Sara Harberson Application Nation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most interesting thing about App Nation parents is the demographic- so heavily South Asian. Fascinating.

How do you know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most interesting thing about App Nation parents is the demographic- so heavily South Asian. Fascinating.

How do you know this?

\

NP. Don’t you see the person’s FB page? It has photos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ can anyone imagine going into the counselor’s
Office and successfully asking that gpa ranges be removed from the sch profile?

I’m in AN24’s FB - she’s had meeting in the spring and summer with specific high school counselors after some mom’s posted about how upset they were about the kind of data included.

Tbh I didn’t pay close attn bc we are at a private and this is not relevant for me.

I’m sure I could search the FB page to get more details? Is this an issue for your kid? If so, I can try and find the old posts so you can get it fixed too.

“Specific counselors?” It is what I said…the number of changes to the school profile will be essentially zero…and when those changes don’t come, SH will hide behind blaming them: “ However, some high schools refuse to budge.” This is different from the truth, which is that this essentially never happens, and we have no magic to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This may be a little off topic, but our high school counselor publishes a quartile distribution and knows this is an issue. She has taken down the link to the document even though she gives it to colleges. Tells kids their quartile by email. So irritating.

Disadvantages the 2nd quartile the most.
Can be a huge issue for those in 2nd quartile aiming for schools even like Case.

Exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most interesting thing about App Nation parents is the demographic- so heavily South Asian. Fascinating.

How do you know this?

\

NP. Don’t you see the person’s FB page? It has photos.

No. Yes it is. You see. Names/photos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ can anyone imagine going into the counselor’s
Office and successfully asking that gpa ranges be removed from the sch profile?

I’m in AN24’s FB - she’s had meeting in the spring and summer with specific high school counselors after some mom’s posted about how upset they were about the kind of data included.

Tbh I didn’t pay close attn bc we are at a private and this is not relevant for me.

I’m sure I could search the FB page to get more details? Is this an issue for your kid? If so, I can try and find the old posts so you can get it fixed too.

“Specific counselors?” It is what I said…the number of changes to the school profile will be essentially zero…and when those changes don’t come, SH will hide behind blaming them: “ However, some high schools refuse to budge.” This is different from the truth, which is that this essentially never happens, and we have no magic to make it happen.

So I was doing a search on something and found this old thread.

Wanted to say SH did not speak to our school counselor. I emailed guidance and said hey’ I’m reading this book and was looking at our school profile. Noticed that we don’t show the highest math level. Why? They said it was a “mistake”. BS — I know it was one if two reasons. But they had to change it because they knew I could sue them and so could other families. End result? Kid got into multiple HYPSM. Info on the profile was THE most important thing I got from AN. No wonder our school had wacky admits the previous year!

I’ll say I read books etc. and used my own judgment in deciding what my kid did. It was not to get kid into HYPSM. The reason is so bizarre you would not believe me if I told you! I just needed my kid to get into a college. The desperation is what made me research and kid is smart and had the stats. Also had best if career type LORs so there was a lot of help.

Bottom line: AN helped.

[Anonymous]

Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

NP. Provided info on topics that are obscure to regular parents.

Like the fact that kids are evaluated for "most rigor" based on school-provided detail.

Many schools don't post that info.

Apparently getting it corrected gave PP's child the appearance of better rigor.

Perhaps they took dual enrollment math off or put it on.

And also learned small hacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

You addressed this to me. She has these Zoom calls where she talks about how AOs evaluate applications. She should know as she was an AO.

One of the first things she addressed was the school profile. Something we had never heard of. So I dug ours up. Checked to make sure it was accurate and found the “mistake”!!! Had I not been in AN, I would not have known what a school profile was. Understanding the importance helped me advocate for it to be changed. I did not tell our school about SH/AN. After she mentioned it, I googled, found a book by another former AO that addressed the importance of the profile and then used the book in my talks with the school.


Jeff Selingo just had a talk about the importance of Math in college admissions. I haven’t watched it yet (have the link) but when a kid has gone beyond Calc BC, colleges love it! My kid only took BC as a senior. It was the hardest level of math in our school. The previous years, my kid took High Honors which is more rigorous than honors and weighted as such. According to the inaccurate school profile which forgot to mention High Honors Math, my kid had NOT taken most rigorous math offered by school - and as a stem major, would have been dinged by AOs. SH enlightened me about the importance and my kid was admitted to MIT and another HYPSM.

I hope that helps! Like I said, my kid had much more but I think showing colleges Math rigor was crucial to results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ can anyone imagine going into the counselor’s
Office and successfully asking that gpa ranges be removed from the sch profile?

I’m in AN24’s FB - she’s had meeting in the spring and summer with specific high school counselors after some mom’s posted about how upset they were about the kind of data included.

Tbh I didn’t pay close attn bc we are at a private and this is not relevant for me.

I’m sure I could search the FB page to get more details? Is this an issue for your kid? If so, I can try and find the old posts so you can get it fixed too.

