Big 3 Nightmare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

That seems transparent esp junior year…can’t believe that strategy would be successful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

Uh I don’t think so. That’s reserved for Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Dakotas type places. Not Newport, RI.

Rural Maine town are aplenty.

Maine has terrible schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

Uh I don’t think so. That’s reserved for Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Dakotas type places. Not Newport, RI.

Rural Maine town are aplenty.

Awful idea. Kid will not be prepared for college.
I’m in Maine and fascinated by this strategy. It’s true that there are lots of coastal towns but generally the schools are pretty bad in the rural areas, and if you’re in the “good schools” towns near Portland you’re not getting any “rural kid’ bump. But if you’re rural in Maine…well there’s just not a lot of opportunity. So - is this working for them?

Will know in a year when kid applies.

Rural town that has non summer population < 500 or 1000. Those exist as you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t dismiss PP niece’s story and I certainly wouldn’t think of her approach as arrogant. It is no doubt no different that what students at these schools with her stats have been doing for years. Things have changed in the last few years and these high schools have not caught up in their thinking.

Moving to a rural town from a tony private school in NYC junior year has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in some time. do they think the colleges just don’t notice dalton on the transcript?

You don't understand. Colleges want to able to check boxes. Very few actually give a c**p about true diversity. A strong (previously-at-Dalton) kid now applying from rural Maine is only helping them out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t dismiss PP niece’s story and I certainly wouldn’t think of her approach as arrogant. It is no doubt no different that what students at these schools with her stats have been doing for years. Things have changed in the last few years and these high schools have not caught up in their thinking.

Moving to a rural town from a tony private school in NYC junior year has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in some time. do they think the colleges just don’t notice dalton on the transcript?

You don't understand. Colleges want to able to check boxes. Very few actually give a c**p about true diversity. A strong (previously-at-Dalton) kid now applying from rural Maine is only helping them out.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just go to boarding school, then? The kid checks the same “rural Maine” box either way. And the parents can stay in Manhattan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been a very tough year for top students at Big 3 schools in DC. Whew. RD has offered no real relief..

Don’t think it’s a big “3”, but take a look at the Instagram page for the holton class of 2023… these kids are going to tons of highly selective schools. Some are athletes, some are legacies and some are just hard working smart kids who go to a rigorous school ( which dropped APs)…

How do you find these pages ? Do you mean the schools official Instagram or a student run one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been a very tough year for top students at Big 3 schools in DC. Whew. RD has offered no real relief..

Don’t think it’s a big “3”, but take a look at the Instagram page for the holton class of 2023… these kids are going to tons of highly selective schools. Some are athletes, some are legacies and some are just hard working smart kids who go to a rigorous school ( which dropped APs)…

How do you find these pages ? Do you mean the schools official Instagram or a student run one

It’s not hard to find them. I think HA is official? But anyway the PP is wrong, it’s less impressive than what the Sidwell and GDS accounts have posted: no HYPSM, and only one non-athlete to an Ivy (and they could be hooked). A lot of EDs to schools ranked 40+; even the elite ED choices are non-Ivy. A smart but humble college office, I think, but not exactly disproving the theory that smart unhooked students can no longer go from elite private high schools to elite private colleges.

(Also, while Holton has dropped APs it still gives a bump for “advanced” courses and calculates a weighted GPA, a practice derided by Big 3 boosters as “grade inflation” but which can be helpful at state schools like UGA.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a number of very high end NYC families who pulled kids out of too NYc privates for junior year and took them to the public school in the rural coastal New England towns they summer in. Parents private jet back to NYC for job as needed.

Kids doing well academically as would be expected.

Will be applying HYP type schools looking like a rural small state kid.

Knew another who did that from Bay Area to Wyoming 10 years ago and kid got into HYP.

Uh I don’t think so. That’s reserved for Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Dakotas type places. Not Newport, RI.

Rural Maine town are aplenty.

Maine has terrible schools.

That’s the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big 3 senior parent. Hearing many RD bloodbath stories. Like zeroed out on targets and certainly reaches. I’m counting WL as a zero.

Have heard 5 or 6 of these just since last night.

RD was a waste this year. ED I and ED II are the only way now for a high/high middle stats kid who is unhooked or only hook is legacy. Legacy alone days are done. Legacy kids need a double hook and ED.

RD is not just a lottery but powerball lottery odds

I’m sure many here will troll this post.

What kind of schools are you talking about? Where will these kids end up attending?

