How the hell is anyone supposed to get into college now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U mich isn't that hard to get into, frankly all.punlics not UCLA and Berkeley are only moderately difficult

Yes we’ve heard that one a few times here already.

I think it's the same troll poster again and again, somehow suggested she and her kids are the true, "effortless" geniuses.

Rolling my eyes hard at this. So many parents like this, and they don't see how much they've enriched their kids. And, they also don't see that fast or effortless doesn't equal understanding. There's a lot they don't see. A whole lot of horse hockey.

There are actually plenty of kids that coast through a public school curriculum but considering that only about half of TJ gets into UVA, it seems like it's pretty hard to get into.

Only half gets in because UVA is all about yield protection and wants diversity. Why would they accept 100% of students from a single HS! Even 50% from TJ is too much IMO. I’ve heard many stories of students getting into more highly ranked schools only to be rejected by UVA. Yield matters. ED matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it sad to admit your child needs extra help and get them a good tutor?

Am I missing something?

I am not the PP. Reading the thread and the mentions of "sad" the word seems to relate to parents getting tutors early on just to have their kid barely cling to the top math group, or get into a top magnet high school, all the while pushing and pushing their kid to gun for ivies or even "lower" T20s when these colleges are filled with students who sailed through the hardest high school programs with no tutors. That is how I interpret it, for one: it is indeed sad to tiger-parent your child to try to be something they are not, rather than be in the math level they naturally should be in, even if that is just average in their ridiculous private school, and then trust the process that they will land in a college that suits them, where they have a chance to keep up with the other students or even stand out a little. This race to the top schools that everyone (on DCum) craves yet only a small portion of high school students academically can handle is troubling and wrong. Accept the kid you have at the level they naturally are.

This is a very american middle class white attitude. Find someplace you can excel at comfortably and go there. Big fish small pond.
The asian immigrant attitude is to strive for the most challenging atmosphere and you might find yourself rising to the occasion. Run with the swift.

They both have their pros and cons.

hi have to jump in bc your attitude is actually the narrow middle class one. the naturally smart no study kid at MIT, and the kid that is secure enough to try but ok going to second tier and flourishes w their high EQ at Wash U, are unlike your middle class striver approach.

Times have changed, grandpa. I know quite a few kids at MIT and not a single one is a "no study" type. They are all very hard working and also brilliant. Even prodigies work hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U mich isn't that hard to get into, frankly all.punlics not UCLA and Berkeley are only moderately difficult

Yes we’ve heard that one a few times here already.

I think it's the same troll poster again and again, somehow suggested she and her kids are the true, "effortless" geniuses.

Rolling my eyes hard at this. So many parents like this, and they don't see how much they've enriched their kids. And, they also don't see that fast or effortless doesn't equal understanding. There's a lot they don't see. A whole lot of horse hockey.

There are actually plenty of kids that coast through a public school curriculum but considering that only about half of TJ gets into UVA, it seems like it's pretty hard to get into.

Only half gets in because UVA is all about yield protection and wants diversity. Why would they accept 100% of students from a single HS! Even 50% from TJ is too much IMO. I’ve heard many stories of students getting into more highly ranked schools only to be rejected by UVA. Yield matters. ED matters.

UVA is towards the bottom of top 25 on most lists so there's not a ton of school that are more highly ranked

AFAICT the kids that got into more selective schools but not UVA fell into a few categories:

They didn't take the application seriously
They have a hook at that ivy+
Their SAT was really good but their GPA was a 4.3 or lower

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it sad to admit your child needs extra help and get them a good tutor?

Am I missing something?

I am not the PP. Reading the thread and the mentions of "sad" the word seems to relate to parents getting tutors early on just to have their kid barely cling to the top math group, or get into a top magnet high school, all the while pushing and pushing their kid to gun for ivies or even "lower" T20s when these colleges are filled with students who sailed through the hardest high school programs with no tutors. That is how I interpret it, for one: it is indeed sad to tiger-parent your child to try to be something they are not, rather than be in the math level they naturally should be in, even if that is just average in their ridiculous private school, and then trust the process that they will land in a college that suits them, where they have a chance to keep up with the other students or even stand out a little. This race to the top schools that everyone (on DCum) craves yet only a small portion of high school students academically can handle is troubling and wrong. Accept the kid you have at the level they naturally are.

