Test optional success stories

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to overstate the obvious but….why on earth would one want their student to be at a college where their SAT is below the 25th percentile? This presumes no one in their right mind applies TO if they have median+ scores. Truly though, why try for a school where around 3/4 of admitted students are above the student’s score? That seems a recipe for disaster.

At a school with a large enough test-optional crowd, a 25th percentile SAT may be higher than the actual median.

But otherwise, yeah, it's a lousy thing to do to your child, with the possible exception of if the goal is an entirely non-competitive major (e.g. social work) and your child is pretty/handsome to land a spouse from the higher quality pool offered by the high-end institution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to overstate the obvious but….why on earth would one want their student to be at a college where their SAT is below the 25th percentile? This presumes no one in their right mind applies TO if they have median+ scores. Truly though, why try for a school where around 3/4 of admitted students are above the student’s score? That seems a recipe for disaster.

Not always below the 25%….
My kid didn’t submit a 33.
Which is many schools’ 25%.
He got into an Ivy.

Things will return back to earth in 2 years once more people report scores.

But how will they do at that ivy?
I have a kid at an ivy and another at a different T10. The self esteem issues build fast for kids who are not able to compete well with the average kids. Maybe it matters less with humanities but it matters for stem and premed. Mine are crushing it. Mine were not TO and not below median. Imposter syndrome is real and TO has magnified it. Be careful. Pre-TO a 33 was not median at ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO rejected Vanderbilt (ED1) and Cornell RD, accepted UCSB, UC Irvine, Cal Poly Slo, SMU, Tulane, UGA, UIUC, USD, UCSC, UMiami (FL), and Wisconsin. Waitlisted Michigan.

Uw gpa?
Private or public high school?

3.85UW, small highly ranked private. The lower grades were almost all from freshman year, only one B in 10-12, so I think the upward trend helped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to overstate the obvious but….why on earth would one want their student to be at a college where their SAT is below the 25th percentile? This presumes no one in their right mind applies TO if they have median+ scores. Truly though, why try for a school where around 3/4 of admitted students are above the student’s score? That seems a recipe for disaster.

Not always below the 25%….
My kid didn’t submit a 33.
Which is many schools’ 25%.
He got into an Ivy.

Things will return back to earth in 2 years once more people report scores.

But how will they do at that ivy?
I have a kid at an ivy and another at a different T10. The self esteem issues build fast for kids who are not able to compete well with the average kids. Maybe it matters less with humanities but it matters for stem and premed. Mine are crushing it. Mine were not TO and not below median. Imposter syndrome is real and TO has magnified it. Be careful. Pre-TO a 33 was not median at ivies.

Are you Indian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to overstate the obvious but….why on earth would one want their student to be at a college where their SAT is below the 25th percentile? This presumes no one in their right mind applies TO if they have median+ scores. Truly though, why try for a school where around 3/4 of admitted students are above the student’s score? That seems a recipe for disaster.

Not always below the 25%….
My kid didn’t submit a 33.
Which is many schools’ 25%.
He got into an Ivy.

Things will return back to earth in 2 years once more people report scores.

But how will they do at that ivy?
I have a kid at an ivy and another at a different T10. The self esteem issues build fast for kids who are not able to compete well with the average kids. Maybe it matters less with humanities but it matters for stem and premed. Mine are crushing it. Mine were not TO and not below median. Imposter syndrome is real and TO has magnified it. Be careful. Pre-TO a 33 was not median at ivies.

These kids do fine. Don’t worry.
This is a bizarre post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to overstate the obvious but….why on earth would one want their student to be at a college where their SAT is below the 25th percentile? This presumes no one in their right mind applies TO if they have median+ scores. Truly though, why try for a school where around 3/4 of admitted students are above the student’s score? That seems a recipe for disaster.

Not always below the 25%….
My kid didn’t submit a 33.
Which is many schools’ 25%.
He got into an Ivy.

Things will return back to earth in 2 years once more people report scores.

