Why does Sidwell seem so hypocritical?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They are adjusting to the dynamic. They are adjusting in favor of the athlete. They are recruiting athletes and only athletes.

CCO isn't recruiting anyone. They get the class that shows up. As noted above, my kid would need to compete against strong applicants at every Big5 and at our public. CCO has no control over that and I personally do not feel any sort of stress over the fact that my child will be up against recruited athletes when applying to college, any more than they are up against legacies (which I think are taking more of these coveted spots). The athlete/legacy nudge is a cultural value we just have to live with for now - that's on the colleges - not on the HS counselors.

[Anonymous]

Athleticism and skills there are now the only merit based metric for college apps

The rest are identity label quotas and subjective references.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s too small of grade sizes to be good at sports. Sure it can stack a team around some stars once in awhile, that doesn’t bother us. But they can’t support more than 1-2 teams at a time for that when each grade is 120-140, half males, half females roughly. They don’t even have a swimming pool.

So isn't it smart to focus on sports with biggest impact per recruit (basketball, tennis), especially when you can find those kids and have them be good students that would fit into your community anyway?

And, for those speaking of music, I am certain playing a needed instrument in orchestra/jazz band would help in admissions, even if they aren't recruiting.

parents pay for the all the training and coaching for the individual sports. looks at the olympic fencer. Heck, even the GDS runner had private coaches yearround and competed year round at a regional and national level. Sure a DC private school can throw Fin Aid at that so it can run some headlines for a few years about their alum. Meanwhile, elite athletes hoover up all the college spots. I hope the College Counselor dept is adjusting to this dynamic, otherwise it won't be serving 80% of its population well whatsoever. A school will only take 1-2 people per school and X per city so I'd like the hear the school's strategy for handling that.

But because you live in a highly educated, high income part of the country, you are going to face this problem everywhere in the DMV. It's not the CCO's job to adjust this dynamic. Colleges want what they want, right?

If you feel like going public for a higher GPA or a public in an area where competition is a different student body so your child can shine, you have the option to do that.

Right, so what's your upper school's strategy for dealing with that dynamic and now elite athlete increase dynamic.

Ask them, point blank.

Upper school deals with educating the kids and preparing them for college. What dynamic are you expecting a faculty member to deal with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s too small of grade sizes to be good at sports. Sure it can stack a team around some stars once in awhile, that doesn’t bother us. But they can’t support more than 1-2 teams at a time for that when each grade is 120-140, half males, half females roughly. They don’t even have a swimming pool.

So isn't it smart to focus on sports with biggest impact per recruit (basketball, tennis), especially when you can find those kids and have them be good students that would fit into your community anyway?

And, for those speaking of music, I am certain playing a needed instrument in orchestra/jazz band would help in admissions, even if they aren't recruiting.

parents pay for the all the training and coaching for the individual sports. looks at the olympic fencer. Heck, even the GDS runner had private coaches yearround and competed year round at a regional and national level. Sure a DC private school can throw Fin Aid at that so it can run some headlines for a few years about their alum. Meanwhile, elite athletes hoover up all the college spots. I hope the College Counselor dept is adjusting to this dynamic, otherwise it won't be serving 80% of its population well whatsoever. A school will only take 1-2 people per school and X per city so I'd like the hear the school's strategy for handling that.

+1. If you are not a recruited athlete, forget about getting into HYPS from Sidwell. Those seats are taken

That isn't true in general and also not so far with respect to the class of 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same thing the private schools in England do to maximize their Oxbridge accepts. Open transparency, horse trading and lobbies for almost every capable student . Maybe you have to apply to balliol and not christs college or vice versa but it’s a lot better than fing up and going 2nd tier.

How deep and wide are the CCO relationships? Or do they only push what they know and let the chips fall?

You understand that the days of a college guidance counselor picking up the phone and horsetrading a kid into a school are long since dead, right? Like, that just doesn't happen at all anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Athleticism and skills there are now the only merit based metric for college apps

The rest are identity label quotas and subjective references.

Wrong.

Merit in grades. Merit in artisitic and athletic talent. Merit in test scores.

