After all the drama, Big3 college admissions are really as strong as ever this year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trick question. Only hooked students are admitted to HYPS.

Then what explains all the posts denigrating a private school's admits as being based on hooks? If everyone (both public and private) gets in due to some kind of hook, then why are private school admits being targeted specifically?

Only the private schools publish the college list in their marketing material and charge $50,000 a year.

School Without Walls publishes college admissions in their school profile. That’s marketing as well.

Remind me what SWW charges in annual tuition?

Oh, so all of these denigrating posts are because you were too poor to send your children to private school? That’s what I thought.

Continue to seethe.

It seems fairly obvious to me that people who pay $200,000+ for high school, based on college lists marketed to them, have invested more than people who have paid $0, and therefore are more apt to be upset about any gap between the advertised college results and the actual college results. I expect it also helps that the bottom of the list at Walls has always been quite mundane, so that the Walls list does not implicitly promise a T50 or T100 result the way the lists at private schools do. That is why people are angrier about the results for unhooked kids from privates this year than the results for unhooked kids from Walls. (Which, if you will recall, was your initial question.)

I’m not the OP. However, my children attend a Big 3, have excellent grades and test scores, and they’re “hooked” (Ivy legacy and URM). I can’t relate to the anger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Later gap between "ok" and "natural super star". Which one will he prove to be closer to..? All else equal, much rides on this question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has managed to pose the following question in many different ways: "Is 15% of the class going to ivies good or bad?"

Good or bad relative to what? The baseline always seems to be public school, whether this is phrased as "15% is higher than 5% (or whatever) from the W school" or "I'm paying $50k a year vs. free."

What if you took public schools out of the equation. After all, many public school kids aren't even applying to college, or they're applying to places that will give them merit aid (the ivies don't) or better FA. And sunk costs (that $200k for high school) are sunk costs, as we all learned in econ 101.

So the new question, stripped of useless comparisons, stands alone: is 15% going to the ivies good or bad? And why?

Since it is probably less than 5 percent of the unhooked kids, I would contest the "15%" question...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

That's not true this year. Especially for boys looking to study engineering, CS. Even super strong students landed outside of top 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is cleaning up this year, and did well last year. Someone in the admissions office deserves a raise.

They did well the year before last too (2021)

Oxford
Yale
MIT
Stanford
Cornell
Harvard (2)
Chicago
Michigan
Pomona
Brown (2)
Williams
Dartmouth
Georgetown
+more top LACs

https://instagram.com/maretfrogs2021?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I think Sidwell did a little better. I know they’re sending more students to Ivies (plus one to MIT).

This post was so unnecessary. I was pointing out to the PP that it’s not just this year and last year that Maret has done quite wells but the year before as well.

Also good to note that Maret has 75-85 graduates each year.

But this year (2023)

Maret has
Harvard - 2
Penn - 6
Yale - 3
Brown -1
Cornell - 1

Not all have posted individually on the IG but some did a video on college gear day. This year is 85 kids so 15% Ivy.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crt-iE3PEUh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yes but similar to kids at Whitman less 2 ivys …for free!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trick question. Only hooked students are admitted to HYPS.

Then what explains all the posts denigrating a private school's admits as being based on hooks? If everyone (both public and private) gets in due to some kind of hook, then why are private school admits being targeted specifically?

Only the private schools publish the college list in their marketing material and charge $50,000 a year.

School Without Walls publishes college admissions in their school profile. That’s marketing as well.

Remind me what SWW charges in annual tuition?

Oh, so all of these denigrating posts are because you were too poor to send your children to private school? That’s what I thought.

Continue to seethe.

It seems fairly obvious to me that people who pay $200,000+ for high school, based on college lists marketed to them, have invested more than people who have paid $0, and therefore are more apt to be upset about any gap between the advertised college results and the actual college results. I expect it also helps that the bottom of the list at Walls has always been quite mundane, so that the Walls list does not implicitly promise a T50 or T100 result the way the lists at private schools do. That is why people are angrier about the results for unhooked kids from privates this year than the results for unhooked kids from Walls. (Which, if you will recall, was your initial question.)

Here is the thing...NONE of these schools use college matriculation lists to market to prospective students. You can't even get official lists from schools like Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is cleaning up this year, and did well last year. Someone in the admissions office deserves a raise.

They did well the year before last too (2021)

Oxford
Yale
MIT
Stanford
Cornell
Harvard (2)
Chicago
Michigan
Pomona
Brown (2)
Williams
Dartmouth
Georgetown
+more top LACs

https://instagram.com/maretfrogs2021?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I think Sidwell did a little better. I know they’re sending more students to Ivies (plus one to MIT).

This post was so unnecessary. I was pointing out to the PP that it’s not just this year and last year that Maret has done quite wells but the year before as well.

Also good to note that Maret has 75-85 graduates each year.

But this year (2023)

Maret has
Harvard - 2
Penn - 6
Yale - 3
Brown -1
Cornell - 1

Not all have posted individually on the IG but some did a video on college gear day. This year is 85 kids so 15% Ivy.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crt-iE3PEUh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yes but similar to kids at Whitman less 2 ivys …for free!

Whitman has about 600 graduating seniors…Maret has 80. Maret is still sending more students to Ivies and top 50 schools.

Free? It looks like you get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is cleaning up this year, and did well last year. Someone in the admissions office deserves a raise.

They did well the year before last too (2021)

Oxford
Yale
MIT
Stanford
Cornell
Harvard (2)
Chicago
Michigan
Pomona
Brown (2)
Williams
Dartmouth
Georgetown
+more top LACs

https://instagram.com/maretfrogs2021?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I think Sidwell did a little better. I know they’re sending more students to Ivies (plus one to MIT).

