Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Wow. The whole Sidwell parent community is clearly toxic! Whatever people get paid to work there is not enough. Get a life. Take responsibility for yourself and your DC. What is the matter with you? Stop complaining on an anonymous blog. Stop hiding. Maybe have a conversation with the school. You are delusional, neurotic, power starved, and insane.

Signed, Happily NOT a Sidwell Parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

I know the kids you're talking about, because my kid is their peer and in most of their classes.

What you didn't include in your otherwise instructive post is that most of these kids picked a very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED -- with absolutely foreseeable results. I think that's the most relevant detail, actually. Also, most didn't ED2, so the 'stranded' characterization is premature at best and, it must be pointed out, it's a risk to forego ED2 and they chose to take that risk. Finally, a number of these kids have at least one EA in hand at a top 25 school. No one is "stranded" when they can go to Chicago or Michigan next fall.

I seem to have an outlier view of the purpose and capabilities of a college counselor at Sidwell, Dalton, Westlake, New Trier, Andover, etc. I don't view them as agents who earn their money by securing prime bookings for their top talent. Nor are they talented litigators who get paid more when they successfully persuade skeptical juries to come around. Not saying you do, but not a few parents in this class talk this way. It upsets my own senior because they talk as if the CC office is the help and it's gross.

So, if Sidwell students get rejected, well, they were yield protected but if a magnet such as TJ's students get rejected, then it is the mocking time. Just look at the thread drudged up for 2016 class for TJ. TJ does way better than Sidwell even with having 70% Asians (which is a huge disadvantage) and having virtually no connections/legacies/athletes/URM. Do better Sidwell parents.

Agree.

I think TJ probably provides better and more rigorous education than SFS for free not only better top 20 college admissions.

You understand that maybe a quarter of the readers of this forum live in Virginia, right? Not everyone has access to a TJ.

No. It’s more like 50% northern Va, 35% md and 15 dc.

Maybe Jeff can provide stats, but I am pretty sure there is a large (35, maybe more) percentage who access from outside the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Quantcast says 22% VA, 18% MD, 13% DC.

[Anonymous]

LOL, so I was right, maybe a quarter from Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quantcast says 22% VA, 18% MD, 13% DC.

For the site as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

I know the kids you're talking about, because my kid is their peer and in most of their classes.

What you didn't include in your otherwise instructive post is that most of these kids picked a very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED -- with absolutely foreseeable results. I think that's the most relevant detail, actually. Also, most didn't ED2, so the 'stranded' characterization is premature at best and, it must be pointed out, it's a risk to forego ED2 and they chose to take that risk. Finally, a number of these kids have at least one EA in hand at a top 25 school. No one is "stranded" when they can go to Chicago or Michigan next fall.

I seem to have an outlier view of the purpose and capabilities of a college counselor at Sidwell, Dalton, Westlake, New Trier, Andover, etc. I don't view them as agents who earn their money by securing prime bookings for their top talent. Nor are they talented litigators who get paid more when they successfully persuade skeptical juries to come around. Not saying you do, but not a few parents in this class talk this way. It upsets my own senior because they talk as if the CC office is the help and it's gross.

So, if Sidwell students get rejected, well, they were yield protected but if a magnet such as TJ's students get rejected, then it is the mocking time. Just look at the thread drudged up for 2016 class for TJ. TJ does way better than Sidwell even with having 70% Asians (which is a huge disadvantage) and having virtually no connections/legacies/athletes/URM. Do better Sidwell parents.

+1

+10

[Anonymous]

Assuming both Sidwell and TJ were free and majority white students, and also assuming both schools were in a same county, which school would you send your kids to attend? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assuming both Sidwell and TJ were free and majority white students, and also assuming both schools were in a same county, which school would you send your kids to attend? Just curious.

Wtf

People straight up just don’t hide their hate for tj literally stems from too many Asians?

Why is it ok for white peoeolr to be a majority but not others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Sidwell justify the lack of open access to Naviance? That’s so incredibly paternalistic. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a parent revolt.

No Naviance access: classic Sidwell abuse. Sidwell senior parent here. Been the same thing for years. No parent will dare complain. Myself included.

Not a Sidwell parent here, and Imma not gonna lie some of you do come across as both tone-deaf and entitled. But speaking as a parent who has now gone through two college admission cycles for two very different kids (one of whom went through DCPS -- and no, my kid was not less equipped for their Ivy than your Sidwell student -- and one of whom is finishing up at a different and smaller private high school in DC and just getting results back now), I can't overstate how helpful Naviance ways in trying to build a list of options. The idea that I wouldn't have been able to look at it except in scheduled meetings with counselors seems nutty to me.

I guess I'm glad we couldn't afford Sidwell.

