Brutal Admissions Year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC applied to only two universities, one is arguably the best private university in the country, and the other is arguably the best public university in the country. DC was admitted to both.

And what arguably are those universities ?

If you have to ask, you don't deserve to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC applied to only two universities, one is arguably the best private university in the country, and the other is arguably the best public university in the country. DC was admitted to both.

And what arguably are those universities ?

If you have to ask, you don't deserve to know.

My guess: Harvard and William & Mary - at least based on east coast sensibilities.

[Anonymous]

OP, why did you start this thread, "got into three good schools, but shut down at so many others"?

You must be thinking of another post. He has NO acceptances yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^Then start your own college and you can make the rules.

Even private colleges have to make sure they follow the law.

The law 'worked' when colleges were exclusively white. You do know that there are non-white applicants that are equally or more qualified in grades, scores, ECs, etc.

Absolutely! And those individuals should be getting in on merit! The Supreme Court actually tightened Affirmative Action laws after the reverse discrimination lawsuit against U.Texas at Austin. The Obama Administration's response was to send a letter from the Dept. of Education to college admissions departments telling them that they can essentially still discriminate re: race. Pretty uncalled-for in my opinion.

There's a reason the Constitution was amended back then, and rightfully so. However, to do the same now to (especially) Asians and Caucasians is no better.

This is exactly where affirmative action breaks down, where there is an historically discriminated-against minority that "over performs" in academically competitive admissions. As a result, they basically get totally read out of affirmative action programs and even discriminated against in open-competitive admissions. No matter that many Asian families came to this country in the last few decades, some on rafts and with just the clothes on their backs. They didn't speak English and faced (and still face discrimination) and now their academically successful kids have quotas put on them in college admissions. At the end of the day, affirmative actions is largely a preference program for African-Americans who for various reasons seem more afflicted than other minority groups by the social pathologies that Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote about in the Sixties. On that basis, it becomes harder and harder to justify.

Not to me, pretty hard to overcome the vestiges of slavery and that's unique to AA in this country. I'm a white female by the way. BTW, pretty much every immigrant that spoke a foreign language was subject to discrimination for some period of time, and many of those immigrants were white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else's kids experiencing this? Got into three good schools, but shut down at so many others! Hearing the same from my friends about their kids as well, and from the kids themselves.

My sister hosts exchange students from China and they are experiencing the same thing up north - #1 in the class, great extra-curriculars, and schools that were well within their reach even 2 years ago are rejecting them left and right. The poor kid is taking it very personally, as are many others. It's heartbreaking to watch.

Asked a friend who is an educational consultant and he confirmed it's getting really brutal out there, more so than even five years ago, and he doesn't see improvement - he sees it getting worse. He says that the common app certainly contributes to it (volume), foreign admissions does as well, (which are very lucrative for colleges), and also that there is an increased focus on admitting more minorities to balance the classes , which helps colleges them up the ranking list. What this is doing is forcing all students, especially those born in good socio-economic standing (i.e more middle/upper middle class) to pile on the APs, pile on the extra-curriculars, pile on the charitable work, etc.

It makes me wonder (a) why parents continue to 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

Something needs to change. I plan to do some more research into all this and get myself involved in righting the wrongs within the system. I'm sure I'm biting off WAY more than I can chew

The above is the original post in this thread. It clearly says the OP's child got into three schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, why did you start this thread, "got into three good schools, but shut down at so many others"?

You must be thinking of another post. He has NO acceptances yet.

I'm thinking of the very first post on this thread, which begins, "nyone else's kids experiencing this? Got into three good schools, but shut down at so many others! Hearing the same from my friends about their kids as well, and from the kids themselves." Check for yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No acceptances so far. Applied to six, with three rejections (2 after deferrals for EA and ED), and now on 3 waitlists. Was outright rejected by "safety" school. We probably needed a REAL safety (hindsight). Didn't apply to Ivies, but comparably selective schools. It's been sobering. We're now just praying for a wait list spot. So yes, brutal for us anyway.

This is my original post. Maybe I hopped onto another thread thinking it was mine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No acceptances so far. Applied to six, with three rejections (2 after deferrals for EA and ED), and now on 3 waitlists. Was outright rejected by "safety" school. We probably needed a REAL safety (hindsight). Didn't apply to Ivies, but comparably selective schools. It's been sobering. We're now just praying for a wait list spot. So yes, brutal for us anyway.

This is my original post. Maybe I hopped onto another thread thinking it was mine?

