Brutal Admissions Year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you think your kids had it tough, count your lucky star that your kid is not an Asian boy.

My friend's son is in a "feeder" school for Harvard. Usually the top 5 gets in. He is #1, did not get into Harvard, did not get into any top choice schools, did not get into any second choice schools- even Tuft wait listed him. Two years ago his brother was passed over by Harvard as well, as #1 in his class, but at least he got into CMU.

I feel bad for the kid. So much for doing well in school.

I just don't get why you think your kid is better than the other 30,000 comparable students with the same or better scores than your kid. Do you people realize there are just so many seats?

While I feel for your friend's son, you know that it's a crap shoot. No such thing as a 'feeder' school even if it's Exeter or Andover. Just so many seats are available. Period.

But he did not even get into Tufts.

Neither did my daughter, and she's a pretty stellar student. I had to tell her over and over again not to take things personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid was wait listed at 8 schools and all his classmates with worse grades, less extracurricular got into the schools he applied, you would be fuming, knowing how spoiled you are.

Not the PP you are attacking but why spoiled? That seems like an odd choice of words. If his classmates had worse grades and less of other things schools say are important and got in over her son, wouldn't anger be a normal response? If you were up for a promotion and were the one best qualified and had worked your butt off for it, and your boss took your less qualified co-worker, I would expect you to be angry as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So why again is your child better than the other thousands and thousands who applied and those who got offers?

2014 Washington Post Article. The link is at the end.

Amherst College: 1,103 admission offers out of 8,468 applications, 13 percent.

Bowdoin College: 1,032 offers out of 6,935 apps, 15 percent.

Brown University: 2,619 offers out of 30,432 apps, 9 percent.

California Institute of Technology: 529 offers out of 6,524 apps, 8 percent.

Carleton College: 1,446 offers out of 6,293 apps, 23 percent.

Claremont McKenna College: 613 offers out of 6,043 apps, 10 percent.

Colgate University: 2,224 offers out of 8,713 apps, 26 percent.

Columbia University: 2,291 offers out of 32,967 apps, 7 percent.

Cornell University: 6,014 offers out of 43,041 apps, 14 percent.

Dartmouth College: 2,220 offers out of 19,296 apps, 12 percent.

Davidson College: 1,169 offers out of 5,558 apps, 21 percent.

Duke University: 3,499 offers out of 32,506 apps, 11 percent.

Emory University: 4,616 offers out of 17,797 apps, 26 percent.

Grinnell College: 1,626 offers out of 6,056 apps, 27 percent.

Hamilton College: 1,312 offers out of 5,071 apps, 26 percent.

Harvard University: 2,023 offers out of 34,295 apps, 6 percent.

Harvey Mudd College: 510 offers out of 3,678 apps, 14 percent. Note: Harvey Mudd’s figures are based on what it labels “actionable” applications, meaning those that are complete enough for the college to make a decision. Separately, it reports a higher figure for total apps. If that higher figure were used, its admission rate would be a percentage point lower.

Haverford College: no figures available yet.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology:1,419 offers out of 18,357 apps, 8 percent.

Middlebury College: 1,422 offers out of 8,196 apps, 17 percent.

Northwestern University: 4,349 offers out of 33,673 apps, 13 percent.

Pomona College: 938 offers out of 7,727 apps, 12 percent.

Princeton University: 1,939 offers out of 26,641 apps, 7 percent.

Rice University: 2,498 offers out of 17,720 apps, 14 percent.

Smith College: 1,802 offers out of 4,461 apps, 40 percent.

Stanford University: 2,138 offers out of 42,167 apps, 5 percent.

Swarthmore College: 930 offers out of 5,540 apps, 17 percent.

University of California at Berkeley: no figures available until April 18.

University of Chicago: 2,304 offers out of 27,503 apps, 8 percent.

University of Notre Dame: 3,720 offers out of 17,897 apps, 21 percent.

University of Pennsylvania: 3,583 offers out of 35,868 apps, 10 percent.

U.S. Military Academy: no figures available yet.

U.S. Naval Academy: no figures available yet.

Vanderbilt University: 3634 offers out of 29,490 apps, 12 percent.

Vassar College: 1,771 offers out of 7,784 apps, 23 percent.

Washington University in St. Louis: 5,002 offers out of 29,211 apps, 17 percent.

Wellesley College: 1,330 offers out of 4,710 apps, 28 percent.

Wesleyan University: 2,199 offers out of 9,477 apps, 23 percent.

Williams College: 1,150 offers out of 6,316 apps, 18 percent.

