When Things Appear to Just Easily Work Out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

Those schools aren't as selective as you imagine they are.

No — they are infinitely more so. When less than 15% of applicants get in, admissions are uber competitive. For every seemingly low stats student admitted, there are 19 other candidates with perfect or near perfect stats that are rejected. I was shocked at who didn’t get in to schools this year. Don’t kid yourself; this process is brutal.

Not that brutal for over a 3.75 from a top private school, which was your example. It’s under 3.75 where things get crazy.

Where do the under 3.75uw private school kids go?

Syracuse, Kenyon, UVT, UConn, Penn State, Fairfield….tons of great options of all sizes. The obsession with top schools is out of control around here. There are many great colleges out there and MOST are not Ivy League!

3.7-3.8uw from our private would get into Case; Lehigh; Bucknell; Colgate; NYU; etc

3.5-3.7uw would be SMU; Fordham; Syracuse; Penn State; Miami-Ohio; etc….

NYU has 7% acceptance rate for CAS not to mention Stern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have always suspected that LORs are a big part of any admission story. They tend to get forgotten or pushed aside a bit when parents consider who is getting admitted where. The thing to keep in mind is that LORs are just about the only thing that can not be fudged or massaged for elaborated. Students (and parents) do not get to see these recommendations so they should carry more weight with admissions offices.

With so many students have strong stats and aiming for similar schools, LORs can be the very thing that pushes one applicant over the line into the "accepted" pile over another.

Agree, but AO’s need to wise up. Many teachers tell their students to write their own rec letters and they’ll sign it. Teachers also use AI to write them.

It kind of takes the steam out of the letters…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always suspected that LORs are a big part of any admission story. They tend to get forgotten or pushed aside a bit when parents consider who is getting admitted where. The thing to keep in mind is that LORs are just about the only thing that can not be fudged or massaged for elaborated. Students (and parents) do not get to see these recommendations so they should carry more weight with admissions offices.

With so many students have strong stats and aiming for similar schools, LORs can be the very thing that pushes one applicant over the line into the "accepted" pile over another.

Agree, but AO’s need to wise up. Many teachers tell their students to write their own rec letters and they’ll sign it. Teachers also use AI to write them.

It kind of takes the steam out of the letters…

Don’t think it’s happening at privates (where kids write their letters)….

AI may be though. I’ve seen some sophisticated stuff where you can upload several of your own older LORs and then input the characteristics or background of the kid you’re now writing about and it will write a new letter in your style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

Those schools aren't as selective as you imagine they are.

No — they are infinitely more so. When less than 15% of applicants get in, admissions are uber competitive. For every seemingly low stats student admitted, there are 19 other candidates with perfect or near perfect stats that are rejected. I was shocked at who didn’t get in to schools this year. Don’t kid yourself; this process is brutal.

Not that brutal for over a 3.75 from a top private school, which was your example. It’s under 3.75 where things get crazy.

Where do the under 3.75uw private school kids go?

Syracuse, Kenyon, UVT, UConn, Penn State, Fairfield….tons of great options of all sizes. The obsession with top schools is out of control around here. There are many great colleges out there and MOST are not Ivy League!

3.7-3.8uw from our private would get into Case; Lehigh; Bucknell; Colgate; NYU; etc

3.5-3.7uw would be SMU; Fordham; Syracuse; Penn State; Miami-Ohio; etc….

NYU has 7% acceptance rate for CAS not to mention Stern.

True. But kids targeting ivies aren’t generally applying to NYU are they?

[Anonymous]

^^^For safeties yes!

[Anonymous]

Good friends on the other side of the country went through all this with their oldest. By every measure he was top of the class, but in the end was shut out at all elite schools and went to OSU. Meanwhile number 2 went to MIT. They hunted for an explanation, and groused over every detail in conversation. But then, well, don't want to make too much of it, we know him (#2), he's a friend, he is a great kid... And that's the whole explanation, this kid had nearly all the same marks as #1, and was also more popular including with disgruntled parents. It's largely lottery, but MIT did get the better candidate, probably easily identified via LORs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good friends on the other side of the country went through all this with their oldest. By every measure he was top of the class, but in the end was shut out at all elite schools and went to OSU. Meanwhile number 2 went to MIT. They hunted for an explanation, and groused over every detail in conversation. But then, well, don't want to make too much of it, we know him (#2), he's a friend, he is a great kid... And that's the whole explanation, this kid had nearly all the same marks as #1, and was also more popular including with disgruntled parents. It's largely lottery, but MIT did get the better candidate, probably easily identified via LORs.

Diff majors?
Race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

Those schools aren't as selective as you imagine they are.

