Disappointment

[Anonymous]

REACH
JHU, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Duke, CMU, Cornell, UNC (OOS)
TARGET
UVA, VT, WM, Lehigh
SAFETY
UPitt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I think it’s wrong that our current college admissions process is becoming like Korea, China or India where children lose their childhoods spending 10 hour days cramming to score high enough or pressured to abandon all ethics and cheat whenever possible to get a coveted seat at the few respected institutions. Whether you win the lottery or not, you have lost more than you gained along the way.

True. But no one needs to do this. There are plenty of great schools out there for which you don’t need to kill yourself to get in. It’s the mindset that only certain schools will do is making us like Korea, China and India. And that’s in part because that mindset was imported here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you don't need to keep putting up with people here being jackasses. College Confidential is actually filled with people willing to help, and with moderators that help keep people in line; you should go check it out if you're tired of people being weird here.

Help with what?

Dealing with racial discrimination in the name of DEI.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the application process for highly qualified daughters. If your daughter is white or Asian, it's even worse. The stats don't lie - your daughter is competing with far more applicants exactly like her than boys. Check the Common Data Set stats and you will see it - applicants are mostly girls. Are you middle class - specifically in the not so sweet spot of a family earned income between 200K and 400K a year? It's even worse than just having a daughter!

A boy with those stats would have a bigger advantage than a girl in gaining admission simply because there aren't enough boys applying. Add to that the middle class earned income no fly zone where you earn just enough to pay for school but not enough to pay full tuition, and it becomes a tougher road. The stats and the achievements are only part of the equation.

You should feel upset - your kid busted their behind and others who may be less deserving but fulfilled some unknown need of the colleges on the list got their admit. It sucks, but it's where we are.

My DD was in the exact same boat but we applied to places where she had clear opportunities at a full ride (in addition to the standard T20 applications) and she got more than one full ride offer at what would be considered by most here as lower tier schools. That helped her get over the sting of not being accepted to the T20s in her list.

My attitude would be as follows - those other schools didn't want my kid? F them - they're missing out, and we are going to focus on the ones that showed my kid some love and love them right back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks UNC is a safety for OOS has zero clue about the college process.

Unpopular opinion on here, I suppose, but it shouldn't take a degree in game theory to figure out where to apply for college.

Well when a majority of applicants find only the top 1% of the nation’s colleges acceptable, that’s where you end up. You feel entitled to a certain level of prestige. The admissions process doesn’t have to be thus, however. DC has taken 12 APs and got rejected from their 1 reach and got 10 acceptances, which were true safeties (accept 75% or more of all applicants) and targets (where DC was top quartile SAT/GPA and we expected a 2/3 chance or greater of getting in) based on Naviance/CCO


No carefully curated ECs. 1 or 2 sports. Summer jobs. A little volunteer work. Easy peazy lemon squeezey.


I doubt any of the colleges OP listed were safeties for almost anyone. Probably true targets for very, very few. UVA RD and UNC OOS are not targets. Lehigh RD is not a target. Pitt is not a safety, it’s a target. OP’s list was waaaaaaay too top heavy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the application process for highly qualified daughters. If your daughter is white or Asian, it's even worse. The stats don't lie - your daughter is competing with far more applicants exactly like her than boys. Check the Common Data Set stats and you will see it - applicants are mostly girls. Are you middle class - specifically in the not so sweet spot of a family earned income between 200K and 400K a year? It's even worse than just having a daughter!

A boy with those stats would have a bigger advantage than a girl in gaining admission simply because there aren't enough boys applying. Add to that the middle class earned income no fly zone where you earn just enough to pay for school but not enough to pay full tuition, and it becomes a tougher road. The stats and the achievements are only part of the equation.

You should feel upset - your kid busted their behind and others who may be less deserving but fulfilled some unknown need of the colleges on the list got their admit. It sucks, but it's where we are.