This is a very american middle class white attitude. Find someplace you can excel at comfortably and go there. Big fish small pond.
The asian immigrant attitude is to strive for the most challenging atmosphere and you might find yourself rising to the occasion. Run with the swift.

They both have their pros and cons.

hi have to jump in bc your attitude is actually the narrow middle class one. the naturally smart no study kid at MIT, and the kid that is secure enough to try but ok going to second tier and flourishes w their high EQ at Wash U, are unlike your middle class striver approach.

Times have changed, grandpa. I know quite a few kids at MIT and not a single one is a "no study" type. They are all very hard working and also brilliant. Even prodigies work hard.

There are very few kids coasting through MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

My daughter's friend who got into Yale was an Asian male with a very high wGPA who won Science Olympiad competitions and is an advanced string player.

Straight A doesn't mean anything, OP, you should know this. There is a world's difference between an A in a regular classs and an A in an AP class. Kids who get into the top colleges have 10+ APs, have a national level EC, etc. Your newpaper editing and team captainship worked a generation ago, but not today.

This is sounds exhausting. Kids have no time to be kids.

I am 44, and in my European country, high school was a stressful workathon culminating in one heck of a national exam week. I was so stressed out I couldn't eat on the first day of national exams. But that's nowhere near the worst. My cousins come from a country in Asia known for its teen suicide rate due to exam failure. Over there, when school ends for the day, the kids go to afternoon prep schools to cram. I know *elementary school kids* who had tutors to prepare for admission into the most prestigious afternoon prep schools!!! Separate from their regular school! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?

All to say: don't ever believe the US has it bad. I promise you, even for the kids who take grades seriously... it's still a layabout's paradise.

Huh? My NYC sibling had a tutor for her 2yo to prep for preschool admissions to get into the right preschool that would line up for the right elementary. That was over 20 years ago. She had two kids - one ended up graduating from Wash U and is unemployed. The other is at an Ivy.

One of my kids had a tutor by elementary. All had tutors in high school and SAT prep. All took multiple APs, as early as 9th grade. The thing about US education isn’t that it’s laid back - it’s that it’s very individual. It’s a huge country and getting into the top 10-15 schools is very hard - but no one will force you to do those things. There are a lot of less competitive options and that’s where most of the laid back kids will end up.

And yet mine and many others are in ivies, unhooked , and got into the "top" preK and elementary, and later magnet high school, based on testing with no tutor and no prep. Rose to the top. There are naturally intelligent , self-disciplined motivated and focused kids out there. The ivies are chock full of them. Why would any parent have their kid in a school they only could survive with tutoring?

+100

My unhooked kid is headed to an Ivy. You could tell from when he was little. We never tutored or test prepped and he was self-motivated—-but frankly never had to study or struggle like other kids.

Next we will be hearing about first chairs at MCYO who never practice. Please. There exist prodigies for sure, and I've met some. Nowhere close to fill top 5, much less top 20 schools.

The PP is speaking of not needing to study as much as other kids and being highly slef motivated at school not music prodigies. The ivies are filled with naturally bright students who sailed through high school without tutors and aced the SATs and APs in the hardest classes. The vast majority of them were absolutely standout 1-2 kids in their high schools, not counting the mega donors or athletes or other big hooks. Well over half there are unhooked and were superstars in their high school. The adjustment that most will just be around average at the ivy can be hard. It is a significant mental toll on some.

The brilliant kids I know study most of the time, typically more than average kids. However, they study much harder material, so they perform at a much higher level.

I know a kid who won a silver medal at IPHO as a HS sophomore. It's no secret that he studies all day long, he will tell you this. I don't think he has a tutor in an ordinary sense, but he certainly has a lot of support. You don't get to that level on your own, just like you are not winning the Menuhin by being self-taught.

So, yes, these kids don't need to study much to get a 5 at AP, but they need to study just as much to go beyond that.

I wish brilliant lazy kids were more sought after but I don't think this is the case.

Not in my house. It's funny--every year I told my sons when they were screwing around 'hey- next year you won't be able to do this, things are really going to ramp up'. I said this going into their private HS and every year...including 'Junior year is no joke. You aren't going to have time.' My husband always was telling them they weren't doing any of the study stuff for ACT blah, blah...

