I can’t say this to my kid’s face, of course, but...

[Anonymous]

Instead of speculating that the OP is lying which will drive them away forever if they are not lying, and have no effect or benefit if they are....

...or speculating that the kid is smart but lazy and has bad social media...

...or posting some other unfounded, baseless and useless concept...

...can we assume good intent and stay on topic?

Why is that so frickin' hard?

[Anonymous]

OP: You need to touch base with the college counselor. These results are crazy. Vermont has an acceptance rate of 67% (and it's usually higher out of state; 72% in the last year I could find) and the 75th%ile of SAT score is 1360. There is an actual problem with your son's application and you need to figure out what it is.

I would find out. If it is fixable, try to get the college counselor -- especially because you're at a private; how are they not offering?!? -- to call the 2 WL schools he's most interested in. If that doesn't work, press him to do a gap year and reapply. Seriously. (It is much harder to transfer than gap + reapply.)

[Anonymous]

FWIW, Naviance says that every kid with a 1530 (assuming the lowest arguably mid-1500s score) and a 3.65 (assuming all As are A-s + 1 B+ and still underestimating assuming A-=3.7) got into Vermont ever from a randomish area school.

[Anonymous]

OP, most colleges only take so many kids from each high school and the college counselor was probably sending all the kids to the same schools. Your son did an amazing job in high school but just because he is in a private, doesn't make him more worthy of an IVY and they look at things like activities, essays and more. It sounds like you weren't being realistic and should have applied to a bigger range of schools and more schools. He has several great options and you should be proud of all of them. Those stat's don't get you into IVYS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Remember I gave you a partial list. He was also rejected by one foundational school and one match.

He did ED1 to one of the one of the schools I listed as rejection but did not do an ED2.

sounds like GDS speak

[Anonymous]

Waitlists will probably move this year. Is DC interested into any of those schools?

[Anonymous]

Kids who are going to be happy and successful are going to be happy and successful at almost any college. Even if there’s something specific he/she is pursuing and they don’t have the program or whatever at the school to which he/she is admitted, the kid on their way to being happy and successful will research and transfer or pick something else.
I’m not saying your kid shouldn’t feel disappointed, but that disappointment won’t derail his/her life if the building blocks are okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of speculating that the OP is lying which will drive them away forever if they are not lying, and have no effect or benefit if they are....

...or speculating that the kid is smart but lazy and has bad social media...

...or posting some other unfounded, baseless and useless concept...

...can we assume good intent and stay on topic?

Why is that so frickin' hard?

This is why it's hard. There are some really smart parents in this area. We do our research. We all aim for the best results for our DCs. And many parents on this site (from what I have seen) are forthcoming with enough details. They give details and some even know that they may not have the best situation, but they are at least humble about it (at least some of them are).

Here we have a parent that wants empathy and appears to be seeking help or another way of reaching a desired goal. But the parent isn't giving enough information for other parents to really offer help. So no one really knows what the situation is. We don't know if it's the school, the types of classes taken, the ECs, the guidance counselor -- we have no idea. We just have a parent wanting our sympathy and advice without much info.

my two cents, and I apologize if this seems harsh. But there are some really smart parents and kids in this area, and it could be bad luck, but hard to really say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry OP. We were in the same boat 2 years ago with mostly rejections and deferrals. My DC had 1580 SAT, 15 AP’s, high GPA, good EC’s. What I am worried about for my current HS junior is if the selective schools reject you, and the safeties defer you or waitlist you how the heck are you going to get in anywhere? I mean if you are too good for a safety and for yield protection they don’t accept you but you didn’t make the cut for your targets or reaches then what should you do?

I’d like someone to answer this too.
I am sorry OP and other students who are in a similar situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of speculating that the OP is lying which will drive them away forever if they are not lying, and have no effect or benefit if they are....

...or speculating that the kid is smart but lazy and has bad social media...

...or posting some other unfounded, baseless and useless concept...

...can we assume good intent and stay on topic?

Why is that so frickin' hard?

This is why it's hard. There are some really smart parents in this area. We do our research. We all aim for the best results for our DCs. And many parents on this site (from what I have seen) are forthcoming with enough details. They give details and some even know that they may not have the best situation, but they are at least humble about it (at least some of them are).

Here we have a parent that wants empathy and appears to be seeking help or another way of reaching a desired goal. But the parent isn't giving enough information for other parents to really offer help. So no one really knows what the situation is. We don't know if it's the school, the types of classes taken, the ECs, the guidance counselor -- we have no idea. We just have a parent wanting our sympathy and advice without much info.

my two cents, and I apologize if this seems harsh. But there are some really smart parents and kids in this area, and it could be bad luck, but hard to really say.

Summary: there are some really smart parents here (modest ones too!) so we get to be assholes because we're the cool kids.

OK, gotcha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry OP. We were in the same boat 2 years ago with mostly rejections and deferrals. My DC had 1580 SAT, 15 AP’s, high GPA, good EC’s. What I am worried about for my current HS junior is if the selective schools reject you, and the safeties defer you or waitlist you how the heck are you going to get in anywhere? I mean if you are too good for a safety and for yield protection they don’t accept you but you didn’t make the cut for your targets or reaches then what should you do?

I’d like someone to answer this too.
I am sorry OP and other students who are in a similar situation.

Open the aperture, identify wider range of targets (upper, middle and lower) your child is happy with. Worked well for us this year.

[Anonymous]

How did this get to 15 pages in a couple of hours? what on earth is happening in the college forum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did this get to 15 pages in a couple of hours? what on earth is happening in the college forum?

LOL, it's UVA RD night in about a minute, all hands on deck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of speculating that the OP is lying which will drive them away forever if they are not lying, and have no effect or benefit if they are....

...or speculating that the kid is smart but lazy and has bad social media...

...or posting some other unfounded, baseless and useless concept...

...can we assume good intent and stay on topic?

Why is that so frickin' hard?

This times a million.

These parents are not "really smart"! Just a$$holes.

And they are ruining this board. There are ways to ask these hard-hitting questions that you just have to know, with grace and empathy. Guess you're too smart for that! So strange, because all of the truly intelligent people I know in real life lead with kindness. Not "being harsh"! #sorrynotsorry

Hmmm....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with high scores is two fold:

1. This year, they are not necessarily considering them, or at the very least, not considering the lack of one for a similar applicant who may have had a lower score if they'd taken the test.

2. When you get a crazy high score, you instantly get dreams of the Ivies, the top 20 schools etc. Your counselor buys into this too. Those are always crapshoots and should never be even considered matches.

Its all about expectation setting and your counselor did you a disservice.

My kids went to a public school and had very little advice from their counselors. like none really. No discussion fo what schools to look at and what would be a match. we moaned abut it at the time, but the fact is that my kids had to make their own lists, do their own research on sources like Naviance. Because of this, they found schools they were excited about, even if it would have been classified as a safety.

Duh, you’re missing my point. NO ONE told my kid he was or was not going to have a shot at ANY school. He had no advice other than what he could see and what he thought. This OP says that her counselor described some schools as matches some as reaches some as safeties. That’s where the problem is. No one can truly know that information, it’s a guessing game and the deck of cards that these counselors are used to playing with has some jokers in it for 2021.

FYI, everyone makes their own list using resources and Naviance. The starting point at our school is to give that list to your counselor. Without it, you don't get an appointment.