Yale University: 1,935 offers out of 30,932 apps, 6 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/college-admission-rates-for-class-of-2018-an-imperfect-but-closely-watched-metric/2014/04/03/820ff578-b6af-11e3-8cc3-d4bf596577eb_story.html

Were any of those kids given a seat over another because they were black or hispanic? If so, that's not really the equality everyone wants, now is it....

Holistic admissions is a euphemism for race balancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So why again is your child better than the other thousands and thousands who applied and those who got offers?

2014 Washington Post Article. The link is at the end.

Amherst College: 1,103 admission offers out of 8,468 applications, 13 percent.

Bowdoin College: 1,032 offers out of 6,935 apps, 15 percent.

Brown University: 2,619 offers out of 30,432 apps, 9 percent.

California Institute of Technology: 529 offers out of 6,524 apps, 8 percent.

Carleton College: 1,446 offers out of 6,293 apps, 23 percent.

Claremont McKenna College: 613 offers out of 6,043 apps, 10 percent.

Colgate University: 2,224 offers out of 8,713 apps, 26 percent.

Columbia University: 2,291 offers out of 32,967 apps, 7 percent.

Cornell University: 6,014 offers out of 43,041 apps, 14 percent.

Dartmouth College: 2,220 offers out of 19,296 apps, 12 percent.

Davidson College: 1,169 offers out of 5,558 apps, 21 percent.

Duke University: 3,499 offers out of 32,506 apps, 11 percent.

Emory University: 4,616 offers out of 17,797 apps, 26 percent.

Grinnell College: 1,626 offers out of 6,056 apps, 27 percent.

Hamilton College: 1,312 offers out of 5,071 apps, 26 percent.

Harvard University: 2,023 offers out of 34,295 apps, 6 percent.

Harvey Mudd College: 510 offers out of 3,678 apps, 14 percent. Note: Harvey Mudd’s figures are based on what it labels “actionable” applications, meaning those that are complete enough for the college to make a decision. Separately, it reports a higher figure for total apps. If that higher figure were used, its admission rate would be a percentage point lower.

Haverford College: no figures available yet.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology:1,419 offers out of 18,357 apps, 8 percent.

Middlebury College: 1,422 offers out of 8,196 apps, 17 percent.

Northwestern University: 4,349 offers out of 33,673 apps, 13 percent.

Pomona College: 938 offers out of 7,727 apps, 12 percent.

Princeton University: 1,939 offers out of 26,641 apps, 7 percent.

Rice University: 2,498 offers out of 17,720 apps, 14 percent.

Smith College: 1,802 offers out of 4,461 apps, 40 percent.

Stanford University: 2,138 offers out of 42,167 apps, 5 percent.

Swarthmore College: 930 offers out of 5,540 apps, 17 percent.

University of California at Berkeley: no figures available until April 18.

University of Chicago: 2,304 offers out of 27,503 apps, 8 percent.

University of Notre Dame: 3,720 offers out of 17,897 apps, 21 percent.

University of Pennsylvania: 3,583 offers out of 35,868 apps, 10 percent.

U.S. Military Academy: no figures available yet.

U.S. Naval Academy: no figures available yet.

Vanderbilt University: 3634 offers out of 29,490 apps, 12 percent.

Vassar College: 1,771 offers out of 7,784 apps, 23 percent.

Washington University in St. Louis: 5,002 offers out of 29,211 apps, 17 percent.

Wellesley College: 1,330 offers out of 4,710 apps, 28 percent.

Wesleyan University: 2,199 offers out of 9,477 apps, 23 percent.

Williams College: 1,150 offers out of 6,316 apps, 18 percent.

Yale University: 1,935 offers out of 30,932 apps, 6 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/college-admission-rates-for-class-of-2018-an-imperfect-but-closely-watched-metric/2014/04/03/820ff578-b6af-11e3-8cc3-d4bf596577eb_story.html

Were any of those kids given a seat over another because they were black or hispanic? If so, that's not really the equality everyone wants, now is it....

Holistic admissions is a euphemism for race balancing.

And gender balancing and major balancing and geographic balancing and interest balancing..... Boys have an edge over girls- unless it is mainly a stem school, underrepresented minorities have en edge over over represented minorities, Alaskans and North Dakotan have and edge over New Yorkers and Virginians. Odd sports have an edge over normal sports...

Sports make sense. Why? Because athletically gifted kids have a skill set to bring in the door. The rest of it is all bullish*t - a numbers game for rankings in magazines that don't mean squat, except to politicians and snobby parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid was wait listed at 8 schools and all his classmates with worse grades, less extracurricular got into the schools he applied, you would be fuming, knowing how spoiled you are.