All these dramatic posts are useless without actual college examples. We don't know if you're talking about top 20% kids getting shut out of Ivies or getting shut out of every top 50 school they applied to. Or worse-getting shut out period. These posts could literally mean any of the above. I'm a Big3 parent of a 10tb grader and I'd love to know what is actually meant (with examples)

OK, I'll bite. Here are some of the schools that said "Nope!" to my niece who attends either Sidwell or NCS: UCSB. UCSD. Wash U. Barnard. BU. Davidson. UVA.

This is a young woman in the top 20% or so, highest math/science track, 1500 SAT and killer ECs. White. Not VIP.

They have 2 options in the USNWR ~200 range, and one of those scammy options where you get the name of the school on your diploma but never attend class at the main campus, because you're in Amsterdam or something for $100k a year

I am sorry that your niece is unhappy. That stinks. Is she really top 15 kids (20%)? Because you are correct, those results would be out of sync with other local privates. Kids with those stats at my kid’s HS are generally into top 20, or at least top 40 with options like UVA and UNC.

THe PP made these facts up---absolutely no way a kid from Sidwell (or the like) in top 20% with those stats would not get into most schools ranked 50-200. Step outside the top50 and they would be getting into most places. I call BS

It's fiction. My kid goes to a public high school in the Midwest, has a 3.0 GPA and 1520 SAT. They got into a bunch of schools in the 50-100 range. This kid would get into everything in that range and probably a bunch of schools in the 20-50 range as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big 3 senior parent. Hearing many RD bloodbath stories. Like zeroed out on targets and certainly reaches. I’m counting WL as a zero.

Have heard 5 or 6 of these just since last night.

RD was a waste this year. ED I and ED II are the only way now for a high/high middle stats kid who is unhooked or only hook is legacy. Legacy alone days are done. Legacy kids need a double hook and ED.

RD is not just a lottery but powerball lottery odds

I’m sure many here will troll this post.

What kind of schools are you talking about? Where will these kids end up attending?

All these dramatic posts are useless without actual college examples. We don't know if you're talking about top 20% kids getting shut out of Ivies or getting shut out of every top 50 school they applied to. Or worse-getting shut out period. These posts could literally mean any of the above. I'm a Big3 parent of a 10tb grader and I'd love to know what is actually meant (with examples)

OK, I'll bite. Here are some of the schools that said "Nope!" to my niece who attends either Sidwell or NCS: UCSB. UCSD. Wash U. Barnard. BU. Davidson. UVA.

This is a young woman in the top 20% or so, highest math/science track, 1500 SAT and killer ECs. White. Not VIP.

They have 2 options in the USNWR ~200 range, and one of those scammy options where you get the name of the school on your diploma but never attend class at the main campus, because you're in Amsterdam or something for $100k a year

I am sorry that your niece is unhappy. That stinks. Is she really top 15 kids (20%)? Because you are correct, those results would be out of sync with other local privates. Kids with those stats at my kid’s HS are generally into top 20, or at least top 40 with options like UVA and UNC.

THe PP made these facts up---absolutely no way a kid from Sidwell (or the like) in top 20% with those stats would not get into most schools ranked 50-200. Step outside the top50 and they would be getting into most places. I call BS

It's fiction. My kid goes to a public high school in the Midwest, has a 3.0 GPA and 1520 SAT. They got into a bunch of schools in the 50-100 range. This kid would get into everything in that range and probably a bunch of schools in the 20-50 range as well.

It depends on what state you live in and what kind of town you live in. If there are many applicants from DC private schools to particular 20-50 schools, it's much harder for those students than for one kid applying from a rural school in Iowa. Scores alone won't guarantee you an acceptance as we see with the ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been a very tough year for top students at Big 3 schools in DC. Whew. RD has offered no real relief..

Don’t think it’s a big “3”, but take a look at the Instagram page for the holton class of 2023… these kids are going to tons of highly selective schools. Some are athletes, some are legacies and some are just hard working smart kids who go to a rigorous school ( which dropped APs)…

How do you find these pages ? Do you mean the schools official Instagram or a student run one

It’s not hard to find them. I think HA is official? But anyway the PP is wrong, it’s less impressive than what the Sidwell and GDS accounts have posted: no HYPSM, and only one non-athlete to an Ivy (and they could be hooked). A lot of EDs to schools ranked 40+; even the elite ED choices are non-Ivy. A smart but humble college office, I think, but not exactly disproving the theory that smart unhooked students can no longer go from elite private high schools to elite private colleges.

(Also, while Holton has dropped APs it still gives a bump for “advanced” courses and calculates a weighted GPA, a practice derided by Big 3 boosters as “grade inflation” but which can be helpful at state schools like UGA.)

