toronto
U of Virginia
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSF
UNC Chapel Hill
Vanderbilt
Vassar
Wake Forest
Washington (St. Louis)
Washington and Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Western Ontario
Williams
Yale

[Anonymous]

You can cross Oxford and Cambridge off your list, unless you're international. They don't accept Americans, except in EXTREMELY rare cases. Edinburgh in Scotland seems very popular these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can cross Oxford and Cambridge off your list, unless you're international. They don't accept Americans, except in EXTREMELY rare cases. Edinburgh in Scotland seems very popular these days.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were girls at my daughter's elite hs (yes one of the ones always mentioned) -- some of the girls w/ top SATs, SAT subject tests, AP tests and grades had a hard time getting into places ranked way below Vandy or U Mich. Whoever started this forum must not have had anyone apply to colleges recently. It's not easy to get in anywhere anymore including what used to be considered "safteties" a long time ago such as UMD, OSU and other places that are now highly regarded.

Agree. I suspect many of the people obsessed with Ivy League schools are parents of 4 year olds, not 17 year olds. It's a different world now, and may be an even different world by the time the 4 YOs are ready to apply to college.

I agree that getting admitted to top-ranked colleges is never easy, and that it's hard to know what the college admissions world will look like many years from now. But being "Realistic Rachel" is probably more appropriate than "Negative Nellie." Below are recent college stats from another thread (http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/67710.page). A 1-in-5 shot at an Ivy (or 1-in-2 shot at other top-25 colleges) does not sound quite so depressing as you make it seem. And no, I'm not "Ivy obsessed" -- I just think you're painting a more negative picture than is justified.

Class of 2008 Stats:
NCS: 24% of graduating class attending Ivy League schools; 68% of class (51 out of 75) attending "Top 25 Colleges."
St. Albans: 24% to Ivy League; 59% (45 out of 76) to Top 25 Colleges.
Holton: 22% to Ivy League; 49% (38 out of 78 ) to Top 25 Colleges.
Landon: 10% to Ivy League; 26% (21 out of 81) to Top 25 Colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were girls at my daughter's elite hs (yes one of the ones always mentioned) -- some of the girls w/ top SATs, SAT subject tests, AP tests and grades had a hard time getting into places ranked way below Vandy or U Mich. Whoever started this forum must not have had anyone apply to colleges recently. It's not easy to get in anywhere anymore including what used to be considered "safteties" a long time ago such as UMD, OSU and other places that are now highly regarded.

Agree. I suspect many of the people obsessed with Ivy League schools are parents of 4 year olds, not 17 year olds. It's a different world now, and may be an even different world by the time the 4 YOs are ready to apply to college.

I agree that getting admitted to top-ranked colleges is never easy, and that it's hard to know what the college admissions world will look like many years from now. But being "Realistic Rachel" is probably more appropriate than "Negative Nellie." Below are recent college stats from another thread (http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/67710.page). A 1-in-5 shot at an Ivy (or 1-in-2 shot at other top-25 colleges) does not sound quite so depressing as you make it seem. And no, I'm not "Ivy obsessed" -- I just think you're painting a more negative picture than is justified.

Class of 2008 Stats:
NCS: 24% of graduating class attending Ivy League schools; 68% of class (51 out of 75) attending "Top 25 Colleges."
St. Albans: 24% to Ivy League; 59% (45 out of 76) to Top 25 Colleges.
Holton: 22% to Ivy League; 49% (38 out of 78 ) to Top 25 Colleges.
Landon: 10% to Ivy League; 26% (21 out of 81) to Top 25 Colleges.

I know there was already a thread on these stats, but I must say - as a graduate from a top 25 university, and a graduate of a local private high school that is not one of the top ones mentioned on this board - I'm impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At first I thought all of the "Ivy' references on this post were sort of a generalized way of referring to the most competitive schools. Now I'm not so sure - parents - if you sent your child to one of the top DC privates (Sidwell/GDS/Maret/NCS/St. Albans etc.) and your child ended up at a school such as Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, University of Michigan, Vassar etc. would you consider your money well spent?

OMG, I thought an Ivy admit was guaranteed! I'll need to call hubby and yank DC out tonight.

[Anonymous]

NCS: 24% of graduating class attending Ivy League schools; 68% of class (51 out of 75) attending "Top 25 Colleges."
St. Albans: 24% to Ivy League; 59% (45 out of 76) to Top 25 Colleges.
Holton: 22% to Ivy League; 49% (38 out of 78 ) to Top 25 Colleges.
Landon: 10% to Ivy League; 26% (21 out of 81) to Top 25 Colleges.

Wow, I'm actually shocked how low the Ivy percentages are in these stats, esp. at the Catherdral schools. Especially since (if our friend group is a representative sample), 5/6 of the kids we know at those 2 schools have Ivy league educated parents which certainly will give their kids an admission advantage. My take---if you're kids are not IVY legacy, don't even view paying for a top tier private as a significant boost for Ivy addmisions. At best you're probably looking at 1/10 odds which is pretty darn bad and not a great return (at all!) on a 500K lifetime investment for private school (if this is large reason why you chose private).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NCS: 24% of graduating class attending Ivy League schools; 68% of class (51 out of 75) attending "Top 25 Colleges."
St. Albans: 24% to Ivy League; 59% (45 out of 76) to Top 25 Colleges.
Holton: 22% to Ivy League; 49% (38 out of 78 ) to Top 25 Colleges.
Landon: 10% to Ivy League; 26% (21 out of 81) to Top 25 Colleges.

Wow, I'm actually shocked how low the Ivy percentages are in these stats, esp. at the Catherdral schools ....

I know it's always fun for DCUM to bash the Cathedral schools, but the point was simply that students from all these schools seem to have pretty good odds of getting into strong colleges. As for whether the Cathedral schools should be sending a higher percentage of graduates to Ivy league schools, I think you'll find that hardly any schools send more than 20% of graduates to the Ivy league.