The Potomac School - 2016 College List?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. The numbers are fairly on target. The Chicago popularity has to do with the number of prior year graduates reporting back on how happy they are. I'm guessing that being prepared for that level of rigor and faculty attention probably helped them have the time to have fun! Admittedly miserable weather but great city. And it is a tough school to get into. This was a really strong academic class and many good writers which I imagined helped with those unusual essays.

Oh come on! Who at Chicago has ever had fun?

Kids who like learning and a challenge. Virtues to be celebrated in this increasingly intellectually flabby country.

That's not fun! That's also not really undergraduate life at Chicago either.

I also agree with PP that, if Sidwell had 20 go to Ivies, 10 at Chicago seems off. An earlier poster had a link to GDS's numbers from last year and GDS had 20 go to Ivies and 2 or 3 go to Chicago, which make more sense---that Chicago would attract about what an average Ivy would.

But bottomline is that everything about Chicago for an undergrad is miserable (and it's in a great city, but sits in truly awful Hyde Park, which is far, far away from any place that any 18 year old actually wants to be.

Funny how some of the smartest kids in the country, year after year chose to go to a place that is so miserable.

And the number is right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. The numbers are fairly on target. The Chicago popularity has to do with the number of prior year graduates reporting back on how happy they are. I'm guessing that being prepared for that level of rigor and faculty attention probably helped them have the time to have fun! Admittedly miserable weather but great city. And it is a tough school to get into. This was a really strong academic class and many good writers which I imagined helped with those unusual essays.

Oh come on! Who at Chicago has ever had fun?

Kids who like learning and a challenge. Virtues to be celebrated in this increasingly intellectually flabby country.

That's not fun! That's also not really undergraduate life at Chicago either.

I also agree with PP that, if Sidwell had 20 go to Ivies, 10 at Chicago seems off. An earlier poster had a link to GDS's numbers from last year and GDS had 20 go to Ivies and 2 or 3 go to Chicago, which make more sense---that Chicago would attract about what an average Ivy would.

But bottomline is that everything about Chicago for an undergrad is miserable (and it's in a great city, but sits in truly awful Hyde Park, which is far, far away from any place that any 18 year old actually wants to be.

Funny how some of the smartest kids in the country, year after year chose to go to a place that is so miserable.

And the number is right.

LOL. Unless you go there to worship the memory of Milton Friedman, it's one God-forsaken place to spend four years. I feel bad for those ten Sidwell grads. Poor dears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find the parent reported Sidwell data elsewhere in DCUM. Sidwell does not release this info. They did fine this year. At least 20 to ivies, several to Stanford, and 10 to University of Chicago, I think.

10 to Chicago? That can't be right. Not only is it a tough school to get into, but most kids from this area don't want to go there (miserable place). Your numbers have to be off.

Yep +1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find the parent reported Sidwell data elsewhere in DCUM. Sidwell does not release this info. They did fine this year. At least 20 to ivies, several to Stanford, and 10 to University of Chicago, I think.

10 to Chicago? That can't be right. Not only is it a tough school to get into, but most kids from this area don't want to go there (miserable place). Your numbers have to be off.

Yep +1

Is there confusion between acceptances and matriculation here?

[Anonymous]

"Sidwell does not publish its results, so you have to rely on parent reports. There were at least six accepted to Harvard, five to Yale, 10 to Chicago, six to Dartmouth, four to Brown, three to Princeton, three to Penn, three to Stanford, and one or two to Columbia."

Above copied from another thread. (not mine) It jives with what my kid reports. Also three to Cornell. My kid says all of these are matriculations except two that are double listed he thinks. He is going to one of these ivies and knows all the kids entering with him. They are happy to be going together, although one may take a gap year.

So it was a typical year for Sidwell. Not 10 to Yale like 2015. Also despite the comments above several 2015 Sidwell graduates are enjoying Chicago and doing very well there, which may have contributed to their acceptance of 10 from Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Sidwell does not publish its results, so you have to rely on parent reports. There were at least six accepted to Harvard, five to Yale, 10 to Chicago, six to Dartmouth, four to Brown, three to Princeton, three to Penn, three to Stanford, and one or two to Columbia."

Above copied from another thread. (not mine) It jives with what my kid reports. Also three to Cornell. My kid says all of these are matriculations except two that are double listed he thinks. He is going to one of these ivies and knows all the kids entering with him. They are happy to be going together, although one may take a gap year.

So it was a typical year for Sidwell. Not 10 to Yale like 2015. Also despite the comments above several 2015 Sidwell graduates are enjoying Chicago and doing very well there, which may have contributed to their acceptance of 10 from Sidwell.

Not much real math going on here. The earlier numbers were 20 to Ivies and 10 to Chicago. But the numbers you are relying on have 31-32 going to Ivies and 10 to Chicago. You also mention "acceptance of 10 from Sidwell." Like an earlier PP, might be some confusion between acceptance and matriculation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Sidwell does not publish its results, so you have to rely on parent reports. There were at least six accepted to Harvard, five to Yale, 10 to Chicago, six to Dartmouth, four to Brown, three to Princeton, three to Penn, three to Stanford, and one or two to Columbia."

Above copied from another thread. (not mine) It jives with what my kid reports. Also three to Cornell. My kid says all of these are matriculations except two that are double listed he thinks. He is going to one of these ivies and knows all the kids entering with him. They are happy to be going together, although one may take a gap year.

So it was a typical year for Sidwell. Not 10 to Yale like 2015. Also despite the comments above several 2015 Sidwell graduates are enjoying Chicago and doing very well there, which may have contributed to their acceptance of 10 from Sidwell.