My DD was in the exact same boat but we applied to places where she had clear opportunities at a full ride (in addition to the standard T20 applications) and she got more than one full ride offer at what would be considered by most here as lower tier schools. That helped her get over the sting of not being accepted to the T20s in her list.

My attitude would be as follows - those other schools didn't want my kid? F them - they're missing out, and we are going to focus on the ones that showed my kid some love and love them right back.

Yes, we're in that income bracket. DD is half-Asian, and according to this thread I'm guessing her "stereotypical" ECs showed AOs that she was Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:REACH
JHU, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Duke, CMU, Cornell, UNC (OOS)
TARGET
UVA, VT, WM, Lehigh
SAFETY
UPitt

UVA and VT would be REACH and not targets if applying for engineering schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call me crazy, but personally, I think schools see kids with 15 APs (all 5s) and think "she'll graduate early so that's a year less of tuition." It's a business.

Hmm, this does make quite a bit of sense. I actually thought that all her APs would give her a boost, especially with her scores.

This actually makes no sense because most of these schools are privates won't allow more than a couple of courses for credit so she would be going all 4 years anyway. The APs are only useful for demonstrating rigor and for course placement.

Yes, but UVA accepts AP credits - We were the most surprised with this WL. Did not expect it at all.

I am concerned about UVA next year for my high stats junior. She said that UVA expects highest rigor of English and history in addition to all the STEM classes for engineering. I'm sorry OP. I appreciate your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks UNC is a safety for OOS has zero clue about the college process.

When did OP say it was a safety?

21:35pm post: "DD really liked CMU and wanted to double major with BME. UNC's joint program was supposed to be more of a safety, and DD said that she loved Dartmouth's flexibility in that program."

Op also said her daughter was "guaranteed" admission to UVA by her college counselor.

OP has to be a troll. This is beyond delusional.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter sounds amazing and will be great wherever she ends up. She has four great choices. After reading all this, I have to say kids who have very good but not top stats (like my kid) have a less stressful experience with the admissions process because they know they’re not at the top and aim a little lower. I feel for the very top kids, but know that your very top kids will thrive and make great contributions wherever they go because they have the drive and self-discipline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks UNC is a safety for OOS has zero clue about the college process.

When did OP say it was a safety?

21:35pm post: "DD really liked CMU and wanted to double major with BME. UNC's joint program was supposed to be more of a safety, and DD said that she loved Dartmouth's flexibility in that program."

Op also said her daughter was "guaranteed" admission to UVA by her college counselor.

OP has to be a troll. This is beyond delusional.

The counselor comments where I call troll- NO school counselor would say that and OP said did not pay for outside consultant.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we're in that income bracket. DD is half-Asian, and according to this thread I'm guessing her "stereotypical" ECs showed AOs that she was Asian.

Ahh yes - the infamous double whammy! A white/Asian girl from a "middle income family"!

The other part of this is you are from NoVA (which I believe I saw in another part of this thread).

That means you actually had THREE strikes against your daughter. If you had your same situation (girl, middle income) but were from Montana or Mississippi, we might be having a different conversation. Kids from the DMV or from the NYC/NJ/Boston areas are the least geographically "interesting" kids to these schools out there. Most high stats kids from those areas are applying to the same schools on your list.

This is what I tell people - whatever you think about your kid's HS career and resume, there are many other factors to consider that you may not think would have an impact but do, and most of those factors are out of your control. It's ok to be mad/disappointed.

Unless your kid gets off the waitlist at one of those other schools, start falling in love with the schools that wanted her. Those other schools that said no? F them - they're missing out on a terrific student!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter sounds amazing and will be great wherever she ends up. She has four great choices. After reading all this, I have to say kids who have very good but not top stats (like my kid) have a less stressful experience with the admissions process because they know they’re not at the top and aim a little lower. I feel for the very top kids, but know that your very top kids will thrive and make great contributions wherever they go because they have the drive and self-discipline.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It was definitely very competitive this year...

You really are a poor listener & so divorced from reality. After all this feedback you go "it was very competitive this year!"