My youngest just said to me when I warned him about how hard Junior year was going to be "you always say that". Oldest graduate with straight As and is headed to an Ivy next year. Younger brother also has straight As and also 5s AP exams.

The older one does study more than the younger one ever has (barely see him study), but nothing compared to peers.

I am at a job with a huge amount of attrition because it is production based, critical thinking and a lot of writing. My friend's husband asked why I never work voluntary overtime to get stuff done and how do I have so much free time when his wife can barely hang on.

We have great memories in my family. We absorb info fast. Good critical thinking skills. Read fast, but thorough. High processing speed, etc.

At my dad's funeral (organic chemist), his friends were joking about my dad 'the party guy'. They said he would come into the lab and tell them ---get out, let's have some fun--while they struggled. They said 'that son-of-a-b*ch was a genius. Never had to study, etc.' lol

I have a similar kid at a top private who is applying to Ivies this year. He's been taking the very top classes at the school (top math track, etc) and really never studies. I've been telling him for years "it will get harder". It never does. He never does more than 30 minutes of homework per night and always while watching TV, listening to music or both at the same time. He got a 36 ACT on his first try with no studying and basically no sleep (he was out with friends until 2am that night). 5's on APs across the board (on classes he both took and did not actually take).

He has a photographic memory and ADHD with a super high processing speed. He goes to many parties, drinks on occasion and is a super social kid. He lives life at 100 mph at all times and occasionally does dumb stuff. I worry about him.

I have two other kids who are nothing like this. They plod away for 3-4 hours a night. They do well in school too but they work hard.

Until it does. You know nothing. Your kid is in HS and is clearly sheltered from highest achievers. You don't know what other kids are doing. Which is fine, but stop portraying your lazy ass son as some sort of highly accomplished genius.

It didn't get hard for me until med school. I had to learn to study in med school. I was that kid until then.

You're proving their point. Hard things like medical school or IPhO require studying even from smart kids, while normal things like private school or undergrad do not.

Who the hell isn’t studying in undergrad? Especially in the sciences, I call bs. Unless you went to a complete education mismatch institution, the purpose of undergrad is to challenge students of all levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it sad to admit your child needs extra help and get them a good tutor?

Am I missing something?

I am not the PP. Reading the thread and the mentions of "sad" the word seems to relate to parents getting tutors early on just to have their kid barely cling to the top math group, or get into a top magnet high school, all the while pushing and pushing their kid to gun for ivies or even "lower" T20s when these colleges are filled with students who sailed through the hardest high school programs with no tutors. That is how I interpret it, for one: it is indeed sad to tiger-parent your child to try to be something they are not, rather than be in the math level they naturally should be in, even if that is just average in their ridiculous private school, and then trust the process that they will land in a college that suits them, where they have a chance to keep up with the other students or even stand out a little. This race to the top schools that everyone (on DCum) craves yet only a small portion of high school students academically can handle is troubling and wrong. Accept the kid you have at the level they naturally are.

This is a very american middle class white attitude. Find someplace you can excel at comfortably and go there. Big fish small pond.
The asian immigrant attitude is to strive for the most challenging atmosphere and you might find yourself rising to the occasion. Run with the swift.

They both have their pros and cons.

hi have to jump in bc your attitude is actually the narrow middle class one. the naturally smart no study kid at MIT, and the kid that is secure enough to try but ok going to second tier and flourishes w their high EQ at Wash U, are unlike your middle class striver approach.

M
Times have changed, grandpa. I know quite a few kids at MIT and not a single one is a "no study" type. They are all very hard working and also brilliant. Even prodigies work hard.

There are very few kids coasting through MIT.

There is no one coasting through MIT. Or any STEM program generally, but particularly the ones with the smarty pants - MIT, Stanford, Rice, Georgia Tech, Berkeley, CMU, Cornell, Michigan, Texas

I went to a neighboring school of MIT. Smart, ambitious kids actually do study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it sad to admit your child needs extra help and get them a good tutor?

Am I missing something?

