My high stat kid’s experience with admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS has much higher SAT but otherwise similar, rejected by ivies, maybe being an asian played a factor. So congratulations to you! Life isn’t always fair but this is the work we live in.

Same here. My DS stats were much higher with more APs. 3 sports. 2 languages . Rejected to all Ivy schools. ( Mixed asian)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid applied to 11 schools, no ED, 5 EA (all acceptances), 6 RD (2 acceptances), 3 RDs were ivies (1 acceptance). Offered merit aid from 4 schools. Full pay.

One sitting for SAT early junior year with 1530, prepped using Kahn Academy, u/w GPA 4.0, 12 APs and post-APs, most rigorous schedule. AP scores all 5s.

Big public, fully virtual junior year.

Not a pointy kid, applied mainly to engineering, interesting mix of ECs, but no major awards, several writing related ECs.

I’m guessing good recommendations, definitely a kid who asks lots of questions and visits office hours.

No essay assistance other than AP lang teacher reading the common app essay and parents reading other essays.

Parents both from modest backgrounds, but highly educated. Caucasian.

What state?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: my kid, whose GPA was strong from a rigorous private but who applied test optional everywhere due to non-spectacular ACT scores (32), applied to 14 schools-- accepted at Vermont, Dickinson, Lafayette, Denison, Emory and Georgetown; rejected at Duke, BC, Carnegie Mellon, and Vassar, and WL at UVa, VT, W&M, and Yale.

None of this makes any particular sense to me. DC had strong recs and essays, medium extra currics and sport, white, no hooks.

To me all this just illustrates how random all this is. DC leaning towards Georgetown and is happy, but still baffled about those WL schools! (Was expecting acceptance at at least W&M and VT, and rejection at Yale. Go figure).

Congrats to your DC. Emory an GTown are strong schools. Curious how you decided to pick Yale for a target school. You must have felt it has something going for your DC while other Ivies you felt not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow congrats to your son!! Well done.

Why are you assuming the kid is a boy?

I think it's a girl. A boy for engineering probably would have retaken the SAT.

[Anonymous]

The writing related ECs may have helped DC write strong essays. Engineers who can write well are highly desirable for employers, and so I assume for colleges, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow congrats to your son!! Well done.

Why are you assuming the kid is a boy?

I think it's a girl. A boy for engineering probably would have retaken the SAT.

+1; with these stats don't stand out for a boy going for engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: my kid, whose GPA was strong from a rigorous private but who applied test optional everywhere due to non-spectacular ACT scores (32), applied to 14 schools-- accepted at Vermont, Dickinson, Lafayette, Denison, Emory and Georgetown; rejected at Duke, BC, Carnegie Mellon, and Vassar, and WL at UVa, VT, W&M, and Yale.

None of this makes any particular sense to me. DC had strong recs and essays, medium extra currics and sport, white, no hooks.

To me all this just illustrates how random all this is. DC leaning towards Georgetown and is happy, but still baffled about those WL schools! (Was expecting acceptance at at least W&M and VT, and rejection at Yale. Go figure).

You lost me at non-spectacular 32 ACT - that’s 97th percentile you f-ing idiot.

It's a troll post. Georgetown isn't TO. 32 is a superior score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has much higher SAT but otherwise similar, rejected by ivies, maybe being an asian played a factor. So congratulations to you! Life isn’t always fair but this is the work we live in.

Same here. My DS stats were much higher with more APs. 3 sports. 2 languages . Rejected to all Ivy schools. ( Mixed asian)

That’s incredible. The system works against Asians (I am not Asian BTW)

[Anonymous]

OP here. Major is a big factor in acceptance that I think a lot of people forget. Judging by my kids friends, CS was way tougher than engineering or any other major for admissions both for boys and girls. My advice for juniors, is to think carefully about applying to CS.

Did a lot of dithering about retaking the SAT, but only missed one question on the math section. She figured that the schools would know that and not be overly focused on the score. Chasing a few more points when it’s already in the 99% percentile didn’t seem like a valuable way to spend time.

Hard to really know what was decisive for the schools either way. I’m guessing essays stood out. They were authentically her and quite qood (imo). I’m in a quant field and being able to write clearly is a highly in demand skill. Luck is of course also a huge factor.

We were honestly shocked by the Ivy acceptance. With so many spots going to ED kids, RD seemed like a very long shot. We also didn’t get any professional help on the applications, so it was just my kid’s work with some advice from me and DH.

Anyway, for all the talk about high stat kids being dime a dozen, at least for my kid, it worked out. I’m guessing luck, choice of major, and essays were all significant. Maybe also recommendations. Despite being virtual, I think my kid managed to really stand out to her junior year teachers that wrote her recs. I also wonder about the counselor letter. We got a form to fill out for it and I guessed that the counselor might just lift what I wrote for their letter, so I was thoughtful about it. I made it really good and made sure that what I wrote was very personal and showed an aspect of my kid that would be hard to bring out elsewhere in the app.

[Anonymous]

It is true that so many applicants have high stats so I think it was the other parts of the application that helped your student stand out. You may be correct that engineering and writing talent are a desirable but uncommon combination.

Maybe she gets it from you! The simple fact that you crafted paragraphs in a long post stands out. When I see a long solid block of text in a post, I can't even bother to wade through it.

Congratulations and best of luck to your DC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW: my kid, whose GPA was strong from a rigorous private but who applied test optional everywhere due to non-spectacular ACT scores (32), applied to 14 schools-- accepted at Vermont, Dickinson, Lafayette, Denison, Emory and Georgetown; rejected at Duke, BC, Carnegie Mellon, and Vassar, and WL at UVa, VT, W&M, and Yale.

None of this makes any particular sense to me. DC had strong recs and essays, medium extra currics and sport, white, no hooks.

To me all this just illustrates how random all this is. DC leaning towards Georgetown and is happy, but still baffled about those WL schools! (Was expecting acceptance at at least W&M and VT, and rejection at Yale. Go figure).

Congrats to your DC. Emory an GTown are strong schools. Curious how you decided to pick Yale for a target school. You must have felt it has something going for your DC while other Ivies you felt not?

Are you in VA?

[Anonymous]

A female applying to engineering is going to get a boost just like a make applying to A SLAC will.

The trick to getting acceptance to an Ivy or other top school besides having all the stats and EC is applying to a major where they need people or not enough applicants have your profile. My DC Asian friend is at Harvard because he did not apply as a STEM focused kid. His app and ECs were focused on History, his other interest. Once at school he also added CS 😉. Remember, most top schools are not accepting you to a major. You choose your major after sophomore year.

OP, good luck to your daughter.

[Anonymous]

So she's going to Cornell?

[Anonymous]

The thing the OP also pointed, that grabbed my attention, was their kid engaged with teachers beyond the classroom. Makes it easier for the teacher to get to know the kid, what their interests are, how interested there are in learning, and wha they would contribute to the college. Thus, they have information to write a recommendation which describes the kid well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing the OP also pointed, that grabbed my attention, was their kid engaged with teachers beyond the classroom. Makes it easier for the teacher to get to know the kid, what their interests are, how interested there are in learning, and wha they would contribute to the college. Thus, they have information to write a recommendation which describes the kid well.

That was just so easy to do when most of these students spent over a year in lockdown.