How high or low should this student reach for in ED or EA?

[Anonymous]

No idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weak ECs are problematic. Have her aim for a leadership position or two. That should help complete her narrative.

+1 people telling her to aim for HYP with weak ECs are out to lunch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lack of strong extracurriculars would make much of the T20 unlikely , especially for a girl and especially for the sciences. Her best shoot likely is ED at somewhere like Chicago or Wash U.

Not from a top private. It doesn't matter what your extracurriculars are. if you are one of 5 kids with a 3.9+
that will be enough.



I wish people who don't know what they're talking about from direct experience would not opine.


no, this kid doesn't need to stoop to Chicago. no, they don't need a million extracurriculars. If you are top 5 at Sidwell or STA or NCS that will be enough. The grades are what set you apart because almost no one gets them.

Your opinion just got devalued, my friend.

Maybe in your world. At one Big3 there were 6-7 who went to Chicago this year. Not a single one was top 20% in the class. While it is a great school it is not a difficult admit in many private school circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are assuming you’re at a well known feeder private high school. If that’s not the case, these are extremely optimistic possibilities.

OP: it is a feeder private outside the DMV, but we are just a normal full pay family completely unconnected, not Ivy legacy or donors so not sure how much the feeder part could be helpful to our family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the rigor and how many courses per year is this student taking. I know some kids who take bare minimum of 5 classes of low rigor with a 3.9 and some who are taking 7 classes with high rigor with 3.9. I would think rigor would count for a lot.

Highest rigor, including a customized course that only she is taking in the whole grade/school because she has exhausted the curriculum in the subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the rigor and how many courses per year is this student taking. I know some kids who take bare minimum of 5 classes of low rigor with a 3.9 and some who are taking 7 classes with high rigor with 3.9. I would think rigor would count for a lot.

Highest rigor, including a customized course that only she is taking in the whole grade/school because she has exhausted the curriculum in the subject.

Is this the subject she wants to pursue in college? What contributions has she made to the area inside of and outside of school? Is she doing research in the area or any other sort of intellectual or social contribution?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are assuming you’re at a well known feeder private high school. If that’s not the case, these are extremely optimistic possibilities.

OP: it is a feeder private outside the DMV, but we are just a normal full pay family completely unconnected, not Ivy legacy or donors so not sure how much the feeder part could be helpful to our family

Look at unhooked seniors comparable to your daughter and see where they go. That’s the best indication.

[Anonymous]

This post needs to be pinned to the page because DCUM has the same conversation every week.

Poster XYZ has a high achiever kid at unspecified "top private" and wants to know odds of a top Ivy. The DMV public school parents reply that poster's kid better have the resume of a 40 year old for any chance because that is their reality. The Big3 parents reply that OP's kid will be fine in grades alone because that is their reality. Then everyone bickers for a page or two about whether Chicago is a tough admit or a safety school for kids with a 3.7.

Then the OP always chimes in to say that oh by the way, she's not in the DMV at all (but yet somehow expects DCUM to give concrete advice for a mystery school in a mystery state.)

Lather rise and repeat every week or every 2 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Agree with posts above saying her ECs are not the strongest. Is her part-time job a bona fide one, meaning by early next Fall she can claim to have worked there for 2+ years and say 500+ hours in a paid role? If so, sell it hard as it could potentially compensate for a lack of leadership so far. Also, she will have two shots to be voted or appointed leadership positions - beginning of junior and senior year. Perhaps try to secure a junior representative for now, and maximize the opportunity to make her peers want to vote her for President next year. Anyway, her "weaknesses" are fixable and there is time to fix them, whereas if the issue were instead a low GPA (say 3.5) and/or SAT (1300ish) it would be much harder to overcome. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the rigor and how many courses per year is this student taking. I know some kids who take bare minimum of 5 classes of low rigor with a 3.9 and some who are taking 7 classes with high rigor with 3.9. I would think rigor would count for a lot.