I am not the PP. Reading the thread and the mentions of "sad" the word seems to relate to parents getting tutors early on just to have their kid barely cling to the top math group, or get into a top magnet high school, all the while pushing and pushing their kid to gun for ivies or even "lower" T20s when these colleges are filled with students who sailed through the hardest high school programs with no tutors. That is how I interpret it, for one: it is indeed sad to tiger-parent your child to try to be something they are not, rather than be in the math level they naturally should be in, even if that is just average in their ridiculous private school, and then trust the process that they will land in a college that suits them, where they have a chance to keep up with the other students or even stand out a little. This race to the top schools that everyone (on DCum) craves yet only a small portion of high school students academically can handle is troubling and wrong. Accept the kid you have at the level they naturally are.

This is a very american middle class white attitude. Find someplace you can excel at comfortably and go there. Big fish small pond.
The asian immigrant attitude is to strive for the most challenging atmosphere and you might find yourself rising to the occasion. Run with the swift.

They both have their pros and cons.

hi have to jump in bc your attitude is actually the narrow middle class one. the naturally smart no study kid at MIT, and the kid that is secure enough to try but ok going to second tier and flourishes w their high EQ at Wash U, are unlike your middle class striver approach.

M
Times have changed, grandpa. I know quite a few kids at MIT and not a single one is a "no study" type. They are all very hard working and also brilliant. Even prodigies work hard.

There are very few kids coasting through MIT.

There is no one coasting through MIT. Or any STEM program generally, but particularly the ones with the smarty pants - MIT, Stanford, Rice, Georgia Tech, Berkeley, CMU, Cornell, Michigan, Texas

I went to a neighboring school of MIT. Smart, ambitious kids actually do study.

it's just very much in vogue these days to pretend your kids don't study. That they are "naturals" or some sort of horseshit like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

My daughter's friend who got into Yale was an Asian male with a very high wGPA who won Science Olympiad competitions and is an advanced string player.

Straight A doesn't mean anything, OP, you should know this. There is a world's difference between an A in a regular classs and an A in an AP class. Kids who get into the top colleges have 10+ APs, have a national level EC, etc. Your newpaper editing and team captainship worked a generation ago, but not today.

This is sounds exhausting. Kids have no time to be kids.

I am 44, and in my European country, high school was a stressful workathon culminating in one heck of a national exam week. I was so stressed out I couldn't eat on the first day of national exams. But that's nowhere near the worst. My cousins come from a country in Asia known for its teen suicide rate due to exam failure. Over there, when school ends for the day, the kids go to afternoon prep schools to cram. I know *elementary school kids* who had tutors to prepare for admission into the most prestigious afternoon prep schools!!! Separate from their regular school! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?

All to say: don't ever believe the US has it bad. I promise you, even for the kids who take grades seriously... it's still a layabout's paradise.

Huh? My NYC sibling had a tutor for her 2yo to prep for preschool admissions to get into the right preschool that would line up for the right elementary. That was over 20 years ago. She had two kids - one ended up graduating from Wash U and is unemployed. The other is at an Ivy.

One of my kids had a tutor by elementary. All had tutors in high school and SAT prep. All took multiple APs, as early as 9th grade. The thing about US education isn’t that it’s laid back - it’s that it’s very individual. It’s a huge country and getting into the top 10-15 schools is very hard - but no one will force you to do those things. There are a lot of less competitive options and that’s where most of the laid back kids will end up.

And yet mine and many others are in ivies, unhooked , and got into the "top" preK and elementary, and later magnet high school, based on testing with no tutor and no prep. Rose to the top. There are naturally intelligent , self-disciplined motivated and focused kids out there. The ivies are chock full of them. Why would any parent have their kid in a school they only could survive with tutoring?

+100

My unhooked kid is headed to an Ivy. You could tell from when he was little. We never tutored or test prepped and he was self-motivated—-but frankly never had to study or struggle like other kids.

Next we will be hearing about first chairs at MCYO who never practice. Please. There exist prodigies for sure, and I've met some. Nowhere close to fill top 5, much less top 20 schools.

The PP is speaking of not needing to study as much as other kids and being highly slef motivated at school not music prodigies. The ivies are filled with naturally bright students who sailed through high school without tutors and aced the SATs and APs in the hardest classes. The vast majority of them were absolutely standout 1-2 kids in their high schools, not counting the mega donors or athletes or other big hooks. Well over half there are unhooked and were superstars in their high school. The adjustment that most will just be around average at the ivy can be hard. It is a significant mental toll on some.

