Compared Against Peers - T20 Admissions

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know. :cry:

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Totally pathetic to blame one kid. It is much more likely that your kid and the other kids were just lacking. Or your school is.

It is a TT NYC school, I did not say no one else got in. I just said one person getting into many schools hurts other kids. This kid was not deserving, but getting news coverage through the influence of connected parents for a random non-profit did help. I don't really care what you really think but these are facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know. :cry:

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Totally pathetic to blame one kid. It is much more likely that your kid and the other kids were just lacking. Or your school is.

It is a TT NYC school, I did not say no one else got in. I just said one person getting into many schools hurts other kids. This kid was not deserving, but getting news coverage through the influence of connected parents for a random non-profit did help. I don't really care what you really think but these are facts.

Instead they could have taken zero kids. You'd be happier, but as things stand all you know is they were looking for a bombastic candidate with a non-profit, not whatever the other applicants brought. Easy to imagine a seat was stolen, but this isn't musical chairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know. :cry:

Yup happened at my kids school last year. Did not completely shut out other kids but one kid got in 5-6 Ivys in RD

I agree. One or two stars who don't ED successfully can shut out remaining strong kids. The only hope these kids have is for yield protection logic to kick in.

Yes, you really hope the 3.98 and 4.0 kids ED successfully or else they will take every Ivy spot and shut out the rest of the class. This happened at our school last year too. This kid got in to about 6 Ivies plus Duke, etc in RD and no one else did.

This happened at our school too except the kid was not in the top 10 kids in the grade but a wealthy URM. He did not get into Princeton early but got into many top schools in RD.

Totally pathetic to blame one kid. It is much more likely that your kid and the other kids were just lacking. Or your school is.

It is a TT NYC school, I did not say no one else got in. I just said one person getting into many schools hurts other kids. This kid was not deserving, but getting news coverage through the influence of connected parents for a random non-profit did help. I don't really care what you really think but these are facts.

Exactly what do you think “shut out” means?

Those aren’t facts they’re the conclusions you jumped to in a childish fit.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

I think it's because when a college says they meet full need it doesn't mean a family can actually afford the tuition.
We have a HHI of $400 and Harvard would likely say we have no need but it doesn't mean we have $90K to pay for Harvard each year.

If you can’t live off of 310 then you are living beyond your means already

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe the NYC privates and boarding schools have pull with admissions but the DC privates have very little with the top universities.

For our Big3 school the "line in the sand" for Duke is about a 3.9. I know several kids with a 3.8, legacy parents who were TOP donors at the high school who did not get into Duke over the past 2 years.
It's not something the high school can push through.

There are different lines in the sand because top universities recalculate GPA. This means a 3.9 isn’t really a 3.9 if there is not advanced classes. This is becoming a huge issue for top students who took hard classes and didn’t realize they were better situated and for those with 4.0 who really were not looked at favorable to colleges as they didn’t have enough advanced classes. It may be better to have to pay for private counselor to understand all this stuff. It is complicated.

At my kids' school most of the top kids have taken difficult classes. Maybe not to a person but there is a strong correlation between top GPAs and top classes.
These schools (the Big3) are almost 3 schools in one: the superstars, the hard worker/strong students who aren't superstars and the laggers/slackers.
The superstars who have GPAs above 3.85 or so (many above 3.9) generally take hard classes. The same thing that motivates a kid to do well all the hard general classes motivates them to take challenging electives.
Again, not to a person but in general.

I've seen all the admissions data for our school and the acceptances really mirror GPA and unfortunately, most of the top 20 universities don't take kids below a 3.80 or even 3.9 (and some of us didn't even know there was a cohort of kids at our school that had grades that high...lol). But they exist and they do well with admissions. Legacy will get a dip down maybe 0.1 or 0.2 from the non-legacy kids. But it's nothing like Duke taking a 3.5 instead of a 3.9.

Many above a 3.9? Aren’t you the same crowd whining about grade deflation in private schools? Looks pretty inflated to me.

Above 3.9 translates roughly into top 10 percent kids at Big 3 Privates.

yes, it depends on the school and the year. Top 10% is usually above a 3.9. Sometimes as low as a 3.85, sometimes as high as a 3.95. Grades have a been a bit inflated for seniors over the past 3 years due to the Covid (remote) grading. The first class back to all routine grading is the class of 2025 (current juniors).

Oh there you are again the crazy Big 3 mom obsessing over other kid’s grades. The schools don’t share this info… you are just cobbling it together. Just stop.

no--they have the top 20% society and every year it's easy to figure out what the GPA cut-off is if you have a senior and your kids knows seniors, etc. Last year it was about 3.91.

Nice kid you have there, worrying about everyone else's grades ... and then she reports them to you? Yuck.

for the love of Pete, my kid was a sophomore last year and knew the cut-off. It was told to her aby about 10 different kids.
it was told to me by about 5 different moms on the sports sidelines, etc.
I'm sorry you and your kid don't have friends.

We have nice friends who don't talk about grades. Obsession with other's grades is a bit SAD. And, you have no idea if the rumor mill is true or false. You lap it up like a puppy. What a waste of time.

ok, so we have two parents.

