Brutal Admissions Year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS plays the bagpipes and spent one summer in France working as an "intern" to a chocolatier. He also wrote a very funny essay about just being a "just nice guy". I swear this got him into every top school he applied to so far.

It is getting more and more about the "hook" for our equally privileged and smart kids.

What were his grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is these threads working people up. Anecdotal stories, most often the negative ones, does not mean that it has been a brutal year, or that things are necessarily getting worse. I have heard of many good results this year.

+1 I haven't heard any sob stories yet, just success stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

allow this crazy system to brutalize and burn out our our kids and (b) what we as parents can do to get enough to say 'we are not playing this crazy game

Do the reverse of what everyone else is doing.
Look at the states that are trying to attract students.
Private or public.

Yes, I agree with this! SO many good colleges out there.

I'm curious where the message is coming from otherwise. You can see it reflected in some of the comments in this thread. Instead of looking at the issue in an abstract way, some have chosen to take the "I" and "me" route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS plays the bagpipes and spent one summer in France working as an "intern" to a chocolatier. He also wrote a very funny essay about just being a "just nice guy". I swear this got him into every top school he applied to so far.

It is getting more and more about the "hook" for our equally privileged and smart kids.

OP here - your kid sounds awesome!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you at public or private school? My impression is that the private schools are doing better as their counselors cultivate relationships with admissions offices.

We are in public and were happy with all the school did. We are happy with the process. Naviance provided excellent information and helped set expectations. Which is what I think is important- managing expectations and aiming for schools that are the best fit and not necessarily the flashy ones (although they they may be).

OP- you said that your child got in to 3 great schools. I don't see how that is brutal. That is great, he has choices.

Agreed. I think it's because I am comparing it to when I was applying and how much the process has changed for these kids!! I hear so many say "I would NEVER have gotten into (name alma-mater) today!!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you at public or private school? My impression is that the private schools are doing better as their counselors cultivate relationships with admissions offices.

We are in public and were happy with all the school did. We are happy with the process. Naviance provided excellent information and helped set expectations. Which is what I think is important- managing expectations and aiming for schools that are the best fit and not necessarily the flashy ones (although they they may be).

OP- you said that your child got in to 3 great schools. I don't see how that is brutal. That is great, he has choices.

Agreed. I think it's because I am comparing it to when I was applying and how much the process has changed for these kids!! I hear so many say "I would NEVER have gotten into (name alma-mater) today!!"

Then, don't care so much about getting into any one specific alma-mater, and instead celebrate the achievement and opportunities of being admitted to several other good colleges and universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you at public or private school? My impression is that the private schools are doing better as their counselors cultivate relationships with admissions offices.

We are in public and were happy with all the school did. We are happy with the process. Naviance provided excellent information and helped set expectations. Which is what I think is important- managing expectations and aiming for schools that are the best fit and not necessarily the flashy ones (although they they may be).

OP- you said that your child got in to 3 great schools. I don't see how that is brutal. That is great, he has choices.

Agreed. I think it's because I am comparing it to when I was applying and how much the process has changed for these kids!! I hear so many say "I would NEVER have gotten into (name alma-mater) today!!"

Then, don't care so much about getting into any one specific alma-mater, and instead celebrate the achievement and opportunities of being admitted to several other good colleges and universities.

Um, you're missing the point (no surprise - LOL). But carry on.

Where did I say I cared about my kid getting into my alma mater? Jump to conclusions much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS plays the bagpipes and spent one summer in France working as an "intern" to a chocolatier. He also wrote a very funny essay about just being a "just nice guy". I swear this got him into every top school he applied to so far.

It is getting more and more about the "hook" for our equally privileged and smart kids.

What were his grades?

His grades and scores were both good (3.8 unweighted GPA and high SATs) But a lot of kids have those scores and get rejected. The guy slated to be the valedictorian of his class got rejected by one of the schools that accepted DS and he had an 800 in math!

[Anonymous]

Minorities are still a small percentage of any admitting class. It is such a white privilege thing to blame the brown kids when your kid didn't get into an elite school.

[Anonymous]

An 800 in math doesn't mean much, especially for white and Asian males planning to go into engineering, computers or science

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you at public or private school? My impression is that the private schools are doing better as their counselors cultivate relationships with admissions offices.

