My child is super intelligent and won't get into any good schools? What?!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's true. They would rather take foreigners at 3x the price than your kid. He should apply anyway. The rejections will help him to build resilience for the job market which is this but worse.

Please ignore this xenophobic piece of disinformation. I'm a foreigner, I know other foreigners, and it's just as hard if not harder for our kids to get in. Thank you.

absolutely! international students raise the game for all students: they are so incredibly talented at my kid's elite school--they have enjoyed having them as friends and class peers.

They cheat to get in and then cheat to stay in

+1
And degrade the culture of integrity adding a win at all costs element

Take us back to the days when real honest men like Donald Trump and George Bush and Ted Kennedy filled out universities.

No. I want to go forward into the days when AMERICANS of all kinds full out universities.

[Anonymous]

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They are not a net benefit to American students though. And American universities should serve American students first and foremost, rather than existing to milk rich foreigners.

I agree completely when discussing public colleges. I wish Virginia state schools were required to take more in-state students.

I think if a university takes state funds they need to prioritize state students. Period. It's not xenophobic or racist to expect something in return for tax dollars. I hate that people are so quick to call out xenophobia or racism to something that just plain is not.

I think it a university takes foreign funds they need to prioritize foreign students

Goes both ways.

Those state funds literally pay for state students. Foreign students pay for themselves and the state students.

Foreign students take spots that should go to American students.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Well my kid who got a 1580, had a 4.4 weighted gpa and has a 145 IQ didn’t get into VT or UVA. But he got in elsewhere and is loving it. Apply wisely with good safeties and a range of targets. Reaches are unlikely.

That’s insane. I assume he was in-state? I’m hoping my child might get into William and Mary when the time comes, but I suspect he’ll be a smidge lower on the scale than your child. The current process is crazy.

Sorry. I don’t believe that. From our rigorous private in NJ kids who aren’t nearly that credentialed get into VT.

I don’t know what to tell you. That was my kid and he didn’t get into VT (engineering) and no A+ on our scale and he had good EC and a very rigorous schedule. He is an Asian/white male in STEM and he applied before AA was ended. But he is from NOVA and it is hard to get into our top state schools because of the number of great students here trying for these schools. Much easier from out of state, I suspect.

+1
It is extremely difficult to get in from NoVa. The expectations are just much higher, and the competition is far greater.

My DS had this exact GPA and SAT score from Langley HS. My nephew had 4.1 GPA with 1490 from South County in FCPS and he got accepted into UVA for CS. Both my DS and nephew were members of the school varsity tennis team as EC.

Was your nephew recruited for Tennis? I'm from a more rural part of Virginia, and NOVA folks love to tell everyone about how much harder it is for kids from NOVA to get into UVA than kids from other parts of the state. I have never heard of anyone from my daughter's Podunk high school getting into UVA with a 4.1, the lowest I've heard is a 4.4.

m
Agree—4.4 is not always top 10% and generally from nova publics UVA only admits from the top 10%. 4.1 is average or even below so that has to be hooked from that district.
Top private schools often have 20-25% get into uva but even there 4.1 is usually borderline (weights are usually 0.5 for AP/honors at many privates so 4.1 would be top 25% but barely—4.4 is top 5% and they all get into uva easily)

Nobody with a 4.1 gets in from our private. Minimum 4.4 on SCOIR

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anyone who has not been through college admissions in the last few years does not understand the current landscape. There are most definitely tens of thousands of US students with those credentials. Throw in international students and kids of billionaires/celebrities, etc. and it is, indeed, now a crapshoot to get into a top school. The good news is that now the lesser-ranked schools have lots of kids with these stats. The workforce is global, you need to compete globally now. Might as well start in university!

If you go to the various college websites, you can find posts like this every year going back to the early days of the internet.

And? Admissions gets harder every year, and every year people notice that and say it’s getting harder.

Tuition goes up every year too. The fact that people notice it every year doesn’t negate the fact that it’s happening.

Well admissions is going to get easier in coming years with the population cliff. Current HS freshmen will start seeing that.

[Anonymous]

OP you’ve received some good advice here. Chat seems to be dominated by the issue of international students, which certainly is a factor. But imo the larger issue is there are so many students like yours. Thoughtfully construct an application that makes who he is as a human and how he will contribute to campus life, to admissions officers. Even if he doesn’t do this, he will be fine and will receive acceptances to a good school. Set expectations, make a balanced list, don’t get caught up in the top 25 mentality. No one is entitled to anything. He will undoubtedly have a very good outcome. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

If you are full pay consider applying to elite UK and Canada school, they focus on test scores rather than ECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, consider applying to elite UK and Canada school, they focus on test scores rather than ECs.

This can be good advice for some. Unis in England & Wales usually are 3 years for undergraduate, but Scotland is usually 4 years for undergraduate. Also it is worth considering Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really?! I want LOCAL doctors and health care professionals. I want LOCAL educators and child care. I want LOCAL employees for businesses that take tax credits in cities, states, and in this country. No tax credit unless the employees are LOCAL. This whole outsourcing development of our resources to other countries is a government problem. One that will stop when the people have had enough! European countries do this and we to as well.

Free market capitalism says otherwise. Cope harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you’ve received some good advice here. Chat seems to be dominated by the issue of international students, which certainly is a factor. But imo the larger issue is there are so many students like yours. Thoughtfully construct an application that makes who he is as a human and how he will contribute to campus life, to admissions officers. Even if he doesn’t do this, he will be fine and will receive acceptances to a good school. Set expectations, make a balanced list, don’t get caught up in the top 25 mentality. No one is entitled to anything. He will undoubtedly have a very good outcome. Good luck!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay consider applying to elite UK and Canada school, they focus on test scores rather than ECs.

