Tell me about your "average" Big-3 student's college admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Conn college, trinity, the all women’s colleges other than Wellesley, Dickinson, Denison, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Sewanee, Rhodes, Wooster. There are so many good options. Don’t push your DD too much - let her be happy. That is far far more important.

My DD graduated from a big3 (NCS) last year and I do not think a single girl went to any of the colleges you listed.

Where did the middle of the pack kids go?

Bates, Richmond, Colby, Colgate, UMiami, Tulane, NYU, Wake Forest

None of these is middle of pack

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.

Not sure when your son graduated from high school, but in the 2022 post covid reality, middle of the back isn't touching NYU or Tufts. These are single digit admit rates now. Tulane, only if ED,a dn BC and Wisconsin are at best, somewhere between a target and a reach, particularly BC.

+1. A middle of the pack kid might get a yes at one of these schools ED, but they aren't going to be getting multiple acceptances with the ability to choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the responses. Very interesting and maybe reassuring? As I mentioned above, DD is a happy and content kid (knock on wood). That is most important to me. I don't want her to stress out unnecessarily. I would be thrilled if DD could get into some of the "B-level" schools mentioned above, especially if it doesn't require an unnecessarily stressful junior year.
Out of curiosity, has anyone noticed boys having an edge over girls based on demographics (i.e., more girls applying than boys)? Or is that not an issue when we are talking about selective colleges?

Yes, but imo it’s more than negated if your DD is interested in a women’s college. There are women’s colleges that provide an amazing education and are substantially easier to get into than an equivalent co-ed school, while having a student body that is just as strong.

My only child is a boy, and I felt a stab of regret that this wasn’t going to be an option for him!

[Anonymous]

They are middle of the pack schools at the Big3. Get a master list of college admissions from last year (or this year when they're out). There won't be many admits lower than these schools. (Gettysburg, Dickinson, Richmond, Wale, Tulane, etc) and if there are a handful, they are almost always athletic recruits who are taking an offer to play at a second tier state school or similar place

Where the Big3 shines is getting in middle of the pack or lower kids to quite good colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.

Not sure when your son graduated from high school, but in the 2022 post covid reality, middle of the back isn't touching NYU or Tufts. These are single digit admit rates now. Tulane, only if ED,a dn BC and Wisconsin are at best, somewhere between a target and a reach, particularly BC.

+1. A middle of the pack kid might get a yes at one of these schools ED, but they aren't going to be getting multiple acceptances with the ability to choose.

This is STA class of 2021. Fifty percent of the class went to a top 25 university or equivalent SLAC. No doubt many of those acceptances were ED and full pay, or hooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the responses. Very interesting and maybe reassuring? As I mentioned above, DD is a happy and content kid (knock on wood). That is most important to me. I don't want her to stress out unnecessarily. I would be thrilled if DD could get into some of the "B-level" schools mentioned above, especially if it doesn't require an unnecessarily stressful junior year.
Out of curiosity, has anyone noticed boys having an edge over girls based on demographics (i.e., more girls applying than boys)? Or is that not an issue when we are talking about selective colleges?

Boys have an edge at SLACs and, in many cases, if they intend to be humanities majors at universities. Girls have had an edge in STEM programs, though that may be shrinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Conn college, trinity, the all women’s colleges other than Wellesley, Dickinson, Denison, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Sewanee, Rhodes, Wooster. There are so many good options. Don’t push your DD too much - let her be happy. That is far far more important.

My DD graduated from a big3 (NCS) last year and I do not think a single girl went to any of the colleges you listed.

Where did the middle of the pack kids go?

Bates, Richmond, Colby, Colgate, UMiami, Tulane, NYU, Wake Forest

where did the bottom 25% go?

For STA, the less-prestigious choices were: Maryland, Syracuse, Oberlin, SMU, Indiana, Lafayette, Denver, Connecticut, Temple, Miami Ohio, Gettysburg, RIT, Alabama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Conn college, trinity, the all women’s colleges other than Wellesley, Dickinson, Denison, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Sewanee, Rhodes, Wooster. There are so many good options. Don’t push your DD too much - let her be happy. That is far far more important.

My DD graduated from a big3 (NCS) last year and I do not think a single girl went to any of the colleges you listed.

Where did the middle of the pack kids go?

Bates, Richmond, Colby, Colgate, UMiami, Tulane, NYU, Wake Forest

None of these is middle of pack

At NCS, this is absolutely where middle of the pack kids go. I would also add St. Andrews to the middle of the pack list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Conn college, trinity, the all women’s colleges other than Wellesley, Dickinson, Denison, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Sewanee, Rhodes, Wooster. There are so many good options. Don’t push your DD too much - let her be happy. That is far far more important.

