NCS college admissions if kid is not a legacy, URM, or athletic recruit

[Anonymous]

OP, I have stalked all of the private School IG accounts and I actually thought NCS was the most impressive of them all. But maybe I am more realistic about college chances than you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have stalked all of the private School IG accounts and I actually thought NCS was the most impressive of them all. But maybe I am more realistic about college chances than you.

New poster. The Ivies and Stanford are all legacies/URM/athlete but one. So it's impressive within that context.
it's basically irrelevant if your child is not.
I've also stalked the other schools and I think GDS Sidwell have a decent handful of kids each that are headed to the Ivies without hooks.
That is more impressive in my book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost a straight A student in lower high school (a few A minuses). She works really hard for these grades. I've been looking at the college admissions this year and it really seems like you have about 25 girls going ti top colleges and (outside of two girls) ALL are legacy, URM or crew athletes. Then the admissions seem to go off a cliff. thank goodness for u of Chicagj because that seems it be the solo outlier.
I am not looking for an IVY admit (at all) but I'm getting freaked out by the schools that girls outside of the above categories are attending. I won't name names but they're in instagram.

Tell it to my straight. A/a- student.
Did anyone apply their daughter from NCS this year? Where are we looking at?

It takes more than straight A’s to stand out. That is on your daughter to stand out not solely on NCS. Why are you stalking private Instagrams of minor children? That is more concerning to me than college admissions.

This is the thing that OP doesn't understand. Those athletes were outstanding at their sports AND had the same grades or better than OP's kid. You have to be more than a GPA chaser. Stop trashing the athletes. They are, quite simply, more impressive. The most disturbing thing about OP is that she seems to know the legacy status of these kids. How? And definitely looking dowon on POC at NCS. You sound like an ignorant racist OP.

OP here.

My original post said, "my kid is a top academic kid. Where can she expect to get in? It would appear that admissions this year (almost to a person) required a hook on top of good grades".

Nowhere did I say or imply that the athletes or URMs were not worthy of their spots. Stop suggesting otherwise.

My OP is a very reasonable post to ask for those of us (there are many of us) in the school without rowers, minority kids or legacy kids.

It is tacky to post this here op. Ask the school. Posting and putting down some kids at your daughters school becaue kf where they are going to college is low class and trust me that’s why your straight A student may not get into the college of your choice. Colleges can spot a PITA parent a mile a way. All schools are seeing this literally ALL because more students are applying and applying to more colleges than ever before. Also lack of testing has also hurt kids at top privates because traditionally that is where they excel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost a straight A student in lower high school (a few A minuses). She works really hard for these grades. I've been looking at the college admissions this year and it really seems like you have about 25 girls going ti top colleges and (outside of two girls) ALL are legacy, URM or crew athletes. Then the admissions seem to go off a cliff. thank goodness for u of Chicagj because that seems it be the solo outlier.
I am not looking for an IVY admit (at all) but I'm getting freaked out by the schools that girls outside of the above categories are attending. I won't name names but they're in instagram.

Tell it to my straight. A/a- student.
Did anyone apply their daughter from NCS this year? Where are we looking at?

This is literally how it is and works everywhere. Just being a good student is not normally enough. You have to ask yourself what value proposition is your kid bringing to the table other than being a pretty good student.

Generally speaking, if you want your kid to go to an Ivy they need to be in top 15% of class academically and also have something to contribute to the community, whether it’s donations, diversity, special talents, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost a straight A student in lower high school (a few A minuses). She works really hard for these grades. I've been looking at the college admissions this year and it really seems like you have about 25 girls going ti top colleges and (outside of two girls) ALL are legacy, URM or crew athletes. Then the admissions seem to go off a cliff. thank goodness for u of Chicagj because that seems it be the solo outlier.
I am not looking for an IVY admit (at all) but I'm getting freaked out by the schools that girls outside of the above categories are attending. I won't name names but they're in instagram.

Tell it to my straight. A/a- student.
Did anyone apply their daughter from NCS this year? Where are we looking at?

Op is a troll - no NCS parent would write this post ignore them. They are trying to stir the pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost a straight A student in lower high school (a few A minuses). She works really hard for these grades. I've been looking at the college admissions this year and it really seems like you have about 25 girls going ti top colleges and (outside of two girls) ALL are legacy, URM or crew athletes. Then the admissions seem to go off a cliff. thank goodness for u of Chicagj because that seems it be the solo outlier.
I am not looking for an IVY admit (at all) but I'm getting freaked out by the schools that girls outside of the above categories are attending. I won't name names but they're in instagram.

Tell it to my straight. A/a- student.
Did anyone apply their daughter from NCS this year? Where are we looking at?

This is literally how it is and works everywhere. Just being a good student is not normally enough. You have to ask yourself what value proposition is your kid bringing to the table other than being a pretty good student.

Generally speaking, if you want your kid to go to an Ivy they need to be in top 15% of class academically and also have something to contribute to the community, whether it’s donations, diversity, special talents, etc.

So to get into a top 40 school you need to be top 15% of class plus something else?

