Did your child’s ED submission get blown (not admitted)

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Hopkins

Highest rigor in every class all across the board, sports, all As entire 4 years, overseas program, job, awards, amazing Recs, impressive record etc. The type of kid who is naturally genius, disciplined, and yet still fully involved in community. Would do well anywhere truthfully. But didn’t come from a wealthy family and didn’t win a Nobel peace prize.

Didn’t get in and thankful went a diff route now. I think it’s important to know that rejections hurt but whatever the reason steers you in a diff direction, you’ll appreciate that pivot.



You describe so many many kids. Because it’s your kid you think what you described is rare. I have 2 high school kids with same stats and athletes as well.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hopkins

Highest rigor in every class all across the board, sports, all As entire 4 years, overseas program, job, awards, amazing Recs, impressive record etc. The type of kid who is naturally genius, disciplined, and yet still fully involved in community. Would do well anywhere truthfully. But didn’t come from a wealthy family and didn’t win a Nobel peace prize.

Didn’t get in and thankful went a diff route now. I think it’s important to know that rejections hurt but whatever the reason steers you in a diff direction, you’ll appreciate that pivot.



You describe so many many kids. Because it’s your kid you think what you described is rare. I have 2 high school kids with same stats and athletes as well.


Honestly, I don’t understand why folks mention sports in the context of a great application unless they are a recruited athlete. At highly rejective schools I imagine sports are a net negative if you are not recruited because in theory you could have spent that time doing something more unique/impressive.

It sucks…but there are plenty of schools outside the Top 20 that don’t care as much about ECs.
Anonymous
There are 75,000 plus kids each year with 1500 or higher SAT scores and ACT equivalents with 4.0+ GPAs.

How many available seats in the top 30 or 40 schools. Plus they have to take athletes, big donors kids, URM, etc.

So for those 75,000 kids it becomes a crap shoot.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hopkins

Highest rigor in every class all across the board, sports, all As entire 4 years, overseas program, job, awards, amazing Recs, impressive record etc. The type of kid who is naturally genius, disciplined, and yet still fully involved in community. Would do well anywhere truthfully. But didn’t come from a wealthy family and didn’t win a Nobel peace prize.

Didn’t get in and thankful went a diff route now. I think it’s important to know that rejections hurt but whatever the reason steers you in a diff direction, you’ll appreciate that pivot.



You describe so many many kids. Because it’s your kid you think what you described is rare. I have 2 high school kids with same stats and athletes as well.


Honestly, I don’t understand why folks mention sports in the context of a great application unless they are a recruited athlete. At highly rejective schools I imagine sports are a net negative if you are not recruited because in theory you could have spent that time doing something more unique/impressive.

It sucks…but there are plenty of schools outside the Top 20 that don’t care as much about ECs.


I don't think they're considered a net negative, but they're no more meaningful/advantageous than being a member of any other club (Model UN, yearbook, etc.)
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:There are 75,000 plus kids each year with 1500 or higher SAT scores and ACT equivalents with 4.0+ GPAs.

How many available seats in the top 30 or 40 schools. Plus they have to take athletes, big donors kids, URM, etc.

So for those 75,000 kids it becomes a crap shoot.

I was curious about this question, so I did a brief Google search. I used a Reddit page for T30 and googled the other schools. Most numbers are for the incoming class of 2022 (graduating class of 2026), for some schools this was difficult to find so I used 2021. To the best of my knowledge, I tried to find actual enrolled numbers (not admitted).

For just T30, I'm arriving at 72,000 actually enrolled freshmen. Expanding this to T40 would probably bring it to at least 90,000 (if there are big schools in there.) It's not clear that the term "crap shoot" is entirely accurate. Bard defines a crap shoot as:

"In the game of craps, the most common definition of a crap shoot is a roll of the dice that results in a 7 or 11. These rolls are the only ones that result in a win on the first roll, and they have a probability of 16.67%."

