If you have a kid in college now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NUNYA

Very popular, super hard to get into.

NUNYA Business?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine are grown.

Neice at UMD
Nephew at MIT
Neice at Yale
Nephew at CMU
Neice at CMU
Nephew at Stanford.

Ni(e)ce.

[Anonymous]

James Madison University

[Anonymous]

Tufts

[Anonymous]

Vanderbilt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt

Are they happy there? What do they like best? Given the crazy low acceptance rate, what do you think set them apart to get in?

[Anonymous]

Are these all new responses? So clearly in a two day period more than 100 or 150 different parents are on this board?

[Anonymous]

Son at Temple
Daughter at NJIT

Both of them chose these options over UMD. DD had an almost full ride at Alabama, and Drexel was also a close choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these all new responses? So clearly in a two day period more than 100 or 150 different parents are on this board?

It's possible that many readers do not post on a regular basis--or at all.

[Anonymous]

UVA sophomore. Er, 2nd year lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Vandy parent. Still on DCUM because very occasionally there is useful grad school info that is current

Any tips for a kid applying to Vandy this year? DC has been told by private CC to downplay their sports (3 varsity sports + travel) and interest in social life in all their applications, including Vandy, in order to focus on the substantive, academic curiosity side of things like their independent study and substantive summer job.

To me, the Common App essay and supplemental feel smart but dry. Consistent with their high stats (3.9 / 1570 / 12 APs) but not true to the more "normal" and social side of DC. Thoughts?

Wow-wonder why no sports talk?! You can be athletic and smart?!

Sure but if you're not recruited colleges really don't care. Non-recruited athletes are a dime a dozen.

So are non-Nobel prize winners, but most still discuss research & other academic achievements & interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One at Oxford
One at Cambridge

Which Oxford--Ole Miss or Emory at Oxford ?

Cambridge as in Harvard or MIT ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St John’s (Annapolis)
UMd engineering

Can you speak on their St. John’s experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Vandy parent. Still on DCUM because very occasionally there is useful grad school info that is current

Any tips for a kid applying to Vandy this year? DC has been told by private CC to downplay their sports (3 varsity sports + travel) and interest in social life in all their applications, including Vandy, in order to focus on the substantive, academic curiosity side of things like their independent study and substantive summer job.

To me, the Common App essay and supplemental feel smart but dry. Consistent with their high stats (3.9 / 1570 / 12 APs) but not true to the more "normal" and social side of DC. Thoughts?

Wow-wonder why no sports talk?! You can be athletic and smart?!

Sure but if you're not recruited colleges really don't care. Non-recruited athletes are a dime a dozen.

So are non-Nobel prize winners, but most still discuss research & other academic achievements & interests.

Well said. My guess is we'd be friends IRL.

FWIW, our private CC's take is that AOs at the top schools are looking primarily for indicators of future academic/professional achievement that would be assets to the school over time. (Including the possibility of a future Nobel Prize :lol

They don't care about high school athletic efforts or achievements because they offer nothing to the college. AOs could care less if the intramural or club teams have enough participants. That's so far down the list of priorities, it's basically irrelevant. And there's no future glory in being a star high school player. (Recruited athletes are different and obviously come in through a different process.)

I'm not saying I agree with this approach. Sports has been one of the most powerful experiences for my kid on many different levels. It's not hard for me as a parent to connect many of the dots of my kid's personal growth and development to their experiences on high performing sports teams - taking risks, accepting and applying feedback, managing demanding time commitments, working with difficult people, taking leadership roles, balancing personal needs with those of the team etc.

But not only have AOs have heard all this a million times, nothing in it meets an institutional need or promises future glory to the school. Sadly, that's the game these days . . . .

Even so, we have no regrets about all the time DC has spent playing sports over the years. It may not have been the optimal choice for T20 admissions, but it was great for DC as a human being and for us as a family. Different families may feel otherwise, of course. But we've accepted that this is what admissions is about these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Vandy parent. Still on DCUM because very occasionally there is useful grad school info that is current

Any tips for a kid applying to Vandy this year? DC has been told by private CC to downplay their sports (3 varsity sports + travel) and interest in social life in all their applications, including Vandy, in order to focus on the substantive, academic curiosity side of things like their independent study and substantive summer job.

To me, the Common App essay and supplemental feel smart but dry. Consistent with their high stats (3.9 / 1570 / 12 APs) but not true to the more "normal" and social side of DC. Thoughts?

Wow-wonder why no sports talk?! You can be athletic and smart?!

Sure but if you're not recruited colleges really don't care. Non-recruited athletes are a dime a dozen.

So are non-Nobel prize winners, but most still discuss research & other academic achievements & interests.

This is a silly statement. Our local high school has hundreds of student athletes every year. There's about a half a dozen kids total involved in the science research program. And talking about Nobel prizes in relation to high school kids or college kids is just silly.