Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

This is one of the best comments I've ever read on DCOM. Total mic drop. Bravo!

[Anonymous]

mid 700s on sat math II is pretty abysmal actually. The curve is so generous that anything less than 800 is basically a fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

Haha

Fellow senior parent.

+100

Thank you.

And those parents could be teaching the kids English, History, etc. . . but for some reason expects the school to do its job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

Haha

Fellow senior parent.

+100

Thank you.

And those parents could be teaching the kids English, History, etc. . . but for some reason expects the school to do its job.

Haha

[Anonymous]

Sidwell Senior Parent. NP. On a related but slightly different note: I believe we are finally starting to see what the rather tough grading policies at Sidwell are starting to do to admissions outcomes. Rampant grade inflation elsewhere, the elimination of standardized tests and gradual disinclination towards "elite" private schools is making it harder each year for Sidwell students to stand out. With Covid, strong ECs have been hard to build for many students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

Nope. The kind of people you're describing get outside counselors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

Another perspective to throw into your theory. SFS encourages independence and for students to self advocate. They also tell students that their parents are overbearing (especially with regards to colleges). So, imagine a case where a high achieving student has parents who step back, kid is independent and does very well academically. The student thinks that just relying on CCO will be perfectly fine (as they are also told this) and doesn't want parent involved.....but the student doesn't really understand the landscape of college applications and CCO doesn't really consider it their job to counsel such a student in ways that would be really useful. The assumption that the overbearing parents will do it and that the kid will listen to the parents....after all the messaging from the school to parents not to be overbearing and to the kids to tune our their parents (on everything, but on colleges in particular).

What a dummy. This is the most jumbled thinking I've ever seen in DCUM. But it was fun to read!

DP. This is a good description of the scenario at DC's big3. It's not jumbled thinking, it's jumbled messaging by the CCO.

[Anonymous]

You’re not uneducated. Figure it out yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell Senior Parent. NP. On a related but slightly different note: I believe we are finally starting to see what the rather tough grading policies at Sidwell are starting to do to admissions outcomes. Rampant grade inflation elsewhere, the elimination of standardized tests and gradual disinclination towards "elite" private schools is making it harder each year for Sidwell students to stand out. With Covid, strong ECs have been hard to build for many students.

That and the fact that Sidwell won’t weight the GPA to reflect the rigor. The message is always—“colleges know how rigorous Sidwell curriculum is”—which is absurd. Maybe a handful of colleges know. It’s beyond arrogant to think all schools lnow or even care. By removing the SAT, colleges have seen applications rise and acceptance rates fall to the point where CCO is recommending a massive number of likely schools that do not have the time and resources to spot a Sidwell kid with <4.0. CCO and academic/curriculum team need to get together and talk. The outsize effect of GPA for college apps is making it really tough for kids at schools that do not grade inflate and do not weight the GPA.

[Anonymous]

How does Sidwell justify the lack of open access to Naviance? That’s so incredibly paternalistic. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a parent revolt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell Senior Parent. NP. On a related but slightly different note: I believe we are finally starting to see what the rather tough grading policies at Sidwell are starting to do to admissions outcomes. Rampant grade inflation elsewhere, the elimination of standardized tests and gradual disinclination towards "elite" private schools is making it harder each year for Sidwell students to stand out. With Covid, strong ECs have been hard to build for many students.

What does a grading policy have to do with it? Nothing.

You just sound upset that the express elevator from down super deluxe prep school right to Harvard now maybe stops at a few other floors. And that is a bad thing in your opinion. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

I know of at least 1 Sidwell NMSF deferred at Wisconsin so I take umbrage with your premise.

But being a NMSF says nothing about that student’s GPA or other attributes. It just means they had a good day on the PSAT. And it seems that Wisconsin was overwhelmed this year and that many of those deferrals may turn into acceptances.

Well, they had a good day on the PSAT AND a good day on the SAT. Plus high GPA, plus recs from school... Not at Sidwell, but have DC with high stats and NMF. So please, a bit of respect here

The original post did not say NMF. It said NMSF, which is only triggered by the PSAT score. The reality is that many kids with NMSF qualifying scores don’t necessarily have the grades and other pieces that guarantee admission. I was not responding to any statment about a NMF, or denigrating any student’s other qualifications. The example given seemed to assume that merely being a NMSF should guarantee admission to Wisconsin. I don’t think that is true.

The grades really depends on the courses you chose. A quite few kids who have very good grades barely can get SAT above 1500. My DS said if you took Sidwell Math I-IV serial, SAT/PSAT is just a piece of cake. He almost get full score SAT (1590) with just one try though his grade may not be as good as those who took easy courses. It is not easy to get SAT Math 800 for the kids who took regular or the lowest track math although their grades may look good. Everyone takes the same level humanity courses in Sidwell. He also took Sub Bio SAT 760 (9th grade), Sub Chem SAT 800 and Sub Math II 800 (after 10th grade and the beginning of 11th grade) before Subject SAT was cancelled.

This is kid dependent. My kid, who was is in the Math I-IV sequence found it surprisingly harder to get into the high 700's on Math because they had no practice in solving finite applied problems in quick succession. They had skills to adapt but it wasn't an immediate piece of cake. On the flip side, it was a piece of cake to be close to 800 on Verbal.

Mid 700's is still pretty high score.

it was below 700 (but still a high score in bigger picture...just not a cake to 800)

[Anonymous]

Nope. The kind of people you're describing get outside counselors.

This isn't binary yep/nope. A family can hire private help and still act peeved and blame the original CCO help for "inadequacy" when the actual issue is entitlement. And make no mistake, the worst among these parents badmouth the independent Bethesda and NYC counselors, too.

The problem for them is never in their own home, you see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Nope. The kind of people you're describing get outside counselors.

This isn't binary yep/nope. A family can hire private help and still act peeved and blame the original CCO help for "inadequacy" when the actual issue is entitlement. And make no mistake, the worst among these parents badmouth the independent Bethesda and NYC counselors, too.

The problem for them is never in their own home, you see.

Not the same PP. But it's also not the binary yep/nope that the CCO is running smoothly. We aren't in the big complaining group nor do we feel our DC is entitled to get into an Ivy (or top X), but the messaging from CCO doesn't align with the support they actually provide. So much gets complicated by their fear of crazy parents and the fear of sharing information that more typical families (and kids) who need real advice don't always get it. For example, I would absolutely want to be told that there are a huge number early application to Brown (or that it included athletes, legacies, etc), if my kid also had a SLAC at the top of their list that was less saturated with SFS applicants and could be a more likely ED hit. Yes, many families will ignore this, but others won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does Sidwell justify the lack of open access to Naviance? That’s so incredibly paternalistic. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a parent revolt.

What does a parent revolt at a school like Sidwell look like?