The formatting for this is going to look terrible, but I don't know how to get this better:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/12wuzjv/t30_us_news_ranking_average_from_1984_to_2023/
School Incoming Class
1 Harvard 1661 https://features.thecrimson.com/2018/freshman-survey/makeup-narrative/
Princeton 1500 https://admission.princeton.edu/apply/admission-statistics
3 Yale 1578 https://admissions.yale.edu/sites/default/files/class_profile_2022_fall.pdf
4 Stanford 1736 https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/stanford-university-admissions-rate-17827027.php#:~:text=Of%20the%2056%2C378%20applicants%20for,from%2051%25%20the%20previous%20year.
5 MIT 1139 https://admissionsight.com/mit-freshman-class-size-2/
6 Duke 1738 https://admissionsight.com/duke-freshman-class-size/
Caltech 235 https://admissionsight.com/caltech-freshman-class-size/
8 Columbia 1560 https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/process/class-profile
UChicago 1729 https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/class-2026-profile
Penn 2417 https://admissions.upenn.edu/admissions-and-financial-aid/what-penn-looks-for/incoming-class-profile
11 Dartmouth 1229 https://admissionsight.com/dartmouth-class-of-2025-statistics/
12 Northwestern 2039 https://admissions.northwestern.edu/docs/class-of-2026-facts-and-figures.pdf
JHU 1310 https://apply.jhu.edu/fast-facts/
14 Cornell 3765 https://admissionsight.com/cornell-freshman-class-size/
Brown 1719 https://www.brown.edu/news/2022-09-02/2026-numbers
16 Rice 1210 https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/o-week-2022-rice-set-welcome-incoming-class-2026-aug-14
WashU 1858 https://admissions.wustl.edu/life-at-washu/our-students/
18 Vanderbilt 1600 https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2022/03/class-of-2026-regular-decision-summary-statistics/#:~:text=We%20are%20honored%20to%20receive,are%20not%20able%20to%20admit.
Notre Dame 2050 https://ndsmcobserver.com/2022/08/notre-dame-sees-increase-in-selectivity-for-class-of-2026/
20 Emory 1850 https://apply.emory.edu/discover/facts-stats/index.html
UC Berkeley 6726 https://opa.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_cds_2022-23_may_2second_release.xlsx
22 Georgetown 1585 https://www.georgetown.edu/about/key-facts/
23 UVA 4043 https://admission.virginia.edu/admission/statistics
CMU 1700 https://www.cmu.edu/piper/news/archives/2022/august/first-year-orientation.html
25 UCLA 6462 https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/freshman/freshman-profile
26 UMich-Ann Arbor 7050 https://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/factsfigures/freshprof_umaa.pdf
27 UNC-Chapel Hill 4440 https://admissions.unc.edu/explore/our-newest-class
28 Wake Forest 1379 https://admissions.wfu.edu/facts/
Tufts 1698 https://now.tufts.edu/2022/08/31/tufts-welcomes-undergraduate-class-2026
30 USC 3420 https://customsitesmedia.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2022/10/07155342/First-Year-Student-Profile-2022_FNL15.pdf
Total Enrolled 72426
Anonymous
72,426

Magic number, people!

Maybe this pertains to other threads moreso, but parents need to remember that there are only so many spots. Period.
Anonymous
no one cares about T30 stats, least of all in DCUM region

T15 is the holy grail and relative cutoff.

Yeah, Cornell, Gtown, and UVA are great great schools - and this is not meant to disparage any schools not ranked in T15 - once again, the holy grail schools are the goal of the strivers - and my kid was one of them lol
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are 75,000 plus kids each year with 1500 or higher SAT scores and ACT equivalents with 4.0+ GPAs.

How many available seats in the top 30 or 40 schools. Plus they have to take athletes, big donors kids, URM, etc.

So for those 75,000 kids it becomes a crap shoot.

I was curious about this question, so I did a brief Google search. I used a Reddit page for T30 and googled the other schools. Most numbers are for the incoming class of 2022 (graduating class of 2026), for some schools this was difficult to find so I used 2021. To the best of my knowledge, I tried to find actual enrolled numbers (not admitted).

For just T30, I'm arriving at 72,000 actually enrolled freshmen. Expanding this to T40 would probably bring it to at least 90,000 (if there are big schools in there.) It's not clear that the term "crap shoot" is entirely accurate. Bard defines a crap shoot as:

"In the game of craps, the most common definition of a crap shoot is a roll of the dice that results in a 7 or 11. These rolls are the only ones that result in a win on the first roll, and they have a probability of 16.67%."

