College Acceptance/Matriculation Stats: NCS/STA, Holton/Landon

[Anonymous]

Once more, with feeling. Can we talk about ALL these types of preferences here on DCUM? Or just the ones that favor rich white boys, either historically or today?

Anonymous wrote: But the question remains, can we talk about ALL these preferences today? Or just preferences for recruited athletes and not affirmative action, without getting slammed?

[Anonymous]

Move along folks, nothing to see here. If you're really curious about the consequences of mentioning affirmative action on DCUM, go back to maybe page 7 on this thread and look for what happened to the mom who mentioned affirmative action as one reason (among others including lack of sports talent) her kid didn't get into an Ivy. (Hint, it wasn't pretty.)

[Anonymous]

I worked in Ivy Admissions (I won't say which one) -- yes, folks, we did give preferences. For, if we arranged a class just by SATs & grades -- we'd have had nothing but really studious/outrageously smart kids. But, we needed to keep the music, drama & athletic departments happy -- and yes too, we need to ensure alumnae giving -- so we gave nods to certain legacy kids. Last, but not least, we wanted to have a student body which was representative of the population -- so we gave nods to AAs, Hispanics, Native Americans, and economicaly disadvantaged or geographically remote student applicants as well as a balance of public vs. private school kids. I don't have any children, but if I did I would get them into sports as early as possible and make sure they were good enough to be recruited. Just being an athlete doesn't count -- one needs to be good enough to be recruited. The odds of gaining acceptance into an Ivy are pretty terrible -- people should know that going into the process. For acceptance rate percentages -- go to US News & World Report's National College Rankings online (free to access). Good luck everyone1

[Anonymous]

Thanks for providing a fresh breath of sanity and affirming (no pun intended) what seems to fall on deaf ears.

[Anonymous]

PP -- You're welcome! Thanks for the good words. All of our work was very, very confidential. I now work at the Pentagon -- we had the same high degree of confidentiality and sensitivity at the Ivy where I worked. People think there is some magic formula about getting into an Ivy. There really isn't -- people have to have top grades; take the hardest courses available at their given school; show great promise in some other arena (such as music, sports, entrepreneurial/fundraising); have excellent recs; do better than their classmates from their h.s.; pray hard; and hope.

Now as a volunteer -- I worked with economically disadvantaged AA students in the DCPS. My challenge is making sure they can get the very top SAT scores possible and also that they take the hardest courses possible. If I have a kid with about a 1900 and great grades -- I am pretty sure I am able to help them get into a top 25 ranked school according to US News & World Reports' rankings. And, yes, they will beat out other groups of students including athletes and most legacies (apart from the very truly rich) with the same scores.

[Anonymous]

Hi PP -

Thanks. Quick question -- can someone get into an Ivy with an SAT below your quoted 1900 for AAs?

[Anonymous]

Yes - each Ivy has different parameters and I think all of them also now require kids to take at least 2 and in most cases -- 3 SAT subject tests. I even know of white girls who got into Cornell with 1600s on the SAT (recruited athletes). Many Ivies will go fairly low in comparison to the general applicant pool for AAs, Hispanics, Native Americans and even first generation college kids. Think of our new Supreme Court Justice -- she mentioned she would never have gotten into PU w/o some help...she didn't have acceptable SAT scores.

[Anonymous]

Thank you from another mom! In a weird way, this gives me a lot of comfort. DC is always talking about how she'd like to go to an Ivy, and although she does sports fairly well, she's white and also isn't recruitment material. Now I know that I should talk her down from these expectations so she isn't too disappointed in 4 years when she applies.

[Anonymous]

14:53 again. Mindful of what happened to that other mom, and purely as a defensive measure, I should probably also mention that DC has straight A's and does great onvthe SAT (which she took for the Johns Hopkins CTY, and got in). But it's strangely liberating to hear, although not for the first time, that we need to fall in love with a great school like Swarthmore.

[Anonymous]

PP -- Don't talk your child out of an Ivy just yet. There are other paths to an Ivy -- great scores, great grades plus exceptional essys & exceptional volunteer activities will do it too. For example -- if she tutors disadvantaged about getting into college; preparing for the standardized tests -- starts a club about it -- that would be interesting to all Ivies...and don't forget Cornell example.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the encouragement. I guess that getting DC into a Ivy isn't all that important to me, but it is to her. And my concern is that she not get her heart broken after working so hard in school. I'm also not looking forward to a conversation with her where I explain that perfect SATs and great grades aren't enough, that she has to join crew or start some foundation with a view of pumping up her resume!

But I appreciate the realities of what you're saying. I'll likely point all this out to DC (in fact I hard started to make these sort of noises even before today). Then DC can make up her own mind.

[Anonymous]

PP -- She has a good shot. Does she go to a public or private? Sometimes it's easier to get in from a less stellar school as counterintuitive as that might sound

[Anonymous]

In today's market, every other thing being equal, a good shot at Ivy is a flip of a coin (50/50)

[Anonymous]

What's your authority on this? In particular, are you the ex-admissions director who was posting above? Because it would seem from her posts that different kids have really different chances, depending on athletic skills and other factors.

[Anonymous]

"...some people think there is some magic formula about getting into Ivy...prayer, hope"

Perhaps your coin has 2 heads.