NCS college admissions if kid is not a legacy, URM, or athletic recruit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

So much. Beautiful facilities and campus, involved and like minded parents, class trips, sports travel trips for spring break, small classes, one on one time with advisors 10-1 ratio, cathedral services, college like athletic facilities, no metal detectors to get into campus, Being in class with students pretty much on the same academic level, where being smart is cool, and so much more. The academics and writing are top notch and our public school in dc is riddled with violence and kids doing drugs at school in the bathroom. Yes it’s true several friends left because of it. No comparison here.

Because it is an elite school + the women will be leaders of tomorrow instead of taking a back seat to the boys in public + private schools. If all you want is an "Mrs."- stick with something easier.

Clearly the colleges deciding who the think will be future leaders think otherwise once they've gone past the top of the class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

You paid $200k for your above average, but not great, student to go to Wisconsin isn't exactly a great sales pitch. Of course the school will encourage kids to apply, and those kids may just get lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

You paid $200k for your above average, but not great, student to go to Wisconsin isn't exactly a great sales pitch. Of course the school will encourage kids to apply, and those kids may just get lucky.

Again, we are not talking about “above average but not great” kids. All As with only a few A minuses at NCS is exceptional. Likely top 5 students in the class. Also Wisconsin is a top 50 school, so poster implied that is not an option either. This is a post about truly top kids getting shut out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

When your DD is a Junior, college counseling will hold a session that answers some of the questions you have and provides more data about outcomes taking hooks into account. No one on this Board can answer the questions you are asking, and no one on this Board is qualified to tell you your daughter has no chance. None of us has the full picture of who applied where or what motivated those choices. I think for now you should take solace in the fact that if your DD continues to perform at the level she has so far, or even dips down a bit, she will likely have many options including some well within the top 40 or 50 if she is strategic about her applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

When your DD is a Junior, college counseling will hold a session that answers some of the questions you have and provides more data about outcomes taking hooks into account. No one on this Board can answer the questions you are asking, and no one on this Board is qualified to tell you your daughter has no chance. None of us has the full picture of who applied where or what motivated those choices. I think for now you should take solace in the fact that if your DD continues to perform at the level she has so far, or even dips down a bit, she will likely have many options including some well within the top 40 or 50 if she is strategic about her applications.

Yes, and if she interested in considering schools abroad or smaller liberal arts schools that have a program she is a great fit for, due to her extracurriculars and desire of major, her chances of finding a perfect fit only increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

No, did the read the OP? Audi missed the point entirely
The issue is that the top academic kids at NCS (this year) year are not getting spots in top 30 or top 40 schools, The top spots are going entirely (or 95%) to athletes, legacy and URM. There is of course some overlap of course (athletes, legacies or URN with top academics) but if you're not one of these categories, you're not getting in to a top college from NCS--even if you are a TOP academic student. OP was asking where the top 20 academic kids can apply because the top colleges are off the table if you don't have a hook

I actually don’t think this statement is true - The kids who gained admission at those schools ARE the top kids (for the most points) and they all also happen to benefit from a hook. I look at that list and I can only think of maybe 2 kids where I am surprised at the placement. The issue is the other maybe 2-3 top kids, truly top cum laude, terminal math in advanced calculus etc. are not getting into top 30 colleges. The kids at the BU/BC/Tulane/WM are more the “top 40%” kids who at NCS are still exceptional. 10 years ago that group would be at UMich, Tufts etc. 5 years ago Tufts, Davidson, Wake etc. and now it’s like the B+\A- kids are BU/BC level which to some seems less impressive.

I would say that there is about 75% overlap. A decent 25% of the kids graduating as top academic kids are not getting into top 30 schools because they lack a hook. Some other things I would like to mention:
1)legacy is also not just ordinary legacy at NCS, especially this year. It's big donor legacy or 2-3 generation legacy. Plenty of legacy grads do not (and did not) get in, even with very good stats.
2)I know that NO kid is guaranteed a spot in a top 30 school but it's pretty crazy that you can graduate with an A-/B+ average at NCS and not crack the top 40 schools. I have a daughter at NCS and also have a public school graduate and can say that the work load, discipline, and shear smarts required to get A-/B+ average at NCS is 5 times what it required my
public school kid to get for straight As. My kid does not attend NCS for a boost in college admissions but this is sobering (? not sure that is word I'm looking for) none-the-less.