The accounts are unofficial and not complete, fwiw. But I came on to take issue with your post: you mention there are kids attending “elite ED” choices but then say they aren’t going to “elite colleges”? I think what you want is to see more Ivy acceptances but I think those girls are going to schools they really like, some of which are Ivy and some not. Vanderbilt, UNC, Chicago, Penn, Michigan, Emory, RISD, and a lot of others. Also fwiw, that class has several top girls who are also athletes, so hard to say athletic hook was only reason they were accepted.

From what I hear those kids are thrilled with their choices, isn’t that what matters? Why are adults on here decrying their results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been a very tough year for top students at Big 3 schools in DC. Whew. RD has offered no real relief..

Don’t think it’s a big “3”, but take a look at the Instagram page for the holton class of 2023… these kids are going to tons of highly selective schools. Some are athletes, some are legacies and some are just hard working smart kids who go to a rigorous school ( which dropped APs)…

How do you find these pages ? Do you mean the schools official Instagram or a student run one

It’s not hard to find them. I think HA is official? But anyway the PP is wrong, it’s less impressive than what the Sidwell and GDS accounts have posted: no HYPSM, and only one non-athlete to an Ivy (and they could be hooked). A lot of EDs to schools ranked 40+; even the elite ED choices are non-Ivy. A smart but humble college office, I think, but not exactly disproving the theory that smart unhooked students can no longer go from elite private high schools to elite private colleges.

(Also, while Holton has dropped APs it still gives a bump for “advanced” courses and calculates a weighted GPA, a practice derided by Big 3 boosters as “grade inflation” but which can be helpful at state schools like UGA.)

From the kids we know there and their results - I think the Holton list has looked solid in terms of match (expected results or better than expected). This has not been the case at our Big 3 so far. And Ivy admits in EA were parent VIP/legacy, so give no credit to the HS school for that (and no shade to Holton either).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t dismiss PP niece’s story and I certainly wouldn’t think of her approach as arrogant. It is no doubt no different that what students at these schools with her stats have been doing for years. Things have changed in the last few years and these high schools have not caught up in their thinking.

Moving to a rural town from a tony private school in NYC junior year has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in some time. do they think the colleges just don’t notice dalton on the transcript?

You don't understand. Colleges want to able to check boxes. Very few actually give a c**p about true diversity. A strong (previously-at-Dalton) kid now applying from rural Maine is only helping them out.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just go to boarding school, then? The kid checks the same “rural Maine” box either way. And the parents can stay in Manhattan.

No. Because "Maine" isn't enough. The school has to be on the wrong side of the tracks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t dismiss PP niece’s story and I certainly wouldn’t think of her approach as arrogant. It is no doubt no different that what students at these schools with her stats have been doing for years. Things have changed in the last few years and these high schools have not caught up in their thinking.

Moving to a rural town from a tony private school in NYC junior year has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in some time. do they think the colleges just don’t notice dalton on the transcript?

You don't understand. Colleges want to able to check boxes. Very few actually give a c**p about true diversity. A strong (previously-at-Dalton) kid now applying from rural Maine is only helping them out.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just go to boarding school, then? The kid checks the same “rural Maine” box either way. And the parents can stay in Manhattan.

No it does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t dismiss PP niece’s story and I certainly wouldn’t think of her approach as arrogant. It is no doubt no different that what students at these schools with her stats have been doing for years. Things have changed in the last few years and these high schools have not caught up in their thinking.

Moving to a rural town from a tony private school in NYC junior year has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in some time. do they think the colleges just don’t notice dalton on the transcript?

You don't understand. Colleges want to able to check boxes. Very few actually give a c**p about true diversity. A strong (previously-at-Dalton) kid now applying from rural Maine is only helping them out.

Maine mom here. I’m sure you know the people you say you do, but I’m just having such a hard time imagining that a family who was paying for NYC private would be happy in a rural Maine public school. There are, in fact, some excellent publics in the circle of towns around Portland, but those are suburban professional towns with the same demographic that’s applying from all over New England and it’s a hotly discussed topic is there a “bump“ from being from Maine at all and the conclusion is that there is not if you’re from those places. Top performers at these schools get denied at most selective colleges all the time just like everywhere else in the northeast. However, once you leave and go to the rural schools the opportunities just dry up, there’s not a lot of rigor, and Maine is a big rural State so you really don’t have the opportunity for community involvement and EC’s etc. like you do in other places. What IS a little bit different in Maine is that you don’t have the same volume of kids gunning for the most elite schools that you do in other places. The ones who are applying and getting in have incredible backgrounds with often some really quirky interesting stuff, but the pool looks different than it does come in from New Jersey or Long Island or DMV or NYC.