It’s easier for average kids

[Anonymous]

This is reminiscent of posts about how it’s easier to be middle class because you don’t have the pressures and required expenses that you have when you are wealthier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is reminiscent of posts about how it’s easier to be middle class because you don’t have the pressures and required expenses that you have when you are wealthier.

Mo’ money, Mo’ problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely agree with OP. I think the expectations when you have a kid with a 4.4 1560 SAT and great ECs and personality is that they will have tons of options at top schools (humor me) because your kids stats exceed the 75% benchmark everywhere. Naviance told me he was a "match" with every top 10 school- including all the ivys! They had Georgia Tech as a "safety". The reality is he got into very few schools - only the very very safeties and even got rejected at some of those. It's shocking.

Its a combination of those top programs not having hardly any growth in size and seats in decades, more and more kids applying (TO), SAT "prep" classes raising scores (my kid's score was first time, unprepped), and aggressive affirmative action biases.

My next kid is more in the 1350 range (I do consider this average at least for our county) and Id never apply to any Ivy for him - and the safeties that rejected his brother for being too high will more than likely accept him. Irony huh. The top stat kids non urm kids are not being well served by the current landscape, it's a debacle. But that said, I'd never want my 1350 kid to go to Princeton because it would be too hard (I would think) and he would not thrive but so many fight for it in any circumstance that many truly gifted kids are edged out.

Oh, you consider it average. Why didn’t you say so in the first place? That must make it so, then. Sorry. Montgomery County average is about 1180 and Fairfax is about 1200. Neither has and average anywhere close to 1350. And no local county would be higher.

[Anonymous]

OP , do you not get that the hardship you are perceiving is all self-inflicted? Each kid gets to decide where they apply. You can make the list as realistic or lottery-esque as you want. Acceptance rates are public. If you pick long shots, and don’t get in …well, that is what you should have expected.

Your post evokes zero sympathy, and in fact comes across as very patronizing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I completely agree with OP. I think the expectations when you have a kid with a 4.4 1560 SAT and great ECs and personality is that they will have tons of options at top schools (humor me) because your kids stats exceed the 75% benchmark everywhere. Naviance told me he was a "match" with every top 10 school- including all the ivys! They had Georgia Tech as a "safety". The reality is he got into very few schools - only the very very safeties and even got rejected at some of those. It's shocking.

Its a combination of those top programs not having hardly any growth in size and seats in decades, more and more kids applying (TO), SAT "prep" classes raising scores (my kid's score was first time, unprepped), and aggressive affirmative action biases.

My next kid is more in the 1350 range (I do consider this average at least for our county) and Id never apply to any Ivy for him - and the safeties that rejected his brother for being too high will more than likely accept him. Irony huh. The top stat kids non urm kids are not being well served by the current landscape, it's a debacle. But that said, I'd never want my 1350 kid to go to Princeton because it would be too hard (I would think) and he would not thrive but so many fight for it in any circumstance that many truly gifted kids are edged out.

Oh, you consider it average. Why didn’t you say so in the first place? That must make it so, then. Sorry. Montgomery County average is about 1180 and Fairfax is about 1200. Neither has and average anywhere close to 1350. And no local county would be higher.

Someone did the math in another thread. Only 40% or so of Whitman high school students got above a 1330 on the SAT in 2019.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Average income people have it so much easier than high income. I mean, high income have to hire accountants to shield their taxes and wealth managers to help them beat the markets. It takes a lot to manage both a winter home AND a summer home. Have some sympathy. Average income people don’t have these kinds of problems.

Beautiful 👏🏼

[Anonymous]

I think the piece of OP’s post that people are ignoring is that kids with very high stats are not getting into schools that you would expect they would because of yield protection. Schools assume the stats are high, the kid will have other options, so the kid does not get into the school where they are at or above the 75% level. Meanwhile, the same kid is also rejected from all the “lottery” schools, so is left with few options. A different kid with stats at the 50% level for the school May actually be in a better position, because the school won’t yield protect that kid. With respect to that point, OP makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the piece of OP’s post that people are ignoring is that kids with very high stats are not getting into schools that you would expect they would because of yield protection. Schools assume the stats are high, the kid will have other options, so the kid does not get into the school where they are at or above the 75% level. Meanwhile, the same kid is also rejected from all the “lottery” schools, so is left with few options. A different kid with stats at the 50% level for the school May actually be in a better position, because the school won’t yield protect that kid. With respect to that point, OP makes sense.