Some great schools in UK and Canada. But the experience at most of those schools is very different than at a US school so you need to research what it is like to be a student there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid (11th grade) is smart. Like, super smart. Not genius level, but he has maintained his 4.0 with ease and sails through AP and DE classes. His IQ is somewhere around 140. He hasn't taken the SAT yet, but I'm sure he'll do super well.

Despite all this, he keeps telling me he has "no shot" at good colleges (not Ivies, but schools like UC Davis, Georgia Tech, etc). I really don't understand how college admissions have become so competitive that a child in the 99th percentile will have trouble being admitted to schools without insanely low acceptance rates.

Is he exaggerating, or is this true?

It’s your job to make sure your DC knows there are more than 50 great colleges in this country

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Well my kid who got a 1580, had a 4.4 weighted gpa and has a 145 IQ didn’t get into VT or UVA. But he got in elsewhere and is loving it. Apply wisely with good safeties and a range of targets. Reaches are unlikely.

That’s insane. I assume he was in-state? I’m hoping my child might get into William and Mary when the time comes, but I suspect he’ll be a smidge lower on the scale than your child. The current process is crazy.

Sorry. I don’t believe that. From our rigorous private in NJ kids who aren’t nearly that credentialed get into VT.

I don’t know what to tell you. That was my kid and he didn’t get into VT (engineering) and no A+ on our scale and he had good EC and a very rigorous schedule. He is an Asian/white male in STEM and he applied before AA was ended. But he is from NOVA and it is hard to get into our top state schools because of the number of great students here trying for these schools. Much easier from out of state, I suspect.

+1
It is extremely difficult to get in from NoVa. The expectations are just much higher, and the competition is far greater.

My DS had this exact GPA and SAT score from Langley HS. My nephew had 4.1 GPA with 1490 from South County in FCPS and he got accepted into UVA for CS. Both my DS and nephew were members of the school varsity tennis team as EC.

Was your nephew recruited for Tennis? I'm from a more rural part of Virginia, and NOVA folks love to tell everyone about how much harder it is for kids from NOVA to get into UVA than kids from other parts of the state. I have never heard of anyone from my daughter's Podunk high school getting into UVA with a 4.1, the lowest I've heard is a 4.4.

m
Agree—4.4 is not always top 10% and generally from nova publics UVA only admits from the top 10%. 4.1 is average or even below so that has to be hooked from that district.
Top private schools often have 20-25% get into uva but even there 4.1 is usually borderline (weights are usually 0.5 for AP/honors at many privates so 4.1 would be top 25% but barely—4.4 is top 5% and they all get into uva easily)

Nobody with a 4.1 gets in from our private. Minimum 4.4 on SCOIR

That is probably different weighting--our all girls private is like PP: 4.1 can get in but is iffy for UVA, 4.4 is sometimes the valedictorian or close--there is only 0.5 bump for honors/AP and there are not many honors or AP offered until 11-12. About 10-12% of the graduating class gets into UVA (in state) every year. top 3% go to Ivy/Duke types. Almost all UVA admits on SCOIR are 4.2-4.4ish, or the occasional 4.48 which is about the highest gpa attainable, and those are the same dots as the ivy admits.
Weighted GPAs are all in context of the high school. OP needs to ask the high school straight out where the kid ranks.
Our neighbor is at the nearby magnet-public: their kid had a 4.16W(3.9uw) last year and was told they were "around the median" as far as gpa and warned they would not get in to VT, WM, UVA, no chance. They had a 1510 and mix of DE and AP, but the devil is in the details...they were not in one of the two highest math tracks and they took they easier science path each year(APES not APBio, DE Chem not AP Chem), and regular foreign language. They were no where close to most rigorous. They are at JMU and love it but it is very easy for them. The parents were shocked the gpa was average. They thought the kid had to be top 10% with those #s. The kid will easily have a 4.0 and can go to ivy for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well my kid who got a 1580, had a 4.4 weighted gpa and has a 145 IQ didn’t get into VT or UVA. But he got in elsewhere and is loving it. Apply wisely with good safeties and a range of targets. Reaches are unlikely.

Where did he go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who has not been through college admissions in the last few years does not understand the current landscape. There are most definitely tens of thousands of US students with those credentials. Throw in international students and kids of billionaires/celebrities, etc. and it is, indeed, now a crapshoot to get into a top school. The good news is that now the lesser-ranked schools have lots of kids with these stats. The workforce is global, you need to compete globally now. Might as well start in university!

If you go to the various college websites, you can find posts like this every year going back to the early days of the internet.

And? Admissions gets harder every year, and every year people notice that and say it’s getting harder.

Tuition goes up every year too. The fact that people notice it every year doesn’t negate the fact that it’s happening.

Well admissions is going to get easier in coming years with the population cliff. Current HS freshmen will start seeing that.

I hope this is the case!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's true. They would rather take foreigners at 3x the price than your kid. He should apply anyway. The rejections will help him to build resilience for the job market which is this but worse.

Please ignore this xenophobic piece of disinformation. I'm a foreigner, I know other foreigners, and it's just as hard if not harder for our kids to get in. Thank you.

absolutely! international students raise the game for all students: they are so incredibly talented at my kid's elite school--they have enjoyed having them as friends and class peers.

They cheat to get in and then cheat to stay in

+1
And degrade the culture of integrity adding a win at all costs element

Take us back to the days when real honest men like Donald Trump and George Bush and Ted Kennedy filled out universities.

No. I want to go forward into the days when AMERICANS of all kinds full out universities.

Universities can take whoever they want, especially the private ones that you seem to covet.