No — they are infinitely more so. When less than 15% of applicants get in, admissions are uber competitive. For every seemingly low stats student admitted, there are 19 other candidates with perfect or near perfect stats that are rejected. I was shocked at who didn’t get in to schools this year. Don’t kid yourself; this process is brutal.

Not that brutal for over a 3.75 from a top private school, which was your example. It’s under 3.75 where things get crazy.

Where do the under 3.75uw private school kids go?

Syracuse, Kenyon, UVT, UConn, Penn State, Fairfield….tons of great options of all sizes. The obsession with top schools is out of control around here. There are many great colleges out there and MOST are not Ivy League!

3.7-3.8uw from our private would get into Case; Lehigh; Bucknell; Colgate; NYU; etc

3.5-3.7uw would be SMU; Fordham; Syracuse; Penn State; Miami-Ohio; etc….

NYU has 7% acceptance rate for CAS not to mention Stern.

True. But kids targeting ivies aren’t generally applying to NYU are they?

They only apply to reaches? no targets?
and Ivies can accept all of them??
Really?

In fact, NYU is not a guarantee for them at all unless they ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

These grades are equivalent to a 4.0 at a local public, meaning these kids are in the top percent of the class.

Did anyone hear YCBK podcast this week? July 25 episode Roundtable where they were discussing private school applicants and how a school like Haverford would admit up to 80% of a rigorous private prep school class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

Because you don’t understand that as long as you score high enough with a high enough GPA, it’s all the other attributes of your application.

This is what many don't understand.

1600 does not make a stronger application than 1550, 4.0 vs 3.9 is not a meaningful difference to an admissions committee. Yes, there is a bench above which the pool of admitted candidates must sit on. But once you're on that bench, it's the rest of the application that matters more.

[Anonymous]

My kid is headed to an Ivy and other than a few recruited athletes, everyone else going to one had top grades/scores/activities like him and also were admitted to other T10s/20s.

Nobody with the credentials you mention- except 2 legacy and an athlete got into any of the schools you listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is headed to an Ivy and other than a few recruited athletes, everyone else going to one had top grades/scores/activities like him and also were admitted to other T10s/20s.

Nobody with the credentials you mention- except 2 legacy and an athlete got into any of the schools you listed.

^ at his high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

Those schools aren't as selective as you imagine they are.

No — they are infinitely more so. When less than 15% of applicants get in, admissions are uber competitive. For every seemingly low stats student admitted, there are 19 other candidates with perfect or near perfect stats that are rejected. I was shocked at who didn’t get in to schools this year. Don’t kid yourself; this process is brutal.

Not that brutal for over a 3.75 from a top private school, which was your example. It’s under 3.75 where things get crazy.

Where do the under 3.75uw private school kids go?

Syracuse, Kenyon, UVT, UConn, Penn State, Fairfield….tons of great options of all sizes. The obsession with top schools is out of control around here. There are many great colleges out there and MOST are not Ivy League!

3.7-3.8uw from our private would get into Case; Lehigh; Bucknell; Colgate; NYU; etc

3.5-3.7uw would be SMU; Fordham; Syracuse; Penn State; Miami-Ohio; etc….

NYU has 7% acceptance rate for CAS not to mention Stern.

True. But kids targeting ivies aren’t generally applying to NYU are they?

I've seen many apply, especially if they are into finance/econ, math, or philosophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen selective college admissions “just work out” where it appears to happen by luck or easily for an apparently underwhelming candidate?

I keep hearing stories of lower Ivy admits (and other private T25) for seniors who had meh grades (3.75-3.85uw) and so-so scores (33-34) ending up at places like Cornell, WashU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, USC - from private high schools.

How does this happen unexpectedly? Is the kid just a stealth achiever? Or did a pricey admissions counselor manufacture a story? Or a secret VIP?

Truly curious.

On what planet are those "meh grades"?? Honestly, DCUM never disappoints. The kids who were admitted with those grades and scores absolutely deserve to be there, whether they're from public or private schools. In fact, I always love to see the expressions of people like OP who are shocked to learn that the kids they underestimated made it into an Ivy or other top school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you “keep hearing” this? You have no idea what these kids’ scores actually are or what their applications look like. Admissions officers compare students’ scores and grades to other kids from the same school. Grades across schools are not a good comparison because grade inflation/deflation makes the comparison meaningless. A 3.75 at one school is not the same as a 3.75 at another school, although both kids are A students. A 33 is a strong enough score that it won’t hurt a student with other attributes.

THIS!!!

+1
And the idea that any person would know what *other* kids' GPA and test scores are is just...ludicrous. These busy bodies are so sure they know everything about all the other students at their kid's school, when in reality, they're just guessing - and usually those guesses are wrong. OP, stick to worrying about your own kid and stop assuming you know anything at all about other kids' qualifications.