Are college admissions harder for DC kids?

[Anonymous]

DC is easier than MD or VA.

Except for the national merit scholarship issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is harder for kids here in DC, and NYC is even harder as others have written.

It's probably hardest for Bay Area/Silicon Valley kids- much higher numbers of competitive applicants and frankly less diversity

It’s so much harder for Bay Area kids. I see posts complaining about the difficulty of UVA admissions when from my perspective it’s far more transparent and clear cut compared to admissions at comparable UCs (Berkeley, LA).

UCs are pretty obvious at a majority of California schools. It is a very systematic process.

The hierarchy from Cal and UCLA down at a high school is pretty straightforward, but the social mobility mission does make it difficult for STEM kids from highly competitive regions like the Bay Area.

[Anonymous]

DC applicants who take advantage of unique opportunities offered by DC like internships, volunteerism, activism, connections etc and their essays, resumes and interviews reflect it, are at an advantage in admissions. Average, uninvolved applicants who don't show how they leveraged and benefited from available opportunities, won't do well.

[Anonymous]

Have lived in both the DC area and Bay Area. While the DC area is high pressure/competitive WRT college admissions (similar to other metro areas), the Bay Area seems to be exponentially more so.

[Anonymous]

DC area poster - I will put it to you this way. Of the 600+ students in my DS graduating class from high school, over 120 applied to Michigan. So even if your student may be tip top, the chances are mathematically lower that they will be accepted, especially when you then add in "institutional priorities".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are harder for high stats kids from major metropolitan areas in general, especially the northeast..

Bay area is probably the hardest for kids looking at STEM. The Northeast is might be harder for non-STEM kids. For the top SLACs the east coast is harder than the West Coast though there are many CA kids at top SLACs and the number seems to be rising.

This sounds about right.

SFBA kids applying to Stanford for humanities (e.g., Russian language major) is visibly less competitive / difficult than same group of students applying there for STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't live near DC but I love this site and this discussion board in particular, much as it stresses me out. I'm wondering if you feel that kids from your area face tougher acceptance rates because the competition is so steep where you are, with so many high achieving kids and elite private (and even public) schools. We live in a rural area where if kids are going to college, the vast majority attend local schools with high (80%+) acceptance rates. Reading about the rejections of superstar-sounding students here makes college admissions just feels so hopeless to me if you want to attend a great school, which my DC does. I'm just wondering if odds are better if you live in a less competitive area. Or maybe not - I'm sure our education isn't as strong as where you are.

Yes it's harder here because they can/will only take so many from a certain school/area. They all want geographic diversity.

The hardest is probably the top state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't live near DC but I love this site and this discussion board in particular, much as it stresses me out. I'm wondering if you feel that kids from your area face tougher acceptance rates because the competition is so steep where you are, with so many high achieving kids and elite private (and even public) schools. We live in a rural area where if kids are going to college, the vast majority attend local schools with high (80%+) acceptance rates. Reading about the rejections of superstar-sounding students here makes college admissions just feels so hopeless to me if you want to attend a great school, which my DC does. I'm just wondering if odds are better if you live in a less competitive area. Or maybe not - I'm sure our education isn't as strong as where you are.

This is an interesting question OP and you have an interesting perspective! We are DC residents. One thing that is automatically more difficult is that our kids are out of state for any state school. We do get a small tuition off-set for state schools around the country, but we are at a disadvantage in that our kids can't claim in-state residence anywhere.

For the top schools that your DC is looking at, yes, s/he will be at an advantage coming from a rural area.

Interestingly, my DC wants to go to a service academy. I think that being from DC is an advantage in that admission, possibly as compared to where you are.

Actually, huge disadvantage, given the requirement for congressional sponsorship.

DC (not the greater DC area) does not fill the service academy slots.
Being a DC resident is a boost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is harder for kids here in DC, and NYC is even harder as others have written.

Yes, and yes. Same for the wealthy Boston suburbs. Midwest is easier in comparison.

I've heard it's terrible in Texas, especially Dallas.

I think the Dallas privates are the sweet spot, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is easier than MD or VA.

Except for the national merit scholarship issue

is the cutoff higher in DC than VA? It's really high in VA.

[Anonymous]

While I agree that it's more competitive for kids coming from the DC area, I think kids from DC proper who go to public or charter schools in DC have a slight advantage. There just aren't that many of them and they have an interesting perspective having gone to incredibly diverse (in every way) schools.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it can be hard from Northern Virginia schools. The colleges only want so many kids from a single high school or area. For example, about 400/500 apply to UVA from TJ. Most of them would do really well at UVA and would love to attend. But UVA won’t take 400 kids from one high school. (They need a more diverse class; this makes sense.) You could name a different NoVa high school and it would be JMU, perhaps, or Virginia Tech, or another good state school. This is true to some degree at most NoVa schools. It creates a strange dynamic where many, many students don’t get a spot at their top choice but hopefully find a spot at some other good school — you really have to branch out and try to find a fit that isn’t the same school all your classmates are hoping to attend. In rural areas, the competition for spots is very different— smaller graduating class, not all applying to same colleges. The metro areas, everywhere, must have some version of this competition. It’s a shame but also, in a sad way, logical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC area poster - I will put it to you this way. Of the 600+ students in my DS graduating class from high school, over 120 applied to Michigan. So even if your student may be tip top, the chances are mathematically lower that they will be accepted, especially when you then add in "institutional priorities".

Clearly, creativity is not a strong suit for this school’s students. Talk about an inability to think outside the box! Clones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is easier than MD or VA.

Except for the national merit scholarship issue

is the cutoff higher in DC than VA? It's really high in VA.

yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is easier than MD or VA.

Except for the national merit scholarship issue

is the cutoff higher in DC than VA? It's really high in VA.

yes

actually it is the same