Big 3 College Placement 2018-19 Cycle
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Anonymous
No. Not everyone who's a legacy gets in, but everyone who gets in who's not an athlete/URM/National award winner is a legacy. |
Anonymous
| Even if what you say is true, the point is that legacy status doesn't help someone get in who isn't already sufficiently qualified on the merits. |
Anonymous
This is utter BS. Harvard legacy is about 30% of the class and that's pretty high (Yale is only 12% and Princeton is around 14.5%). Even in the extreme Harvard case, are you saying the other 70% are athletes/URM/national award winner? URMs comprise about 30%. Some of those kids are legacies, so it's double counting, too. Some are athletes and many are national award winners. Reality is that about 40-50% of any given class (remembering that Harvard is probably on the extreme side for legacy) get no tips. This incessant whining is embarrassing. Would you all prefer a straight national entrance exam? If not, then just stop. |
Anonymous
This isn't true. You can tell your child that if it soothes the pain. But while those attributes may help, they are by no means the only way in EA/ED to the top schools. |
Anonymous
I'm a NP, but I think the PP(s?) you are responding to are talking strictly about ED acceptances being skewed towards legacy/athlete/URM/national awards, etc., not the end make-up of the class come next Sept. |
Anonymous
Also, I'm referring to acceptances among private schools in the DC area. There is an overabundance of not just Harvard, but any top college, legacies, so it is very, very difficult for a non-legacy to get admitted. I know a kid at a top 3 whose parents went to Harvard and Yale, but didn't even bother applying EA to either one because there was so much competition within the class for those spots. So the kid applied early to another top 20 school and was admitted, and now can enjoy the rest of senior year. |
Anonymous
So much to unpack in here. This kid who didn't apply EA to Harvard and Yale, would he or she have been competitive enough to get into either school during the regular admissions cycle? If so, why (with his or her legacy status) didn't they bother waiting? Did this kid even want to go to Harvard or Yale? And why is the supposed overabundance of "top college legacies" in private schools even relevant? There are even more top college legacies in all the public schools combined around here. |
Anonymous
And the public school kids - unless they're at a selective magnet - have even a smaller chance of getting into a top school. Have you looked at the Arlington college matriculation stats? You're going to tell me there are no HYP legacies in Arlington? https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/college-admissions-a-snapshot/ The overabundance is relevant because a college is only going to take a limited number from each school. And out of the 20 Harvard legacies at Sidwell, the ones at the top of the class will get the limited number of acceptances, and the non-legacies with no hooks haven't got a chance, no matter how good their numbers are. |
Anonymous
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Maybe this is a dumb question but what does the quality of the college counselors have to do with ED acceptances? Wouldn't the best students at these top 3 schools get into the Ivies/or whatever school they choose, regardless of how good or bad the counselor is? It's not like the counselor is telling them about HYPS and the students had never heard of the schools before.
Can the reason be because a poor counselor likely writes a poor recommendation. Maybe that's too tangential but I'm just trying to understand the connection between quality of counselors and acceptances at these schools where kids/parents already know where they want to apply. |
Anonymous
I think sometimes people confuse correlation and causation with respect to legacies. |
Anonymous
If you're comparing two sufficiently qualified Sidwell applicants who are largely indistinguishable on paper and one is a legacy while the other has no hooks, then yes, I agree that the legacy will get a bump. But if you have someone with no hooks who's even more qualified (not an athlete, but super-pointy in other ways), I have a hard time believing that they get passed over for a legacy who's qualified but not as strong on paper. |
Anonymous
But that kid has got to be super, super pointy (ie, 4.0/1600/Intel Science Fair/Written own book/Founded national organization) |
Anonymous
Believe it sister. I’m sorry but it’s true. You can’t have Bs or 1300 SATs but if you have mostly As and 1400 SAT scores that makes you qualified under the legacy system. On the flip side you can be Of Asian descent, have a 4.5 GPA and perfect SAT scores and get passed over. |
Anonymous
Now I know you're full of BS. A 1400 SAT score, while impressive in general, puts you well under the 25th percentile for admits at any of the top 20 colleges. Legacy status isn't enough to resuscitate numbers that low if your sights are set on those schools. |
Anonymous
Don't forget offspring of extremely prominent parents. |