This post was so unnecessary. I was pointing out to the PP that it’s not just this year and last year that Maret has done quite wells but the year before as well.

Also good to note that Maret has 75-85 graduates each year.

But this year (2023)

Maret has
Harvard - 2
Penn - 6
Yale - 3
Brown -1
Cornell - 1

Not all have posted individually on the IG but some did a video on college gear day. This year is 85 kids so 15% Ivy.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crt-iE3PEUh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yes but similar to kids at Whitman less 2 ivys …for free!

Whitman has about 600 graduating seniors…Maret has 80. Maret is still sending more students to Ivies and top 50 schools.

Free? It looks like you get what you pay for.

Everyone is comparing Maret to the top 80 kids at Whitman. The question is, if you swapped the top 80 kids at Whitman with the whole senior class at Maret, would the college outcomes for those kids change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is cleaning up this year, and did well last year. Someone in the admissions office deserves a raise.

They did well the year before last too (2021)

Oxford
Yale
MIT
Stanford
Cornell
Harvard (2)
Chicago
Michigan
Pomona
Brown (2)
Williams
Dartmouth
Georgetown
+more top LACs

https://instagram.com/maretfrogs2021?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I think Sidwell did a little better. I know they’re sending more students to Ivies (plus one to MIT).

This post was so unnecessary. I was pointing out to the PP that it’s not just this year and last year that Maret has done quite wells but the year before as well.

Also good to note that Maret has 75-85 graduates each year.

But this year (2023)

Maret has
Harvard - 2
Penn - 6
Yale - 3
Brown -1
Cornell - 1

Not all have posted individually on the IG but some did a video on college gear day. This year is 85 kids so 15% Ivy.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crt-iE3PEUh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yes but similar to kids at Whitman less 2 ivys …for free!

Whitman has about 600 graduating seniors…Maret has 80. Maret is still sending more students to Ivies and top 50 schools.

Free? It looks like you get what you pay for.

Everyone is comparing Maret to the top 80 kids at Whitman. The question is, if you swapped the top 80 kids at Whitman with the whole senior class at Maret, would the college outcomes for those kids change.

We’ll never know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

That's not true this year. Especially for boys looking to study engineering, CS. Even super strong students landed outside of top 50.

Which schools are you referring to? I am referring to top privates in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

That's not true this year. Especially for boys looking to study engineering, CS. Even super strong students landed outside of top 50.

Which schools are you referring to? I am referring to top privates in the country.

No school in this area is one of the “top privates in the country.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

That's not true this year. Especially for boys looking to study engineering, CS. Even super strong students landed outside of top 50.

Which schools are you referring to? I am referring to top privates in the country.

No school in this area is one of the “top privates in the country.”

Sidwell, STA, NCS, and GDS are definitely considered top privates nationally. All of these schools regularly appear on “Best private schools in the US” lists. These schools pretty much makes every top 25 to 50 list of best private schools in the country (out of tens of thousands of private schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

That's not true this year. Especially for boys looking to study engineering, CS. Even super strong students landed outside of top 50.

Which schools are you referring to? I am referring to top privates in the country.

No school in this area is one of the “top privates in the country.”

Sidwell, STA, NCS, and GDS are definitely considered top privates nationally. All of these schools regularly appear on “Best private schools in the US” lists. These schools pretty much makes every top 25 to 50 list of best private schools in the country (out of tens of thousands of private schools).

Top 100 maybe for the rest besides sidwell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s perfectly possible for a private school to deflate in general and provide targeted inflation for donor kids.

Could you explain this? How did they do this? I think this might be true.

I'm not PP but one way this can happen (not via teacher grading) is for some families to know which courses to take that will best support high GPA. For example, if you know you have a hook, you may not need to take the most rigorous courses - easier courseload leads to higher GPA. The hard part of this equation, though, is it doesn't apply for a non-hooked kid. They take harder courseload and have a high GPA (with maybe a few extra A- vs A) but are shut out of T20. But they can't assume they'd do better in T20 if they took the easier courseload with a 4.0 outcome - because they probably would not. Suppose they were accepted to a T40 with the higher courseload - that may not have happened if they took the easier route.

Oh my. I pay way to much to have to game the system for my non hooked kids. I thought sending him to a private will be the hook. He is not a sport kid. Well he is but not good enough to make a team beyond Freshman year. And he is ok in academics but not a natural super star. I was hoping he can get into a top 40 from my fancy school. Is this to hopeful? I am assuming he'll have A's and A's with a sprinkle of a B here or there if they really won't grade inflate. What can I do to help him stand out? He likes clubs but isn't the kids to "lead" or get elected. Help from unhooked. What do you recommend?

Personally I think private is a much better bet for the average kid. You’re almost certainly going to get into a top 50 if you’re average at a top private school.

That's not true this year. Especially for boys looking to study engineering, CS. Even super strong students landed outside of top 50.

Which schools are you referring to? I am referring to top privates in the country.

No school in this area is one of the “top privates in the country.”

Sidwell, STA, NCS, and GDS are definitely considered top privates nationally. All of these schools regularly appear on “Best private schools in the US” lists. These schools pretty much makes every top 25 to 50 list of best private schools in the country (out of tens of thousands of private schools).

I’d love to see that source.

I can only find this one that has NCS, Potomac, Maret, then Sidwell (in that order). No GDS and no STA. We need to stop with the Big 3 rhetoric.

https://thebestschools.org/rankings/k-12/best-private-schools/