The brilliant kids I know study most of the time, typically more than average kids. However, they study much harder material, so they perform at a much higher level.

I know a kid who won a silver medal at IPHO as a HS sophomore. It's no secret that he studies all day long, he will tell you this. I don't think he has a tutor in an ordinary sense, but he certainly has a lot of support. You don't get to that level on your own, just like you are not winning the Menuhin by being self-taught.

So, yes, these kids don't need to study much to get a 5 at AP, but they need to study just as much to go beyond that.

I wish brilliant lazy kids were more sought after but I don't think this is the case.

Not in my house. It's funny--every year I told my sons when they were screwing around 'hey- next year you won't be able to do this, things are really going to ramp up'. I said this going into their private HS and every year...including 'Junior year is no joke. You aren't going to have time.' My husband always was telling them they weren't doing any of the study stuff for ACT blah, blah...

My youngest just said to me when I warned him about how hard Junior year was going to be "you always say that". Oldest graduate with straight As and is headed to an Ivy next year. Younger brother also has straight As and also 5s AP exams.

The older one does study more than the younger one ever has (barely see him study), but nothing compared to peers.

I am at a job with a huge amount of attrition because it is production based, critical thinking and a lot of writing. My friend's husband asked why I never work voluntary overtime to get stuff done and how do I have so much free time when his wife can barely hang on.

We have great memories in my family. We absorb info fast. Good critical thinking skills. Read fast, but thorough. High processing speed, etc.

At my dad's funeral (organic chemist), his friends were joking about my dad 'the party guy'. They said he would come into the lab and tell them ---get out, let's have some fun--while they struggled. They said 'that son-of-a-b*ch was a genius. Never had to study, etc.' lol

I have a similar kid at a top private who is applying to Ivies this year. He's been taking the very top classes at the school (top math track, etc) and really never studies. I've been telling him for years "it will get harder". It never does. He never does more than 30 minutes of homework per night and always while watching TV, listening to music or both at the same time. He got a 36 ACT on his first try with no studying and basically no sleep (he was out with friends until 2am that night). 5's on APs across the board (on classes he both took and did not actually take).

He has a photographic memory and ADHD with a super high processing speed. He goes to many parties, drinks on occasion and is a super social kid. He lives life at 100 mph at all times and occasionally does dumb stuff. I worry about him.

I have two other kids who are nothing like this. They plod away for 3-4 hours a night. They do well in school too but they work hard.

Until it does. You know nothing. Your kid is in HS and is clearly sheltered from highest achievers. You don't know what other kids are doing. Which is fine, but stop portraying your lazy ass son as some sort of highly accomplished genius.

It didn't get hard for me until med school. I had to learn to study in med school. I was that kid until then.

You're proving their point. Hard things like medical school or IPhO require studying even from smart kids, while normal things like private school or undergrad do not.

Who the hell isn’t studying in undergrad? Especially in the sciences, I call bs. Unless you went to a complete education mismatch institution, the purpose of undergrad is to challenge students of all levels.

The PP who said they had to study for the first time in medical school. They didn't necessarily need to have been a science major.

[Anonymous]

Move to a state like Oklahoma, where you get 10+ bonus for diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are actually plenty of kids that coast through a public school curriculum but considering that only about half of TJ gets into UVA, it seems like it's pretty hard to get into.

Much less than half of TJ’s applicants get an acceptance to UVa.

[Anonymous]

Nearly any E School will be difficult and rigorous for ALL students. Even Feynman studied at MIT, and Wolfram studied at Cambridge and CalTech, although admittedly they studied less than those around them.

I might believe E School was easy for someone with a Nobel prize or Fields medal, but even that seems unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U mich isn't that hard to get into, frankly all.punlics not UCLA and Berkeley are only moderately difficult

Yes we’ve heard that one a few times here already.

I think it's the same troll poster again and again, somehow suggested she and her kids are the true, "effortless" geniuses.

Rolling my eyes hard at this. So many parents like this, and they don't see how much they've enriched their kids. And, they also don't see that fast or effortless doesn't equal understanding. There's a lot they don't see. A whole lot of horse hockey.

