Where are the top unhooked kids at your Big3 going this year (not legacy, URM or sports recruit).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to know where the bottom unhooked kids are going, not the top.

Elon, smu, tcu, sewanee, muhlenburgh, American, trinity, Syracuse. Not bad schools at all! These are full pay. Kids who need aide or instate are doing JMU, UMBC, CNU, or small liberal arts colleges like Juanita, Wooster etc.

Interesting. I guess my 11th grader must be at the bottom of the class at their Big3 because the college counselor recently recommended almost every school on this list: Elon, SMU, TCU, Syracuse, Sewanee, Muhlenburg, Trinity. Unfortunately, my DC isn’t really thrilled about any of these schools. Really wishing we sent DC to public. 34 ACT and 3.1 GPA.

Bad news. This is where she or he can realistically get in. Good news, do what all the bottom NCS/STA kids do, go to trinity for a year, get a 4.0 - be sure to get a 4.0 even if it means picking uninteresting easy classes, and then transfer to UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to know where the bottom unhooked kids are going, not the top.

Elon, smu, tcu, sewanee, muhlenburgh, American, trinity, Syracuse. Not bad schools at all! These are full pay. Kids who need aide or instate are doing JMU, UMBC, CNU, or small liberal arts colleges like Juanita, Wooster etc.

Interesting. I guess my 11th grader must be at the bottom of the class at their Big3 because the college counselor recently recommended almost every school on this list: Elon, SMU, TCU, Syracuse, Sewanee, Muhlenburg, Trinity. Unfortunately, my DC isn’t really thrilled about any of these schools. Really wishing we sent DC to public. 34 ACT and 3.1 GPA.

I think if your child does an ED to Tulane or Wake Forest or Colby or Bates they would have a good shot with that GPA and ACT score. We know Big 3 kids with similar stats that have gotten in ED to those schools.

Bate’s with a 3.1 seems like a stretch.

Any of those with a 3.1 is a stretch… ACT is excellent - kudos to her. A 3.1 GPA is a straight B, not even close to a B+. This means there are those three Cs from freshman year and probably some B- in other years which honestly isn’t great. It’s better than dropping but a 3.1 isn’t in the highly selective college range and Tulane, bates and wake are all highly selective. If you are full pay use your ED wisely. With that great ACT she would have a real shot at good colleges but highly selective won’t take 3.1 regardless. Depending on what your DD wants I would say ED for GW, Fordham, Syracuse, bucknell, conn coll, college of Charleston, Rhodes etc. 3.1 is bottom 25% at big 3…or at least at STA/NCS. It’s a bell curve and 50th percentile kids are in the B+ Range generally. Also since big 3 schools don’t weight you also need to realistically say is the 3.1 from honors math or regular track etc and really evaluate her work load compared to peer applicants. That’s why you need to be really smart about ED. She’ll be more competitive there since all the kids who don’t get in ED to top 20 schools are then flooding those schools as their targets/safeties when they are likely your DD reach. College admissions sucks!!! Also maybe she can spin the 3 Cs from freshman year as covid related, but also, how on earth did she get three Cs with remote learning? Most school graded so gently that year.

Yes, several B-s and Bs in 10th and all B+ and a few As in 11th. Not making excuses, but DD has inattentive ADHD which made remote learning a disaster. We are full pay. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to know where the bottom unhooked kids are going, not the top.

Elon, smu, tcu, sewanee, muhlenburgh, American, trinity, Syracuse. Not bad schools at all! These are full pay. Kids who need aide or instate are doing JMU, UMBC, CNU, or small liberal arts colleges like Juanita, Wooster etc.

Interesting. I guess my 11th grader must be at the bottom of the class at their Big3 because the college counselor recently recommended almost every school on this list: Elon, SMU, TCU, Syracuse, Sewanee, Muhlenburg, Trinity. Unfortunately, my DC isn’t really thrilled about any of these schools. Really wishing we sent DC to public. 34 ACT and 3.1 GPA.

Just curious but what did you expect with a 3.1 gpa? Not that those schools are bad - but how high were your expectations?

Honestly, I don’t know what I expected! Maybe Tulane, Miami, Bucknell, Colby? DCUM says that is where the bottom 25% of the big 3 go? The GPA is an upward trend (3 Cs in 9th) so probably a bit higher at the end of the year and by end of senior year.

Please don’t box yourself in. Your daughter or son is an individual and they could get it to schools that maybe others have not with those same grades. Go through the process have realistic expectations aim high. Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Does the 3.1 GPA count PE and art/music?

