Princeton early action?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

My daughter goes to one of these schools and this is mostly true. But the downside is for every 4 Yale acceptances (for example) there are 20-30 qualified applicants who would have been first in their classes at their public schools and likely had a better chance of admission if not compared to their BS classmates. Every year the director of college guidance emphasizes that while their matriculations look great, the majority of seniors were still disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

I hear this too. It’s amazing how regionally focused Ivy admissions can be. Sure, they admit kids from everywhere, but their class skews to the NE.

It’s interesting because other top privates do this too, but posters then call these colleges regional schools. 15% of Harvard admits are from MA, but the state represents only 2% of the US population. I guess Harvard’s a regional too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

I hear this too. It’s amazing how regionally focused Ivy admissions can be. Sure, they admit kids from everywhere, but their class skews to the NE.

It’s interesting because other top privates do this too, but posters then call these colleges regional schools. 15% of Harvard admits are from MA, but the state represents only 2% of the US population. I guess Harvard’s a regional too!

Princeton has a conscious commitment to taking NJ students. About 15 kids a year from Princeton High School go to Princeton, and lots of kids from other schools as well. I guess you could call that a regional focus? Or a commitment to providing opportunities to kids in its home state.

[Anonymous]

Lots of Providence private school
Kids end up at Brown. Need to consider if they are faculty kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the posts on this thread exemplify what’s wrong and uninteresting about the Ivies. Many of the UMC kids that get in are not compelling students or people, but their parents will do ANYTHING to get them admitted. Then, you have the truly rich and well-connected, who associate with each, but no one else. Throw in the test-optional URMs, Pell grant kids, who are great people, but not the brightest or best connected of the application pool. Finally, you have the middle to UMC kids who are genuinely bright and thought they’d meet their academic peers, only to find out that three-quarters of the class is nothing like them. Whatever.

Hold up, Sis. You lost me with this veiled racism. Basically you’re saying that any poor brown kid at an Ivy must me intellectually inferior. Go pound sand.

Amen. Firstly, there are not that many URM kids at Ivies at all! The ones I've met are interesting, talented and bright, and some of them have overcome real challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only early admit we know this year was a legacy (grandfather, father, brother attended) and nephew of a world famous author. He was not an especially compelling candidate so it was a helpful learning experience for my junior daughter.

This was our BIG 3 last year. Everyone who got into Princeton was hooked to the gills. Makes Princeton look a bit ridiculous actually. The rejected the top couple of EA kids in favor of a known legacy and then rejected everyone on RD in favor of crazily hooked Dcs

Rejected or deferred? Is Princeton still largely deferring, or did they switch gears like Yale to mostly reject early?

Well, deferred and then rejected. Princeton defers nearly every reasonable candidate, if not literally everyone.

They used to, back when they published data. But, since then, it seems like they are rejecting more in EA round. Anyone have any current info?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

I hear this too. It’s amazing how regionally focused Ivy admissions can be. Sure, they admit kids from everywhere, but their class skews to the NE.

It’s interesting because other top privates do this too, but posters then call these colleges regional schools. 15% of Harvard admits are from MA, but the state represents only 2% of the US population. I guess Harvard’s a regional too!

Princeton has a conscious commitment to taking NJ students. About 15 kids a year from Princeton High School go to Princeton, and lots of kids from other schools as well. I guess you could call that a regional focus? Or a commitment to providing opportunities to kids in its home state.

A large percentage of those kids have a parent who works for the university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

My daughter goes to one of these schools and this is mostly true. But the downside is for every 4 Yale acceptances (for example) there are 20-30 qualified applicants who would have been first in their classes at their public schools and likely had a better chance of admission if not compared to their BS classmates. Every year the director of college guidance emphasizes that while their matriculations look great, the majority of seniors were still disappointed.