There are actually plenty of kids that coast through a public school curriculum but considering that only about half of TJ gets into UVA, it seems like it's pretty hard to get into.

Only half gets in because UVA is all about yield protection and wants diversity. Why would they accept 100% of students from a single HS! Even 50% from TJ is too much IMO. I’ve heard many stories of students getting into more highly ranked schools only to be rejected by UVA. Yield matters. ED matters.

UVA does not yield protect.

They just don’t want a whole class full of Asian science nerds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U mich isn't that hard to get into, frankly all.punlics not UCLA and Berkeley are only moderately difficult

Yes we’ve heard that one a few times here already.

I think it's the same troll poster again and again, somehow suggested she and her kids are the true, "effortless" geniuses.

Rolling my eyes hard at this. So many parents like this, and they don't see how much they've enriched their kids. And, they also don't see that fast or effortless doesn't equal understanding. There's a lot they don't see. A whole lot of horse hockey.

There are actually plenty of kids that coast through a public school curriculum but considering that only about half of TJ gets into UVA, it seems like it's pretty hard to get into.

Only half gets in because UVA is all about yield protection and wants diversity. Why would they accept 100% of students from a single HS! Even 50% from TJ is too much IMO. I’ve heard many stories of students getting into more highly ranked schools only to be rejected by UVA. Yield matters. ED matters.

UVA does not yield protect.

They just don’t want a whole class full of Asian science nerds.

This is what liberal racism looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school.

My daughter's friend who got into Yale was an Asian male with a very high wGPA who won Science Olympiad competitions and is an advanced string player.

Straight A doesn't mean anything, OP, you should know this. There is a world's difference between an A in a regular classs and an A in an AP class. Kids who get into the top colleges have 10+ APs, have a national level EC, etc. Your newpaper editing and team captainship worked a generation ago, but not today.

This is sounds exhausting. Kids have no time to be kids.

I am 44, and in my European country, high school was a stressful workathon culminating in one heck of a national exam week. I was so stressed out I couldn't eat on the first day of national exams. But that's nowhere near the worst. My cousins come from a country in Asia known for its teen suicide rate due to exam failure. Over there, when school ends for the day, the kids go to afternoon prep schools to cram. I know *elementary school kids* who had tutors to prepare for admission into the most prestigious afternoon prep schools!!! Separate from their regular school! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?

All to say: don't ever believe the US has it bad. I promise you, even for the kids who take grades seriously... it's still a layabout's paradise.

Huh? My NYC sibling had a tutor for her 2yo to prep for preschool admissions to get into the right preschool that would line up for the right elementary. That was over 20 years ago. She had two kids - one ended up graduating from Wash U and is unemployed. The other is at an Ivy.

One of my kids had a tutor by elementary. All had tutors in high school and SAT prep. All took multiple APs, as early as 9th grade. The thing about US education isn’t that it’s laid back - it’s that it’s very individual. It’s a huge country and getting into the top 10-15 schools is very hard - but no one will force you to do those things. There are a lot of less competitive options and that’s where most of the laid back kids will end up.

And yet mine and many others are in ivies, unhooked , and got into the "top" preK and elementary, and later magnet high school, based on testing with no tutor and no prep. Rose to the top. There are naturally intelligent , self-disciplined motivated and focused kids out there. The ivies are chock full of them. Why would any parent have their kid in a school they only could survive with tutoring?

+100

My unhooked kid is headed to an Ivy. You could tell from when he was little. We never tutored or test prepped and he was self-motivated—-but frankly never had to study or struggle like other kids.

Next we will be hearing about first chairs at MCYO who never practice. Please. There exist prodigies for sure, and I've met some. Nowhere close to fill top 5, much less top 20 schools.

The PP is speaking of not needing to study as much as other kids and being highly slef motivated at school not music prodigies. The ivies are filled with naturally bright students who sailed through high school without tutors and aced the SATs and APs in the hardest classes. The vast majority of them were absolutely standout 1-2 kids in their high schools, not counting the mega donors or athletes or other big hooks. Well over half there are unhooked and were superstars in their high school. The adjustment that most will just be around average at the ivy can be hard. It is a significant mental toll on some.