I think you posted in the middle of this 20+ page thread somewhere. An OP is the person who starts the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No acceptances so far. Applied to six, with three rejections (2 after deferrals for EA and ED), and now on 3 waitlists. Was outright rejected by "safety" school. We probably needed a REAL safety (hindsight). Didn't apply to Ivies, but comparably selective schools. It's been sobering. We're now just praying for a wait list spot. So yes, brutal for us anyway.

This is my original post. Maybe I hopped onto another thread thinking it was mine?

I think you posted in the middle of this 20+ page thread somewhere. An OP is the person who starts the thread.

Ah, got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the merits or demerits of going the guaranteed admission route through NVCC to schools like W&M and UVA?

for my kid, I view the demerits as the following:

My kid has already taken and done well in AP and IB classes in high school, which will allow him to skip some entry-level classes in the subject areas he is most interested in (political science and history). He is an excellent writer. He loves class discussion and debate. The more in-depth the class, the better he likes it and the better he performs. He is not interested in on-line classes or large classes (which is why we are looking at smaller liberal arts colleges for him). He also is a high-level foreign language student. He would like to continue studying this language; NVCC does not offer anything beyond intro classes in this language. In short, I don't think NVCC is a good match for his academic needs.

I also worry that NVCC would not meet his social needs. He seems quite happy but he is somewhat of a loner. Not a joiner and takes time to make friends. I think it would be good for him to live at school, I think (based on my own experience) that this would help him branch out, try new things, get to know more people. I worry that he would end up fairly isolated at CC, that he would not break out of his comfort zone. And then once at his 4-year college, that he would continue to be rather removed from fellow students. I know from working with transfer students when I was in college that it is difficult sometimes for transfer students to fully immerse themselves in campus life.

I don't think it would be dire if DS went to NVCC, but I definitely don't think it would be best for him. Since we can afford to provide a 4-year residential experience for him (at an in-state public anyway), that is what we will seek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly where affirmative action breaks down, where there is an historically discriminated-against minority that "over performs" in academically competitive admissions. As a result, they basically get totally read out of affirmative action programs and even discriminated against in open-competitive admissions. No matter that many Asian families came to this country in the last few decades, some on rafts and with just the clothes on their backs. They didn't speak English and faced (and still face discrimination) and now their academically successful kids have quotas put on them in college admissions. At the end of the day, affirmative actions is largely a preference program for African-Americans who for various reasons seem more afflicted than other minority groups by the social pathologies that Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote about in the Sixties. On that basis, it becomes harder and harder to justify.

I seriously doubt any asians got to the USA on rafts....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I just took a quick look at Cambridge and Oxford. We hadn't even thought about this option , but it looks like they might be perfect! Thank you!

You're welcome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly where affirmative action breaks down, where there is an historically discriminated-against minority that "over performs" in academically competitive admissions. As a result, they basically get totally read out of affirmative action programs and even discriminated against in open-competitive admissions. No matter that many Asian families came to this country in the last few decades, some on rafts and with just the clothes on their backs. They didn't speak English and faced (and still face discrimination) and now their academically successful kids have quotas put on them in college admissions. At the end of the day, affirmative actions is largely a preference program for African-Americans who for various reasons seem more afflicted than other minority groups by the social pathologies that Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote about in the Sixties. On that basis, it becomes harder and harder to justify.

I seriously doubt any asians got to the USA on rafts....

Shhhh. Surely you know that the narrative of reverse discrimination justifies a bit (or more than a bit) of hyperbole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly where affirmative action breaks down, where there is an historically discriminated-against minority that "over performs" in academically competitive admissions. As a result, they basically get totally read out of affirmative action programs and even discriminated against in open-competitive admissions. No matter that many Asian families came to this country in the last few decades, some on rafts and with just the clothes on their backs. They didn't speak English and faced (and still face discrimination) and now their academically successful kids have quotas put on them in college admissions. At the end of the day, affirmative actions is largely a preference program for African-Americans who for various reasons seem more afflicted than other minority groups by the social pathologies that Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote about in the Sixties. On that basis, it becomes harder and harder to justify.

I seriously doubt any asians got to the USA on rafts....

Shhhh. Surely you know that the narrative of reverse discrimination justifies a bit (or more than a bit) of hyperbole.

I thought a bit about the Kon-Tiki expedition, but decided it was not applicable here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC applied to only two universities, one is arguably the best private university in the country, and the other is arguably the best public university in the country. DC was admitted to both.

And what arguably are those universities ?

If you have to ask, you don't deserve to know.

My guess: Harvard and William & Mary - at least based on east coast sensibilities.

Haha - I was going to guess Yale and UVA.