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Only if your kid got into an Ivy in last 5 yrs. - how'd you do it?
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Anonymous
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So all you have to do is pick a sport for your child, make sure he or she is really good at it, and also gets great grades and you're in!
Our kids get to be kids just once. If we push and prod them to fit into a certain mold because it feeds our egos to see our progeny in an Ivy League school, what do we do to that one childhood? To their development as fully functioning human beings who are secure and able to find both fulfillment and happiness? Not to mention that the odds are they won't get in anyway. But hey, honey, you've got to give up soccer even though all your friends are on the rec team and you have fun cause its time to start fencing so you can fulfill my dreams of being the mom of a Harvard grad. Who, by the way, has a good chance of growing up to hate me. |
Anonymous
| I know a very competitive mom who sent her daughter to a prep school, exeter, which is a feeder school for harvard. This worked out well for everyone because both mom and daughter had strong personalities so sending her off to high school made for happiness. At a school like exeter they groom your child to be competitive and they also have relationships with admissions at ivys. This kind of thing is a good idea for those driven kids with driven parents. I disagree with the sports thing. Your kid has to be a complete package and that takes building a resume, not necessarily doing what makes your child happy. |
Anonymous
| I am really, really glad I am not you. |
Anonymous
| Truth is, if you get in, it was easy and if you don't, it was impossible. You aren't privy to the discussions in the admissions offices and don't know what was or was not a voting issue in your case. Athletes (and legacies) may be the exception, at least in cases where it is clear that the student would not have been admitted based on academic merit alone. |
Anonymous
| Your kid is a "complete package.?" No, my child is my child, not a package. She has to go to school and religious school and do her homework and some chores around the house but other than that she gets to be the person that she is and not the "package" I want her to be, |
Anonymous
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Agree with 23:12 that the Ivy's are looking for the complete package. However, that package can come from anywhere from prep to public to home school. The Ivy's design their incoming class to be what they consider balanced. Colleges have many great candidates to choose from and they consider their endowment bottom line as well as their need for diversity. Grades are huge. If you are serious about and Ivy, a school like Exeter is a great idea. If your child starts up something that shows they are philanthropic (I think many parents do this for their child), this is another feather in their cap.
A public school kid who has been groomed for an Ivy can be just as attractive. I think the key is to stick out in a positive way. No doubt, coming from a public is more difficult especially if you are not a minority. |
Anonymous
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Two of mine are at Ivies but I did not "do it." One got in with top scores, grades, extra-curriculars, recommendations, maybe a push from school for attention. (Yes, a private school. They are good at spreading the wealth among their students -- don't expect a broad array of choices.) One got in with very good scores, grades, and a sport. (If your child is good at a sport, when they time comes, you will learn how to connect to schools around it.) No legacy or pull. But be careful what you wish for: many kids at Ivies complain that they are all collections of extremes and believe that their friends at the excellent but non-Ivy schools are having more normal social experiences and equally good academics.
Frankly I agree with most of the other responses to you on this thread -- do not put this burden on your child! Encourage them to pursue sports and endeavors that they love, let them become who they are. There are thousands of anecdotes out there about what school and what sports and what scores got thousands of kids into schools -- each path is unique and needs to be grounded in authenticity. All schools are looking for this, and you cannot train your child to be gifted at anything, particularly something they don't love. |
Anonymous
| I think Parents that do this should have bred hourses, not people. |
Anonymous
Wrong. From an Ivy admissions standpoint, a very smart non-legacy kid would probably be better off at a public HS than an elite private, especially if his or her class rank would be higher at the public. |
Anonymous
| Crew. |
Anonymous
BRAVO! |
Anonymous
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So you spend 10+ years making sure your child is a "complete package", pushing them to choose activities based on marketability rather than true passion, and so on. What happens then? Perhaps your child (justifiably) decides that s/he is a person not a package, and torpedoes the whole thing.
My parents pushed my brother to apply to Yale, even though he wasn't at all interested in the school. In the interview, they asked what he prefers to read. He responded "Playboy"! End of interview. (He got into a very good school that he actually wanted to attend). |
Anonymous
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"If your child starts up something that shows they are philanthropic (I think many parents do this for their child), this is another feather in their cap. "
I just had to pause in wonderment at the horror of this one. Way to teach your child to be a moral person! LOVE the line about breeding horses. |
Anonymous
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9:13 YEAH for your brother! Where did he go?
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Anonymous
| The idea of "grooming" your child into a "package" is gross. I think that with this attitude, your children will quickly figure out you care more about their pedigree than their personality, and they will grow up either to be well-adjusted but resent you, or appreciate what you did but be socially awkward with twisted priorities. |