Big 3 Nightmare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Or how about they charge you $50 for each additional application (or whatever they deem the cost is plus some), up to a limit of 15.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Or how about they charge you $50 for each additional application (or whatever they deem the cost is plus some), up to a limit of 15.

But equity....

seriously though....exactly. Many ways to solve this. When asked multiple times about the 10 limit on parent webinar, I've been grinf*cked by head of the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

[Anonymous]

Previous poster.
Unlike publics, GDS (and similar schools) have a responsibility/goal to place ALL their graduates in reasonably competitive colleges.
A public school guidance office does not. They know that the lowest 25% (or 50% or even 75% in some places) will not attend college or will attend community college
or will attend a non-competitive college. They are not focused on spreading the admits across a class.

GDS has to do this or else they royally pi$$ off the lowest 50% of families and probably cease to exist as a school in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

No that’s more GMU type schools. Unless you mean flagships in sparsely populated states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Or how about they charge you $50 for each additional application (or whatever they deem the cost is plus some), up to a limit of 15.

But equity....

seriously though....exactly. Many ways to solve this. When asked multiple times about the 10 limit on parent webinar, I've been grinf*cked by head of the office.

I disagree with the current cap, but I don’t think registrar workload is the issue. I do think the CCO is trying to keep the process from devouring students’ lives, and the cap probably mostly had that effect 10 years ago. Today, however, it just increases anxiety and ultimately may limit choices—an ironic outcome given the amount of energy that goes into pushing kids to apply to multiple schools with very high acceptance rates so they will have choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

i buy into the theory of your case but i'd love some analysis or description why 15 would break things for lower students and 10 does not.

See the thing is, like much of the rest of GDS CCO, it's a data free zone.

And yes my kid was one of the top 20% of class shut out this year. Will never know but 5 more targets would have really helped this kid given the math.

[Anonymous]

Where is the evidence that there are firm quotas on # of kids that a college will accept from a given school? For example, Dartmouth’s Dean of Admissions has said that is not the case. For highly selective schools, you are competing against best students from across the globe. Why do you assume that DC lost spot to someone else from your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

You sound quite privileged. State flagships are for the top kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

No that’s more GMU type schools. Unless you mean flagships in sparsely populated states.

The middle of the class at GDS is not historically (up to and including 2022 at least) matriculating to GMU. They're attending much better schools.

Check out the 2022 Instagram which almost represents the class in full. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the middle 50% kids are but there is no one going to GMU (and very few to similarly ranked schools) and definitely not the full middle 50%.
https://www.instagram.com/gdsseniors22/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is the evidence that there are firm quotas on # of kids that a college will accept from a given school? For example, Dartmouth’s Dean of Admissions has said that is not the case. For highly selective schools, you are competing against best students from across the globe. Why do you assume that DC lost spot to someone else from your school?

I don’t think there’s a quota, but when 6 kids got into Tufts ED, it came off DC’s list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

i buy into the theory of your case but i'd love some analysis or description why 15 would break things for lower students and 10 does not.

See the thing is, like much of the rest of GDS CCO, it's a data free zone.

And yes my kid was one of the top 20% of class shut out this year. Will never know but 5 more targets would have really helped this kid given the math.

I’m sorry that the process has been so stressful and disappointing but what do you mean by shut out? Shot out from Ivies? Shut out from Top 25 schools? Or Shut out more broadly? I am not a current GDS HS parent but I have been in the past. I understand the frustration about the lack of data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

i buy into the theory of your case but i'd love some analysis or description why 15 would break things for lower students and 10 does not.

See the thing is, like much of the rest of GDS CCO, it's a data free zone.

And yes my kid was one of the top 20% of class shut out this year. Will never know but 5 more targets would have really helped this kid given the math.

yeah, my kid is on track to be top 20% as well (3.9 as an 11th grader) but I'm just staying that I can see the side of other 80% of the kids too.

The current environment really pits kids against kids which sucks. Do you give the top 20% more opportunities or do you try and preserve more for the bottom 80%?

It was surely a different playing field when top kids could somewhat reliably get into top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Previous poster.
Unlike publics, GDS (and similar schools) have a responsibility/goal to place ALL their graduates in reasonably competitive colleges.
A public school guidance office does not. They know that the lowest 25% (or 50% or even 75% in some places) will not attend college or will attend community college
or will attend a non-competitive college. They are not focused on spreading the admits across a class.

GDS has to do this or else they royally pi$$ off the lowest 50% of families and probably cease to exist as a school in a few years.

GDS parent. I agree w/ this. Is GDS even releasing matriculation by student any more in their end of senior year materials? I do wonder if they are making it tough for prospective 9th grade entry parents to see what's happening

i have a feeling CCO and Russell will get an earful this year on the cap, the AP policy, and the lack of numeracy of CCO - I'm aware of multiple kids in to 20% ish of class, academic stars who were shut out of top 30-40 US schools. Whether they actually listen is what I always wonder.