How are you defining “top academic kids?” Are you defining that as Cum Laude society, or something broader? And how are you defining Top 40? Coming up with any sort of Top 40 is sort of arbitrary. Not every kid wants every school. Some kids don’t want SLACs. Some don’t want to leave the East Coast or attend a UC other than UCLA or Berkeley even though, for example, UCSB and UCSD are great schools. Some kids might have been looking for great Merit Aid, even at NCS. That’s the problem with making these generalizations when you don’t really know why people made the decisions they made. And the idea that its a material difference in outcome if some attends Tufts instead of BC or BU seems based on outdated thinking based on what admissions was like for us, not for our kids. I agree that NCS often seems overly rigorous. My DD just got through what was probably the toughest stretch of her NCS experience, and it is remarkably difficult to maintain the type of high average needed to get into some top schools. But there are also so many great options for these girls, and they seem to understand that better than their parents do. My DD knows so many stories of parents putting insane pressure on their kids about college. Does it not give you pause that the school feels the need to give a session for Junior Parents reminding them to love their daughters no matter where they get into college? Did that not embarrass you at all?

ALL of THIS could be fixed if NCS faculty adjusted their grading metric to an appropriate level instead of setting an impossible bar and then watching the girls & young women kill themselves to reach it

Come ON, if the former NSA Advisor and US Ambassador to the UN says the hardest thing she ever accomplished in her life was winning the flag ( valedictorian ) of her class, something is very WRONG.

Certainly, offer a great education, but don't eat your young....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things have changed a lot drastically for the average smart, full pay white applicant in the past 5 years, even more so in the past 10 years. There is also a new director of college counseling at NCS as of 2020, terrible timing with covid etc. this is true for all students, especially girls. What I have learns passively observing this is my kid needs to be a recruited athlete or just really adjust expectations of college placement in my mind and hers starting in like 6th grade.

It could be worse, your kid could be SE Asian or South Asian and be denied at every Ivy for that very reason despite being cum laude with all AP's and great EC's not to mention life stories.

[Anonymous]

An Influential HOS, a powerfully connected fund-raising duo and a college placement director EXITED in the same Year- THAT is not a coincidence.

That troika is " the package" and the S++T has now hit the fan.

Complaining parents should have tried to retain one and two , at minimum

The colleges are basically saying " NCS who ?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

Are you the OP? Reread your post. You said you are "freaked out" by the schools these young women are attending yet you claim you aren't denigrating the schools. You aren't "tempering" anything. You are the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

Are you the OP? Reread your post. You said you are "freaked out" by the schools these young women are attending yet you claim you aren't denigrating the schools. You aren't "tempering" anything. You are the problem.

OP is not alone. All of you are part of the problem. The problem is a lack of perspective and humility. Not surprising but still disturbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order. And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.

I have a kid in a Big 3, so I say this against interest, but the top kids at the top public high schools in this area (and there are at least a dozen), including the magnets like Blair/Poolesville SMCS/CAP, TJ, RMIB, etc., are going to be more than competitive against the "middle of the pack at private." Why people think it should be otherwise is beyond me. Those top public school kids as a group (and it's a large group) are going to be competitive against the top kids at the top privates, including the one our kid attends. And plenty of them have as many hooks.

I wish it were otherwise, but every year I interview for my HYP alma mater, and I am blown away by the qualifications of the kids who do not get in.

But but but what are we paying all this money for at NCS?

Again, this post is not about middle-of-the-pack private v top public but rather about the top private kids getting shut out. If DD has no Bs then she must be top 5 kids at NCS, presumably. If those kids are getting shut out of top 50 schools - despite being truly top of class - that is a problem for my kid.

Also, this is not meant to be a slight to athletes but rather ask a question about non-recruited athletes. It is also not meant to debate the importance of diversity or denigrate lower ranked schools (where you can definitely get a fine education).

I also take exception with the idea that this pressure is coming from me. If anything, I am trying to temper my child’s expectations with data that shows the admitted kids have a hook she doesn’t. Because she looks at the list and sees schools she wants to attend and has an idea that her grades are higher than many so she thinks maybe there is a chance. Also, while college office is saying the landscape is difficult, they are also saying go ahead and apply. But if you are telling me there isn’t a chance because we have no hook, we will try to get her to make a new plan.

Trying to gather data.

You paid $200k for your above average, but not great, student to go to Wisconsin isn't exactly a great sales pitch. Of course the school will encourage kids to apply, and those kids may just get lucky.

Again, we are not talking about “above average but not great” kids. All As with only a few A minuses at NCS is exceptional. Likely top 5 students in the class. Also Wisconsin is a top 50 school, so poster implied that is not an option either. This is a post about truly top kids getting shut out.

Way more than 5 students have all A/A-. DD graduated several yrs ago with 3.7+ GPA and wasn’t even in cum laude.