WSJ article on your child's chances of getting into an IVY are slim

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

"She is now ranked 23rd out of 668" at a high school where only half the graduates go to a 4-year college doesn't make her a "star."
I'm sorry if someone told her otherwise. She was poorly counseled, and should've applied to more colleges that occupy the wide space between USC and ASU.

That puts her in the top 3% of the class, and she got a 1550 on the SAT. A student like that is applying to Ivies even if they won’t get in.

Not at a second-rate high school.

I got into an Ivy from a second rate high school!

And you applied in 2022?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My kid had a 4.0UW at TJHSST, a 1580 SAT, double digit number of APs with 5s on all the exams, state-level academic awards, club leadership, varsity athlete, and didn't get into HYPSM.

Should I call the WSJ?

Agree 100%. There are so many of these "average excellent" students like the subject of the article with all the grade inflation in HSs nationwide, and the vast majority won't get into the Ivy League. Straight A's, solid extracurriculars and top test scores just don't cut it for most students. My daughter graduated TJHSST in 2018, had a superscored 1600 SAT and was also a 2 sport varsity athlete with first or second team all conference honors (but not good enough to play either sport in the Ivy League D1) and was likely in the top 10% of the class at TJ. She had an excellent guidance counselor at TJ who gave her good advice about her chances and how she should present herself to the colleges she applied to. She too was shut out of Stanford and the 3 Ivys she applied to but she wasn't surprised and took it in stride. Still she had a fantastic outcome and was accepted to Duke, UChicago and UVA Echols and is now a few weeks from graduating from Duke w/a great job waiting for her. She wouldn't have traded her 4 years at Duke for ANY of the Ivys at this point. Outside of the covid year, she loved her 4 years at Duke and the group of friends she made there.

Congratulations to your daughter but with all of the changes in admissions such as TO, emphasis on recruitment of first-gen and/or URM students, increasing #s of applications, etc. the high school class of 2018 admissions aren’t relevant.

so many posters here do not grasp the sea change in college admissions in just the last two years.

That inequality has widened in the past two years significantly? I agree.

perhaps i should have been more specific. colleges appear to be much more intentional in composing a class, paying more attention to where the future change makers may come from in society. or that leadership can come from more than varsity athletes. sadly it took a pandemic and a video capturing the murder of George Floyd to push admissions offices to shake up their criteria.

they better move fast. This is the last class year they have until the Supreme Court strikes it down

And you actually believe that. God, you're precious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Much easier to blame people of another race, gender, socioeconomic status -- whatever than to just recognize that the world is a big, big place; that it can be tough; that it's not always fair; and that - despite all of this - if you work hard, treat others nicely, and keep your perspective, you can probably scratch out a pretty decent life for yourself. In fact, if you do these things, your odds of scratching out a serviceable life for yourself and your family is probably better now (for most people) than it has been at any other time or place. The problem is that you are also more likely to be bombarded with Bad News 24/7/365 than you were in the past.

Translation: ignore systemic issues

These changes were made to ADDRESS systemic issues. You just don't like the new rules. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

So she should have known her place. Got it.

Oh, grow up. Community theatre, school accounting club, a meaningless part time job and stats that were extremely common in their applicant pools was never going to get her into an Ivy. Delusional.

All that is theoretically supposed to matter is what you do in the context of your high school. 99% high schoolers have no access to “internships” or research experience.

The bolded is interesting. I’m not saying this is her situation, but a lot of kids that have to work a job in high school do not have time to do what you consider meaningful extracurriculars.

[Anonymous]

The repeated typo in this thread makes me think OP knows a particular student at a local high school because I’ve seen this before. OP, if your kid has been admitted to 6 ivies, can you help us understand what did it outside of, I assume, perfect stats with the most rigorous schedule? Because it’s really, really unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

So she should have known her place. Got it.

Oh, grow up. Community theatre, school accounting club, a meaningless part time job and stats that were extremely common in their applicant pools was never going to get her into an Ivy. Delusional.

All that is theoretically supposed to matter is what you do in the context of your high school. 99% high schoolers have no access to “internships” or research experience.

The bolded is interesting. I’m not saying this is her situation, but a lot of kids that have to work a job in high school do not have time to do what you consider meaningful extracurriculars.

I said that because there have been SO many wealthy parents crying on DCUM this month that there’s NO WAY Elite School X shouldn’t have taken their precious snowflake, who even played varsity sports (like thousands and thousands of other applicants), was OMG an EAGLE SCOUT and even worked at Smoothie King! No, it must be because their snowflake’s Rightful Place was taken by a nonwhite applicant and it’s not faaaaaaair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Now it largely means you won the diversity lottery. Which is fine but the degrees don’t carry as much weight.

This is bullshit and diminishes the hard work of so many kids.

No, it isn't.

It's understood that the Ivies largely see themselves now as engines of social change, and favor URMs over other students with stronger records. There are Ivies that, for years, have only admitted students from some DC-area schools who are minorities.

That's OK. The Ivies are private universities and they can change their admissions policies as they see fit. And their current approach may well be preferable to their approach in earlier periods where students were admitted simply based on their pedigree and social status.

