What other boards besides DCUM do you use for college info?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a “board” in the traditional sense, but I found AN to be very helpful. I think the most useful thing was that the advice was vetted by a former AO. I thought I learned enough reading A2C and books, and following Yale podcasts that I was able to take the good with the bad. I’m not sure what the overall rate of elite college admissions is, but my kid did very well. I would not recommend any add-ons though. Did not use them and found that most of the value was in the “board” and the Zooms.

I googled, but didn't find anything. What is AN? Thanks.

Application Nation

I agree w/that poster. Like the board & free alumni board.

[Anonymous]

I wish there was a place for regular kids. Ye s there is the awesomely average FB group—but those kids are mostly below average. Everything else is T20 or bust. There is nothing for the in between kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a place for regular kids. Ye s there is the awesomely average FB group—but those kids are mostly below average. Everything else is T20 or bust. There is nothing for the in between kids.

They are average on there, it just doesn’t feel like it due to here. Agree with you though, I had one kid that fell in this abyss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the worst when it comes to college advising.

+1 Tread cautiously with DCUM advice.
School websites, Common Data Sets, Collegevine, USNWR

Why tread cautiously with CDS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the worst when it comes to college advising.

+1 Tread cautiously with DCUM advice.
School websites, Common Data Sets, Collegevine, USNWR

Why tread cautiously with CDS?

With DCUM (PERIOD)
Then shared sources of information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the best among all forums. It’s particularly relevant for private school kids as there are still some private school parents staying around. It’s also an excellent place if your DCs are working towards T20 schools. At the same time, it’s diverse, having discussions on a very broad range of topics. Because it’s anonymous, we have some snarky comments but at least some are funny.

I actually think DCUM is the worst one out there. The anonymous nature of this forum allows people to say some crazy stuff without providing good reasons/facts.

Yeah some of the most ignorant takes I’ve ever seen regarding college have come from this site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a place for regular kids. Ye s there is the awesomely average FB group—but those kids are mostly below average. Everything else is T20 or bust. There is nothing for the in between kids.

I was just on a webinar where an independent counselor in Florida mentioned a book coming out that will list the best average schools and give you info on how to make your own list, but I didn't catch the name of the book. Anyone see that, I think it was on Grown & Flown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the best among all forums. It’s particularly relevant for private school kids as there are still some private school parents staying around. It’s also an excellent place if your DCs are working towards T20 schools. At the same time, it’s diverse, having discussions on a very broad range of topics. Because it’s anonymous, we have some snarky comments but at least some are funny.

I actually think DCUM is the worst one out there. The anonymous nature of this forum allows people to say some crazy stuff without providing good reasons/facts.

Yeah some of the most ignorant takes I’ve ever seen regarding college have come from this site.

Why ? Because their experience & opinion is different than yours ?

The other main college website is essentially an echo chamber and a good portion of the advice is objectively incorrect. Also, it is a website full of cliques.

DCUM is a great resource with honest thoughts posted because users aren't vying for more "likes" than other posters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the best among all forums. It’s particularly relevant for private school kids as there are still some private school parents staying around. It’s also an excellent place if your DCs are working towards T20 schools. At the same time, it’s diverse, having discussions on a very broad range of topics. Because it’s anonymous, we have some snarky comments but at least some are funny.

I actually think DCUM is the worst one out there. The anonymous nature of this forum allows people to say some crazy stuff without providing good reasons/facts.

Yeah some of the most ignorant takes I’ve ever seen regarding college have come from this site.

Why ? Because their experience & opinion is different than yours ?

The other main college website is essentially an echo chamber and a good portion of the advice is objectively incorrect. Also, it is a website full of cliques.

DCUM is a great resource with honest thoughts posted because users aren't vying for more "likes" than other posters.

No, because there are valid differing views within a range, and then there is stuff that is either factually wrong or divorced from the reality as it actually is. DCUM is light on the former and heavy on the latter.

Interesting you have such strong views on Reddit, which I didn’t mention at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the best among all forums. It’s particularly relevant for private school kids as there are still some private school parents staying around. It’s also an excellent place if your DCs are working towards T20 schools. At the same time, it’s diverse, having discussions on a very broad range of topics. Because it’s anonymous, we have some snarky comments but at least some are funny.

I actually think DCUM is the worst one out there. The anonymous nature of this forum allows people to say some crazy stuff without providing good reasons/facts.

Yeah some of the most ignorant takes I’ve ever seen regarding college have come from this site.

Why ? Because their experience & opinion is different than yours ?

The other main college website is essentially an echo chamber and a good portion of the advice is objectively incorrect. Also, it is a website full of cliques.

DCUM is a great resource with honest thoughts posted because users aren't vying for more "likes" than other posters.

I’ve only looked at CC a few times and found it very cliquey as well. The anonymity of DCUM definitely prevents that. Same with FB groups and A2C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the best among all forums. It’s particularly relevant for private school kids as there are still some private school parents staying around. It’s also an excellent place if your DCs are working towards T20 schools. At the same time, it’s diverse, having discussions on a very broad range of topics. Because it’s anonymous, we have some snarky comments but at least some are funny.

I actually think DCUM is the worst one out there. The anonymous nature of this forum allows people to say some crazy stuff without providing good reasons/facts.

Yeah some of the most ignorant takes I’ve ever seen regarding college have come from this site.

Why ? Because their experience & opinion is different than yours ?

The other main college website is essentially an echo chamber and a good portion of the advice is objectively incorrect. Also, it is a website full of cliques.

DCUM is a great resource with honest thoughts posted because users aren't vying for more "likes" than other posters.

Yes, that is College Confidential.

[Anonymous]

It seems like a lot of the posts on DCUM are posters with an axe to grind about a particular school for whatever reason. There are definitely some good posters that try to be informative, but just a lot of the other stuff as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell me!

Reddit was extremely helpful because there’s accountability for false information.

[Anonymous]

Wish there was a private school section of this site because the advice for public and private school students can be very different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
a good portion of the advice is objectively incorrect.

Really? Any examples?

I don't always agree with some posters on CC but I can't say what they wrote is "objective incorrect." For example, I dislike the "all ABET engineering schools are similar" view, but there is some truth to it – if a student is not aspiring to anything more than working at an average engineering company, where they graduate from make little differences.