No. it is very competitive EVERY YEAR.

Your kid is an average kid for these schools. There are many other really good kids out there too, some even extraordinary. Versus it being in the bag, your child would have been very very lucky to get in, same for every other kid.

Lmao god you guys are so self-absorbed, OP is allowed to let out their (rightful) frustrations without being attacked left and right. If a perfect GPA, 1570 SAT, and 5s in 14 APs is "average" to you (yes, even in a more competitive area) then you need to get your head examined. I feel bad for some of your kids, this place can be such a toxic cesspool.

This thread is not as long as it is just because people are interested in one parent’s disappointment. There are lots of similar case studies in this forum, and lessons to be learned for those facing the admissions process in the future. OP provided stats and results, which of course invites discussion, plus opinions about those results, which invites alternative opinions. It’s all well and good, and kind of the point of the forum.

As far as toxic cesspool goes, it was OP who uncharitably speculated about less worthy classmates. Don’t want to be attacked? Don’t invite it.

It's interesting that OP didn't say anything about DD's race. After the posters saw her stats and ECs, multiple posters almost immediately pointed out that DD is an Asian. That is interesting.

Two take-aways:

1. The discriminatory practice goes on after the affirmative action is held unconstitutional. Asian applicants are disadvantaged in the college process, even one year after the Harvard case.

2. Asian applicants' EC sucks the big time so much so anyone could tell by their ECs without their racial information. Research/Non-profit/stem competition got to go.

OP's post seems so fake and designed to stir up more hate against affirmative action which was banned. So you can't conclude premise 1 for these reasons:

1. OP never has explained how much they earn and how much financial aid they need. This year especially all things being clos to equal a full pay family is getting in over a family needing financial aid. And it might have been an Asian international student who took the spot not a POC and/or poor American. Around 16% of the freshman class in 23-24 was made up of international students. JHU labels these students nonresidents and lists: Nonresident - A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a student visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.

2. Someone who is so invested in college most certainly knows the difference between Early Action and Early Decision. OP first says it was early action to JHU then when confronted say it was Early Decision, then clarifies it actually was Early Decision, second round. Meanwhile over a third of the class of 29 at JHU that was just accepted applied Early Decision 1.

3. I am skeptical that a student took 14 AP tests in 9th-11th grade since that is the only way you would know that you scored a five on all 14 tests. But if a student really did there comes a point that college admissions just see it as pointless. Do you really need to take AP World History and self-study AP Human Geography and AP European History just to rack up the number of AP's.

4. You can only compare college acceptances with equivalent majors. So yeah if you applied for computer science or anything engineering like OP claims her daughter applied BME and didn't get in but someone applied to a humanities major and got in with a lower GPA, no duh! And if you are girl going for CS or engineering or business you have an edge or a boy for humanities and even biology. It doesn't mean you are being discriminated against.

And for the second premise:
Totally true too many applicants have the same EC: started non-profit, play cello, piano or violin, volunteer at a hospital, stem competition, did research, robotics, chess, play individual sport like tennis, swim, or golf. Then way too many of applicants with these EC want STEM majors.

Colleges want some kids who were on leadership/ASB/Student government, were in yearbook, drama or other non weighted classes that contributed to their high school.

1. We're in the $200k-$400k income bracket

2. Of course know the difference between EA and ED, like I said multiple times I made a mistake and accidentally wrote EA when I meant ED. How scandalous.

3. She did take 14 APs - She self-studied for a few of the easier ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks UNC is a safety for OOS has zero clue about the college process.

When did OP say it was a safety?

21:35pm post: "DD really liked CMU and wanted to double major with BME. UNC's joint program was supposed to be more of a safety, and DD said that she loved Dartmouth's flexibility in that program."

Op also said her daughter was "guaranteed" admission to UVA by her college counselor.

OP has to be a troll. This is beyond delusional.

I said almost guaranteed - Her counselor told us that it was very likely. UVA is a great school, but DD's public sends many kids to UVA every year. How is this delusional?