But the flip side is that their current graduates don't garner the same respect as Ivy graduates from the 70s to early 00s. Many employers would just as happily hire someone from Maryland or Virginia Tech now as from Princeton or Brown. Sure, they remain incredibly selective, and they are still the brass ring for some families. But others fully understand that they aren't nearly as meritocratic as they were.

This is complete BS. What Ivy is only admitting students from DC schools who are minorities?
Interesting then that my daughter who started at an Ivy last year was amazed at the number of white and Asian wealthy kids she encountered. She had never before come across such extreme wealth. And a ton of private school kids. There are still not that many poor, first generation and Minority kids at these top schools. She also has met many recruited athletes. The football team alone at her Ivy has over 100 kids on the roster.

Harvard and Yale, from the Sidwell class of 2022. I can say that now, 5/1/22, because the school’s internal senior “big reveal” day just occurred. These admits are really, really impressive by any objective measure. I’m talking about 7-8 kids. Race identification may have been the tipping factor or not when compared to their impressive Sidwell 2022 classmates who also applied this year and were not admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

So she should have known her place. Got it.

Oh, grow up. Community theatre, school accounting club, a meaningless part time job and stats that were extremely common in their applicant pools was never going to get her into an Ivy. Delusional.

All that is theoretically supposed to matter is what you do in the context of your high school. 99% high schoolers have no access to “internships” or research experience.

The bolded is interesting. I’m not saying this is her situation, but a lot of kids that have to work a job in high school do not have time to do what you consider meaningful extracurriculars.

Meaningful extracurriculars are mostly bogus fake altruism and completely fabricated. Recall the Penn scammer said she “founded” a nonprofit and the step mom said that was a lie, she came to literally one event. I’m far more impressed by a teen who worked a couple years at McDonalds or a grocery store than a workshy scammer who fabricated some humanitarian narrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

So she should have known her place. Got it.

Oh, grow up. Community theatre, school accounting club, a meaningless part time job and stats that were extremely common in their applicant pools was never going to get her into an Ivy. Delusional.

All that is theoretically supposed to matter is what you do in the context of your high school. 99% high schoolers have no access to “internships” or research experience.

The bolded is interesting. I’m not saying this is her situation, but a lot of kids that have to work a job in high school do not have time to do what you consider meaningful extracurriculars.

Meaningful extracurriculars are mostly bogus fake altruism and completely fabricated. Recall the Penn scammer said she “founded” a nonprofit and the step mom said that was a lie, she came to literally one event. I’m far more impressed by a teen who worked a couple years at McDonalds or a grocery store than a workshy scammer who fabricated some humanitarian narrative.

Working fast food should count for a lot. It's a miserable job that required you to suck it up and deal. Unfortunately, creating a 501(c)(3) is just a matter of paperwork

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

So she should have known her place. Got it.

Oh, grow up. Community theatre, school accounting club, a meaningless part time job and stats that were extremely common in their applicant pools was never going to get her into an Ivy. Delusional.

All that is theoretically supposed to matter is what you do in the context of your high school. 99% high schoolers have no access to “internships” or research experience.

The bolded is interesting. I’m not saying this is her situation, but a lot of kids that have to work a job in high school do not have time to do what you consider meaningful extracurriculars.

Meaningful extracurriculars are mostly bogus fake altruism and completely fabricated. Recall the Penn scammer said she “founded” a nonprofit and the step mom said that was a lie, she came to literally one event. I’m far more impressed by a teen who worked a couple years at McDonalds or a grocery store than a workshy scammer who fabricated some humanitarian narrative.

+1 and I’m generally all for a humanitarian narrative but I’m tired of the lying, cheating, and parental assists on applications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three paragraphs summarily explain her rejections. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have applied to these top-tier colleges and accumulated a hoard of rejections. Twenty years ago, she would have been happy to matriculate at UT or ASU.

1. Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.

2. Ms. Younger’s father attended the University of Oklahoma and her mother went to Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has no connection to the faculty or alumni at any elite school, nor did she hire a test-preparation coach or a private college counselor.

3. Her school serves McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing suburb 30 miles outside of Dallas. In a given year, about half of the school’s graduates enroll at four-year colleges; most attend public universities in Texas, Dr. Cranmore said. He recalls two McKinney graduates enrolling at Yale and one at Princeton over the past decade.

So she should have known her place. Got it.

Oh, grow up. Community theatre, school accounting club, a meaningless part time job and stats that were extremely common in their applicant pools was never going to get her into an Ivy. Delusional.

All that is theoretically supposed to matter is what you do in the context of your high school. 99% high schoolers have no access to “internships” or research experience.

The bolded is interesting. I’m not saying this is her situation, but a lot of kids that have to work a job in high school do not have time to do what you consider meaningful extracurriculars.

I said that because there have been SO many wealthy parents crying on DCUM this month that there’s NO WAY Elite School X shouldn’t have taken their precious snowflake, who even played varsity sports (like thousands and thousands of other applicants), was OMG an EAGLE SCOUT and even worked at Smoothie King! No, it must be because their snowflake’s Rightful Place was taken by a nonwhite applicant and it’s not faaaaaaair.

Stop it. No one here s crying entitlement as you well know. You don’t have a kid in the process so take your entitlement back to College Confidential or Politics here on DCUM. There are hurting parents and kids here. Your posts are cruel