Lessons learned: 2025-2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't feel pressured to apply anywhere ED1 or ED2. EA, REA and rolling admission are all great options.


Don't apply to 3+ safeties. 2 safeties that your DC would be happy to attend is sufficient.

Too many applications leads to burnout.

Take a trip with your DC that is not college related just to have fun, even if it's only for a long weekend 1:1 and bond and tell them you love them and are proud of them while you are waiting for decisions.

Agree.

Firmly disagree. Once you’ve completed the common app, another safety school costs nothing but the application fee. A deluge of rejections feels miserable. Apply to 1 safety for every reach.

One reason to limit safeties is that a lot of top students have a difficult time finding safeties that they would be happy to attend.

But it shouldn’t be hard. There are many great schools and people need to stop obsessing over 50 schools in the country (including SLACs) as the only “acceptable” schools.

There are only 10 acceptable schools, not 50.

Why do I feel like avoiding the school this person went to, or at least staying away from people like them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP: multiple posters above said don't ED unless a school is your favorite. But doesn't ED provide a much higher odds of acceptance?

Should you ED a school that you like slightly less for a better admission outcome and less stress?

ED only provides a boost to unhooked schools if you go below t25. outside Chicago.

dont get suckered into EDing to Emory or Middlebury. those kids have lots of options. maybe with merit

Wrong. Cornell, Northwestern, and Vandy ED all give big boosts to unhooked kids, as well as Chicago.

[Anonymous]

This is pretty niche, but if you have time, visit the museums on the campuses you visit. Some of these universities have extraordinary collections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP: multiple posters above said don't ED unless a school is your favorite. But doesn't ED provide a much higher odds of acceptance?

Should you ED a school that you like slightly less for a better admission outcome and less stress?

ED only provides a boost to unhooked schools if you go below t25. outside Chicago.

dont get suckered into EDing to Emory or Middlebury. those kids have lots of options. maybe with merit

you guys are trying to thin the applicant pool. 3500 applied ED1 to Emory with a 25% AR. ED2 was worse.

[Anonymous]

1. Don't be afraid. UCLA had 170,000 apps. My kid, who has no hooks, but great grades in AP classes, got in. Someone has to get in.
2. Don't put your head under a rock. Same kid did not get in UNC. We saw it coming because of how notoriously hard it is. But it was worth the try.
3. I could preach this til I die. Your SAT/ACT will only go up if you continue the same intense prep through the second/third/fourth test. It wastes time and money to just take it again "to see how you do."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is pretty niche, but if you have time, visit the museums on the campuses you visit. Some of these universities have extraordinary collections.

+1. DD and I also have visited some beautiful gardens, and the lemur sanctuary at Duke is great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Don't be afraid. UCLA had 170,000 apps. My kid, who has no hooks, but great grades in AP classes, got in. Someone has to get in.
2. Don't put your head under a rock. Same kid did not get in UNC. We saw it coming because of how notoriously hard it is. But it was worth the try.
3. I could preach this til I die. Your SAT/ACT will only go up if you continue the same intense prep through the second/third/fourth test. It wastes time and money to just take it again "to see how you do."

+1 All very true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 lessons:

GPA is the only thing that really matters. Kid has to have 4.4 and up to be competitive.

SAT cannot make up for a low GPA (eg 4.25 W GPA)

EC's and Essay's do not matter much for STEM.

Outside the T30 - most places are desperate for $$. So admission to schools like Pitt, Penn State, UMN, Oregon State, Arizona - all very good school - is relatively easy. So dont stress.

What if you don't have a weighted gpa?

I hate that post. Are they saying that a kid with below a 4.4 weighted should just give up and get a job flipping burgers? “To be competitive” for what?

[Anonymous]

I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

Schools will see his higher rigor, so I’d shoot high but know that the slower start could hurt him, so make sure he also has good safeties and targets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

Can you ask senior parents? Anyone been there done that? Look at your school profile as well and maybe schedule a meeting with the college counselor?

What’s the end of 11th uw gpa? Scores? Major?

Also consider schools that discount freshman grades like Stanford or Emory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

Can you ask senior parents? Anyone been there done that? Look at your school profile as well and maybe schedule a meeting with the college counselor?

What’s the end of 11th uw gpa? Scores? Major?

Also consider schools that discount freshman grades like Stanford or Emory.

Is a regular smart kid with no VIP parents or Olympics resume possible at Stanford or is that throwing the SCEA/ED away?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

Can you ask senior parents? Anyone been there done that? Look at your school profile as well and maybe schedule a meeting with the college counselor?

What’s the end of 11th uw gpa? Scores? Major?

Also consider schools that discount freshman grades like Stanford or Emory.

Is a regular smart kid with no VIP parents or Olympics resume possible at Stanford or is that throwing the SCEA/ED away?

Places like Stanford & Harvard use early acceptance to lock in applicants they know they would accept in the regular round. Places like Northwestern & Chicago use it to lock in people who would likely not attend if they got in Ivy/Stanford/Duke/MIT in regular round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

Can you ask senior parents? Anyone been there done that? Look at your school profile as well and maybe schedule a meeting with the college counselor?

What’s the end of 11th uw gpa? Scores? Major?

Also consider schools that discount freshman grades like Stanford or Emory.

Is a regular smart kid with no VIP parents or Olympics resume possible at Stanford or is that throwing the SCEA/ED away?

At our DC private, Stanford loves the legacy kids. So also consider this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have questions for PPs who say GPA is king and stay close to Naviance/Scoir gpa patterns.

Our DC has a lower GPA than top kids bc he coasted during 9th grade and got a couple B+, but has since stepped up big time and been straight As since 10th on most rigorous course load. In fact some top kids (GPA wise) are not taking all of these most rigorous courses in order to maintain their 3.95ish GPA (unweighted and our school doesn’t assign higher GPA to tougher courses). Only about 18-24 get into each of these courses, you can count on one hand kids who are in all of the hardest tracks and getting As (my DC is). Question here is: would our DC still be looked at as a lower tier applicant from our school even when he is currently (in 11th grade) a top student? Should he plan to avoid popular schools the top GPA kids will apply to during ED round? SAT is very high if that matters in this context.

Can you ask senior parents? Anyone been there done that? Look at your school profile as well and maybe schedule a meeting with the college counselor?

What’s the end of 11th uw gpa? Scores? Major?

Also consider schools that discount freshman grades like Stanford or Emory.

Is a regular smart kid with no VIP parents or Olympics resume possible at Stanford or is that throwing the SCEA/ED away?

Places like Stanford & Harvard use early acceptance to lock in applicants they know they would accept in the regular round. Places like Northwestern & Chicago use it to lock in people who would likely not attend if they got in Ivy/Stanford/Duke/MIT in regular round.

Stanford and Harvard early rounds are not binding, so they are not locking in anyone.