If you selected the 50 highest performing students from the best private schools worldwide and dropped them into the Top 50 public high schools in America, you would be extremely fortunate if you produced more than 2 - 3 valedictorians. There's a distorted view of private vs. public education that exists for a lot of private school parents in this DCUM community. At the very high end, an easily defensible argument can be made that the students at the Top 50 public high schools in America are significantly more academically accomplished and capable than any of their contemporaries from the very best private high schools.

Having a distinct advantage over an average or below average public high school (perhaps the alternative for most of your daughter's classmates) is VERY different than competing with students from a high performing public high school - the kind of school where over 10 - 15% of a 500 student class is NMSF/F, and nearly 50% meet the Commended Scholar threshold in a high performing state, by way of example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

My daughter goes to one of these schools and this is mostly true. But the downside is for every 4 Yale acceptances (for example) there are 20-30 qualified applicants who would have been first in their classes at their public schools and likely had a better chance of admission if not compared to their BS classmates. Every year the director of college guidance emphasizes that while their matriculations look great, the majority of seniors were still disappointed.

If you selected the 50 highest performing students from the best private schools worldwide and dropped them into the Top 50 public high schools in America, you would be extremely fortunate if you produced more than 2 - 3 valedictorians. There's a distorted view of private vs. public education that exists for a lot of private school parents in this DCUM community. At the very high end, an easily defensible argument can be made that the students at the Top 50 public high schools in America are significantly more academically accomplished and capable than any of their contemporaries from the very best private high schools.

Having a distinct advantage over an average or below average public high school (perhaps the alternative for most of your daughter's classmates) is VERY different than competing with students from a high performing public high school - the kind of school where over 10 - 15% of a 500 student class is NMSF/F, and nearly 50% meet the Commended Scholar threshold in a high performing state, by way of example.

Dp, but I don’t think you understand how competitive admission is to top boarding schools. Not at comparable to even top local day schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only early admit we know this year was a legacy (grandfather, father, brother attended) and nephew of a world famous author. He was not an especially compelling candidate so it was a helpful learning experience for my junior daughter.

This was our BIG 3 last year. Everyone who got into Princeton was hooked to the gills. Makes Princeton look a bit ridiculous actually. The rejected the top couple of EA kids in favor of a known legacy and then rejected everyone on RD in favor of crazily hooked Dcs

Rejected or deferred? Is Princeton still largely deferring, or did they switch gears like Yale to mostly reject early?

Well, deferred and then rejected. Princeton defers nearly every reasonable candidate, if not literally everyone.

They used to, back when they published data. But, since then, it seems like they are rejecting more in EA round. Anyone have any current info?

From what I can tell, they defer (soft-reject) legacies but otherwise are doing more rejecting at the REA stage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

My daughter goes to one of these schools and this is mostly true. But the downside is for every 4 Yale acceptances (for example) there are 20-30 qualified applicants who would have been first in their classes at their public schools and likely had a better chance of admission if not compared to their BS classmates. Every year the director of college guidance emphasizes that while their matriculations look great, the majority of seniors were still disappointed.

If you selected the 50 highest performing students from the best private schools worldwide and dropped them into the Top 50 public high schools in America, you would be extremely fortunate if you produced more than 2 - 3 valedictorians. There's a distorted view of private vs. public education that exists for a lot of private school parents in this DCUM community. At the very high end, an easily defensible argument can be made that the students at the Top 50 public high schools in America are significantly more academically accomplished and capable than any of their contemporaries from the very best private high schools.

Having a distinct advantage over an average or below average public high school (perhaps the alternative for most of your daughter's classmates) is VERY different than competing with students from a high performing public high school - the kind of school where over 10 - 15% of a 500 student class is NMSF/F, and nearly 50% meet the Commended Scholar threshold in a high performing state, by way of example.

My daughter’s BS acceptance rate hovers at 12% and the majority of applicants are academically qualified. My daughter was first in her class of 650 in middle school and would have gone on to a top performing public high school but instead chose the boarding school for the small class size (and the full financial aid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Please note:

Expensive privates are where you'll meet the greatest concentration of parents who have been to Ivies.

