This should tell you how elite college admissions really are

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this ramble?

DP. Sharing of a pragmatic view of this years college admissions experience at a good school (dominated by the dominant race) with many excellent students as evidenced by the number of APs taken and the number of National Merit Semifinalists. The take away is not to be too dreamy eyed and shoot in the foot, especially if you are a parent/student of middle school or high school.

If you don't have kids or you are a know-it-all, then of course the original post is "ramble". The day is long. Save some attitude for the rest of the day.

Anyone who follows this board or the news or talks to a college counselor or looks at the CDSs or reads the accepted class profiles colleges publish already knows this stuff.

That’s why people are calling it ramble. OP isn’t adding anything new except their own shock that high stat kids who take a lot of APs are not that interesting to elite colleges.

No. I disagree. The OP gave granular data of a good academics school in Texas (this board generally deals with DMV area schools and most of the time in anecdotes). CDS of a college only gives composite information of an admissions cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard. Do you understand that you are competing globally for 2000 or so spots? Tell me when you looked at the acceptance rate did you think of another outcome ? I’m trying to understand why you are so surprisEd.

DP. Your post indicates you only read or digested part of the original post. Also, I didn't get that OP meant Harvard owes more than zero admission offers to the high school in question. Don't act smarter than you actually are.

Ha ha ha! Slap that biatch good pp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard. Do you understand that you are competing globally for 2000 or so spots? Tell me when you looked at the acceptance rate did you think of another outcome ? I’m trying to understand why you are so surprisEd.

Except legacy and deep pocket donors. Harvard is so morally corrupt in how they choose a vast majority of their undergraduates that it is shocking. Grade inflation is rampant. A pretentious and elitist school, I wish Asian-Americans and Asians would boycott Harvard altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR: At an average high school in Texas, no one got into HYPS. Also, some vaguely racist stuff about kids who were offered admission to top 10 schools.

Shouldn't you be posting on BFHM, OP?

Says someone with a hook, right? So what are you - legacy, deep pockets, athlete or URM? The statistics of AP and NMSF does not sound like an average high school to me. And if it is Texas...it is probably better than MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard. Do you understand that you are competing globally for 2000 or so spots? Tell me when you looked at the acceptance rate did you think of another outcome ? I’m trying to understand why you are so surprisEd.

Seriously. The only thing that’s changed since I was young is the enormous amount of parents who think their child with half a brain can get into Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. 1/3rd of Harvard's entering class in any given year is legacy.

Andover and Exeter (elite NE boarding schools) each contribute about 1% of Harvard's freshman class each year. That number is, of course, lower than the number of kids from those schools that get into Harvard and take a spot from a kid from another school.

And to a degree Harvard (and other elites) seek to add a not insignificant number of academically qualified students who are the first in their family to attend college, and who will presumably benefit most from what a deep pocketed institution can provide. Wonder if any of the students OP mentions were first-gen, or standouts in a state or national event. Without fuller information this doesn’t in fact tell us anything we didn’t already know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard.

In that case, admission should be 100% merit based and should totally ignore "adversity" of any kind, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most veterans to this forum know this already, but I thought, I would share the results of this year's admission at my kids school.

School is a well rated (but not top) public school in a suburb of Texas. I would say in the top 25% of all high schools in Texas. around 70% white. About 5% Asian.

Class strength around 550

Offers a lot of AP classes. Total NMSF: around 20

Total AP scholars around 100, AP scholars with distinction: around 70, National AP scholars: around 15

School ranks students as per Texas state requirements

This year here is the haul from Private Universities: Students who applied to the top 25 private universities were usually in the top10% of class. Around 60 students or so applied to top 25 private universities


3 students made it to one of top 10 schools. 1 to top 10 LAC. (1 half Asian-half white, 2 Asian, 1 Hispanic)

Everybody else pretty much got denied or waitlisted


Most of the gifted kids are going to UT Austin.

All top 5 kids got rejected from Harvard and Stanford. All four who got in were in the top 10 ranks of this school. If your school is anywhere close to this profile, I suspect this may be how things may be shaking out at your school too. Just we aware and plan accordingly. Don't be overly optimistic.

so in other words, elite means.... wait for it.... elite.

it means learn how to row.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard.

In that case, admission should be 100% merit based and should totally ignore "adversity" of any kind, right?

Except Harvard has decided they value people with adversity so sorry for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard. Do you understand that you are competing globally for 2000 or so spots? Tell me when you looked at the acceptance rate did you think of another outcome ? I’m trying to understand why you are so surprisEd.

Seriously. The only thing that’s changed since I was young is the enormous amount of parents who think their child with half a brain can get into Harvard.

You mean parents who spend their whole life making their kids study for a test... think they DESERVE (are ENTITLED) to Harvard.

[Anonymous]

But DCUM told me if I move to flyover country my kids will be Ivy autoadmits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. 1/3rd of Harvard's entering class in any given year is legacy.

Andover and Exeter (elite NE boarding schools) each contribute about 1% of Harvard's freshman class each year. That number is, of course, lower than the number of kids from those schools that get into Harvard and take a spot from a kid from another school.

That’s nothing compared to Noble and Greenough with only 120 kids per grade. Heard they had a great year this year - 17 to Harvard during ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is owed Harvard. Do you understand that you are competing globally for 2000 or so spots? Tell me when you looked at the acceptance rate did you think of another outcome ? I’m trying to understand why you are so surprisEd.

Seriously. The only thing that’s changed since I was young is the enormous amount of parents who think their child with half a brain can get into Harvard.

You mean parents who spend their whole life making their kids study for a test... think they DESERVE (are ENTITLED) to Harvard.

This is so true. The parents who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on soccer and math club, or violin and ice scaring—they want their deserved elite college, damnit! They have been on their kids for 18 years molding the perfect college applicant. They are mad when junior isn’t special enough for Harvard. Then they blame the brown kids.

[Anonymous]

If each of HYPS took one of the top 4 kids of every high school in America, and no other students for any other reason (no legacy, no international, no community college transfers) they would have to more than quadruple their class size. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that any given average HS isn’t having one HYPS placement every a year.

[Anonymous]

I didn't find it to be rambling. I found it interesting when compared to the Whitman post. What do all the posters who were unimpressed by Whitman's stats have to say now?