This is getting ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

This is pretty creative trolling.

City IT departments are not looking for “help” from high school kids unless a parent is a council member and can force them to accept the kid. Startups are not looking for high school kids. And I say this as the owner of a small software company that gave my kid an internship during COVID.

99% of what’s written on DCUM about IT and CS is written by people who have never worked in the field and have no idea what they are talking about.

I don't disagree that many people on here don't know what they're talking about, but you may be one of them in this case. I know for a fact that there are high school kids in the DC area doing technical work/research for the government that they're not allowed to discuss, so I've gotta believe that, with thousands of cities and towns across the country, there are some who are finding that there are local teens who have the computer skills they need.

Federal high school internship or DC SYEP don’t seem to be what PP was talking about because they are widely known and established. PP was suggesting an innovative path of “helping” a city IT department. Internships are a PITA for the organization running them, particularly in IT, not least because you have to ensure that someone you can’t trust to adhere to best practices covered in CSAT training and user ROB can’t do harm to your environment. They generally provide highly negative value during the actual internship. The only benefit they provide is that years in the future, the interns may actually be in a position to learn something useful (not “know something useful” because new CS grads still know nothing, but at least they are teachable).

Again, 99% of people who post about IT on DCUM have no idea what they are talking about. Believe me PP, the teens interning at the NSA aren’t teaching NSA new stuff or being particularly helpful.

I am the PP who gave the suggestions that everyone is talking about. My kid had a city internship. It was a very unique opportunity I guess — if such options are not available elsewhere. But it is offered to many kids at our school.

I agree with high schoolers not being able to add much value, but they can do grunt work and at our school, kids build apps that are used by the local government. So sorry if you guys don’t have it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mainly just a venting post so bear with me but this is getting pretty ridiculous with the waitlists after the deferrals.. seems like so many of our kids are getting strung along. I, like many, have a kid hoping to major in CS. CS is his innate gift and he is truly gifted at it but these schools don’t seem to see that. He is accepted somewhere (definitely not top 50) so he is probably heading there but what on Earth is going on with all these deferrals and waitlists??? Who is getting in to these places?? He is a white male, 1580 SAT, UMC, straight A, multiple AP, highest rigor, multiple award winning, dedicated volunteer hours, write ups in magazines, articles in Wired… What else to they want?

There is nothing social about his stats, this is all academics. Colleges and Universities want students who display leadership, social commitment and bring something to campus to make it a better place - not just students who will get A's in class and spend the rest of their time in their dorm rooms playing video games. The kids getting into T50 have those stats PLUS are captain of a sport, president of a club, leader of a student group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mainly just a venting post so bear with me but this is getting pretty ridiculous with the waitlists after the deferrals.. seems like so many of our kids are getting strung along. I, like many, have a kid hoping to major in CS. CS is his innate gift and he is truly gifted at it but these schools don’t seem to see that. He is accepted somewhere (definitely not top 50) so he is probably heading there but what on Earth is going on with all these deferrals and waitlists??? Who is getting in to these places?? He is a white male, 1580 SAT, UMC, straight A, multiple AP, highest rigor, multiple award winning, dedicated volunteer hours, write ups in magazines, articles in Wired… What else to they want?

There is nothing social about his stats, this is all academics. Colleges and Universities want students who display leadership, social commitment and bring something to campus to make it a better place - not just students who will get A's in class and spend the rest of their time in their dorm rooms playing video games. The kids getting into T50 have those stats PLUS are captain of a sport, president of a club, leader of a student group.

While this is generally true, I’d say there is room for introverted, brilliant kids who show potential to use their smarts to detect something that causes a certain type of cancer. This would be evidenced by research with published papers ( I know a kid who is first author on a paper published in a high impact factor journal), presenting at conferences or winning awards at ISEF, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mainly just a venting post so bear with me but this is getting pretty ridiculous with the waitlists after the deferrals.. seems like so many of our kids are getting strung along. I, like many, have a kid hoping to major in CS. CS is his innate gift and he is truly gifted at it but these schools don’t seem to see that. He is accepted somewhere (definitely not top 50) so he is probably heading there but what on Earth is going on with all these deferrals and waitlists??? Who is getting in to these places?? He is a white male, 1580 SAT, UMC, straight A, multiple AP, highest rigor, multiple award winning, dedicated volunteer hours, write ups in magazines, articles in Wired… What else to they want?

There is nothing social about his stats, this is all academics. Colleges and Universities want students who display leadership, social commitment and bring something to campus to make it a better place - not just students who will get A's in class and spend the rest of their time in their dorm rooms playing video games. The kids getting into T50 have those stats PLUS are captain of a sport, president of a club, leader of a student group.

OP - he has leadership roles. Good ones. Thanks for the assumption though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mainly just a venting post so bear with me but this is getting pretty ridiculous with the waitlists after the deferrals.. seems like so many of our kids are getting strung along. I, like many, have a kid hoping to major in CS. CS is his innate gift and he is truly gifted at it but these schools don’t seem to see that. He is accepted somewhere (definitely not top 50) so he is probably heading there but what on Earth is going on with all these deferrals and waitlists??? Who is getting in to these places?? He is a white male, 1580 SAT, UMC, straight A, multiple AP, highest rigor, multiple award winning, dedicated volunteer hours, write ups in magazines, articles in Wired… What else to they want?

