Sidwell Friends ED results amazing this year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

How is that unethical? The student is good and has the right to apply wherever they want within the rules. Maybe they didn’t expect to get into Harvard and felt they had a better chance at Yale so they used REA for Yale. Then went out on a limb and applied to Harvard RD and got in.

This student did not care about fellow students at her school. The above posts talk about Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students.

This school is full of type A parents gunning for Ivy League schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

How is that unethical? The student is good and has the right to apply wherever they want within the rules. Maybe they didn’t expect to get into Harvard and felt they had a better chance at Yale so they used REA for Yale. Then went out on a limb and applied to Harvard RD and got in.

This student did not care about fellow students at her school. The above posts talk about Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students.

This school is full of type A parents gunning for Ivy League schools.

Nothing wrong with parents wanting to get their kids into ivies. But if you get into one of HYPS REA, gunning for another HYPS is not ethical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

How is that unethical? The student is good and has the right to apply wherever they want within the rules. Maybe they didn’t expect to get into Harvard and felt they had a better chance at Yale so they used REA for Yale. Then went out on a limb and applied to Harvard RD and got in.

This student did not care about fellow students at her school. The above posts talk about Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students.

Then Yale is going to accept someone off the waitlist if it really did have an impact, giving an opportunity to someone else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

How is that unethical? The student is good and has the right to apply wherever they want within the rules. Maybe they didn’t expect to get into Harvard and felt they had a better chance at Yale so they used REA for Yale. Then went out on a limb and applied to Harvard RD and got in.

This student did not care about fellow students at her school. The above posts talk about Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students.

Then Yale is going to accept someone off the waitlist if it really did have an impact, giving an opportunity to someone else

No one at Sidwell got off Yale waitlist last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

It could have been a toss up between Yale and Harvard and then by the time RD acceptance came around, they liked Boston better than New Haven. Not unethical at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

How is that unethical? The student is good and has the right to apply wherever they want within the rules. Maybe they didn’t expect to get into Harvard and felt they had a better chance at Yale so they used REA for Yale. Then went out on a limb and applied to Harvard RD and got in.

This student did not care about fellow students at her school. The above posts talk about Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students.

This school is full of type A parents gunning for Ivy League schools.

DC not applying to any Ivy schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

It could have been a toss up between Yale and Harvard and then by the time RD acceptance came around, they liked Boston better than New Haven. Not unethical at all.

+1

Why should a good student limit their choices in this way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

It could have been a toss up between Yale and Harvard and then by the time RD acceptance came around, they liked Boston better than New Haven. Not unethical at all.

If both Yale and Harvard acceptances are RD, your argument makes sense. But Yale acceptance came out in December before the student applied to Harvard RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

It could have been a toss up between Yale and Harvard and then by the time RD acceptance came around, they liked Boston better than New Haven. Not unethical at all.

+1

Why should a good student limit their choices in this way?

Read the post above about TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

It could have been a toss up between Yale and Harvard and then by the time RD acceptance came around, they liked Boston better than New Haven. Not unethical at all.

If both Yale and Harvard acceptances are RD, your argument makes sense. But Yale acceptance came out in December before the student applied to Harvard RD.

Still makes sense. Student could have changed their mind and wanted Harvard.

[Anonymous]

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

Come on. This is just inaccurate. Please site evidence for your claim that "a highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school." I know for a fact that Yale accepted AT LEAST 11 students from the Sidwell class of 2015. That is, 11 kids enrolled at Yale, perhaps even more were accepted. The idea that there are certain number of slots allocated to any school (including Sidwell) so that one kid is taking a slot that would have gone to another is just ridiculous. That is not how admissions works. Also, the idea that the student had a "strategy" to apply REA to Yale because it is easier to gain admission to than Harvard is absurd. Any kid that is smart enough to get into those schools would understand that there is no meaningful statistical advantage in comparing schools with 3% and 4% acceptance rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

Come on. This is just inaccurate. Please site evidence for your claim that "a highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school." I know for a fact that Yale accepted AT LEAST 11 students from the Sidwell class of 2015. That is, 11 kids enrolled at Yale, perhaps even more were accepted. The idea that there are certain number of slots allocated to any school (including Sidwell) so that one kid is taking a slot that would have gone to another is just ridiculous. That is not how admissions works. Also, the idea that the student had a "strategy" to apply REA to Yale because it is easier to gain admission to than Harvard is absurd. Any kid that is smart enough to get into those schools would understand that there is no meaningful statistical advantage in comparing schools with 3% and 4% acceptance rates.