Not the PP you are attacking but why spoiled? That seems like an odd choice of words. If his classmates had worse grades and less of other things schools say are important and got in over her son, wouldn't anger be a normal response? If you were up for a promotion and were the one best qualified and had worked your butt off for it, and your boss took your less qualified co-worker, I would expect you to be angry as well.

Sorry, I was referring to the PPs saying how dare he thought he would get into one of those 8 schools. He is that good: he would be #1 in Sidwell, STA, Maret, GDS.... though not TJ. If he was their own kid, those PPs would be totally pissed.

All his teachers, counselors and principal said they were shell shocked. OP is right, it is scandalous.

[Anonymous]

^^^Then start your own college and you can make the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So why again is your child better than the other thousands and thousands who applied and those who got offers?

2014 Washington Post Article. The link is at the end.

Amherst College: 1,103 admission offers out of 8,468 applications, 13 percent.

Bowdoin College: 1,032 offers out of 6,935 apps, 15 percent.

Brown University: 2,619 offers out of 30,432 apps, 9 percent.

California Institute of Technology: 529 offers out of 6,524 apps, 8 percent.

Carleton College: 1,446 offers out of 6,293 apps, 23 percent.

Claremont McKenna College: 613 offers out of 6,043 apps, 10 percent.

Colgate University: 2,224 offers out of 8,713 apps, 26 percent.

Columbia University: 2,291 offers out of 32,967 apps, 7 percent.

Cornell University: 6,014 offers out of 43,041 apps, 14 percent.

Dartmouth College: 2,220 offers out of 19,296 apps, 12 percent.

Davidson College: 1,169 offers out of 5,558 apps, 21 percent.

Duke University: 3,499 offers out of 32,506 apps, 11 percent.

Emory University: 4,616 offers out of 17,797 apps, 26 percent.

Grinnell College: 1,626 offers out of 6,056 apps, 27 percent.

Hamilton College: 1,312 offers out of 5,071 apps, 26 percent.

Harvard University: 2,023 offers out of 34,295 apps, 6 percent.

Harvey Mudd College: 510 offers out of 3,678 apps, 14 percent. Note: Harvey Mudd’s figures are based on what it labels “actionable” applications, meaning those that are complete enough for the college to make a decision. Separately, it reports a higher figure for total apps. If that higher figure were used, its admission rate would be a percentage point lower.

Haverford College: no figures available yet.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology:1,419 offers out of 18,357 apps, 8 percent.

Middlebury College: 1,422 offers out of 8,196 apps, 17 percent.

Northwestern University: 4,349 offers out of 33,673 apps, 13 percent.

Pomona College: 938 offers out of 7,727 apps, 12 percent.

Princeton University: 1,939 offers out of 26,641 apps, 7 percent.

Rice University: 2,498 offers out of 17,720 apps, 14 percent.

Smith College: 1,802 offers out of 4,461 apps, 40 percent.

Stanford University: 2,138 offers out of 42,167 apps, 5 percent.

Swarthmore College: 930 offers out of 5,540 apps, 17 percent.

University of California at Berkeley: no figures available until April 18.

University of Chicago: 2,304 offers out of 27,503 apps, 8 percent.

University of Notre Dame: 3,720 offers out of 17,897 apps, 21 percent.

University of Pennsylvania: 3,583 offers out of 35,868 apps, 10 percent.

U.S. Military Academy: no figures available yet.

U.S. Naval Academy: no figures available yet.

Vanderbilt University: 3634 offers out of 29,490 apps, 12 percent.

Vassar College: 1,771 offers out of 7,784 apps, 23 percent.

Washington University in St. Louis: 5,002 offers out of 29,211 apps, 17 percent.

Wellesley College: 1,330 offers out of 4,710 apps, 28 percent.

Wesleyan University: 2,199 offers out of 9,477 apps, 23 percent.

Williams College: 1,150 offers out of 6,316 apps, 18 percent.

Yale University: 1,935 offers out of 30,932 apps, 6 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/college-admission-rates-for-class-of-2018-an-imperfect-but-closely-watched-metric/2014/04/03/820ff578-b6af-11e3-8cc3-d4bf596577eb_story.html

Were any of those kids given a seat over another because they were black or hispanic? If so, that's not really the equality everyone wants, now is it....

Holistic admissions is a euphemism for race balancing.

And gender balancing and major balancing and geographic balancing and interest balancing..... Boys have an edge over girls- unless it is mainly a stem school, underrepresented minorities have en edge over over represented minorities, Alaskans and North Dakotan have and edge over New Yorkers and Virginians. Odd sports have an edge over normal sports...

