To those who have kids at T20s

[Anonymous]

Not valedictorian but excellent test scores and more importantly excelled in very specific math/science subjects despite going to a school that was very weak in them (school didn't even offer a lot of APs, let alone at the BC level). Did everything possible given what was available to excel in those subjects.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

Top 11-20 or might need high stats and the ability to pay. Their admissions is relatively predictable.
Top 1-10 or so - Ivies, mit, caltech, Stanford is a crapshoot even with high stats and the ability to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

My district is December cut off so all the kids with sep - dec b days turn 18 after heading to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

My district is December cut off so all the kids with sep - dec b days turn 18 after heading to college.

but i misread your post - thought you were referring to college freshmen and you were referring to fresh grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

I’m talking about grads - class of 17,18,19

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

My district is December cut off so all the kids with sep - dec b days turn 18 after heading to college.

but i misread your post - thought you were referring to college freshmen and you were referring to fresh grads.

Fresh grads go on to be college freshmen within months.

I mean, usually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

I was 16.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD entering freshman at HYP. No hooks - white UMC girl from northeast who is not an athlete or legacy and needs financial aid. Top 10% of her class - one of the top 3 publics in our state. Grades not perfect but strong throughout and she took the full "challenging" courseload. SAT strong but also not perfect, just at the average for her school. In general I think for most selective schools the stats piece is the first hoop to jump through, not what gets people in. What really distinguished her was all the "holistic admissions" stuff - she dedicated herself to an interesting range of ECs and was able to tie them together in her app via the essays in interesting and thoughtful ways. She was a bit of a unicorn in her school and that worked to her advantage. Her LORs were strong I believe, although I didn't read them I believe at least one of them was along the lines of "one of top students in my career" stuff. I don't know why she got in, but I would say that she demonstrated deep commitment to a few activities and interests in a way that came though as pretty authentic in her application.

Does anyone who isn't at Princeton use HYP this way? It seems like a way to pretend to not disclose a school while actually doing the exact opposite? Because who gets into Harvard and doesn't just say Harvard?

In a context like this, HYP or HYPS (depending on context) functions as a bit of an anonymizer when other details about the HS student are provided. No one uses it IRL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

My district is December cut off so all the kids with sep - dec b days turn 18 after heading to college.

but i misread your post - thought you were referring to college freshmen and you were referring to fresh grads.

Fresh grads go on to be college freshmen within months.

I mean, usually.

PP meant Fresh COLLEGE grads. The t20 ones were unimpressive.

[Anonymous]

DS had 3.89 GPA no weighted GPA at his school
1580 on SAT
Perfect scores on 4 SAT 2's
Transferred to college with 23 AP credits
National Merit Finalist
Captain of school sports team
Tons of community service

applied to 4 of the top 20 schools - got into 2, rejected from 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how t20's are screening candidates but I worked with a lot of fresh t20 grads on a presidential campaign and I was NOT blown away by their intellect.

Granted, I probably was not interacting with the smartest of their graduating class but it still doesn't say much about the top to bottom strength for some of these schools.

College freshman are 17 and 18 year old kids at T20s and everywhere else.

What college freshman is 17?

When you are a "fresh" grad of a top 20 college, you are … not 17 years old. You're 21 or 22.

For all the kids on this thread, maybe brush up on your reading comp as a first step?

[Anonymous]

DD is an athletic recruit at her t10 D3 school.
From strong, mid-sized public school, GPA 3.85 UW, 6 APs
ACT 35 one sitting, 800s on two SAT 2's
National Merit Finalist
Captain of a varsity sports team
President of an academic club
Strong essays, LOCs