There is nothing social about his stats, this is all academics. Colleges and Universities want students who display leadership, social commitment and bring something to campus to make it a better place - not just students who will get A's in class and spend the rest of their time in their dorm rooms playing video games. The kids getting into T50 have those stats PLUS are captain of a sport, president of a club, leader of a student group.

While this is generally true, I’d say there is room for introverted, brilliant kids who show potential to use their smarts to detect something that causes a certain type of cancer. This would be evidenced by research with published papers ( I know a kid who is first author on a paper published in a high impact factor journal), presenting at conferences or winning awards at ISEF, etc.

Pp here… the cancer detection was one example. There are more.

[Anonymous]

So it now requires for a seventeen year old to cure cancer to get into a decent school?

[Anonymous]

When I was 17,I spent minimum time doing school work, had 2 Cs when graduated, did zero EC and zero leadership initiatives and zero community work. DH was even worse and doesn’t even have a college degree. We are now in top 10% income bracket.

I’m just saying this to illiterate how demands on kids have changed over just one generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was 17,I spent minimum time doing school work, had 2 Cs when graduated, did zero EC and zero leadership initiatives and zero community work. DH was even worse and doesn’t even have a college degree. We are now in top 10% income bracket.

I’m just saying this to illiterate how demands on kids have changed over just one generation.

I realize it is a typo...but it's funny..."illiterate" vs. "illustrate"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it now requires for a seventeen year old to cure cancer to get into a decent school?

A) my advice is for top tier schools, not just decent ones. Any school is a decent school if it’s in the Fiske Guide.
B) your reading comprehension could use some work! I said “potential to cure”, not actually cure. High school kids are detecting genes that are correlated to various diseases. That is what the usual high achievers do not realize and are disappointed. The bar has been raised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was 17,I spent minimum time doing school work, had 2 Cs when graduated, did zero EC and zero leadership initiatives and zero community work. DH was even worse and doesn’t even have a college degree. We are now in top 10% income bracket.

I’m just saying this to illiterate how demands on kids have changed over just one generation.

Yes, this!!! That is why I said the bar has been raised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mainly just a venting post so bear with me but this is getting pretty ridiculous with the waitlists after the deferrals.. seems like so many of our kids are getting strung along. I, like many, have a kid hoping to major in CS. CS is his innate gift and he is truly gifted at it but these schools don’t seem to see that. He is accepted somewhere (definitely not top 50) so he is probably heading there but what on Earth is going on with all these deferrals and waitlists??? Who is getting in to these places?? He is a white male, 1580 SAT, UMC, straight A, multiple AP, highest rigor, multiple award winning, dedicated volunteer hours, write ups in magazines, articles in Wired… What else to they want?

There is nothing social about his stats, this is all academics. Colleges and Universities want students who display leadership, social commitment and bring something to campus to make it a better place - not just students who will get A's in class and spend the rest of their time in their dorm rooms playing video games. The kids getting into T50 have those stats PLUS are captain of a sport, president of a club, leader of a student group.

OP - he has leadership roles. Good ones. Thanks for the assumption though

DP here. I was assuming so, from your post, OP. Don't listen to some of these sour grapes PPs. You owe them zero explanation of your concerns, because they have no idea. It is very difficult, you are not alone. Covid did a number on acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it now requires for a seventeen year old to cure cancer to get into a decent school?

Once again---decent schools abound outside the T25. So no, your 17 yo does NOT need to cure cancer to get into a decent school. Plenty of great schools for your kid to get into, if they can't get into T25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it now requires for a seventeen year old to cure cancer to get into a decent school?

Or escape civil war
Or be first generation to go to college
Or overcome a disability

Or be a recruited athlete
Or be a legacy
Or put your family name on a building


For top 25ish schools, pretty much. Excellent grades, perfect test scores, leadership and ECs don't cut it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So it now requires for a seventeen year old to cure cancer to get into a decent school?

Or escape civil war
Or be first generation to go to college
Or overcome a disability

Or be a recruited athlete
Or be a legacy
Or put your family name on a building


For top 25ish schools, pretty much. Excellent grades, perfect test scores, leadership and ECs don't cut it

Or something else. I have no idea what. My kid is not a legacy, not in any of the categories above, is a vanilla UMC kid with more opportunities and privileges than the average person. She worked hard but so did a million other kids. She had great academic outcomes and decent ECs but nothing like curing cancer. She wrote good essays but they were truthful - so she sounded like a teen who had a ton of opportunities. And yet she got in. So who knows?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So it now requires for a seventeen year old to cure cancer to get into a decent school?

Or escape civil war
Or be first generation to go to college
Or overcome a disability

Or be a recruited athlete
Or be a legacy
Or put your family name on a building


For top 25ish schools, pretty much. Excellent grades, perfect test scores, leadership and ECs don't cut it

Or something else. I have no idea what. My kid is not a legacy, not in any of the categories above, is a vanilla UMC kid with more opportunities and privileges than the average person. She worked hard but so did a million other kids. She had great academic outcomes and decent ECs but nothing like curing cancer. She wrote good essays but they were truthful - so she sounded like a teen who had a ton of opportunities. And yet she got in. So who knows?

Well if she was a top academic recruit without any other support, that is desirable.