[Anonymous]

OP, my DS had around a 3.1 at a Big 3 and it was several years ago (pre-Pandemic) so the goalposts have moved, but he was admitted to Occidental, Santa Clara and Fordham, all of which seemed like great choices. And FWIW I know kids who have gone to Syracuse and found it life changing. It has a really strong alum network and provides a lot of opportunity. The hardest thing about being at a high pressure school is the feeling that the good options your kid still has are not good enough. It’s hard on the kids, but once they get to college and get away from the Big 3 bubble everything seems better. Good luck! Your child is going to do just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my DS had around a 3.1 at a Big 3 and it was several years ago (pre-Pandemic) so the goalposts have moved, but he was admitted to Occidental, Santa Clara and Fordham, all of which seemed like great choices. And FWIW I know kids who have gone to Syracuse and found it life changing. It has a really strong alum network and provides a lot of opportunity. The hardest thing about being at a high pressure school is the feeling that the good options your kid still has are not good enough. It’s hard on the kids, but once they get to college and get away from the Big 3 bubble everything seems better. Good luck! Your child is going to do just fine.

+1 Syracuse is awesome! Go Orange. They have top comms and public policy schools that your child can transfer into if freshman year goes really well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This obsession has to stop. It's literally killing kids.

Yes. It's insanity. These parents are unhinged and their kids are the ones paying the price.

I have a junior who is looking at a whole bunch of different colleges across the country. We don't really care where she goes- we just want her to be happy and are trying to keep the college application process as stress free as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my DS had around a 3.1 at a Big 3 and it was several years ago (pre-Pandemic) so the goalposts have moved, but he was admitted to Occidental, Santa Clara and Fordham, all of which seemed like great choices. And FWIW I know kids who have gone to Syracuse and found it life changing. It has a really strong alum network and provides a lot of opportunity. The hardest thing about being at a high pressure school is the feeling that the good options your kid still has are not good enough. It’s hard on the kids, but once they get to college and get away from the Big 3 bubble everything seems better. Good luck! Your child is going to do just fine.

You are all so kind. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to know where the bottom unhooked kids are going, not the top.

Elon, smu, tcu, sewanee, muhlenburgh, American, trinity, Syracuse. Not bad schools at all! These are full pay. Kids who need aide or instate are doing JMU, UMBC, CNU, or small liberal arts colleges like Juanita, Wooster etc.

Interesting. I guess my 11th grader must be at the bottom of the class at their Big3 because the college counselor recently recommended almost every school on this list: Elon, SMU, TCU, Syracuse, Sewanee, Muhlenburg, Trinity. Unfortunately, my DC isn’t really thrilled about any of these schools. Really wishing we sent DC to public. 34 ACT and 3.1 GPA.

Bad news. This is where she or he can realistically get in. Good news, do what all the bottom NCS/STA kids do, go to trinity for a year, get a 4.0 - be sure to get a 4.0 even if it means picking uninteresting easy classes, and then transfer to UVA.

Huge % if transfers from SFS too. Another bite at the apple. Not fantastic socially to come in elsewhere for sophomore year but better long game (regulation, network, recruiting) for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to know where the bottom unhooked kids are going, not the top.

Elon, smu, tcu, sewanee, muhlenburgh, American, trinity, Syracuse. Not bad schools at all! These are full pay. Kids who need aide or instate are doing JMU, UMBC, CNU, or small liberal arts colleges like Juanita, Wooster etc.

Interesting. I guess my 11th grader must be at the bottom of the class at their Big3 because the college counselor recently recommended almost every school on this list: Elon, SMU, TCU, Syracuse, Sewanee, Muhlenburg, Trinity. Unfortunately, my DC isn’t really thrilled about any of these schools. Really wishing we sent DC to public. 34 ACT and 3.1 GPA.

Bad news. This is where she or he can realistically get in. Good news, do what all the bottom NCS/STA kids do, go to trinity for a year, get a 4.0 - be sure to get a 4.0 even if it means picking uninteresting easy classes, and then transfer to UVA.

Been a while but Trinity was awesome. I thought about transferring because I had a 4,0, etc. so glad I didn't.