The formatting for this is going to look terrible, but I don't know how to get this better:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/12wuzjv/t30_us_news_ranking_average_from_1984_to_2023/
School Incoming Class
1 Harvard 1661 https://features.thecrimson.com/2018/freshman-survey/makeup-narrative/
Princeton 1500 https://admission.princeton.edu/apply/admission-statistics
3 Yale 1578 https://admissions.yale.edu/sites/default/files/class_profile_2022_fall.pdf
4 Stanford 1736 https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/stanford-university-admissions-rate-17827027.php#:~:text=Of%20the%2056%2C378%20applicants%20for,from%2051%25%20the%20previous%20year.
5 MIT 1139 https://admissionsight.com/mit-freshman-class-size-2/
6 Duke 1738 https://admissionsight.com/duke-freshman-class-size/
Caltech 235 https://admissionsight.com/caltech-freshman-class-size/
8 Columbia 1560 https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/process/class-profile
UChicago 1729 https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/class-2026-profile
Penn 2417 https://admissions.upenn.edu/admissions-and-financial-aid/what-penn-looks-for/incoming-class-profile
11 Dartmouth 1229 https://admissionsight.com/dartmouth-class-of-2025-statistics/
12 Northwestern 2039 https://admissions.northwestern.edu/docs/class-of-2026-facts-and-figures.pdf
JHU 1310 https://apply.jhu.edu/fast-facts/
14 Cornell 3765 https://admissionsight.com/cornell-freshman-class-size/
Brown 1719 https://www.brown.edu/news/2022-09-02/2026-numbers
16 Rice 1210 https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/o-week-2022-rice-set-welcome-incoming-class-2026-aug-14
WashU 1858 https://admissions.wustl.edu/life-at-washu/our-students/
18 Vanderbilt 1600 https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2022/03/class-of-2026-regular-decision-summary-statistics/#:~:text=We%20are%20honored%20to%20receive,are%20not%20able%20to%20admit.
Notre Dame 2050 https://ndsmcobserver.com/2022/08/notre-dame-sees-increase-in-selectivity-for-class-of-2026/
20 Emory 1850 https://apply.emory.edu/discover/facts-stats/index.html
UC Berkeley 6726 https://opa.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_cds_2022-23_may_2second_release.xlsx
22 Georgetown 1585 https://www.georgetown.edu/about/key-facts/
23 UVA 4043 https://admission.virginia.edu/admission/statistics
CMU 1700 https://www.cmu.edu/piper/news/archives/2022/august/first-year-orientation.html
25 UCLA 6462 https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/freshman/freshman-profile
26 UMich-Ann Arbor 7050 https://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/factsfigures/freshprof_umaa.pdf
27 UNC-Chapel Hill 4440 https://admissions.unc.edu/explore/our-newest-class
28 Wake Forest 1379 https://admissions.wfu.edu/facts/
Tufts 1698 https://now.tufts.edu/2022/08/31/tufts-welcomes-undergraduate-class-2026
30 USC 3420 https://customsitesmedia.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2022/10/07155342/First-Year-Student-Profile-2022_FNL15.pdf
Total Enrolled 72426


DP: I agree and wouldn’t use crap shoot to describe the current situation. However, the odds are low for any T30 school because as research has revealed (and SC case), approximately 40% of seats at any highly selective school is filled by ALDC applicants. Also, as the PP noted, you also have to consider the number of 1st gen and URM seats. Of course these populations will overlap but if you do not fit into any of those categories and in some cases you need to fit into two or more, your looking at a 5% chance of admittance.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hopkins

Highest rigor in every class all across the board, sports, all As entire 4 years, overseas program, job, awards, amazing Recs, impressive record etc. The type of kid who is naturally genius, disciplined, and yet still fully involved in community. Would do well anywhere truthfully. But didn’t come from a wealthy family and didn’t win a Nobel peace prize.

Didn’t get in and thankful went a diff route now. I think it’s important to know that rejections hurt but whatever the reason steers you in a diff direction, you’ll appreciate that pivot.



You describe so many many kids. Because it’s your kid you think what you described is rare. I have 2 high school kids with same stats and athletes as well.
.

