The Goldilocks of Schools

[Anonymous]

People here love Pitt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the bad mouthing posters are adults who have already graduated from college. They think they know best about every college for your child. I recommend you don’t tell everyone what schools you are looking at. All these opinions will make you crazy. There is a perfect school for every kid. Believe it.

Agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the bad mouthing posters are adults who have already graduated from college. They think they know best about every college for your child. I recommend you don’t tell everyone what schools you are looking at. All these opinions will make you crazy. There is a perfect school for every kid. Believe it.

Agree!

Also agree! Important to tune out the noise. It makes me sad that people on here are pointlessly just trashing schools or making these absolute statements about majors or basically picking fights to defend their life choices.

It makes these boards less helpful. Like God forbid you think school X is good for major Y .... people can't just disagree respectfully, there's so much nastiness. I know that's the internet, but there are actually supportive communities out there. This often isn't one. Sometimes it is, and when that happens, it's really lovely.

[Anonymous]

This is OP again, thanks everyone who has posted. I’m thinking the sweet spot may be for a kid to enjoy high school - take some challenging classes but not overworked, and exert effort for the SAT (but not obsessively). Do a few ECs but be committed and do them well so as to have a focused “story” to present to schools so they they can picture DC there and what DC has to offer. DC applies to schools that are a good match and are cost effective/ sensible. DC does well in undergrad to distinguish herself somehow (research, leadership etc.), then puts it all out there to get into and thrive at the best grad school DC can afford. The goal is to peak in grad school and career, not in undergrad or high school. That’s where my money is.

[Anonymous]

For OP, my advice, then, would be to choose a high school that's middle of the road for rigor - enough that the student will get a taste for the purpose of preparing for college, and availability of AP courses to show rigor on the transcript, but not a school like, say, TJ (disclaimer, everything I know about TJ I have read in this forum).

Choose a high school that seems to have generous grading - there seems to be some disappointment among families of rigorous privates this year, perhaps due to test-optional policies and difference in grading not being truly, fully recognized in college admissions - though we have a long way to go before we can dissect that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For OP, my advice, then, would be to choose a high school that's middle of the road for rigor - enough that the student will get a taste for the purpose of preparing for college, and availability of AP courses to show rigor on the transcript, but not a school like, say, TJ (disclaimer, everything I know about TJ I have read in this forum).

Choose a high school that seems to have generous grading - there seems to be some disappointment among families of rigorous privates this year, perhaps due to test-optional policies and difference in grading not being truly, fully recognized in college admissions - though we have a long way to go before we can dissect that.

OP here - agree. Get good grades, take the magic number of 7 or so APs (not 10+, unless it’s not a hardship for the student). A middle rigor HS where DC can be a bit of a bigger fish in a small pond. But get that SAT score up and build a focused resume; do well but enjoy college then go full tilt in grad school. By then DC should have had a good balance and be mature enough and ready to focus on a grind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For OP, my advice, then, would be to choose a high school that's middle of the road for rigor - enough that the student will get a taste for the purpose of preparing for college, and availability of AP courses to show rigor on the transcript, but not a school like, say, TJ (disclaimer, everything I know about TJ I have read in this forum).

Choose a high school that seems to have generous grading - there seems to be some disappointment among families of rigorous privates this year, perhaps due to test-optional policies and difference in grading not being truly, fully recognized in college admissions - though we have a long way to go before we can dissect that.

OP here - agree. Get good grades, take the magic number of 7 or so APs (not 10+, unless it’s not a hardship for the student). A middle rigor HS where DC can be a bit of a bigger fish in a small pond. But get that SAT score up and build a focused resume; do well but enjoy college then go full tilt in grad school. By then DC should have had a good balance and be mature enough and ready to focus on a grind.

+1. PP, we learned the hard way for current senior boy. Tack on lack of motivation due to virtual schooling and the mid year report will be a disaster. Our high school freshman attends a different school.

[Anonymous]

Brown
UNC
Wisconsin
Michigan

[Anonymous]

Purdue was the Goldilocks school for my son. It’s out of state tuition is reasonable too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Purdue was the Goldilocks school for my son. It’s out of state tuition is reasonable too.

autocorrect added the ‘. Grrrr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brown
UNC
Wisconsin
Michigan

I agree with this list. My kid is hoping for Wisconsin or Michigan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find all these threads amusing, complaining that a school is too big or too small. Too liberal or too conservative. Too indulgent or too impersonal. People are foolish to pay full fare and might not realize sensible ROI vs. are too cheap and sell themselves out to schools that “bribe” with merit aid. A school is too pretentious (UVA detractors) or not pretentious/prestigious enough (UM detractors).

On the one hand I couldn’t care less about the fray, but on the other hand I’m curious - what school(s) would hit the Goldilocks sweet spot for not getting trashed on DCUM and therefore might be acceptable options? I suppose I’m asking this somewhat rhetorically. However, if anyone knows of a Goldilocks school, I’d love to hear about it.

This one is easy HYPS. The harder question is what school hits the above standard, but is also a realistic possibility for a large chuck of people

I agree there is no school that is “perfect” for every kid, and you should not put too much weight on people complaining about a given school. Now having said that I will say as an example that Harvard is not a top 10 school for undergraduate teaching— has a great cohort of kids and great prestige but the grad schools are where they mostly shine. And of course the other schools listed have as many differences as similarities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Purdue was the Goldilocks school for my son. It’s out of state tuition is reasonable too.

autocorrect added the ‘. Grrrr

Lol

My brother has a PhD from MIT, and has his bachelor's and Master's in engineering from Duke, and follows higher education generally, and constantly sings the phrases of Purdue and says what a great school it is and what a good job the president is doing with the school.

It's not super selective, so I think it's a good college for many kids to consider.

I will encourage my kids to apply there. I'm glad your son likes it.

[Anonymous]

WUSTL is the Goldilocks school for my kid—mid-sized, academic without being cutthroat, urban but not too urban, robust extracurriculars and research opportunities while still having a sense of community. Also good food and nice dorms. They could have taken a shot at top-ten, but this was the place that ticked all the boxes.

[Anonymous]

Wherever your kid gets accepted and thrives.