Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions

[Anonymous]

To the person calling this version of how this all works, did you exmit from a
TT NYC school? I’m from a different region, and I got in through hard work, but I also didn’t have any 5 gens with their names on the building applying out of my High School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told by an admin at Brearley that if your kid wasn't a legacy at a HYP, and your heart was dead set on a HYP, you would do better to leave and do high school elsewhere, because the legacies have first dibs, especially the very wealthy ones, and that people without those connects rarely get in from the school. Who knows if it was true, but its what they said.

Add this to the list of things which never happened…

Even if an admin never said it, it is true. People on here are out of their minds to think Unhooked Sally Sue will get into Harvard with hard work, a 4.0, and a 1600 over the ten classmates Harvard prefers due to money and diversity and athletics.

I literally did. As did my sibling. As did a bunch of our classmates. I don’t know how to dispel you of this fiction - I don’t think I can and I don’t think you want to be. But You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Yea. DEI obsessed Harvard which accepts a bunch of sub 1500 athletes and mega donor kids is just DYING to accept a ton of full pay Brearley girls who are unconnected but brilliant Something something for reasons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
To the person calling this version of how this all works, did you exmit from a
TT NYC school? I’m from a different region, and I got in through hard work, but I also didn’t have any 5 gens with their names on the building applying out of my High School.

Being an academic admit (not diversity, not a donor family or legacy, not a recruited athlete) is a crap shoot no matter how brilliant you are. There are tens of thousands of genius applicants, let alone very smart and good enough to get in applicants, applying to HYPS. They spread the admissions letters around schools. After accepting ten mega donor kids, a few diverse applicants, and an athlete from one school, that region’s file reader doesn’t want to accept an eleventh no matter how brilliant she is. TTs accept a ton of rich families and those who can work the system in other ways. None of them are full of Harvard tier academic admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
To the person calling this version of how this all works, did you exmit from a
TT NYC school? I’m from a different region, and I got in through hard work, but I also didn’t have any 5 gens with their names on the building applying out of my High School.

Being an academic admit (not diversity, not a donor family or legacy, not a recruited athlete) is a crap shoot no matter how brilliant you are. There are tens of thousands of genius applicants, let alone very smart and good enough to get in applicants, applying to HYPS. They spread the admissions letters around schools. After accepting ten mega donor kids, a few diverse applicants, and an athlete from one school, that region’s file reader doesn’t want to accept an eleventh no matter how brilliant she is. TTs accept a ton of rich families and those who can work the system in other ways. None of them are full of Harvard tier academic admits.

This person has no affiliation with any tt school. I guarantee it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
To the person calling this version of how this all works, did you exmit from a
TT NYC school? I’m from a different region, and I got in through hard work, but I also didn’t have any 5 gens with their names on the building applying out of my High School.

Being an academic admit (not diversity, not a donor family or legacy, not a recruited athlete) is a crap shoot no matter how brilliant you are. There are tens of thousands of genius applicants, let alone very smart and good enough to get in applicants, applying to HYPS. They spread the admissions letters around schools. After accepting ten mega donor kids, a few diverse applicants, and an athlete from one school, that region’s file reader doesn’t want to accept an eleventh no matter how brilliant she is. TTs accept a ton of rich families and those who can work the system in other ways. None of them are full of Harvard tier academic admits.

This person has no affiliation with any tt school. I guarantee it.

I can guarantee you are old. You see, today, kids Instagram their results and creeps here Google their parents. Time and time again, the admits are famous or F500/high finance type’s children. Going to a TT is great, I went to one until boarding school, but their exmissions to colleges are a crock of $hit. They are smart but intelligence isn’t what is driving 20-40% of a class going or ivies. It is the same deal at my boarding school alma mater, but with more athletic recruits and fewer donor types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told by an admin at Brearley that if your kid wasn't a legacy at a HYP, and your heart was dead set on a HYP, you would do better to leave and do high school elsewhere, because the legacies have first dibs, especially the very wealthy ones, and that people without those connects rarely get in from the school. Who knows if it was true, but its what they said.

Add this to the list of things which never happened…

Even if an admin never said it, it is true. People on here are out of their minds to think Unhooked Sally Sue will get into Harvard with hard work, a 4.0, and a 1600 over the ten classmates Harvard prefers due to money and diversity and athletics.

I literally did. As did my sibling. As did a bunch of our classmates. I don’t know how to dispel you of this fiction - I don’t think I can and I don’t think you want to be. But You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Yea. DEI obsessed Harvard which accepts a bunch of sub 1500 athletes and mega donor kids is just DYING to accept a ton of full pay Brearley girls who are unconnected but brilliant Something something for reasons

Pretty sure that was a longtime poster who went to Trinity and then a HYP. Unless you have direct experience having went to a TT yourself or have children at one I think voicing your opinion so strongly is doing everyone a disservice.

[Anonymous]

I agree that people seem to be referring to their own college experiences from 15+ years ago.

Harvard's acceptance rate in 2008 was over 10%. Early action rate was 20%. The bar for very bright hard-working applicants was high but entirely achievable.