I’m the PP. I wasn’t saying he was rare, I was saying he ended up somewhere else that was a better fit! In my DS case he ended up at an IVY w/ a scholarship and was able to continue his sport that Hopkins didn’t offer. So it all works out!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hopkins

Highest rigor in every class all across the board, sports, all As entire 4 years, overseas program, job, awards, amazing Recs, impressive record etc. The type of kid who is naturally genius, disciplined, and yet still fully involved in community. Would do well anywhere truthfully. But didn’t come from a wealthy family and didn’t win a Nobel peace prize.

Didn’t get in and thankful went a diff route now. I think it’s important to know that rejections hurt but whatever the reason steers you in a diff direction, you’ll appreciate that pivot.



You describe so many many kids. Because it’s your kid you think what you described is rare. I have 2 high school kids with same stats and athletes as well.


Honestly, I don’t understand why folks mention sports in the context of a great application unless they are a recruited athlete. At highly rejective schools I imagine sports are a net negative if you are not recruited because in theory you could have spent that time doing something more unique/impressive.

It sucks…but there are plenty of schools outside the Top 20 that don’t care as much about ECs.


Kids who play sports don’t have any time and have to be disciplined to get those kind of grades. That is why its mentioned because people who have athletes will understand that comment and know they were not just sitting in their bedroom everyday studying. Also, there are plenty of kids who excel at a sport and decide not to pursue it in college. Being on a team alone builds a lot of character and life lessons so it’s not just about the skill.
Anonymous
Nope ! Everything worked as expected. Into UPenn!
Anonymous
Without stats and ec's this info is meaningless.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:If so, to what school and what would you do differently?

Please don’t answer if your child’s ED was a success or ED wasn’t used.


IMHO, legacies should receive a heads up as a hook. Often legacies have invested in this relationship over a number of years and generations. That being said not all legacies can be admitted but legacy status should be a tiebreaker of sorts. I would be bitter not getting a legacy bump.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If so, to what school and what would you do differently?

Please don’t answer if your child’s ED was a success or ED wasn’t used.


IMHO, legacies should receive a heads up as a hook. Often legacies have invested in this relationship over a number of years and generations. That being said not all legacies can be admitted but legacy status should be a tiebreaker of sorts. I would be bitter not getting a legacy bump.


DD’s friend got a heads up from Harvard that she was getting deferred a few years ago. Her father and grandfather attended - think her parents had donated around 100k over the years. Not chump change, but not enough for a school with such a large endowment. Not sure if grandparents had donated too.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hopkins

Highest rigor in every class all across the board, sports, all As entire 4 years, overseas program, job, awards, amazing Recs, impressive record etc. The type of kid who is naturally genius, disciplined, and yet still fully involved in community. Would do well anywhere truthfully. But didn’t come from a wealthy family and didn’t win a Nobel peace prize.

Didn’t get in and thankful went a diff route now. I think it’s important to know that rejections hurt but whatever the reason steers you in a diff direction, you’ll appreciate that pivot.



You describe so many many kids. Because it’s your kid you think what you described is rare. I have 2 high school kids with same stats and athletes as well.


Honestly, I don’t understand why folks mention sports in the context of a great application unless they are a recruited athlete. At highly rejective schools I imagine sports are a net negative if you are not recruited because in theory you could have spent that time doing something more unique/impressive.

It sucks…but there are plenty of schools outside the Top 20 that don’t care as much about ECs.


Kids who play sports don’t have any time and have to be disciplined to get those kind of grades. That is why its mentioned because people who have athletes will understand that comment and know they were not just sitting in their bedroom everyday studying. Also, there are plenty of kids who excel at a sport and decide not to pursue it in college. Being on a team alone builds a lot of character and life lessons so it’s not just about the skill.


although there are plenty of kids who have time-consuming activities that aren't aligned with school and have to also balance that. Musicians, kids with year round paying jobs, kids involved in social activism stuff (I know a girl doing press for one and it's a 30 hour a week commitment). This all just gets lumped in with "passion". Or in the Selingo book, the Ad Comm didn't really believe a kid could be working that many hours (which blew my mind!).

Anyway .. it's not sports OR sitting at home studying for kids these days.
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