Cry me a river. And, parents have a weird takeaway about what is yield-protection, partly because they are only looking at their kid's GPA/SAT but not the other stuff. Your kid may not in fact be as competitive as you think they should be. They all look the same. ***

[Anonymous]

So make sure your 1550 kid has time to enjoy high school. I think the resentment is in what they sacrificed. That's what it is to them, maybe not to the parent but to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High stats kids have so much competition for the schools they want to attend. Then they are yield protected at lower level schools. In some ways a kid with a 1350 has it a lot easier and a smoother road to their college picks than a kid with 1550.

As a mom to a 1330 3.8 kid I totally agree. He got into every place he applied and some with merit. He is going to his top choice and thrilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High stats kids have so much competition for the schools they want to attend. Then they are yield protected at lower level schools. In some ways a kid with a 1350 has it a lot easier and a smoother road to their college picks than a kid with 1550.

As a mom to a 1330 3.8 kid I totally agree. He got into every place he applied and some with merit. He is going to his top choice and thrilled.

Congrats!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the piece of OP’s post that people are ignoring is that kids with very high stats are not getting into schools that you would expect they would because of yield protection. Schools assume the stats are high, the kid will have other options, so the kid does not get into the school where they are at or above the 75% level. Meanwhile, the same kid is also rejected from all the “lottery” schools, so is left with few options. A different kid with stats at the 50% level for the school May actually be in a better position, because the school won’t yield protect that kid. With respect to that point, OP makes sense.

Are these students engaging with these schools at all? My kid engaged a number of times with regional recruiters; attended local meetings with recruiters; set up a tour that included meeting with the pertinent academic department. He did that for his top two choices. And it worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the piece of OP’s post that people are ignoring is that kids with very high stats are not getting into schools that you would expect they would because of yield protection. Schools assume the stats are high, the kid will have other options, so the kid does not get into the school where they are at or above the 75% level. Meanwhile, the same kid is also rejected from all the “lottery” schools, so is left with few options. A different kid with stats at the 50% level for the school May actually be in a better position, because the school won’t yield protect that kid. With respect to that point, OP makes sense.

I think the “yield protection” happens because the kids do not demonstrate interest to the schools and probably write supplemental essays that are wel because they aren’t really interested. It’s just a safety. I have a high stats kid that got into the more “safety” LACs because they picked all schools where they felt they could be happy and showed the same love to the safeties as the reaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, please. OP, all you are doing is showing how you didn’t understand the process and thought your DC was somehow extra special and high stats meant they were more deserving of top slots than other equally qualified kids. This has always been a numbers game. There are far more top stat kids than T20 spaces. You needs to manage expectations and be more strategic about applications. I’ve had two top stat kids (1550+ SAT, 4.5+ WGPA, ECs) get into top schools - one with only 6 applications (accepted at all 6, one T20), one with 7 (accepted 5 (3 T10), 2 waitlist, 1 reject). They both did EA and RD. They both really identified schools that were a good fit for them and that they brought something to. There was a strategy about rolling decision, then EA and then RD priorities. EA included actual targets (hello best fir state school.) EA admits meant many schools dropped off the RD list. If you have a good strategy and realistic expectations, your top stats kid doesn’t need to be stressed all year.

So the OP does not get that there are "not enough spots" and to illustrate that you share that your kids both got into top schools? In fact, most of all the top schools they applied to? Talk about tone deaf.

You missed some. Her kids also identified schools to which THEY “brought something.” 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Average income people have it so much easier than high income. I mean, high income have to hire accountants to shield their taxes and wealth managers to help them beat the markets. It takes a lot to manage both a winter home AND a summer home. Have some sympathy. Average income people don’t have these kinds of problems.

You get a standing ovation. Best comment on this forum in a while.