The admissions landscape has totally changed due TO, first gen and other factors. You can’t use class 2015 as an example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can Sidwell's college admissions with their legacies, URMs and athletes have a worse outcome than a public high school like TJ?

TJ is still a crapshoot, trust me. Every year they have 150+ kids apply to each of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, Columbia. Each of those schools will send out at most 15 acceptances, many of which are for the same top kids getting into multiple of these schools. At least Sidwell has more structure and organization among their counseling that doesn’t lead to a free-for-all.

This is a great point and it mirrors my own HS experience. There were a few kids that got all of the awards and collected multiple Ivy acceptances and then a drop off with everyone else going to state schools.

Sidwell is trying to maximize chances for all students, which is very different than having fewer students with more exceptional outcomes.

ED helps with this a bit. Can only ED to one school

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

It could have been a toss up between Yale and Harvard and then by the time RD acceptance came around, they liked Boston better than New Haven. Not unethical at all.

+1

Why should a good student limit their choices in this way?

+1

Students changing their top choices after additional visits, research, or admitted students events happens regularly. I don't see any ethical issue there. The practice that I really don't like is when a students gets into a school REA and then decides to apply to every Ivy League school or to a bunch of other selective schools they are not really interested in. Applying to a few more actual contenders is fine but collecting acceptances for the sake of seeing if they can get into the entire Ivy League is problematic. I see those news stories each year and cringe. The schools are partly to blame though because they offer some of these students fee waivers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

Come on. This is just inaccurate. Please site evidence for your claim that "a highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school." I know for a fact that Yale accepted AT LEAST 11 students from the Sidwell class of 2015. That is, 11 kids enrolled at Yale, perhaps even more were accepted. The idea that there are certain number of slots allocated to any school (including Sidwell) so that one kid is taking a slot that would have gone to another is just ridiculous. That is not how admissions works. Also, the idea that the student had a "strategy" to apply REA to Yale because it is easier to gain admission to than Harvard is absurd. Any kid that is smart enough to get into those schools would understand that there is no meaningful statistical advantage in comparing schools with 3% and 4% acceptance rates.

The admissions landscape has totally changed due TO, first gen and other factors. You can’t use class 2015 as an example.

First gen has been a factor since before 2015. The last few years have felt different early wise but haven't been as different as people are making them sound once full results have come out by April. The admissions landscape hasn't "totally changed" due to TO. Take a breath

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

REA will not. A kid last year accepted into Yale REA, and then applied Harvard RD and accepted, thus wasted the Yale spot. If Harvard is your first choice, apply Harvard REA. The Yale REA spot could go to another student at the same school. A highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school. The student’s strategy is getting into relatively easier Yale first. Playing this kind of game is truly unethical!

Come on. This is just inaccurate. Please site evidence for your claim that "a highly selective college only takes a limited number of students from the same high school." I know for a fact that Yale accepted AT LEAST 11 students from the Sidwell class of 2015. That is, 11 kids enrolled at Yale, perhaps even more were accepted. The idea that there are certain number of slots allocated to any school (including Sidwell) so that one kid is taking a slot that would have gone to another is just ridiculous. That is not how admissions works. Also, the idea that the student had a "strategy" to apply REA to Yale because it is easier to gain admission to than Harvard is absurd. Any kid that is smart enough to get into those schools would understand that there is no meaningful statistical advantage in comparing schools with 3% and 4% acceptance rates.

What happened in 2015, pre COVID has ZERO bearing on the reality of 2020 and later.