But how will they do at that ivy?
I have a kid at an ivy and another at a different T10. The self esteem issues build fast for kids who are not able to compete well with the average kids. Maybe it matters less with humanities but it matters for stem and premed. Mine are crushing it. Mine were not TO and not below median. Imposter syndrome is real and TO has magnified it. Be careful. Pre-TO a 33 was not median at ivies.

The infuriating thing about imposter syndrome is that the fools who should suffer the most often don't feel it at all. Their confidence beats your competence because they always show up, no matter the odds, and you don't.

You are advising your kids to avoid situations where they might have to work harder than the next guy. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to overstate the obvious but….why on earth would one want their student to be at a college where their SAT is below the 25th percentile? This presumes no one in their right mind applies TO if they have median+ scores. Truly though, why try for a school where around 3/4 of admitted students are above the student’s score? That seems a recipe for disaster.

Not always below the 25%….
My kid didn’t submit a 33.
Which is many schools’ 25%.
He got into an Ivy.

Things will return back to earth in 2 years once more people report scores.

But how will they do at that ivy?
I have a kid at an ivy and another at a different T10. The self esteem issues build fast for kids who are not able to compete well with the average kids. Maybe it matters less with humanities but it matters for stem and premed. Mine are crushing it. Mine were not TO and not below median. Imposter syndrome is real and TO has magnified it. Be careful. Pre-TO a 33 was not median at ivies.

Do you realize the difference between a 32 and a 35 on a section is just a few correct answers? These schools get so many applications that it’s a way to weed through them, but don’t kid yourself. Any kid scoring in the 30’s is fully capable of doing the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son we submitted test and I totally regret.
My DD is junior and unless she gets 33 composite or above I'm not sending

That decision should depend on the college. And there should be colleges on the list where it would make sense to submit a 33.

DD didn’t submit a 32 and the regret. But all’s well as going to UCLA which doesn’t accept tests. I think TO hurt her at Michigan. But goes to top NJ orange gate with kids with high scores. Accepted to Wesleyan, Richmond, Wisconsin TO. And waitlisted loads of places. Great grades IB Diploma. Rejected UVA, but horrible negative tour anyway.

[Anonymous]

Top private not orange gate.

[Anonymous]

Rice RD, OOS California

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice RD, OOS California

Wow! What uw gpa?
Type of high school?

[Anonymous]

UW 3.98, W 4.46, Public

[Anonymous]

I’m looking for more TO success stories as we put my juniors list together. Likely submitting scores to some schools but not others….

Read that these are the main TO private schools (with largest % of admitted or incoming class being TO)? Have any reverted back to test required next year?

UChicago
WashU
Vanderbilt
USC
Cornell
Claremont McKenna
NYU
BU
UMiami
Northeastern
Villanova
Middlebury
BC
Lehigh
Pomona
Wake
Tufts
Tulane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m looking for more TO success stories as we put my juniors list together. Likely submitting scores to some schools but not others….

Read that these are the main TO private schools (with largest % of admitted or incoming class being TO)? Have any reverted back to test required next year?

UChicago
WashU
Vanderbilt
USC
Cornell
Claremont McKenna
NYU
BU
UMiami
Northeastern
Villanova
Middlebury
BC
Lehigh
Pomona
Wake
Tufts
Tulane

Add Wesleyan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m looking for more TO success stories as we put my juniors list together. Likely submitting scores to some schools but not others….

Read that these are the main TO private schools (with largest % of admitted or incoming class being TO)? Have any reverted back to test required next year?

UChicago
WashU
Vanderbilt
USC
Cornell
Claremont McKenna
NYU
BU
UMiami
Northeastern
Villanova
Middlebury
BC
Lehigh
Pomona
Wake
Tufts
Tulane

Add Wesleyan

Yes. My kid was admitted TO to Wesleyan this year. They’ve been TO for a decade so not going back.

Also add Bowdoin, another longtime TO school.