[Anonymous]

Trin trin. Ahh yes, straight out of a Bret Easton Ellis book…

[Anonymous]

When people talk in threads like these about a kid being "hooked" because a parent went to a certain school, is simply being a legacy that much of a leg up in admissions? My wife and I went to 2 different Ivy League schools. Does that mean our kids are going to have a much easier time getting into those schools than their peers solely because we went there 20 years ago? We barely donate and are otherwise inactive alums. When I was an undergrad, I was a first generation college student and anecdotally heard that my school gave the same amount of extra points to kids who were first generation as those who are legacies. I thought that in the time since we graduated, legacy status meant less and less as time went on and schools turned to other characteristics to give kids a boost. But these threads seem to make it appear that schools are a slam dunk for legacy kids so long as they are competitive otherwise. Anyone have any context for how much legacy status actually matters at Ivies these days? Is it a lock? Merely a tie-breaker? Something akin to athletic recruit status or 1st generation or URM bonus points?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people talk in threads like these about a kid being "hooked" because a parent went to a certain school, is simply being a legacy that much of a leg up in admissions? My wife and I went to 2 different Ivy League schools. Does that mean our kids are going to have a much easier time getting into those schools than their peers solely because we went there 20 years ago? We barely donate and are otherwise inactive alums. When I was an undergrad, I was a first generation college student and anecdotally heard that my school gave the same amount of extra points to kids who were first generation as those who are legacies. I thought that in the time since we graduated, legacy status meant less and less as time went on and schools turned to other characteristics to give kids a boost. But these threads seem to make it appear that schools are a slam dunk for legacy kids so long as they are competitive otherwise. Anyone have any context for how much legacy status actually matters at Ivies these days? Is it a lock? Merely a tie-breaker? Something akin to athletic recruit status or 1st generation or URM bonus points?

First of all, as has been pointed out here relentlessly, athletic recruits barely move the needle at all in admissions unless they have the academic stats as well--sadly my excellent athlete is learning this the hard way. Your legacy status will not work if you have not donated. You have to be high 6 to 7 figure donors or be very very high profile (like a senator) for the legacy status to mean anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people talk in threads like these about a kid being "hooked" because a parent went to a certain school, is simply being a legacy that much of a leg up in admissions? My wife and I went to 2 different Ivy League schools. Does that mean our kids are going to have a much easier time getting into those schools than their peers solely because we went there 20 years ago? We barely donate and are otherwise inactive alums. When I was an undergrad, I was a first generation college student and anecdotally heard that my school gave the same amount of extra points to kids who were first generation as those who are legacies. I thought that in the time since we graduated, legacy status meant less and less as time went on and schools turned to other characteristics to give kids a boost. But these threads seem to make it appear that schools are a slam dunk for legacy kids so long as they are competitive otherwise. Anyone have any context for how much legacy status actually matters at Ivies these days? Is it a lock? Merely a tie-breaker? Something akin to athletic recruit status or 1st generation or URM bonus points?

My experience at a top DC independent school is that in a class of 100 kids, there are easily 10-20 kids with legacy status (between both parents) at each Ivy. There are a LOT of Ivy grads walking around DC.
Then maybe 1/10 of these kids will get into the Ivy. So while a legacy kid may get into Yale from Sidwell, there are 9 other Yale legacies from Sidwell who applied and didn't get in.
There is no way that Yale is taking 10 kids from Sidwell. Plus there are the athletic recruits, URMs, non-legacy kids who are superstars in their own right, etc who are also taking spots.
Make sense?

The legacy bump is stronger at other high schools or other parts of the country where kids aren't competing against 10 other legacies in their class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people talk in threads like these about a kid being "hooked" because a parent went to a certain school, is simply being a legacy that much of a leg up in admissions? My wife and I went to 2 different Ivy League schools. Does that mean our kids are going to have a much easier time getting into those schools than their peers solely because we went there 20 years ago? We barely donate and are otherwise inactive alums. When I was an undergrad, I was a first generation college student and anecdotally heard that my school gave the same amount of extra points to kids who were first generation as those who are legacies. I thought that in the time since we graduated, legacy status meant less and less as time went on and schools turned to other characteristics to give kids a boost. But these threads seem to make it appear that schools are a slam dunk for legacy kids so long as they are competitive otherwise. Anyone have any context for how much legacy status actually matters at Ivies these days? Is it a lock? Merely a tie-breaker? Something akin to athletic recruit status or 1st generation or URM bonus points?

First of all, as has been pointed out here relentlessly, athletic recruits barely move the needle at all in admissions unless they have the academic stats as well--sadly my excellent athlete is learning this the hard way. Your legacy status will not work if you have not donated. You have to be high 6 to 7 figure donors or be very very high profile (like a senator) for the legacy status to mean anything.

none of this correct. Athletic recruits can get into any school with lower academic qualifications. Not a complete absence of them, mind you, but lower than the typical non athletic admit.

Legacy admissions is not tied to donations. It usually means something like a second read. Harvard legacies get in at rate 6-7x that of the regular pool - and nowhere near all of them are giving large amounts of money to the school.