Highest rigor, including a customized course that only she is taking in the whole grade/school because she has exhausted the curriculum in the subject.

Is this the subject she wants to pursue in college? What contributions has she made to the area inside of and outside of school? Is she doing research in the area or any other sort of intellectual or social contribution?

OP: this is one of the areas she's interested in. It's a research the dept head is doing outside of our school at a college he is affiliated with. Our DD has exhausted the curriculum early and did very well in it so the teacher asked her to join the research team and package this as a custom course for her so she can get credit from it. To answer your question about contributions inside and outside of school, this is technically counted as a course at school but the actual work is done for a research team outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are assuming you’re at a well known feeder private high school. If that’s not the case, these are extremely optimistic possibilities.

OP: it is a feeder private outside the DMV, but we are just a normal full pay family completely unconnected, not Ivy legacy or donors so not sure how much the feeder part could be helpful to our family

Is it NYC? Chicago? Miami? Atlanta? Texas? California?

I mean it matters! Give a bit more intel. How have kids with that GPA placed per your SCOIR or Naviance or Maia learning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post needs to be pinned to the page because DCUM has the same conversation every week.

Poster XYZ has a high achiever kid at unspecified "top private" and wants to know odds of a top Ivy. The DMV public school parents reply that poster's kid better have the resume of a 40 year old for any chance because that is their reality. The Big3 parents reply that OP's kid will be fine in grades alone because that is their reality. Then everyone bickers for a page or two about whether Chicago is a tough admit or a safety school for kids with a 3.7.

Then the OP always chimes in to say that oh by the way, she's not in the DMV at all (but yet somehow expects DCUM to give concrete advice for a mystery school in a mystery state.)

Lather rise and repeat every week or every 2 weeks.

Chicago IS a safety for someone with OP’s profile. Nothing to bicker about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are assuming you’re at a well known feeder private high school. If that’s not the case, these are extremely optimistic possibilities.

OP: it is a feeder private outside the DMV, but we are just a normal full pay family completely unconnected, not Ivy legacy or donors so not sure how much the feeder part could be helpful to our family

Look at unhooked seniors comparable to your daughter and see where they go. That’s the best indication.

100000%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post needs to be pinned to the page because DCUM has the same conversation every week.

Poster XYZ has a high achiever kid at unspecified "top private" and wants to know odds of a top Ivy. The DMV public school parents reply that poster's kid better have the resume of a 40 year old for any chance because that is their reality. The Big3 parents reply that OP's kid will be fine in grades alone because that is their reality. Then everyone bickers for a page or two about whether Chicago is a tough admit or a safety school for kids with a 3.7.

Then the OP always chimes in to say that oh by the way, she's not in the DMV at all (but yet somehow expects DCUM to give concrete advice for a mystery school in a mystery state.)

Lather rise and repeat every week or every 2 weeks.

My kid is at a top feeder private. No one gets into the Ivies with grades alone, especially an unhooked student. Sue doesn’t need a national level extracurricular but she isn’t getting into an Ivy with zero leadership and superficial club involvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post needs to be pinned to the page because DCUM has the same conversation every week.

Poster XYZ has a high achiever kid at unspecified "top private" and wants to know odds of a top Ivy. The DMV public school parents reply that poster's kid better have the resume of a 40 year old for any chance because that is their reality. The Big3 parents reply that OP's kid will be fine in grades alone because that is their reality. Then everyone bickers for a page or two about whether Chicago is a tough admit or a safety school for kids with a 3.7.

Then the OP always chimes in to say that oh by the way, she's not in the DMV at all (but yet somehow expects DCUM to give concrete advice for a mystery school in a mystery state.)

Lather rise and repeat every week or every 2 weeks.

Chicago IS a safety for someone with OP’s profile. Nothing to bicker about.

LOL, you don’t have enough info to know her profile. So pathetic.