What have been your biggest surprises with this year's admission cycle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Purely anecdotal and my personal opinion.

After lurking here for a few years and a lot of local gloom-and-doom from last year specifically, I’m surprised by the number of acceptances of DC and friends for this cycle. They kept the number of their applications < 10 (and most were even in the “handful” category of 5 or 6) and, so far, most seem to be getting “in” everywhere they’ve applied. Few applied to super reaches (I’m guessing self de-selection based on profile and/or pocketbook) but plenty of Top 20-50, including quite a few flagships both in- and OOS. Stress levels have already come way down, senioritis is setting in. All are excited to be “done” and, most of all, excited about where they are headed in the Fall.

Not sure what I can attribute their collective success to other than they’re all good students (4.0+ weighted with a good cross-section of AP/DE/IB) with very well-rounded resumes (sports, clubs, community service, church, and paid employment). Maybe half are URM, 1st Gen, low SES, or women interested in STEM, but the success rate cuts across all demographics.

I have found the same to be true for my daughter this year. We applied to 12 places (originally planned to do 20 - until my daughter got sick of writing supplementals). She got into every school so far, but we are waiting on 3 more.

I wonder if in prior years kids were applying to schools that were actually a reach rather than a target? Sometimes people will overestimate their qualifications. Honestly, I got nervous coming into this year because of all the rejections that I saw from last year's class. However, I am pleasantly surprised by how things are working out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised at how much weight essays and EC's played in the process. Did anyone have any huge surprises in admits or rejects so far?

HS class of 23, no surprises but a couple of WL disappointments. However, a Non-admission surprise was the accuracy of collegevine.com. Applied to 12 schools. Rejected from two reaches. For three "hard targets", an acceptance and two WLs. Good luck. It will work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many people would rather go oos to a state school than go to a slac. That surprises me.

I think this is where economics comes into play with the cost of college tuition being out of control. So a lot of kids would rather go to an OOS state school where they are likely to get merit (or in the case of University of Florida where the tuition is comparable to in-state tuition for Virginia).

But the merit's just as good if not better at the slacs!

I understand not wanting to pay 80k. But the cost of most state schools oos is at least 30k. Dc doest have amazing stats and we've gotten at least that from several well-regarded slacs that offer research, internships, alumni networks, and individual attention you won't see at a school with 20k undergrads.

Im not against large schools for undergrad, but for the cost I don't see the point.

[Anonymous]

I am surprised sky isn't falling.

My kid and his friends group got in just fine. Some surprises here and there, but still very solid all the way.

[Anonymous]

Things seems better than last year then. Last year I had a senior and it was brutal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things seems better than last year then. Last year I had a senior and it was brutal.

How was last year more brutal? I think there are supposed to be more applicants this year than last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things seems better than last year then. Last year I had a senior and it was brutal.

How would you even know? Obviously you were invested then. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things seems better than last year then. Last year I had a senior and it was brutal.

How would you even know? Obviously you were invested then. Lol

A lot of parents that have juniors or younger will read these boards to get an idea of what to expect. I'm curious to see how this admissions cycle shakes out. But overall, it does seem like applications have increased - so many schools will have lower acceptance rates.