Compared Against Peers - T20 Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

So the kid didn’t ED?

I'm not PP but at our school last year, we know of someone who got in SCEA to their dream school but proceeded to run the table in RD for kicks (and was successful at running the table) but then (no surprise) went to the dream school from SCEA. That was crummy and I can't believe the parents and CCO thought it was ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the candidates from one high school are typically bundled together and discussed/compared/contrasted. If the college your kid is interested in typically takes a lot of kids from your private HS, the AO of that college will likely have a call with the HS college counsellor to discuss the candidates and who would be the best fit. Not just stats since colleges want to balance the class.

Your kid should have a meeting with their CC to discuss strategy as it's in the CC's best interest to place everyone somewhere strong.

Ummm - this would be nice - Sidwell doesn't do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would be nice if the CC at our top DMV private would give kids an idea where they stand relative to their peers for specific colleges. This is where college counseling at a school could really make a difference in outcomes. Ours just makes sure you have a safety on your list and that’s the extent of it!!

Do you get access to the stats from last year?

Yes but it’s not showing me who is alumni, URM or 1st GEN….

How big is your DC’s class size? If a private, this should be relatively easy to do.

No - this is not easy to do at a private where you entered in 9th and do not know most of the families. CCO is never going to tell you this.

well you can definitely figure out who is URM or first gen. I mean your child should have an idea. As to legacy?
If you child knows who is applying to Brown (for example) then you can pretty much figure out if they are legacy in about 2 minutes. Everyone in DC has their bio plastered online.
It all depends on how much you want to know and how crazy you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They definitely compare kids from one school. I was looking through the SCIOR data for my kid's school and I think it's best for everyone when the academic outliers ED successfully.

In several recent years an academic superstar (4.0 or a hair below) has run the table during regular decision and basically shut everyone else out. The schools don't have quotas per say but an exceptionally strong kid can seemingly hurt the chances of the 3.8s or low 3.9s.

So the kid didn’t ED?

I'm not PP but at our school last year, we know of someone who got in SCEA to their dream school but proceeded to run the table in RD for kicks (and was successful at running the table) but then (no surprise) went to the dream school from SCEA. That was crummy and I can't believe the parents and CCO thought it was ok.

Wow

[Anonymous]

Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

[Anonymous]

I’d guess that many top students at TJ would run the table in RD too. Anyone have experience with TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d guess that many top students at TJ would run the table in RD too. Anyone have experience with TJ?

I think it's different at TJ because there are multiple kids tied up at the top of the class. Maybe 50 with GPAs close to a 4.0 in the hardest classes. So they're all on even footing and can be teased out based on extracurriculars or demographics or luck of the draw. And in the end they probably split the top acceptances.

At some of the Big3 there maybe only be 1 or 2 kids who have above a 3.95 (a truly miraculous GPA for these schools) and then a pretty steep drop off---sometimes to below a 3.9. So if you may have one 3.97 kid applying to all the top 10 schools then the next kids (with a 3.82, 3.85, 3.86, 3.91, etc) are all going to look pretty second rate (although those GPAs are really, really hard to get as well!!) The top kid runs the table and the rest get nothing.

You really hope that the superstar kid (and there is often only 1 or 2) stay out of RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d guess that many top students at TJ would run the table in RD too. Anyone have experience with TJ?

I think it's different at TJ because there are multiple kids tied up at the top of the class. Maybe 50 with GPAs close to a 4.0 in the hardest classes. So they're all on even footing and can be teased out based on extracurriculars or demographics or luck of the draw. And in the end they probably split the top acceptances.

At some of the Big3 there maybe only be 1 or 2 kids who have above a 3.95 (a truly miraculous GPA for these schools) and then a pretty steep drop off---sometimes to below a 3.9. So if you may have one 3.97 kid applying to all the top 10 schools then the next kids (with a 3.82, 3.85, 3.86, 3.91, etc) are all going to look pretty second rate (although those GPAs are really, really hard to get as well!!) The top kid runs the table and the rest get nothing.

You really hope that the superstar kid (and there is often only 1 or 2) stay out of RD.

When I say 4.0 at TJ I meant unweighted. I recognize that TJ weights as well but I'm not familiar with how those GPAs look. But my point being, you may have 50 kids tied for the top spots in grades and rigor in the TJ class and they end up splitting the top acceptances. Although some also probably run the table because their extracurriculars are that amazing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

[Anonymous]

What colleges consider full need is not always the same as what families consider, esp for middle class families in high coa areas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

I think it's because when a college says they meet full need it doesn't mean a family can actually afford the tuition.
We have a HHI of $400 and Harvard would likely say we have no need but it doesn't mean we have $90K to pay for Harvard each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

All SCEA / REA meet full need. And HYPS are among the most generous. The NPC are very accurate. The only top school that I can imagine a HYPS early admit may consider if they are not low income (thus not close to getting a full ride) and considering merit is Duke (full ride merit scholarship).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

I think it's because when a college says they meet full need it doesn't mean a family can actually afford the tuition.
We have a HHI of $400 and Harvard would likely say we have no need but it doesn't mean we have $90K to pay for Harvard each year.

Of course then the question becomes, why would I allow my kid to apply to Harvard in the first place if I wasn't willing and able to pay that $90K? Personally I would not and I have not. If I allow them to apply to a school like Harvard I'm saying I'm 100% committed to sticker price if they get in. But I think some families do apply SCEA and then say, "uh, never mind. I think we'll try for a cheaper option in RD."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

I think it's because when a college says they meet full need it doesn't mean a family can actually afford the tuition.
We have a HHI of $400 and Harvard would likely say we have no need but it doesn't mean we have $90K to pay for Harvard each year.

Of course then the question becomes, why would I allow my kid to apply to Harvard in the first place if I wasn't willing and able to pay that $90K? Personally I would not and I have not. If I allow them to apply to a school like Harvard I'm saying I'm 100% committed to sticker price if they get in. But I think some families do apply SCEA and then say, "uh, never mind. I think we'll try for a cheaper option in RD."

That’s a totally different question and not relevant to this topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not only does our HS limit apps to avoid a kid grabbing too much, they’ll have a sit down w kid and parents if you even think about applying to more schools after SCEA acceptance. If one more far reach, maybe. But not a lot. If it’s for financial reasons, that’s different

but if it's financial reasons, then wouldn't the SCEA admit take care of that? Are there SCEA admits that do not meet full need?

I think it's because when a college says they meet full need it doesn't mean a family can actually afford the tuition.
We have a HHI of $400 and Harvard would likely say we have no need but it doesn't mean we have $90K to pay for Harvard each year.

Of course then the question becomes, why would I allow my kid to apply to Harvard in the first place if I wasn't willing and able to pay that $90K? Personally I would not and I have not. If I allow them to apply to a school like Harvard I'm saying I'm 100% committed to sticker price if they get in. But I think some families do apply SCEA and then say, "uh, never mind. I think we'll try for a cheaper option in RD."

Yes but a cheaper option will NOT be found at the non SCEA ivies, MIT. will instead have to look for the rare full ride (or close) merit in T20ish schools (Vandy, Duke, WashU..not sure if there are any others) or expand to T50? So there’s no reason to run the table and apply to the other ivies+ if you got into SCEA/REA school.