I made the original comment re Naviance and I completely agree—it was hugely helpful for our older kids’ college searches. Our kids’ high school provided 3 years worth of data (each HS selects the filters they want to use) and several of the patterns were really illuminating. People sometimes claim that Naviance is unhelpful because it doesn’t show info about hooks, but that always seems strange to me. Even at our large public I knew which of the kids getting into top schools were URMs or recruited athletes and for some I knew their legacy status. It was easy to tell there were plenty of unhooked kids among the green dots, and we focused on schools with a lot of them in our kids’ stat range. My oldest applied to 10 schools, and I correctly predicted all 10 decisions mostly based on the Naviance data.

I understand that the data is more useful the larger your school is, and I understand the fear of retaliation, but it’s just so unfair to handicap families like this. I think a lot of the complaints I’ve read here seem completely legit, and I’m sympathetic to the parents.

What do you mean by "fear of retaliation"?

[Anonymous]

TJ for STEM education and their state of the art lab equipment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. The whole Sidwell parent community is clearly toxic! Whatever people get paid to work there is not enough. Get a life. Take responsibility for yourself and your DC. What is the matter with you? Stop complaining on an anonymous blog. Stop hiding. Maybe have a conversation with the school. You are delusional, neurotic, power starved, and insane.

Signed, Happily NOT a Sidwell Parent

Yes, the WHOLE Sidwell community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

I know the kids you're talking about, because my kid is their peer and in most of their classes.

What you didn't include in your otherwise instructive post is that most of these kids picked a very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED -- with absolutely foreseeable results. I think that's the most relevant detail, actually. Also, most didn't ED2, so the 'stranded' characterization is premature at best and, it must be pointed out, it's a risk to forego ED2 and they chose to take that risk. Finally, a number of these kids have at least one EA in hand at a top 25 school. No one is "stranded" when they can go to Chicago or Michigan next fall.

I seem to have an outlier view of the purpose and capabilities of a college counselor at Sidwell, Dalton, Westlake, New Trier, Andover, etc. I don't view them as agents who earn their money by securing prime bookings for their top talent. Nor are they talented litigators who get paid more when they successfully persuade skeptical juries to come around. Not saying you do, but not a few parents in this class talk this way. It upsets my own senior because they talk as if the CC office is the help and it's gross.

So, if Sidwell students get rejected, well, they were yield protected but if a magnet such as TJ's students get rejected, then it is the mocking time. Just look at the thread drudged up for 2016 class for TJ. TJ does way better than Sidwell even with having 70% Asians (which is a huge disadvantage) and having virtually no connections/legacies/athletes/URM. Do better Sidwell parents.

Agree.

I think TJ probably provides better and more rigorous education than SFS for free not only better top 20 college admissions.

Probably true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

I know the kids you're talking about, because my kid is their peer and in most of their classes.

What you didn't include in your otherwise instructive post is that most of these kids picked a very tough Ivy or Stanford as their SCEA or ED -- with absolutely foreseeable results. I think that's the most relevant detail, actually. Also, most didn't ED2, so the 'stranded' characterization is premature at best and, it must be pointed out, it's a risk to forego ED2 and they chose to take that risk. Finally, a number of these kids have at least one EA in hand at a top 25 school. No one is "stranded" when they can go to Chicago or Michigan next fall.

I seem to have an outlier view of the purpose and capabilities of a college counselor at Sidwell, Dalton, Westlake, New Trier, Andover, etc. I don't view them as agents who earn their money by securing prime bookings for their top talent. Nor are they talented litigators who get paid more when they successfully persuade skeptical juries to come around. Not saying you do, but not a few parents in this class talk this way. It upsets my own senior because they talk as if the CC office is the help and it's gross.

So, if Sidwell students get rejected, well, they were yield protected but if a magnet such as TJ's students get rejected, then it is the mocking time. Just look at the thread drudged up for 2016 class for TJ. TJ does way better than Sidwell even with having 70% Asians (which is a huge disadvantage) and having virtually no connections/legacies/athletes/URM. Do better Sidwell parents.

Agree.

I think TJ probably provides better and more rigorous education than SFS for free not only better top 20 college admissions.

Probably true.

Depends on which subjects. STEM for sure but not in humanities

[Anonymous]

TJ has a very strong humanities programs. For example, they win the most scholastic writing awards in most years and win national awards for their annual year book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ has a very strong humanities programs. For example, they win the most scholastic writing awards in most years and win national awards for their annual year book.

Sidwell - recall this is a thread about Sidwell- doesn’t even enter the kids in those writing competitions. Which are clearly about getting the NATIONAL AWARD to bulk up the ECs and be able to say NATIONAL AWARD 🥇