Sports make sense. Why? Because athletically gifted kids have a skill set to bring in the door. The rest of it is all bullish*t - a numbers game for rankings in magazines that don't mean squat, except to politicians and snobby parents.

It makes sense for the school to have a diverse student body. It gives students a better experience than going to a school where everyone is a clone of themselves. Students hear different ideas and different ways of thinking and they are stretched by it. It is not just a numbers game. Some assets are not represented in the test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So why again is your child better than the other thousands and thousands who applied and those who got offers?

2014 Washington Post Article. The link is at the end.

Amherst College: 1,103 admission offers out of 8,468 applications, 13 percent.

Bowdoin College: 1,032 offers out of 6,935 apps, 15 percent.

Brown University: 2,619 offers out of 30,432 apps, 9 percent.

California Institute of Technology: 529 offers out of 6,524 apps, 8 percent.

Carleton College: 1,446 offers out of 6,293 apps, 23 percent.

Claremont McKenna College: 613 offers out of 6,043 apps, 10 percent.

Colgate University: 2,224 offers out of 8,713 apps, 26 percent.

Columbia University: 2,291 offers out of 32,967 apps, 7 percent.

Cornell University: 6,014 offers out of 43,041 apps, 14 percent.

Dartmouth College: 2,220 offers out of 19,296 apps, 12 percent.

Davidson College: 1,169 offers out of 5,558 apps, 21 percent.

Duke University: 3,499 offers out of 32,506 apps, 11 percent.

Emory University: 4,616 offers out of 17,797 apps, 26 percent.

Grinnell College: 1,626 offers out of 6,056 apps, 27 percent.

Hamilton College: 1,312 offers out of 5,071 apps, 26 percent.

Harvard University: 2,023 offers out of 34,295 apps, 6 percent.

Harvey Mudd College: 510 offers out of 3,678 apps, 14 percent. Note: Harvey Mudd’s figures are based on what it labels “actionable” applications, meaning those that are complete enough for the college to make a decision. Separately, it reports a higher figure for total apps. If that higher figure were used, its admission rate would be a percentage point lower.

Haverford College: no figures available yet.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology:1,419 offers out of 18,357 apps, 8 percent.

Middlebury College: 1,422 offers out of 8,196 apps, 17 percent.

Northwestern University: 4,349 offers out of 33,673 apps, 13 percent.

Pomona College: 938 offers out of 7,727 apps, 12 percent.

Princeton University: 1,939 offers out of 26,641 apps, 7 percent.

Rice University: 2,498 offers out of 17,720 apps, 14 percent.

Smith College: 1,802 offers out of 4,461 apps, 40 percent.

Stanford University: 2,138 offers out of 42,167 apps, 5 percent.

Swarthmore College: 930 offers out of 5,540 apps, 17 percent.

University of California at Berkeley: no figures available until April 18.

University of Chicago: 2,304 offers out of 27,503 apps, 8 percent.

University of Notre Dame: 3,720 offers out of 17,897 apps, 21 percent.

University of Pennsylvania: 3,583 offers out of 35,868 apps, 10 percent.

U.S. Military Academy: no figures available yet.

U.S. Naval Academy: no figures available yet.

Vanderbilt University: 3634 offers out of 29,490 apps, 12 percent.

Vassar College: 1,771 offers out of 7,784 apps, 23 percent.

Washington University in St. Louis: 5,002 offers out of 29,211 apps, 17 percent.

Wellesley College: 1,330 offers out of 4,710 apps, 28 percent.

Wesleyan University: 2,199 offers out of 9,477 apps, 23 percent.

Williams College: 1,150 offers out of 6,316 apps, 18 percent.

Yale University: 1,935 offers out of 30,932 apps, 6 percent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/college-admission-rates-for-class-of-2018-an-imperfect-but-closely-watched-metric/2014/04/03/820ff578-b6af-11e3-8cc3-d4bf596577eb_story.html

Were any of those kids given a seat over another because they were black or hispanic? If so, that's not really the equality everyone wants, now is it....

Holistic admissions is a euphemism for race balancing.

And gender balancing and major balancing and geographic balancing and interest balancing..... Boys have an edge over girls- unless it is mainly a stem school, underrepresented minorities have en edge over over represented minorities, Alaskans and North Dakotan have and edge over New Yorkers and Virginians. Odd sports have an edge over normal sports...

Sports make sense. Why? Because athletically gifted kids have a skill set to bring in the door. The rest of it is all bullish*t - a numbers game for rankings in magazines that don't mean squat, except to politicians and snobby parents.