“Specific counselors?” It is what I said…the number of changes to the school profile will be essentially zero…and when those changes don’t come, SH will hide behind blaming them: “ However, some high schools refuse to budge.” This is different from the truth, which is that this essentially never happens, and we have no magic to make it happen.

So I was doing a search on something and found this old thread.

Wanted to say SH did not speak to our school counselor. I emailed guidance and said hey’ I’m reading this book and was looking at our school profile. Noticed that we don’t show the highest math level. Why? They said it was a “mistake”. BS — I know it was one if two reasons. But they had to change it because they knew I could sue them and so could other families. End result? Kid got into multiple HYPSM. Info on the profile was THE most important thing I got from AN. No wonder our school had wacky admits the previous year!

I’ll say I read books etc. and used my own judgment in deciding what my kid did. It was not to get kid into HYPSM. The reason is so bizarre you would not believe me if I told you! I just needed my kid to get into a college. The desperation is what made me research and kid is smart and had the stats. Also had best if career type LORs so there was a lot of help.

Bottom line: AN helped.

Your story is not at all what the prior poster was talking about. You caught a mistake…and no, you would not have had a basis for a lawsuit over their mistake.

Mistakes on the school profile can be corrected. What won’t be corrected is accurate info a parent doesn’t want included (ie by listing the GPA range, it shows it goes to a 4.72 for the high and, though accurate, that hurts my 4.59 kid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

You addressed this to me. She has these Zoom calls where she talks about how AOs evaluate applications. She should know as she was an AO.

One of the first things she addressed was the school profile. Something we had never heard of. So I dug ours up. Checked to make sure it was accurate and found the “mistake”!!! Had I not been in AN, I would not have known what a school profile was. Understanding the importance helped me advocate for it to be changed. I did not tell our school about SH/AN. After she mentioned it, I googled, found a book by another former AO that addressed the importance of the profile and then used the book in my talks with the school.


Jeff Selingo just had a talk about the importance of Math in college admissions. I haven’t watched it yet (have the link) but when a kid has gone beyond Calc BC, colleges love it! My kid only took BC as a senior. It was the hardest level of math in our school. The previous years, my kid took High Honors which is more rigorous than honors and weighted as such. According to the inaccurate school profile which forgot to mention High Honors Math, my kid had NOT taken most rigorous math offered by school - and as a stem major, would have been dinged by AOs. SH enlightened me about the importance and my kid was admitted to MIT and another HYPSM.

I hope that helps! Like I said, my kid had much more but I think showing colleges Math rigor was crucial to results.

But that’s far from a major help. I’m guessing tons of people know about the school profile and not from AN. Even you found it from a google search…not a secret sauce. A small amount of education on college admissions is really enough for many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ can anyone imagine going into the counselor’s
Office and successfully asking that gpa ranges be removed from the sch profile?

I’m in AN24’s FB - she’s had meeting in the spring and summer with specific high school counselors after some mom’s posted about how upset they were about the kind of data included.

Tbh I didn’t pay close attn bc we are at a private and this is not relevant for me.

I’m sure I could search the FB page to get more details? Is this an issue for your kid? If so, I can try and find the old posts so you can get it fixed too.

“Specific counselors?” It is what I said…the number of changes to the school profile will be essentially zero…and when those changes don’t come, SH will hide behind blaming them: “ However, some high schools refuse to budge.” This is different from the truth, which is that this essentially never happens, and we have no magic to make it happen.

So I was doing a search on something and found this old thread.

Wanted to say SH did not speak to our school counselor. I emailed guidance and said hey’ I’m reading this book and was looking at our school profile. Noticed that we don’t show the highest math level. Why? They said it was a “mistake”. BS — I know it was one if two reasons. But they had to change it because they knew I could sue them and so could other families. End result? Kid got into multiple HYPSM. Info on the profile was THE most important thing I got from AN. No wonder our school had wacky admits the previous year!

I’ll say I read books etc. and used my own judgment in deciding what my kid did. It was not to get kid into HYPSM. The reason is so bizarre you would not believe me if I told you! I just needed my kid to get into a college. The desperation is what made me research and kid is smart and had the stats. Also had best if career type LORs so there was a lot of help.

Bottom line: AN helped.

Your story is not at all what the prior poster was talking about. You caught a mistake…and no, you would not have had a basis for a lawsuit over their mistake.

Mistakes on the school profile can be corrected. What won’t be corrected is accurate info a parent doesn’t want included (ie by listing the GPA range, it shows it goes to a 4.72 for the high and, though accurate, that hurts my 4.59 kid).

It wasn’t a “mistake”. Whoever had it changed that year (it was just one year where the column seemed to have been “whited-put”) thought no one would catch it. Because who in the world at a public school knows what the purpose of a school profile is? Not parents like me who expect the school to do what is best for all students.


It’s fine by me if you don’t believe the lawsuit stuff as I don’t want to go into that here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

You addressed this to me. She has these Zoom calls where she talks about how AOs evaluate applications. She should know as she was an AO.

