Yea, they do. If your school lets you look at previous class results, you'll see that kids with statistically 'average' grades for the class do get into top schools, though often with parents in the seven-digit donation range. |
And? What difference does it make? Your kid should pick schools that are good fits for them and let the chips fall where the will. What happened with other kids iin a different cycle has almost no bearing whatsover with your kid, their application and the cycle they are in. |
LOL - yeah - right. I can give you two examples from our DC's graduating class. And yes - both had VIP + legacy hooks. |
| How many of these VIP + legacy hook admits do you think there actually are in any given year among the approximately 4000 admits to Yale and Princeton? |
Of course - and this is what we did. But it is 100% helpful to be told (made up example) "I see Duke is the top of your list. Just to let you know, the only people who have gotten into Duke from our school over the past 10 years were athletes or legacy. It doesn't mean you shouldn't try, but when strategizing your applications, I thought it might be helpful for you to know this." |
You are missing the point. What matters is how many VIP + legacy are in your child's graduating class. Often, you don't find this out until May.....because nobody is advertising this (understandably) |
Right, and the closest you will get to an accurate answer is from the school's college counseling office. If you can't get the answer there, an anonymous forum, where people have anecdotal info is not going to get you any closer. |
| At our school everyone knew who was a legacy and who was going for sport. The kids strategically structured their early round admissions around those kids, figuring they had an easier chance going for a school that didn't have a likely legacy in the early round. |
yep, at these small privates (70-120 kids), everyone knows who is a legacy or an athlete. Because the kids are pretty much friends by senior year and the parents emblazon their linked-in pages or company websites with their own college pedigrees. Legacy status is not information commonly kept close to the chest. There are some kids who float around the periphery and remain more of a mystery but it's nothing like a public school class of 500 where you know absolutely nothing about 350 of your classmates or their college plans. |
How dare these boastful parents post their educational histories on their linked in or company "who we are" pages. So distasteful. |
Not saying that. Just that people often come on here (including this post) and ask "how do you know who is legacy?". Well, Ivy pedigree is something that DC parents tend to advertise coming and going--professionally, socially, etc. It's generally not kept close to the chest. |
This knowledge is far less known for families that started in 9th..... |
I'll add - I suppose families with fewer long term opportunities for these interactions could actively look this sort of thing up - but we didn't (nor did other families we knew - who were also new at 9th). And I doubt my child did either. But - by May - this sort of information comes out about all admits - kids talk more - parents talk more. |
I doubt they really had average grades. I do not know what school or kids you are referring to but even 3.5 is a good gpa at these top privates and if you look closely at their transcripts as colleges do I know of friends who have kids that have all A's and tanked a random class in an elective like Art or something that brought down GPA but if you recalculate it it would be much higher. So you really never know and besides who cares?! This is life. |
| See OP? Three pages on this thread and no clear answer. But you will be back, as you always are in a few weeks or a few months asking the same question. And you won't get clear answers then either. So maybe worry about your kid and plan a good list of safety, likely and reach. |