Acceptance History for Hooked vs Non-Hooked at top private school

[Anonymous]

290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that WashU is so popular. It's the second most popular school after USC. The school has 290 graduates, and 38 hooked and 184 nonhooked applied to WashU.

washu is a rich kids school, as is hws, so not too surprising too me. same for washu. public schools aren't that popular among this group

[Anonymous]

*same for usc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

only 20? that's pretty good, no? I thought less than .5% of students nationally got NMS so if nearly 12x as many are getting that at HWS from a competitive state, that's pretty impressive.

On a side note, I'm shocked that nearly 4x as many apply to UMich over UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

only 20? that's pretty good, no? I thought less than .5% of students nationally got NMS so if nearly 12x as many are getting that at HWS from a competitive state, that's pretty impressive.

On a side note, I'm shocked that nearly 4x as many apply to UMich over UVA.

1/3 of TJ kids are NMSF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

only 20? that's pretty good, no? I thought less than .5% of students nationally got NMS so if nearly 12x as many are getting that at HWS from a competitive state, that's pretty impressive.

On a side note, I'm shocked that nearly 4x as many apply to UMich over UVA.

1/3 of TJ kids are NMSF.

TJ had 145 this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

only 20? that's pretty good, no? I thought less than .5% of students nationally got NMS so if nearly 12x as many are getting that at HWS from a competitive state, that's pretty impressive.

On a side note, I'm shocked that nearly 4x as many apply to UMich over UVA.

1/3 of TJ kids are NMSF.

TJ had 145 this year.

NMSF is meaningless as the cutoff is not the same for every state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't this chart mean that some kids, albeit a low percentage, are getting in even though not "hooked." After all these DCUM threads that say that you need a national award to get in to HYPS unless you are a legacy, URM, or athlete, this actually sounds pretty good to me.

That was my takeaway too. That non-hooked students are getting into HYS with acceptance rates considerably above the overall one is a comforting sign. If you look at the GPA breakdown the numbers get even better- for instance, 42% of the non-hooked students with 4.3+ got into Harvard.

Yet at the same time, these numbers feel a LOT better than top publics like TJHS and the Bethesda results posted earlier. I get the feeling that there is something about the non-hooked students we're not seeing. Maybe they're nationally acclaimed award winners. Maybe their parents are top donors even without an alumni connection. This is a cursory glance at what the process could be like, but there is a lot of detail missing.

Be aware that these are acceptance numbers, so it may be the same top 10 or so students getting into many of the top schools. You can't conclude that a typical student has the acceptance percentage chance of getting accepted.

+1000. For the unhooked, non $$$$, unconnected, non athletic, non URM, no state diversity, non first gen, no national awards, it is truly a lottery.
Thinks of the numbers. 2000 spots - 50% for each gender. That's 1000 spots. 15% URM = 150. First gen = 10% to account for overlap = 100. Legacies = 15% = 150. Athletes = 20% = 200 spots. Then u have the $$$$ and connected. There are not many spots left for high academic average joe or Mary.

[Anonymous]

Somewhat surprised by Princeton and its weak commitment to non-legacy/hooks

Not surprised by WashU--it's a strong school that offers merit scholarships. None of the very top schools offer them. My guess is that many HW families are in that doughnut hold--they earn too much money to qualify for aid, but not enough such that paying $60K/year for college tuition is do-able.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GPA is meaningless. 50% of high school seniors in the USA have an A average. Give me this chart with SAT scores.

Dear God, you live in a bubble. I assure you 50% of seniors in the U.S. do NOT have an A average.

[Anonymous]

I would like to see legacy hooks broken down by how much money the parent gives. for Harvard, they don't blink until you give 7 figures, so my legacy meant nothing when DC applied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

only 20? that's pretty good, no? I thought less than .5% of students nationally got NMS so if nearly 12x as many are getting that at HWS from a competitive state, that's pretty impressive.

On a side note, I'm shocked that nearly 4x as many apply to UMich over UVA.

1/3 of TJ kids are NMSF.

TJ had 145 this year.

That's true, but since VA has one of the highest cutoffs in the US having 1/3rd of the kids qualify is very impressive.

NMSF is meaningless as the cutoff is not the same for every state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GPA is meaningless. 50% of high school seniors in the USA have an A average. Give me this chart with SAT scores.

Dear God, you live in a bubble. I assure you 50% of seniors in the U.S. do NOT have an A average.

I assume the first poster is referring to a UNWR article, link posted on another thread, that says exactly that. Even if someone disputes the statistic (and I do wonder about the methodology), we can at least discuss the issue with civility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GPA is meaningless. 50% of high school seniors in the USA have an A average. Give me this chart with SAT scores.

Dear God, you live in a bubble. I assure you 50% of seniors in the U.S. do NOT have an A average.

47% of American high school seniors have an A average -- meanwhile SAT scores are flat if not on the decline
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/17/easy-a-nearly-half-hs-seniors-graduate-average/485787001/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:290 grads, only 20 National Merit Semifinalists.

http://hwchronicle.com/seniors-qualify-as-national-merit-semifinalists/

My take is that this is an example of how little NMS matters. Many kids do significantly better on the SAT.

only 20? that's pretty good, no? I thought less than .5% of students nationally got NMS so if nearly 12x as many are getting that at HWS from a competitive state, that's pretty impressive.

On a side note, I'm shocked that nearly 4x as many apply to UMich over UVA.

1/3 of TJ kids are NMSF.

TJ had 145 this year.

Around 45% of mont blair science magnet students were NMSF this year but very few have the kind of books these colleges seem to care about