The rest of your screed is just bitterness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same thing the private schools in England do to maximize their Oxbridge accepts. Open transparency, horse trading and lobbies for almost every capable student . Maybe you have to apply to balliol and not christs college or vice versa but it’s a lot better than fing up and going 2nd tier.

How deep and wide are the CCO relationships? Or do they only push what they know and let the chips fall?

You understand that the days of a college guidance counselor picking up the phone and horsetrading a kid into a school are long since dead, right? Like, that just doesn't happen at all anymore.

It happens less frequently than it used to. But it is not true that it doesn’t happen at all. And the Sidwell counselors’ collective inexperience at the school is definitely a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1. If you are not a recruited athlete, forget about getting into HYPS from Sidwell. Those seats are taken

That isn't true in general and also not so far with respect to the class of 2022.

Curious though, were the rest mostly legacies and URM so far? (note - I am not the above PP. this is a genuine question)

[Anonymous]

yes, and underqualified kids of the connected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same thing the private schools in England do to maximize their Oxbridge accepts. Open transparency, horse trading and lobbies for almost every capable student . Maybe you have to apply to balliol and not christs college or vice versa but it’s a lot better than fing up and going 2nd tier.

How deep and wide are the CCO relationships? Or do they only push what they know and let the chips fall?

You understand that the days of a college guidance counselor picking up the phone and horsetrading a kid into a school are long since dead, right? Like, that just doesn't happen at all anymore.

It happens less frequently than it used to. But it is not true that it doesn’t happen at all. And the Sidwell counselors’ collective inexperience at the school is definitely a disadvantage.

They absolutely get a call asking them to force rank who applied to what department. Ask me how we know. Anyhow, worked out ok but not first choice but we were splicing hairs at that point. Top 5 student. Asked to only apply to three total colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Athleticism and skills there are now the only merit based metric for college apps

The rest are identity label quotas and subjective references.

Wrong.

Merit in grades. Merit in artisitic and athletic talent. Merit in test scores.

The rest of your screed is just bitterness.

Half of that is not required on a college application any longer .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same thing the private schools in England do to maximize their Oxbridge accepts. Open transparency, horse trading and lobbies for almost every capable student . Maybe you have to apply to balliol and not christs college or vice versa but it’s a lot better than fing up and going 2nd tier.

How deep and wide are the CCO relationships? Or do they only push what they know and let the chips fall?

You understand that the days of a college guidance counselor picking up the phone and horsetrading a kid into a school are long since dead, right? Like, that just doesn't happen at all anymore.

It happens less frequently than it used to. But it is not true that it doesn’t happen at all. And the Sidwell counselors’ collective inexperience at the school is definitely a disadvantage.

They absolutely get a call asking them to force rank who applied to what department. Ask me how we know. Anyhow, worked out ok but not first choice but we were splicing hairs at that point. Top 5 student. Asked to only apply to three total colleges.

First, you know that they rank applicants to each school because it was reported in the news based on the Adebayo lawsuit. Second, I find it implausible that you would be advised to apply to only 3 colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So tired of the Radical nonsense.

Capital R, uh?🤣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same thing the private schools in England do to maximize their Oxbridge accepts. Open transparency, horse trading and lobbies for almost every capable student . Maybe you have to apply to balliol and not christs college or vice versa but it’s a lot better than fing up and going 2nd tier.

How deep and wide are the CCO relationships? Or do they only push what they know and let the chips fall?

You understand that the days of a college guidance counselor picking up the phone and horsetrading a kid into a school are long since dead, right? Like, that just doesn't happen at all anymore.

It happens less frequently than it used to. But it is not true that it doesn’t happen at all. And the Sidwell counselors’ collective inexperience at the school is definitely a disadvantage.

They absolutely get a call asking them to force rank who applied to what department. Ask me how we know. Anyhow, worked out ok but not first choice but we were splicing hairs at that point. Top 5 student. Asked to only apply to three total colleges.

First, you know that they rank applicants to each school because it was reported in the news based on the Adebayo lawsuit. Second, I find it implausible that you would be advised to apply to only 3 colleges.

The CCO ranks students for each school? Like if 10 kids apply to Harvard, there is a list of No. 1 to No. 10?

[Anonymous]

Is this written by adults? 13 pages and counting... I guess maturity doesn't come with age.