My DD graduated from a big3 (NCS) last year and I do not think a single girl went to any of the colleges you listed.

Where did the middle of the pack kids go?

Bates, Richmond, Colby, Colgate, UMiami, Tulane, NYU, Wake Forest

where did the bottom 25% go?

For STA, the less-prestigious choices were: Maryland, Syracuse, Oberlin, SMU, Indiana, Lafayette, Denver, Connecticut, Temple, Miami Ohio, Gettysburg, RIT, Alabama.

Alabama and Temple were kids who signed to play football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Conn college, trinity, the all women’s colleges other than Wellesley, Dickinson, Denison, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Sewanee, Rhodes, Wooster. There are so many good options. Don’t push your DD too much - let her be happy. That is far far more important.

My DD graduated from a big3 (NCS) last year and I do not think a single girl went to any of the colleges you listed.

Where did the middle of the pack kids go?

Bates, Richmond, Colby, Colgate, UMiami, Tulane, NYU, Wake Forest

where did the bottom 25% go?

For STA, the less-prestigious choices were: Maryland, Syracuse, Oberlin, SMU, Indiana, Lafayette, Denver, Connecticut, Temple, Miami Ohio, Gettysburg, RIT, Alabama.

I would not have put Oberlin in that category. It’s a prestigious SLAC, one tier down from Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, Pomona, Davidson, and Carleton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These schools seem like a huge reach to me based on what you describe, but maybe I'm doom and gloom?

Yes, boys have a documented edge for admission to the second-tier LACs. And some of the first tier ones too. More girls apply than boys and the girls are on average more qualified. In order to maintain a reasonably balanced female-male ratio, schools admit boys who are less qualified.

Anecdotally I have seen boys who are pretty average get into surprisingly good schools and girls who seem well above average get into less good schools than I would have expected.

In DC's '22 class, nearly all the kids who ended up in RD because they were deferred/rejected in ED split with boys mainly getting into Ivies/T15 and girls WLed at them. And these are all students in most rigorous classes. I had heard about this at LACs, but I didn't expect it in this pool of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finished the process with DC at big 3. I would focus on SAT prep and bringing up GPA. Don’t worry about the sport because unless it’s played at a high level and you can be recruited, it just doesn’t matter. DC had similar grades and was able to get into several NESCAC schools and other SLACS but not the very top. More like the next tier down. DC had several ECs and some awards on a national level and higher SAT scores from tutoring. And received merit at a few SLACS too.

How does that possibly fit with the narrative that private school isn't a huge advantage in the admissions process? NESACs (even the ones that are a "tier down") aren't accessible at all to public school kids with similar stats.

Public school kids with these stats actually do get into similar colleges.

Well then they have changed in 2022 because my 2018 kid’s classmates at BCC weren’t going with those stats. Even a recruited athlete with a unweighted GPA in that range wasn’t going to a NESCAC. NESCACs were taking maybe top 5-10% kids from public. I didn’t realize things had gotten that much easier.

BCC and Big-3 admissions stats would be different for a variety of reasons. I don't think that we are comparing apples to apples.

NP
Yes,
1300 SAT from BCC is Less than
1300 SAT from Big 3.
That is why they are Big.

[Anonymous]

question: what is the gpa range of the “middle of the pack” /“average” student considered?

[Anonymous]

Middle of the pack kids at Sidwell, who may in fact test quite well, go to schools such as Tulane, Hamilton, Colgate, Connecticut College, University of Wisconsin, Lehigh, Kenyon, Oberlin. You actually need to be a top student to get into Wash U, Tufts, Middlebury, Northeastern, and NYU. Ivy League is a crapshoot for everyone. Some of the kids who choose more obscure schools do so for athletic reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle of the pack kids at Sidwell, who may in fact test quite well, go to schools such as Tulane, Hamilton, Colgate, Connecticut College, University of Wisconsin, Lehigh, Kenyon, Oberlin. You actually need to be a top student to get into Wash U, Tufts, Middlebury, Northeastern, and NYU. Ivy League is a crapshoot for everyone. Some of the kids who choose more obscure schools do so for athletic reasons.

Agreed. Besides, be aware college placement is not well correlated with STATs for 50%-25% students. That may explain why the school doesn't want to have a transparent process. Want to know if it's the same in other private schols.