One of the first things she addressed was the school profile. Something we had never heard of. So I dug ours up. Checked to make sure it was accurate and found the “mistake”!!! Had I not been in AN, I would not have known what a school profile was. Understanding the importance helped me advocate for it to be changed. I did not tell our school about SH/AN. After she mentioned it, I googled, found a book by another former AO that addressed the importance of the profile and then used the book in my talks with the school.


Jeff Selingo just had a talk about the importance of Math in college admissions. I haven’t watched it yet (have the link) but when a kid has gone beyond Calc BC, colleges love it! My kid only took BC as a senior. It was the hardest level of math in our school. The previous years, my kid took High Honors which is more rigorous than honors and weighted as such. According to the inaccurate school profile which forgot to mention High Honors Math, my kid had NOT taken most rigorous math offered by school - and as a stem major, would have been dinged by AOs. SH enlightened me about the importance and my kid was admitted to MIT and another HYPSM.

I hope that helps! Like I said, my kid had much more but I think showing colleges Math rigor was crucial to results.

But that’s far from a major help. I’m guessing tons of people know about the school profile and not from AN. Even you found it from a google search…not a secret sauce. A small amount of education on college admissions is really enough for many.

Small things like telling someone who doesn’t know what a school profile is can have a big impact! I only did the google search AFTER SH told us about it.

I wasn’t on social media learning about this stuff so I had no idea. Clearly you have been on this forum and might have learned about it. I wasn’t a helicopter parent. An unfortunate situation made me go looking for someone who could advise my kid.

I initially asked about becoming a private client of SH but couldn’t afford it. They told me about AN. The cost was manageable so I signed up. That made me look at books etc when SH mentioned things I did not know about. I don’t think I would have looked at books or googled anything — we were in crisis mode. I’m grateful for AN because I think the school profile would have messed up my kid’s college chances as it had done for the previous class. YMMV of course if you know these things or have the time and mental capacity to learn on your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

You addressed this to me. She has these Zoom calls where she talks about how AOs evaluate applications. She should know as she was an AO.

One of the first things she addressed was the school profile. Something we had never heard of. So I dug ours up. Checked to make sure it was accurate and found the “mistake”!!! Had I not been in AN, I would not have known what a school profile was. Understanding the importance helped me advocate for it to be changed. I did not tell our school about SH/AN. After she mentioned it, I googled, found a book by another former AO that addressed the importance of the profile and then used the book in my talks with the school.


Jeff Selingo just had a talk about the importance of Math in college admissions. I haven’t watched it yet (have the link) but when a kid has gone beyond Calc BC, colleges love it! My kid only took BC as a senior. It was the hardest level of math in our school. The previous years, my kid took High Honors which is more rigorous than honors and weighted as such. According to the inaccurate school profile which forgot to mention High Honors Math, my kid had NOT taken most rigorous math offered by school - and as a stem major, would have been dinged by AOs. SH enlightened me about the importance and my kid was admitted to MIT and another HYPSM.

I hope that helps! Like I said, my kid had much more but I think showing colleges Math rigor was crucial to results.

I'm confused by what was the mistake. If your kid took Calc BC as a senior, wasn't that the most rigorous math offered? If High Honors Math is more rigorous than Calc BC, why would your kid take it before Calc BC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what exactly did AN do? This post is weird.

You addressed this to me. She has these Zoom calls where she talks about how AOs evaluate applications. She should know as she was an AO.

One of the first things she addressed was the school profile. Something we had never heard of. So I dug ours up. Checked to make sure it was accurate and found the “mistake”!!! Had I not been in AN, I would not have known what a school profile was. Understanding the importance helped me advocate for it to be changed. I did not tell our school about SH/AN. After she mentioned it, I googled, found a book by another former AO that addressed the importance of the profile and then used the book in my talks with the school.


Jeff Selingo just had a talk about the importance of Math in college admissions. I haven’t watched it yet (have the link) but when a kid has gone beyond Calc BC, colleges love it! My kid only took BC as a senior. It was the hardest level of math in our school. The previous years, my kid took High Honors which is more rigorous than honors and weighted as such. According to the inaccurate school profile which forgot to mention High Honors Math, my kid had NOT taken most rigorous math offered by school - and as a stem major, would have been dinged by AOs. SH enlightened me about the importance and my kid was admitted to MIT and another HYPSM.

I hope that helps! Like I said, my kid had much more but I think showing colleges Math rigor was crucial to results.

I'm confused by what was the mistake. If your kid took Calc BC as a senior, wasn't that the most rigorous math offered? If High Honors Math is more rigorous than Calc BC, why would your kid take it before Calc BC?

Grades 9, 10 and 11 were High Honors Math, called Enriched Math at our school, and Grade 12 was AP Calc Bc.

School profile did not show Enriched Math at all. At most schools, Enriched is LOWER than Honors so the kids who took it were SOL — without the school profile showing the higher weighting for Enriched as it did in previous years, it looked like they had taken the lower math for 3 years and suddenly switched to AP Calculus AB/BC in 12th.

Just a really bizarre situation that should never have happened! Of course they should never have named it Enriched Math but again most parents don’t understand this stuff. And my family is done with Enriched Math so we do not care!