Apparently, Sidwell does publish its results. A quick internet search shows this article giving the numbers for Sidwell's class of 2012: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-where-first-school-kids-go-to-college/2012/09/05/7eba5374-f625-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_blog.html The Post article quotes the Sidwell alumni magazine on the numbers: "The magazine said two Ivy schools, Brown and Harvard, will be getting at least four Sidwell grads, but so will NYU, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Michigan and Tufts. Two other Ivies, Columbia and Penn, will get three Sidwell grads each. The other colleges in that category were Boston College, Emory, Georgetown, Occidental, and the University of Chicago. The magazine failed to reveal if anyone got into Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth or Cornell."
So, at least in 2012, Sidwell had at least 14 going to Ivies (Brown 4, Harvard 4, Columbia 3, Penn 3, and the four other Ivies unknown--although presumably less than 3), and had 3 going to Chicago.
Of course, these are great numbers for a class of 123, but not the same as the numbers being thrown around here.

[Anonymous]

So on the college counselor point and hiring an outside consultant--here are two posts from the college admission board I just saw. So hiring a counselor seems rationale.

Anonymous




I think you need to be mindful of the difficult role the college counselors face. A very large chunk of the class is made up of high achievers, many or most of whom have highly educated parents. Given the competition faced by students, placement has the potential to be a nightmare. As a result, I think there is a surprising amount of "under-selling" that goes on. Although it worked out very well for our DD in the end, we were surprise at how low the counselor was shooting, in terms of characterizing what were match schools and what were reach schools. Even where naviance showed our daughter had higher/much higher scores than prior admitted students, the counselor saw virtually everything on her list as a reach (or very high reach). Other parents commented on the same phenomena. I don't fault them for managing expectations of course, but I do think the vested interest in avoiding disappointment can manifest itself in problematic ways.
[Report Post]
[Post New]07/14/2016 12:58
Subject: What do I need to know about College Placement from Private School
[Up]
Anonymous




You have to be knowledgeable and very hands on in selecting and applying to colleges. At our DD's big three the only weak link is college counseling. The turnover rate is high but keeps missing the worst employee. They are like realtors who want you to sell low so they can be done without effort. They suggest lowball offers then promise the moon in the same breath. It's apparent that they really have no clue. Take control and stay involved unless you only want some tiny ridiculous LAS from the beginning.

[Anonymous]

The Sidwell Dartmouth number (6) is correct and they are matriculations not acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Sidwell Dartmouth number (6) is correct and they are matriculations not acceptances.

Now we're talking FUN!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So on the college counselor point and hiring an outside consultant--here are two posts from the college admission board I just saw. So hiring a counselor seems rationale.

Anonymous




I think you need to be mindful of the difficult role the college counselors face. A very large chunk of the class is made up of high achievers, many or most of whom have highly educated parents. Given the competition faced by students, placement has the potential to be a nightmare. As a result, I think there is a surprising amount of "under-selling" that goes on. Although it worked out very well for our DD in the end, we were surprise at how low the counselor was shooting, in terms of characterizing what were match schools and what were reach schools. Even where naviance showed our daughter had higher/much higher scores than prior admitted students, the counselor saw virtually everything on her list as a reach (or very high reach). Other parents commented on the same phenomena. I don't fault them for managing expectations of course, but I do think the vested interest in avoiding disappointment can manifest itself in problematic ways.
[Report Post]


[Post New]07/14/2016 12:58
Subject: What do I need to know about College Placement from Private School
[Up]
Anonymous




You have to be knowledgeable and very hands on in selecting and applying to colleges. At our DD's big three the only weak link is college counseling. The turnover rate is high but keeps missing the worst employee. They are like realtors who want you to sell low so they can be done without effort. They suggest lowball offers then promise the moon in the same breath. It's apparent that they really have no clue. Take control and stay involved unless you only want some tiny ridiculous LAS from the beginning.

OP here. This is exactly why I asked the question - people who do not have kids in private school assume that private school kids are getting amazing, super helpful college counseling but my admittedly mostly anecdotal research suggests otherwise. In particular, I have not heard positive things about Potomac's college counseling and it concerns me that I can't find any real data. Sending our kid to Potomac will be a major expense for us and I am trying to see if we will also need to budget for college counseling down the road.

[Anonymous]

And I wish they would somehow identify sports commits. It is my experience that an awful lot of kids are accepted to schools for sports that they would never get in to based on straight academics. That does affect listings.

[Anonymous]

^^ or kids who commit to play for an ivy league their freshman year...where obviously it had nothing to do with the high school they selected, and everything to do with the athletic ability of the student.

[Anonymous]

Depends on what you need/want. DC's private school's College Counseling office did an excellent job re keeping the process on track, providing advice re who should write letters of recommendation, offering insight on the school's experience wrt admissions at specific universities (e.g. your DC needs to apply ED there if s/he wants to get in; you can't predict what happens there; your kid is typical of the kind of kid they've admitted in the past; our STEM kids have been really happy with this U). They also provided useful feedback on essays. We had no complaints and I really appreciated the fact that I could safely leave all the "project management" stuff to them and not feel compelled to play that role wrt my DC.

That said, we generated our own list of schools and none of the suggestions re other possibilities were on target. No disputes over what was realistic -- just a different approach to what you look for in a school. We encouraged DC to look at courses/majors/programs/faculty and the counselors were more into the "fit" model (which seemed more social than academic).

[Anonymous]

We did get that kind of info (sports/legacy/EC hook) from our college counselor.

-- 10:15