The brilliant kids I know study most of the time, typically more than average kids. However, they study much harder material, so they perform at a much higher level.

I know a kid who won a silver medal at IPHO as a HS sophomore. It's no secret that he studies all day long, he will tell you this. I don't think he has a tutor in an ordinary sense, but he certainly has a lot of support. You don't get to that level on your own, just like you are not winning the Menuhin by being self-taught.

So, yes, these kids don't need to study much to get a 5 at AP, but they need to study just as much to go beyond that.

I wish brilliant lazy kids were more sought after but I don't think this is the case.

Not in my house. It's funny--every year I told my sons when they were screwing around 'hey- next year you won't be able to do this, things are really going to ramp up'. I said this going into their private HS and every year...including 'Junior year is no joke. You aren't going to have time.' My husband always was telling them they weren't doing any of the study stuff for ACT blah, blah...

My youngest just said to me when I warned him about how hard Junior year was going to be "you always say that". Oldest graduate with straight As and is headed to an Ivy next year. Younger brother also has straight As and also 5s AP exams.

The older one does study more than the younger one ever has (barely see him study), but nothing compared to peers.

I am at a job with a huge amount of attrition because it is production based, critical thinking and a lot of writing. My friend's husband asked why I never work voluntary overtime to get stuff done and how do I have so much free time when his wife can barely hang on.

We have great memories in my family. We absorb info fast. Good critical thinking skills. Read fast, but thorough. High processing speed, etc.

At my dad's funeral (organic chemist), his friends were joking about my dad 'the party guy'. They said he would come into the lab and tell them ---get out, let's have some fun--while they struggled. They said 'that son-of-a-b*ch was a genius. Never had to study, etc.' lol

I have a similar kid at a top private who is applying to Ivies this year. He's been taking the very top classes at the school (top math track, etc) and really never studies. I've been telling him for years "it will get harder". It never does. He never does more than 30 minutes of homework per night and always while watching TV, listening to music or both at the same time. He got a 36 ACT on his first try with no studying and basically no sleep (he was out with friends until 2am that night). 5's on APs across the board (on classes he both took and did not actually take).

He has a photographic memory and ADHD with a super high processing speed. He goes to many parties, drinks on occasion and is a super social kid. He lives life at 100 mph at all times and occasionally does dumb stuff. I worry about him.

I have two other kids who are nothing like this. They plod away for 3-4 hours a night. They do well in school too but they work hard.

Until it does. You know nothing. Your kid is in HS and is clearly sheltered from highest achievers. You don't know what other kids are doing. Which is fine, but stop portraying your lazy ass son as some sort of highly accomplished genius.

It didn't get hard for me until med school. I had to learn to study in med school. I was that kid until then.

You're proving their point. Hard things like medical school or IPhO require studying even from smart kids, while normal things like private school or undergrad do not.

Who the hell isn’t studying in undergrad? Especially in the sciences, I call bs. Unless you went to a complete education mismatch institution, the purpose of undergrad is to challenge students of all levels.

The PP who said they had to study for the first time in medical school. They didn't necessarily need to have been a science major.

Sure they could’ve been an art major with much dedication to studio time (non sequitur but those courses are serious!). You still need to study the bio series, organic chem, and physics in 99% of situations.

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Anonymous wrote:U mich isn't that hard to get into, frankly all.punlics not UCLA and Berkeley are only moderately difficult

Yes we’ve heard that one a few times here already.

I think it's the same troll poster again and again, somehow suggested she and her kids are the true, "effortless" geniuses.

Rolling my eyes hard at this. So many parents like this, and they don't see how much they've enriched their kids. And, they also don't see that fast or effortless doesn't equal understanding. There's a lot they don't see. A whole lot of horse hockey.

There are actually plenty of kids that coast through a public school curriculum but considering that only about half of TJ gets into UVA, it seems like it's pretty hard to get into.

Only half gets in because UVA is all about yield protection and wants diversity. Why would they accept 100% of students from a single HS! Even 50% from TJ is too much IMO. I’ve heard many stories of students getting into more highly ranked schools only to be rejected by UVA. Yield matters. ED matters.

UVA does not yield protect.

They just don’t want a whole class full of Asian science nerds.

This is what liberal racism looks like.

+1
And of course UVA yield protects.