having just been through it - and still being a bit raw from it, the one thing I will say is to really ask the office hard questions on odds per school when you have meetings. They mostly cut parents out and so you will need to get much of your info from kid after the sole junior year parent meeting. Office always seems overwhelmed. Do your own homework, use the data sources you can get access to, and push the CCO hard on odds/likelihood. Hopefully your kid signed up for some AP tests. They do matter as a rigor signal at some schools (UC, NYU even, UK schools required) Ask same question over and over to sharpen the list. First list felt like CCOs had gone into a cave and divided up the top 100 schools amongst the kids and decided where they could see everyone. Was very weird after the dozen page survey we filled out that felt mostly unread. Kid wanted to be in a city and we got 9 rural schools. WTF. Finally, don't trust them on essay advice. The essay advice from the "essay reader" was not good and that person also seemed overwhelmed and was assigned kids midstream in college process as a first time CCO. i heard from those kids that first time CCO was terrible. Get an outside essay reader if you can afford. |
Can one of the GDS senior parents answer this? What is mean when top 20% kids are talked about as being "shut out?" Is it shut out of top 20? top 40? all schools? Where (please give a generic example) might these kids be now matriculating in the fall? Thank you! As a lower high school parent it's hard to know what to think or how much to worry or what to talk to the school about if we don't understand what is happening this year. |
yeah that was a signal that Tufts RD was a lost cause for our kid too. Also Tufts is one of the schools that takes very high % of kids from ED. RD is a lost cause anyway |
Or does it signal that Tufts thinks GDS kids are good fit for Tufts? |
"but equity"...aren't the majority of students fully pay, or close to it? So give waivers adjusted accordingly based on how much tuition you pay. I get why they limit, because really nobody needs to apply to 20+ colleges, you can't possibly really want to attend all Ivies as they are really different schools. So force kids to pick at most 4-5 T20-30 schools, then 4-5 Targets and 4-5 safeties. In the new test optional environment where so many are applying to many more schools I get that 10 may not be enough. I'd be pissed if I paid that much for HS and was limited to only 10 |
Well, sure, good information for the class of 2024 but not much help for 2023. |
Senior parent. I want to be careful since this is public but my kid was top 20% of class. hard to know exactly but pretty sure. very high 1400s/1500 SAT. Co head of multiple clubs blah blah. national award in something he's passionate about academically. involved at school and outside like most GDS kids. 3.8 gpa unweighted had a B+ in couple UL classes - otherwise all A range since 9th grade started. Multiple UL classes junior and senior. 0 acceptances in top 35-40 schools by US News. Multiple waitlists. Top acceptance was just under #40 US News. Got into 2 safeties and 2 target. Going to a target. I dont want to name the target for obvious reasons. Kid is happy now but last two weeks of readouts were TERRIBLE for the ego. Target school types for this kid were: Wm & Mary, Brandeis, Case Western, St Andrews, Univ Edinburgh, Santa Clara, Occidental etc. Think something along that line for where kid will attend. Just didnt win the lottery this year. Mostly upset the game changed after 2019 and private school UMC white kids no longer wanted. My gripes w/ GDS - as I've posted here before 1) capping at 10 schools unrealistic w/ applications now up 2x in 4 years 2) no data used/shown by CCO to parents/kids on odds by school for GPA/test 3) the entire approach to AP tests, AP courses, etc |
GDS kids are surely good Tufts applicants. But they are a school that takes most of class from ED It's a school where RD is wasting a slot when GDS gives you 10 slots. |
yeah I was kidding on the equity line. That's what GDS would say. I'm right there with you. they should increase to 15. I'm not sure they can tell kids where to apply or even say 3 to 5 in this range or that. I actually am not sure they can legally do that In fact on limiting to 10, they proudly say that UC and UCAS (Uk) both count as one. So in reality kids who apply UCs and UCAS can be maxing to nearly 20+ schools. But here's what they dont say - UCs have become AP course dependent and weighted GPA focused. GDS does not do well there now having dropped AP. UC was a wasted application at GDS this year except maybe UC Davis and the tier below. And UKAS require 4 to 5 AP tests which until last september GDS told parents to not take for last 3 years. so yeah... I wonder what would happen if a parent actually lawyered up and challenged the 10 cap with a letter from counsel. GDS does not disclose the 10 cap until junior spring parent meeting. At that point, you have paid deposit on senior year. There is zero transparency when you are applying to GDS that college is capped at 10. When it's brought up junior spring, it's said "of course you all know we limit to 10" Well I didnt know. No other parents knew unless they had been through this before. |
NP. My child went to public school. They decided in December of senior year to apply to a few more common app schools and I’m pretty sure no permission from their school was required. Everything that was necessary had already been uploaded to the common app. |
Really appreciate the candor from parents from Big 3 - particularly as you point out that rules are changing in ways that aren’t fully understood yet. As someone similarly situated (GDS parent lower high school), does sound like there are some changes at the school that’d be helpful (e.g., transparency, limits on number of schools, hire essay writer etc). Beyond that, are there things had you known what you know now that you’d have done differently or that you’d suggest for similarly situated kid? (E.g gone for a lower ranked school ED? Or that regular legacy for REA is not worth it etc etc?) thanks again! |
First of all, you are wrong about the UC schools. Every year multiple kids get into the top UC schools. This year at least one GDS kid is going to UCLA. I don’t know if he did any AP exams or not. And it would be madness to lawyer up. The CCO has to write a rec for your kid. Be smart about ED1 and ED2. That would be my advice. EA is not really an advantage. And there are many excellent schools that are in the 30-50 range. |
You nailed my biggest one -use ED for high target/low reach but not for REA/SCEA ultra reach even for legacy kid unless legacy/VIP, legacy/URM Also, make sure kids use summers wisely - both have fun and also do things that will help their story - community college classes oddly have become a big one at other high schools for example. Plus no academic too If math-y kid, push 8th grade math to let kid do geometry summer before 9th (GDS has) and to test out so they can go straight into Algebra II 9th. GDS in general opposes kids going ahead in summers. I've been told that point blank by two department heads. It's against their spirit of equity. Meanwhile, in the real world of admissions, kids everywhere else are doing summer enrichment etc. Don't listen to the school on that. Run your own play of kid is academically inclined. |
OK so we are going to rely on anecdotes here? 1 kid going to UCLA? Look at the UC data by source school, before dropping AP courses, GDS had many multiple kids a year admitted to UCB and UCLA. It dried up 2 years ago and it's not just UCs focusing on in-state. Here's hard data: UCs literally have 2.9% to 4.8% admit rate for OOS kids who take < 5 AP courses and GDS ULs dont count. GDS never mentioned that to us. Did they mention it to you? It's the reliance on feelings that makes the process at GDS so weird. I just don't understand how parents like some here settle for this and think this is normal or OK validates. BTW, i agree with ED1 and ED2 as the only thing you have. It forces kid to pick a college they love summer /fall senior. What a tall ask for a 17 year old. But that's where this all has ended up because colleges want to fill their class early and not be bothered to really read the 100k apps in RD (read Selingo article 2 weeks ago for validation) |
I'm a Big3 parent of an A- junior who was trembling in my shoes when I first read these posts. However, I attended Case and my husband went to William and Mary. I'm both breathing a sigh of relief and slightly maddened that you consider attending our universities being "shut out." A bit of perspective would do you well. |