Sidwell connection to crooked college fixer Rick Singer

[Anonymous]

Good thing your opinion doesn’t matter

[Anonymous]

The Rick Singer thing seems fairly minor here. He was hired as an “expert” on college admissions. If you read it, apparently his credibility was questioned even then.

But what’s more interesting here are the actual claims. While it mostly seems to be sour grapes, there may be some elements of truth. Also interesting that the counselor recommendation has different ratings for different schools. I always assumed the ratings were against the overall class but Sidwell says it’s against the pool of applicants to a particular school. Do the counselors clearly can pick and choose who they want to direct to a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Rick Singer thing seems fairly minor here. He was hired as an “expert” on college admissions. If you read it, apparently his credibility was questioned even then.

But what’s more interesting here are the actual claims. While it mostly seems to be sour grapes, there may be some elements of truth. Also interesting that the counselor recommendation has different ratings for different schools. I always assumed the ratings were against the overall class but Sidwell says it’s against the pool of applicants to a particular school. Do the counselors clearly can pick and choose who they want to direct to a school.

If 15 kids want to apply to Yale ED and 10 of them have hooks, the other 5 do not have a complaint when they are denied. If the student in question was up against classmates who were better hooked than she was, then she probably ignored the advice of the college guidance staff to pic a few safeties. Students generally are dissuaded from applying to more than 9-10 schools. She probably chose all of the Ivys, Stanford and like Amherst and Williams or some such and got denied by all because, hey, they are very selective schools. It is also hard to understand that she is at Penn now after a gap year, Sidwell had to have provided transcripts and recs for that to happen, so a lawsuit, particularly with all the appeals, seems strange.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell is notorious for attempting to limit how many kids apply to each top school. I know several pissed off families who applied places Sidwell assured them were out of reach, whose kids were admitted.

So this girls experience is not unique, and is common enough situation that it is likely not going to win a lawsuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is notorious for attempting to limit how many kids apply to each top school. I know several pissed off families who applied places Sidwell assured them were out of reach, whose kids were admitted.

So this girls experience is not unique, and is common enough situation that it is likely not going to win a lawsuit.

And in each one of those cases, there were recommendations and transcripts sent by the school to those reach colleges, just like with the plaintiff. I know that is what you were trying to say, but it needs to be reiterated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[/b]Sidwell is notorious for attempting to limit how many kids apply to each top school. [b]I know several pissed off families who applied places Sidwell assured them were out of reach, whose kids were admitted.

So this girls experience is not unique, and is common enough situation that it is likely not going to win a lawsuit.

This is super jerky and self serving- just to up their yield percentage, I imagine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's her SC petition for cert - https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1356/97268/20190423135437781_Adetu%20Petition%20E%20File%20Apr%2023%202019.pdf

According to the petition, Sidwell earlier agreed to a settlement that included a $50,000 payment and agreement to recalculate some grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's her SC petition for cert - https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1356/97268/20190423135437781_Adetu%20Petition%20E%20File%20Apr%2023%202019.pdf

According to the petition, Sidwell earlier agreed to a settlement that included a $50,000 payment and agreement to recalculate some grades.

This from a school who would not round up a friend’s kids 89.67 to a 90.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's her SC petition for cert - https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1356/97268/20190423135437781_Adetu%20Petition%20E%20File%20Apr%2023%202019.pdf

According to the petition, Sidwell earlier agreed to a settlement that included a $50,000 payment and agreement to recalculate some grades.

There's a lot of red meat in that document for those who're curious about how things really work at Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's her SC petition for cert - https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1356/97268/20190423135437781_Adetu%20Petition%20E%20File%20Apr%2023%202019.pdf

According to the petition, Sidwell earlier agreed to a settlement that included a $50,000 payment and agreement to recalculate some grades.

This from a school who would not round up a friend’s kids 89.67 to a 90.

But your friend didn’t file a lawsuit and try to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

The father/plaintiff seems like a real Nigerian “prince” of a guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's her SC petition for cert - https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1356/97268/20190423135437781_Adetu%20Petition%20E%20File%20Apr%2023%202019.pdf

She now runs track at Penn, after getting in after a gap year.

Twitter thread with more detail than the LA Times story - https://twitter.com/aaron_leib/status/1129011767168970753

In 2015, a black female Sidwell Friends student and her parents sued the school, saying they were retaliated against for raising concerns about racism. She applied to 13 colleges and was the only student in her class of 126 to not get into any.

So she’s trying to get to the Supreme Court because she’s at Penn and not at Harvard? Her parents should be sanctioned for misusing the court system.

Penn doesn’t impress the relatives back in Nigeria the way Harvard does.

[Anonymous]

Something stinks here and it doesn't seem like it is the young girl. IMO if she is at Penn now, after a gap year and no substantive changes to her application (like her SAT score didn't increase exponentially), then it certainly seems to me like Sidwell played a negative role in her initial application. More power to her and her family if she pushes forward with her case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is notorious for attempting to limit how many kids apply to each top school. I know several pissed off families who applied places Sidwell assured them were out of reach, whose kids were admitted.

So this girls experience is not unique, and is common enough situation that it is likely not going to win a lawsuit.

And in each one of those cases, there were recommendations and transcripts sent by the school to those reach colleges, just like with the plaintiff. I know that is what you were trying to say, but it needs to be reiterated.

DP. Recommendations are easily manipulated. It is quite reasonable to think that a school could easily funnel its applicant pool so that only a few make it through. If that is what is happening then that is pretty despicable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is notorious for attempting to limit how many kids apply to each top school. I know several pissed off families who applied places Sidwell assured them were out of reach, whose kids were admitted.

So this girls experience is not unique, and is common enough situation that it is likely not going to win a lawsuit.

And in each one of those cases, there were recommendations and transcripts sent by the school to those reach colleges, just like with the plaintiff. I know that is what you were trying to say, but it needs to be reiterated.

DP. Recommendations are easily manipulated. It is quite reasonable to think that a school could easily funnel its applicant pool so that only a few make it through. If that is what is happening then that is pretty despicable.

What possible reason would a school have to sandbag a student? They presumably would want to have the highest and best record of college placement possible. Having a student who wants to matriculate in the fall after their senior year not gain admittance anywhere is not in their interest. It doesn't make logical sense, regardless of how "difficult" a student or their family might be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something stinks here and it doesn't seem like it is the young girl. IMO if she is at Penn now, after a gap year and no substantive changes to her application (like her SAT score didn't increase exponentially), then it certainly seems to me like Sidwell played a negative role in her initial application. More power to her and her family if she pushes forward with her case.

But they changed her math grades, so there was a material change in her transcript.