do college admissions get ugly at the Big3 when all the parents are Ivy grads?

[Anonymous]

Why is there all this talk about the college list at Sidwell? I looked on the site and found it in about 2 min:https://www.sidwell.edu/academics/college-counseling/college-matriculation

[Anonymous]

Because nosey people want to know where individuals from each class went.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Some schools (e.g., Potomac, GDS, Holton) are more transparent than others about the number of kids going to each university. Sidwell provides an aggregate list which makes it difficult to compare the matriculation of its students to other schools.

[Anonymous]

But it’s not the destination, it’s the journey!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Some schools (e.g., Potomac, GDS, Holton) are more transparent than others about the number of kids going to each university. Sidwell provides an aggregate list which makes it difficult to compare the matriculation of its students to other schools.

What difference does it make? Really, if 6 kids are going to Harvard and 15 are going to Penn, does it matter or impact things if your kids wants to go to a school in the Rocky Moutains?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Some schools (e.g., Potomac, GDS, Holton) are more transparent than others about the number of kids going to each university. Sidwell provides an aggregate list which makes it difficult to compare the matriculation of its students to other schools.

What difference does it make? Really, if 6 kids are going to Harvard and 15 are going to Penn, does it matter or impact things if your kids wants to go to a school in the Rocky Moutains?

I guess you are not be a data person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on this thread, I just checked for my kids big 3 class email and wow there are several alumni emails! I play it cool with gmail and just let it slip occasionally that I went to college near Boston.

Yuck. Why do you even feel the need to do this? Or to "play it cool". Why do you need to let others know in the first place (unless you are speaking with someone who also attended and you want to talk about shared experiences)?

Just go ahead and say you went to Harvard. You do not need to protect us non-pedigreed folk from feeling inferior...or whatever it is you think you're protecting us from.

Why aren't MIT grads this coy? If someone says I went to school near Boston, you immediately know it isn't MIT or Tufts or Wesleyan because its always Harvard. Of course the person can't say they went to Harvard because that would be uncouth, but they are great at steering the conversation to what college everyone attended.

Also, Wesleyan is in Connecticut.

Connecticut is near Boston.

From now on I will tell people I went to college in a city near Gresham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Some schools (e.g., Potomac, GDS, Holton) are more transparent than others about the number of kids going to each university. Sidwell provides an aggregate list which makes it difficult to compare the matriculation of its students to other schools.

What difference does it make? Really, if 6 kids are going to Harvard and 15 are going to Penn, does it matter or impact things if your kids wants to go to a school in the Rocky Moutains?

I guess you are not be a data person

Where someone else chooses to go to school after being admitted has absolutely no bearing on your kid and their choices or options.

And particularly in the post 2021 cycles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Some schools (e.g., Potomac, GDS, Holton) are more transparent than others about the number of kids going to each university. Sidwell provides an aggregate list which makes it difficult to compare the matriculation of its students to other schools.

What difference does it make? Really, if 6 kids are going to Harvard and 15 are going to Penn, does it matter or impact things if your kids wants to go to a school in the Rocky Moutains?

I guess you are not be a data person

Where someone else chooses to go to school after being admitted has absolutely no bearing on your kid and their choices or options.

And particularly in the post 2021 cycles.

That’s nice that you think it would not be helpful for you and your student. Other parents disagree and believe it would be helpful for them.

[Anonymous]

Why?

Asking seriously.

Your kid has their record and their preferences for what setting and locations they are interested in.

They should put a list together commensurate with their record and interests.

What anyone else has done literally has nothing to do with how your kid should be thinking about the process and results.

You have NO idea what hooks or achievements someone else going to a target schools might have. You have NO idea is someone is full pay or a 7 figure donor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why?

Asking seriously.

Your kid has their record and their preferences for what setting and locations they are interested in.

They should put a list together commensurate with their record and interests.

What anyone else has done literally has nothing to do with how your kid should be thinking about the process and results.

You have NO idea what hooks or achievements someone else going to a target schools might have. You have NO idea is someone is full pay or a 7 figure donor.

Speaking only for ourselves, we would have found it helpful. Honestly, though, at some point the somewhat (seemingly) arbitrary choices by the school about what to be transparent about, when to be transparent about it, and how to be transparent about it (or not) got a bit tiring and more than a bit frustrating. We often felt like we weren't on some inside track others knew about or weren't fully aware of how certain games were played. This isn't sour grapes; our kids did fine. But we often felt unnecessarily lost. That's just our perspective; I'm sure there are others.

[Anonymous]

So having a list of schools is helpful? Sidwell and all the other schools provide lists. Some are for one year, some are aggregate.

There is no inside track. The whole point is for your student to develop a list of schools based on their list of attributes.

Big versus Small
Geography - what part or parts of the country
Setting: small private, big public etc
Areas of interest for potential major

Everyone's list is going to be specific to their own interests and desires. What anyone else does is completely irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

So here is a question. If a kid at one of these schools is truly exceptional, super bright and talented etc, are they “flagged” early for a top college? How early are counselors mapping this stuff out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here is a question. If a kid at one of these schools is truly exceptional, super bright and talented etc, are they “flagged” early for a top college? How early are counselors mapping this stuff out?

In my experience (kids at two different Big3 high schools) there are very few kids who aren't "super bright" and driven. Sure, there are some kids who lag behind but the cohort of outstanding students is very broad. To stand out in every way
would be very difficult (to be taking Calculus in 9th, AP level language by 10th, plus winning writing contests, debating nationally etc. I think you underestimate the typical "Big3 student". There are many who are exceptional and
who would thrive at a top college.

Also, the college offices have no interest in dealing with/thinking about the underclassmen. They have their hands full with the juniors/seniors. They make this very clear to parents early on (as well they should).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why?

Asking seriously.

Your kid has their record and their preferences for what setting and locations they are interested in.

They should put a list together commensurate with their record and interests.

What anyone else has done literally has nothing to do with how your kid should be thinking about the process and results.

You have NO idea what hooks or achievements someone else going to a target schools might have. You have NO idea is someone is full pay or a 7 figure donor.

Do you actually have a student at Sidwell who has gone through the college application process there? Do you know how the Sidwell college counseling office is now defining “reach” colleges? The lack of transparency and information provided at Sidwell makes the process much more frustrating and difficult than it might be, many families believe this. Students are not applying to colleges in a vacuum as you seem to believe, they are applying to colleges as students from a specific high school, and providing a list would be helpful information and provide perspective about that high school, even understanding that there are hooks and achievements that might have boosted others. You may think this is unhelpful, but others believe it would be helpful. An aggregate list that only identifies whether “five or more” students have matriculated to a college over the past five years doesn’t provide this perspective.