The vast majority of the colleges listed above are private. Why would any of them care what politicians want?

USNWR rankings are not in any way based on geographic or racial or ethnic makeup, so rankings aren't driving any school's efforts to diversify.

Where private colleges are seeking diversity, they are doing so BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. You don't have to like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC applied to only two universities, one is arguably the best private university in the country, and the other is arguably the best public university in the country. DC was admitted to both.

Your DC is a moron and that could have ended very badly.

Not the PP, but it's a totally sane EA strategy. Wouldn't end badly because you'd know the results in time yo submit other apps if necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^Then start your own college and you can make the rules.

I am sure some of the rejected kids will end up starting their own business instead of working for other people. I would. Knowing how fucked up the system is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid was wait listed at 8 schools and all his classmates with worse grades, less extracurricular got into the schools he applied, you would be fuming, knowing how spoiled you are.

Not the PP you are attacking but why spoiled? That seems like an odd choice of words. If his classmates had worse grades and less of other things schools say are important and got in over her son, wouldn't anger be a normal response? If you were up for a promotion and were the one best qualified and had worked your butt off for it, and your boss took your less qualified co-worker, I would expect you to be angry as well.

Sorry, I was referring to the PPs saying how dare he thought he would get into one of those 8 schools. He is that good: he would be #1 in Sidwell, STA, Maret, GDS.... though not TJ. If he was their own kid, those PPs would be totally pissed.

All his teachers, counselors and principal said they were shell shocked. OP is right, it is scandalous.

You have no way of knowing how this kid would stack up at these privates. None. This is really common with a lot of Asian parents. They come up with some ranking system where their kids come out ahead, and then get bent out of shape when others don't agree with their criteria. Obviously these schools don't see this kid as quite the catch you do. Get over it.

[Anonymous]

My DH interviews for an Ivy. This year it seemed as if the kids with personality got accepted. The kid who started a jam making club at school beat out the one with 10 APs; the kid who was the only republican at his overwhelmingly liberal school beat out the kid who took the Johns Hopkins summer class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the kid who is the bagpiper/chocolatier/just a nice guy!

+ 1 Most refreshing post on this thread!

Really? If that's all you know about someone, in this context, it just seems like product differentiation (and of a type that requires upper middle class resources). Not clear to me why these facts should be relevant to elite college admissions.

I'm perfectly willing to believe that there's a great kid behind these labels (and congrats to him on his admissions success!), but c'mon, it's a sign that something's really messed up if these are the sorts of things that decide who goes to which college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There are some fields that where you go undergrad matters. I was looking through where the professors went at the school my son will likely be going to and what shocked me was that practically all of them went, for grad and undergrad, to the same few schools: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, etc.

If you want to go into academia, names matter.


Fair point! But keep in mind that professors, especially at the better schools, will invariably have a doctorate or at the least a masters degree. So it becomes more important where one does the post-graduate degree.

I promise you that where you went to graduate school matters to hiring committees filling professor slots, but they do not care, at all (nor are they likely even aware of) about where you went to undergrad. Grad school admissions committees care about where you went to college, but not always in a way that favors Ivies.

One teeny exception is if you are applying for a professor position at a SLAC and you only went to big state schools. I've been told that if that's the case, you need to sell the fact that you "understand" the SLAC philosophy. And, there may be a very small edge to people with Ivy backgrounds if you want to teach at a school like Amherst or Williams, where parents want their precious children taught by "the best." But, that's purely icing -- your grad degree is the only one that really truly matters.

I suspect that undergrad matters in academia primarily because it's schools like Harvard where faculty urge some of their best students to consider academia rather than law or medicine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid was wait listed at 8 schools and all his classmates with worse grades, less extracurricular got into the schools he applied, you would be fuming, knowing how spoiled you are.

Not the PP you are attacking but why spoiled? That seems like an odd choice of words. If his classmates had worse grades and less of other things schools say are important and got in over her son, wouldn't anger be a normal response? If you were up for a promotion and were the one best qualified and had worked your butt off for it, and your boss took your less qualified co-worker, I would expect you to be angry as well.

Sorry, I was referring to the PPs saying how dare he thought he would get into one of those 8 schools. He is that good: he would be #1 in Sidwell, STA, Maret, GDS.... though not TJ. If he was their own kid, those PPs would be totally pissed.

All his teachers, counselors and principal said they were shell shocked. OP is right, it is scandalous.

Thanks for clearing that up. Makes more sense now. Didn't mean to make you feel attacked; just curious.