We are in public and were happy with all the school did. We are happy with the process. Naviance provided excellent information and helped set expectations. Which is what I think is important- managing expectations and aiming for schools that are the best fit and not necessarily the flashy ones (although they they may be).

OP- you said that your child got in to 3 great schools. I don't see how that is brutal. That is great, he has choices.

Agreed. I think it's because I am comparing it to when I was applying and how much the process has changed for these kids!! I hear so many say "I would NEVER have gotten into (name alma-mater) today!!"

Then, don't care so much about getting into any one specific alma-mater, and instead celebrate the achievement and opportunities of being admitted to several other good colleges and universities.

Oaky, I apologize if I have offended you. That said, you just mentioned that your DC has been admitted to at least one university that rejected the class valedictorian. You obviously have a very bright student with competitive college choices, in reality it hasn't been a brutal admissions year -- or at least not for your DC. Congratulations mom, now is the time to celebrate DC's achievements and acknowledge that value of your love and support that helped DC get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you at public or private school? My impression is that the private schools are doing better as their counselors cultivate relationships with admissions offices.

We are in public and were happy with all the school did. We are happy with the process. Naviance provided excellent information and helped set expectations. Which is what I think is important- managing expectations and aiming for schools that are the best fit and not necessarily the flashy ones (although they they may be).

OP- you said that your child got in to 3 great schools. I don't see how that is brutal. That is great, he has choices.

Agreed. I think it's because I am comparing it to when I was applying and how much the process has changed for these kids!! I hear so many say "I would NEVER have gotten into (name alma-mater) today!!"

Then, don't care so much about getting into any one specific alma-mater, and instead celebrate the achievement and opportunities of being admitted to several other good colleges and universities.

Okay, I apologize if I have offended you. That said, you just mentioned that your DC has been admitted to at least one university that rejected the class valedictorian. You obviously have a very bright student with competitive college choices, in reality it hasn't been a brutal admissions year -- or at least not for your DC. Congratulations mom, now is the time to celebrate DC's achievements and acknowledge that value of your love and support that helped DC get there.

I meant "okay".

[Anonymous]

Here's the thing ..... and I am talking with the benefit of having had five children go through this college experience and now a grandson who is starting college later this year.

It does not matter if you were turned down at multiple colleges ...... what matters is whether you got into one desirable college. Getting into all or multiple colleges that one applies to gives one bragging rights but nothing else. My grandson has been accepted into a school which is excellent even though he did not get into his first preference but within the scheme of things it does not matter one wit.

I wish the undergrad college process would have something akin to the matching program for med school. Each student would apply to whichever colleges they are interested in and then rank the colleges in order of preference. Colleges would do the same for all applicants and whichever college is highest in a student's ranking that offers a place to that student would end up being the only college the student would be eligible to enroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS plays the bagpipes and spent one summer in France working as an "intern" to a chocolatier. He also wrote a very funny essay about just being a "just nice guy". I swear this got him into every top school he applied to so far.

It is getting more and more about the "hook" for our equally privileged and smart kids.

What were his grades?

His grades and scores were both good (3.8 unweighted GPA and high SATs) But a lot of kids have those scores and get rejected. The guy slated to be the valedictorian of his class got rejected by one of the schools that accepted DS and he had an 800 in math!

NP here and I think your kid stood out and the essay definitely put him over the top. The admissions people read so many crap essays about the immigrant-deceased-grandfather and what he taught our white privileged kid that they probably stood up and applauded the essay that made them smile from a kid who wasn't pretending to be anything more than exactly what he is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, if it's any consolation, it's also been a brutal year for all those poor and minority students. I work for an org that helps low-income students attend college-most of our students are black or latino. We've been hearing from various admissions offices that there is a huge pool this year, and while many of our students would have been likely admits if they could pay, schools don't want to spend a huge amount of aid on one student with a $0 EFC when they could spread that money around and give several students a decent amount of aid. It's tough out there.

Yes, I've heard that as well. I'm just not a believer in affirmative action. I think it is unconstitutional.

But legacy is constitutional? Even if you couldn't have legacy b/c your parents would not have been able to attend b/c the school did not allow minority students at the time? This was my story.