Is it best to expect a school 40+ if you only have the top 15% grades at NCS but no other big hook (not legacy, not URM, not athlete)?

OP here. This was my question before the post got derailed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost a straight A student in lower high school (a few A minuses). She works really hard for these grades. I've been looking at the college admissions this year and it really seems like you have about 25 girls going ti top colleges and (outside of two girls) ALL are legacy, URM or crew athletes. Then the admissions seem to go off a cliff. thank goodness for u of Chicagj because that seems it be the solo outlier.
I am not looking for an IVY admit (at all) but I'm getting freaked out by the schools that girls outside of the above categories are attending. I won't name names but they're in instagram.

Tell it to my straight. A/a- student.
Did anyone apply their daughter from NCS this year? Where are we looking at?

This is literally how it is and works everywhere. Just being a good student is not normally enough. You have to ask yourself what value proposition is your kid bringing to the table other than being a pretty good student.

Generally speaking, if you want your kid to go to an Ivy they need to be in top 15% of class academically and also have something to contribute to the community, whether it’s donations, diversity, special talents, etc.

So to get into a top 40 school you need to be top 15% of class plus something else?

Is it best to expect a school 40+ if you only have the top 15% grades at NCS but no other big hook (not legacy, not URM, not athlete)?

OP here. This was my question before the post got derailed.

Yes it is this way at ALL top schools. ALL of your kid isn’t bringing something special they won’t get in. Too many applicants across the country and they spread out acceptances geographically.

[Anonymous]

Schools like NCS that deflate grades and don’t weight any grades are finding that a lot of seniors are WL or rejected. This is what you are seeing. The last 2 years kids at schools with high GPAs, tons of APs and lower test scores (that are not submitted) are getting into top 50 colleges they never would have even applied to before. As a result, kids with much lower GPAs (from private schools like NCS) and high test scores are being WL or denied and going to the next tier down schools. It is the reality. OP, with all As your daughter must have a very high GPA so she should do fine if top 50 is the goal.

[Anonymous]

If 25 out of a graduation class of 60(?) are going to ivies or Stanford that’s amazing IMO.

[Anonymous]

Also if your daughter managed to get an A in that impossible freshman physics class, don’t worry, she’s headed to MIT.

[Anonymous]

Also with those grades she’ll be in cum laude junior year. From past observations those students are all at top school or opt to go instate to UVA or WM if finances are a concern. Don’t be paranoid. This year was also such a weird year for admissions. Two years from now will be different and hopefully not test optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost a straight A student in lower high school (a few A minuses). She works really hard for these grades. I've been looking at the college admissions this year and it really seems like you have about 25 girls going ti top colleges and (outside of two girls) ALL are legacy, URM or crew athletes. Then the admissions seem to go off a cliff. thank goodness for u of Chicagj because that seems it be the solo outlier.
I am not looking for an IVY admit (at all) but I'm getting freaked out by the schools that girls outside of the above categories are attending. I won't name names but they're in instagram.

Tell it to my straight. A/a- student.
Did anyone apply their daughter from NCS this year? Where are we looking at?

This is literally how it is and works everywhere. Just being a good student is not normally enough. You have to ask yourself what value proposition is your kid bringing to the table other than being a pretty good student.

Generally speaking, if you want your kid to go to an Ivy they need to be in top 15% of class academically and also have something to contribute to the community, whether it’s donations, diversity, special talents, etc.

So to get into a top 40 school you need to be top 15% of class plus something else?

Is it best to expect a school 40+ if you only have the top 15% grades at NCS but no other big hook (not legacy, not URM, not athlete)?

OP here. This was my question before the post got derailed.

I’m not sure where you’re getting your “Top 40” vs “40 plus” and I think you lack specificity in terms of your targets.

Ivy (and equivalent) admissions are clear and it’s been this way for decades. A perfect GPA and 95%+ test scores have never been good enough and it’s not just the stereotypical “hooks”. A hook in this connect can also include interest in a less popular major. However, there are also schools in the Top-25 that are more focused on academics over other factors. Chicago and WUSTL famously so, but also places like USC, NYU, Tufts and Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If 25 out of a graduation class of 60(?) are going to ivies or Stanford that’s amazing IMO.

It's 13 out of 72. All but 2 of these are athletic recruits, big donor legacy or URMs.

[Anonymous]

I'm not an NCS parent, but "maxing out" at UChicago is hardly a consolation prize - it is ranked number 6 in the country (for what that's worth, which in OP's world seems to be everything), with an admissions rate of 5.9%. If my kid wanted to go there and was admitted, I would be thrilled.

[Anonymous]

When I attended HYP a million years ago, there was a girl from NSC in my class, and a guy from St. Albans. There might have been a couple more. But I was friends with the guy — yes, he was well connected — so I would have known if there’d been a bunch of his classmates.

On the other hand, there were forty or so students from Phillips, same from Exeter.

Maybe that was an exceptional year, I don’t know. But the idea that all hardworking NCS students with great GPAs are going to a very limited set of elite schools...I’m not sure if that ever happened.

That said, I thought the acceptances that I saw on insta were exceptional. Golden girls!