Fast forward to present time, and the acceptance rate dropped to about 4%. Early action rate is about 8%. There are more legacies, more bright international students, more athletes, more college consultants who work with students over 4 years to "package" their applications (for the price tag of $750-1.5mm and I am not making it up!). There is still a theoretical chance for a Sally Sue with 1,600 SAT and a perfect GPA but it is very, very slim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told by an admin at Brearley that if your kid wasn't a legacy at a HYP, and your heart was dead set on a HYP, you would do better to leave and do high school elsewhere, because the legacies have first dibs, especially the very wealthy ones, and that people without those connects rarely get in from the school. Who knows if it was true, but its what they said.

Add this to the list of things which never happened…

Even if an admin never said it, it is true. People on here are out of their minds to think Unhooked Sally Sue will get into Harvard with hard work, a 4.0, and a 1600 over the ten classmates Harvard prefers due to money and diversity and athletics.

I literally did. As did my sibling. As did a bunch of our classmates. I don’t know how to dispel you of this fiction - I don’t think I can and I don’t think you want to be. But You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Yea. DEI obsessed Harvard which accepts a bunch of sub 1500 athletes and mega donor kids is just DYING to accept a ton of full pay Brearley girls who are unconnected but brilliant Something something for reasons

Pretty sure that was a longtime poster who went to Trinity and then a HYP. Unless you have direct experience having went to a TT yourself or have children at one I think voicing your opinion so strongly is doing everyone a disservice.

I went to one. My child goes to one. Both facts are irrelevant. Plenty of people know about these schools from working as professionals or in finance and talking to their co workers. They may have toured a ton and realized they aren’t for them. It’s not at all controversial to say their emissions would resemble a good suburban public school when you remove hooked admissions. People here get upset because they sink close to a million dollars (including feeder preschools) by the time they graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that people seem to be referring to their own college experiences from 15+ years ago.

Harvard's acceptance rate in 2008 was over 10%. Early action rate was 20%. The bar for very bright hard-working applicants was high but entirely achievable.

Fast forward to present time, and the acceptance rate dropped to about 4%. Early action rate is about 8%. There are more legacies, more bright international students, more athletes, more college consultants who work with students over 4 years to "package" their applications (for the price tag of $750-1.5mm and I am not making it up!). There is still a theoretical chance for a Sally Sue with 1,600 SAT and a perfect GPA but it is very, very slim.

Not according to posters here. Somehow Brearley just cobbles together all the white asian unathletic and non-legacy/donor applicants who can mysteriously get into HYPS in large numbers. Either they were genetically engineered or the college counselor is secretly dating multiple heads of admission.

[Anonymous]

It is not surprising that so many people get more and more vocal about the messed up college admission process.

Yale has recently issued a report with recommendations on what can and should be changed. It is a positive step but I am not sure how many of the proposed actions will be implemented. There are too many stakeholders that favor status quo.

From the linked article:

The committee wrote that the current process “disproportionately benefits wealthy applicants,” and it recommended that Yale reduce its practice of giving admission preferences to applicants such as varsity athletes, legacies, and children of faculty, staff, and donors, claiming that such advantages “distort the admissions process by reducing the number of slots available to high-achieving applicants who do not fit into one of the favored categories.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/04/16/yale-to-consider-changes-to-mission-admissions-financial-aid-and-grading/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not surprising that so many people get more and more vocal about the messed up college admission process.

Yale has recently issued a report with recommendations on what can and should be changed. It is a positive step but I am not sure how many of the proposed actions will be implemented. There are too many stakeholders that favor status quo.

From the linked article:

The committee wrote that the current process “disproportionately benefits wealthy applicants,” and it recommended that Yale reduce its practice of giving admission preferences to applicants such as varsity athletes, legacies, and children of faculty, staff, and donors, claiming that such advantages “distort the admissions process by reducing the number of slots available to high-achieving applicants who do not fit into one of the favored categories.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/04/16/yale-to-consider-changes-to-mission-admissions-financial-aid-and-grading/

I take issue with TTs patting themselves on the back for their exmissions more than the rigged nature of the game. At least the donors had to give away money and the athletes had to train to get recruited. Brearley and HM didn’t do that, yet they claim these incredible pipelines. Any student from there getting into HYPS would’ve done so anywhere else

[Anonymous]

I actually think HM is a bit different from Brearley. They seem to pay less attention to parents' legacies and their impartial recommendation for unconnected families is to ED Chicago, Cornell or another non-HYPS T20 college. FWIW, after all my research, I fully agree this strategy provides the best balance of risks and rewards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think HM is a bit different from Brearley. They seem to pay less attention to parents' legacies and their impartial recommendation for unconnected families is to ED Chicago, Cornell or another non-HYPS T20 college. FWIW, after all my research, I fully agree this strategy provides the best balance of risks and rewards.

Would counselors at HM not support unhooked kids with great stats if they wanted to reach for HYPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually think HM is a bit different from Brearley. They seem to pay less attention to parents' legacies and their impartial recommendation for unconnected families is to ED Chicago, Cornell or another non-HYPS T20 college. FWIW, after all my research, I fully agree this strategy provides the best balance of risks and rewards.

Would counselors at HM not support unhooked kids with great stats if they wanted to reach for HYPS?

If they were being honest with the student, they’d tell them to look a notch down. It doesn’t matter if you have a 4.3 and 1600, the odds are still against you going to HYPS without a hook

[Anonymous]

The sour grapes from the poster who keeps talking about "Sally Sue" just oozes through the screen. Just embarrassing.