Since universities have quotas for each school, it stands to reason that legacy kids will have better chances than non-legacy kids, everything else being equal. There are always more excellent students than there are spots.

Conclusion:

***If your kid is unhooked, attending a private is the worst thing you can do for selective college admissions!!! ***

But of course, your kid can attend to receive a stellar education. (Or attend a great public, and save money for college, retirement, etc.)

This. Top Private Schools in DC are no longer feeders in the sense that they used to be. For elective college admissions, get out and have your DC shine at a local public. For the effort they have to put into being at the top of their Big 3 Private, they will do very well at a Public as well, for sure. Better access to selective colleges after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the language on their website it is clear they are far more interested in disadvantaged smart kids and international students, and those of color in areas likely not near the dmv, so those on this site would likely know who are accepted are the few that are getting in due to large donations and long lines of legacy.

In my reading of the cases from the last few years at our Big 3: It is nearly all donations/legacy or some very special hooks. URM + Legacy will get you a very solid boost (more than in other top places, it seems). The lowest GPA Princeton accepted from our school last year was less than 3.6. This is after rejecting outstanding kids with even 3.98 and close to perfect SATs (all this from SCOIR). The whole thing is a joke. I just wish our kids did not have to put themselves through this heartless insanity.

Totally true. I think we are in the same Big 3 Private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

My daughter goes to one of these schools and this is mostly true. But the downside is for every 4 Yale acceptances (for example) there are 20-30 qualified applicants who would have been first in their classes at their public schools and likely had a better chance of admission if not compared to their BS classmates. Every year the director of college guidance emphasizes that while their matriculations look great, the majority of seniors were still disappointed.

They probably wouldn’t be first in their classes at top suburban public high schools or urban magnets. It’s kids at these schools who have more of a striver mentality and, for several decades, had a reasonably clear path to an Ivy or another top school. No longer, as the Ivies (and perhaps none more so than Princeton now) turn up their noses at these candidates while still favoring legacies, athletes, and the children of big donors or otherwise well connected parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best NE boarding schools get tons of kids into the Ivies, most of whom are not legacies. A lot are recruited athletes, though most are neither.

My daughter goes to one of these schools and this is mostly true. But the downside is for every 4 Yale acceptances (for example) there are 20-30 qualified applicants who would have been first in their classes at their public schools and likely had a better chance of admission if not compared to their BS classmates. Every year the director of college guidance emphasizes that while their matriculations look great, the majority of seniors were still disappointed.

If you selected the 50 highest performing students from the best private schools worldwide and dropped them into the Top 50 public high schools in America, you would be extremely fortunate if you produced more than 2 - 3 valedictorians. There's a distorted view of private vs. public education that exists for a lot of private school parents in this DCUM community. At the very high end, an easily defensible argument can be made that the students at the Top 50 public high schools in America are significantly more academically accomplished and capable than any of their contemporaries from the very best private high schools.

Having a distinct advantage over an average or below average public high school (perhaps the alternative for most of your daughter's classmates) is VERY different than competing with students from a high performing public high school - the kind of school where over 10 - 15% of a 500 student class is NMSF/F, and nearly 50% meet the Commended Scholar threshold in a high performing state, by way of example.

My daughter’s BS acceptance rate hovers at 12% and the majority of applicants are academically qualified. My daughter was first in her class of 650 in middle school and would have gone on to a top performing public high school but instead chose the boarding school for the small class size (and the full financial aid).

Total BS. No middle school ranks kids. Our highly rated public MS had a couple of kids that went to highly rated NE privates (Andover, Exeter, et al). The kids were smart kids. What differentiated them was tiger-moms that would manipulate every opportunity to get their kid “first place”. Unfortunately, in Upper School and beyond, parental maneuvering has limitations. So no, PP’s conclusions are out of place