How the hell is anyone supposed to get into college now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Then go to a less selective school. You can study CS in lots of places. In VA, you could go to UMW (91% admit rate) and a high-stats student would get merit making the cost <$20k/year.

You can study CS in lots of places, but the outcome is not the same. As you would expect, the average salary at age 25 and age 45 of a CS grads from UMW is far less than that of a CS grad from VT or UVA or an OOS selective institution.

Sensible major at less selective school >>> dumb major at more selective school
Sensible major at more selective school >>> sensible major at less selective school

CS is vocational

So?

[Anonymous]

Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more

But what makes your kid tick? You give us a list of random activities that have no relationship to each other, but no idea of who your kid is as a person. Pick one thing. That tells a story. Otherwise, it's just a list of stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

My daughter's friend who got into Yale was an Asian male with a very high wGPA who won Science Olympiad competitions and is an advanced string player.

Straight A doesn't mean anything, OP, you should know this. There is a world's difference between an A in a regular classs and an A in an AP class. Kids who get into the top colleges have 10+ APs, have a national level EC, etc. Your newpaper editing and team captainship worked a generation ago, but not today.

This is sounds exhausting. Kids have no time to be kids.

You are a good, thoughtful parent. Your kids are very lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is friendly with a kid who is one of the top 10 chess players in the country for his age. Near perfect GPA, SATs, and a boatload of other fairly impressive ECs. Advanced 3+ years in math, was taking college courses as a sophomore. Got rejected from Harvard. (Did get into Yale, but still - what else was Harvard looking for?)

Math geek/chess player is one of the most generic types of smart boy. Has been true for centuries.

It's unfortunate we don't value this type of student. Those who study, do activities, and positively contribute to their community. Watching the news this spring....take your pick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

I think your first mistake is saying “even VA Tech,” as if you assume it’s somehow easy to get into or that your kid deserves a spot for some reason. It’s an excellent school, along with many others you no doubt underestimate.

Tech is easy to get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

I think your first mistake is saying “even VA Tech,” as if you assume it’s somehow easy to get into or that your kid deserves a spot for some reason. It’s an excellent school, along with many others you no doubt underestimate.

Tech is easy to get into.

The difficulty with VT is that it's impossible to generalize. Admits vary widely by major. And within more selective majors, admissions are not exclusively based on stats so a higher GPA/higher SAT student might not get into VT engineering while a classmate with slightly lower scores does get in. High stats students assume it's a safety when it is not (applying Engineering or Business) and then get upset when they are waitlisted. But if you are applying to a major with a 90% acceptance rate it is a safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Full pay helps

Do you indicate full pay on the application? How does full pay help?

You don’t complete a FAFSA or other financial aid forms.

So if you don't complete FAFSA/aid to submit with the application, that can be taken into consideration? Does FAFSA come later in the process?
Sorry, I have a 10th and we're not there yet

Yes…many schools give preference to people that don’t need aid. The very top 15 schools are need-blind and don’t care if you need aid but they have massive endowments.

We filled out the FAFSA but applied early decision (which implies willingness to pay full price). Got in, and are now paying 90k per year. Be careful what you wish for!

Anyone can fill out the FAFSA, but if the school's NPC said you would get $0, then you get $0. If it said you should receive aid, then you lobby the school that their FA calculations are incorrect...and worst case you withdraw your ED (which you are allowed to do for financial reasons).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

I think your first mistake is saying “even VA Tech,” as if you assume it’s somehow easy to get into or that your kid deserves a spot for some reason. It’s an excellent school, along with many others you no doubt underestimate.

Tech is easy to get into.

The difficulty with VT is that it's impossible to generalize. Admits vary widely by major. And within more selective majors, admissions are not exclusively based on stats so a higher GPA/higher SAT student might not get into VT engineering while a classmate with slightly lower scores does get in. High stats students assume it's a safety when it is not (applying Engineering or Business) and then get upset when they are waitlisted. But if you are applying to a major with a 90% acceptance rate it is a safety.

Because it's easy to get into. Tell yourself what you want but Tech is not a hard admit.

[Anonymous]

Easy. Just tell them you'll pay full freight. You're in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easy. Just tell them you'll pay full freight. You're in.

If that were true every single kid in my neighborhood would be headed to an Ivy.

I think schools can smell inauthenticity. The ones with the paid private counselors and essay writers and scripted life since K did not do as well as the 'hands-off, non helicopter pta parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's always JMU.

JMU is a great school with a traditional college experience that my kids absolutely loved. Highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

I think your first mistake is saying “even VA Tech,” as if you assume it’s somehow easy to get into or that your kid deserves a spot for some reason. It’s an excellent school, along with many others you no doubt underestimate.

Tech is easy to get into.

DP. Not for many, many smart kids who were rejected. But since you’re just trolling, I won’t waste my energy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Easy. Just tell them you'll pay full freight. You're in.

If that were true every single kid in my neighborhood would be headed to an Ivy.

I think schools can smell inauthenticity. The ones with the paid private counselors and essay writers and scripted life since K did not do as well as the 'hands-off, non helicopter pta parents.

I think you're just saying sh!t that feels right to you without any actual facts to back it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

I think your first mistake is saying “even VA Tech,” as if you assume it’s somehow easy to get into or that your kid deserves a spot for some reason. It’s an excellent school, along with many others you no doubt underestimate.

Tech is easy to get into.

The difficulty with VT is that it's impossible to generalize. Admits vary widely by major. And within more selective majors, admissions are not exclusively based on stats so a higher GPA/higher SAT student might not get into VT engineering while a classmate with slightly lower scores does get in. High stats students assume it's a safety when it is not (applying Engineering or Business) and then get upset when they are waitlisted. But if you are applying to a major with a 90% acceptance rate it is a safety.

Because it's easy to get into. Tell yourself what you want but Tech is not a hard admit.

DP. Riiiiight… which is why every year we have parents moaning that their kids didn’t get in. So easy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Easy. Just tell them you'll pay full freight. You're in.

If that were true every single kid in my neighborhood would be headed to an Ivy.

I think schools can smell inauthenticity. The ones with the paid private counselors and essay writers and scripted life since K did not do as well as the 'hands-off, non helicopter pta parents.

I think you're just saying sh!t that feels right to you without any actual facts to back it up.

Kind of like you?
DP