1) Parent #1 knows the GPA that constitutes the top 10% of their child's graduating class of 75 kids. This top 10% designation is publicly celebrated by the school and the names are listed on the school's website.

2) Parent #2 goes on DCUM and makes fun of a parent #1 (who they don't know) for knowing this information. Repeatedly posts insults about this parent.


Now you tell me who is sad.

NP. but it's you. You're the sad one. Why are you so mean? Are you the same person calling students at different school guttersnipes on the Private School Board? I don't think the other parent insulted you. He or she just doubted that you could know as much as you claim. Maybe he or she was wrong, and maybe he or she was overly aggressive, but your response was to say that he or she and their daughter had no friends. You seem like the worst. Step away. Get other hobbies. Anything. You say your child is still a Junior. You have a long road ahead of you. Pace yourself and turn down the toxicity. We all thought we knew a lot December of Junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were at a top uni and the Dir of Admissions said explicitly that the first group of students any applicant is up against is the other applicants from their school. They will not take all 15 applicants from Big Fancy Private. You have to beat your classmates first and then the others from your region.

I'm curious how any of this has changed in the last cycle? Did it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a good student with an interesting story, and kid is at a small private school, keep your kid’s college choices close to the vest. Also, try not to go to the same eight or nine schools.

There are plenty of other good schools in the top 25 that are often overlooked with only one or two applicants from the class….find them.

Agree with all of this.....

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by “brokering”? Is that equivalent to promoting certain students over others to AO’s?

This has me really stressed. We have been watching and hoping this isn’t true but our kid felt steered away from certain schools and now found out many kids got in one of these schools last year so not sure why steered away. We are on pins and needles that the ed works out and we can feel better about process. They are having a big mental health meeting today and hopefully kids will talk about all these rumors which maybe are not true. It would be devastating to find out school was deciding to push certain kids and not others.

We are members of the same school community. Other than the list from College Kickstart, we’ve had no other communication with the CCO. They made no comment on our child’s ED1 decision, and we would have appreciated some feedback about it (mainly how many others were applying to same school and our child’s level of competitiveness). Based on the SCOIR data, kids with similar profiles have gotten into this school in the past but it sure would have been nice to have the input and encouragement/discouragement from CCO. If they are discouraging your kid, that likely means many others with stronger stats and profiles are applying too.

This is where the CCO can and should add value in my opinion and they aren’t. Particularly with regard to ED choices it would be nice to have some real-time guidance. Other schools provide such assistance and I don’t know why this school cannot do the same. It seems like many kids in this class are shooting for the moon in ED without having the required grades, rigor or test scores at a baseline and I’m surprised nothing has been said by CCO’s.

If anyone from this school is on here, how did it end up working out?
non-DMV private here and we have similar weird CCO dynamics.

[Anonymous]

Fascinating chain
Also frightening

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused as to why this is more of an issue at private schools. At public schools, dozens of kids apply to the same competitive schools and the chips fall where they may. There isn’t the same level of ownership over the process. Everyone knows they have zero control and they have a “might as well try” attitude.

Another public school parent. I wish there were more of a mix here. So tired of wvery thread being dominated by a private school subset.

My guess is entitlement. There is a sense among some (not all of course) that the private school investment entitles their kid to a certain tier of college.

I don’t perceive entitlement among private school parents as much as I sense greater anxiety. Class anxiety, status anxiety. I have put one through each system, both with a terrific result that was really right for that child. The anxiety levels of the private parents is outsized, even if so many try to conceal it. I think that is why they get so aggressive here about insisting private is superior. It must be such a relief to get it off their chest anonymously.

Child number three is in private now. I have to actively remind myself not to absorb the energy from my peer parents on the topic of college. People whom I like very much in other conversations are just not my cup of tea regarding admissions and planning it out over four years. I work hard at creating an invisible wall. Why? I don’t want to do my child what I see some inadvertently doing to theirs.

Parents. We are a big part of the problem. I know I shouldn’t even be here on this thread. I’m going to have to work a little harder.

As for the public/private debate, focus on your child and what is best for them. No need to be unkind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sure would be nice if the CC at our top DMV private would give kids an idea where they stand relative to their peers for specific colleges. This is where college counseling at a school could really make a difference in outcomes. Ours just makes sure you have a safety on your list and that’s the extent of it!!

Our CC at DC private shared this feedback with DC. DC changed their ED and it worked out. Agree it is very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

Especially true if non-White and non-Asian…

yep. One top 3.98 kid can literally take every top spot in RD. From all the Ivies to Duke and Rice and Hopkins. All in one fell swoop. And they can shut out the entire rest of the class with their lower 3.9s in the process.
Ask me how I know.

Pray tell us your story

[Anonymous]

this is why some privates limit apps to 7 or 8 or 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a good student with an interesting story, and kid is at a small private school, keep your kid’s college choices close to the vest. Also, try not to go to the same eight or nine schools.

There are plenty of other good schools in the top 25 that are often overlooked with only one or two applicants from the class….find them.

Agree with all of this.....

Agree with all of this too, but in my experience, it’s typically the kids who share their choices.

[Anonymous]

does anyone have any more guidance on this situation from the last cycle?