Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

I have two kids who graduated from Sidwell and we were extremely pleased with the support and guidance of the CCO. Each of our kids worked with a different counselor, and each was extremely helpful in helping our DC develop a balanced list of schools that were good fits for them as individuals. Both kids were encouraged to have a good number of schools that would be considered both solid matches and also “safeties,” in addition to 1-2 reaches. They also were counseled that the process isn’t about getting into the “best” school, but instead to focus on getting into the best school for them. If parents (or the students) don’t listen to the CCO’s good advice and apply only to Ivies or top tier schools, you can’t blame them when you don’t get the outcomes you were hoping for. They can only do so much. The job of the CCO is not to “get your kid into college,” but rather to support your student through the process as they navigate their own path.

[Anonymous]

The CCO can’t force a kid to follow their advice. You have no idea if the CCO discouraged some of the 15 that applied ED to Brown to not do it. At the end of the day, that decision rests with the parents and students. This is not even remotely the fault of the CCO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

Why is Brown so popular? It's a good school but not stupendously great compared to some others.

Agree why Brown? What about the other top Ivies?

[Anonymous]

To PP, glad to hear your experience with Sidwell CCO was so positive. I suspect your experience is no longer relevant given the > 50% surge in applications at top 30 schools, average number of apps per kid in 15 - 20 range, insidious yield protection algorithms being sold to most colleges, test optional lowering the threshold for those applying and massive grade inflation at many high schools (not Sidwell frankly). It is absolutely brutal for top kids at a school like Sidwell who get yield protected at safeties and sometimes matches and top 10 reaches become even more lottery like given 50,000 plus apps in RD. I sympathize with the complexity of the CCO’s job, but it is insane to be a kid in the midst of this. I seriously wonder whether my kid’s application was even read at a big public university who “postponed” them. I think they run the algorithm on who is likely to attend and who might get a better offer and kick the can down the road. ED appeared to be legacies, athletes and VIPs/connected types - not bitter just realistic about the situation.

We need a new approach to this new world of college admissions. Not Sidwell’s fault, but school needs to adapt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

Why is Brown so popular? It's a good school but not stupendously great compared to some others.

Agree why Brown? What about the other top Ivies?

Maybe it's not the top kids that are applying to Brown but the students that are ranked more in the middle. That could explain the big number of students applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To PP, glad to hear your experience with Sidwell CCO was so positive. I suspect your experience is no longer relevant given the > 50% surge in applications at top 30 schools, average number of apps per kid in 15 - 20 range, insidious yield protection algorithms being sold to most colleges, test optional lowering the threshold for those applying and massive grade inflation at many high schools (not Sidwell frankly). It is absolutely brutal for top kids at a school like Sidwell who get yield protected at safeties and sometimes matches and top 10 reaches become even more lottery like given 50,000 plus apps in RD. I sympathize with the complexity of the CCO’s job, but it is insane to be a kid in the midst of this. I seriously wonder whether my kid’s application was even read at a big public university who “postponed” them. I think they run the algorithm on who is likely to attend and who might get a better offer and kick the can down the road. ED appeared to be legacies, athletes and VIPs/connected types - not bitter just realistic about the situation.

We need a new approach to this new world of college admissions. Not Sidwell’s fault, but school needs to adapt.

Do you have thoughts on what a new approach would be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

Why is Brown so popular? It's a good school but not stupendously great compared to some others.

Agree why Brown? What about the other top Ivies?

Maybe it's not the top kids that are applying to Brown but the students that are ranked more in the middle. That could explain the big number of students applying.

Then why the heck are 15 middle kids applying to an ivy that only 1-3 kids will get in to? That makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

Why is Brown so popular? It's a good school but not stupendously great compared to some others.

I wonder if it's viewed by full-pay families as a "more attainable" Ivy. Let's be real - ED is all about giving full-pay families a leg up in the process.

[Anonymous]

LOL at all the “Why Brown?” comments

Because it’s an awesome undergraduate environment, which is rightfully all 18-year-olds care about, rather than some meaningless ranking

Now go ahead and tell all those 18-year-olds why your uninformed 50+ self knows better than they do about where they should want to go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL at all the “Why Brown?” comments

Because it’s an awesome undergraduate environment, which is rightfully all 18-year-olds care about, rather than some meaningless ranking

Now go ahead and tell all those 18-year-olds why your uninformed 50+ self knows better than they do about where they should want to go

Yep, at Brown they teach you that 18 year olds are very wise and should make all the decisions for 50+ know-nothings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL at all the “Why Brown?” comments

Because it’s an awesome undergraduate environment, which is rightfully all 18-year-olds care about, rather than some meaningless ranking

Now go ahead and tell all those 18-year-olds why your uninformed 50+ self knows better than they do about where they should want to go

Yep, at Brown they teach you that 18 year olds are very wise and should make all the decisions for 50+ know-nothings.

+1. Not impressed with the lousy goosy curriculum requirements

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

I heard that something like 15 kids from Sidwell applied early to Brown. There's no way that all 15 were in the top 20% of the class (or whatever a reasonable cut-off for an Ivy acceptance is).
So basically you had a lot of kids/parents with inflated sense of their own desirability and Brown responded by cancelling out the entire group.
Sidwell should really limit where kids can apply (like Andover and Exeter do) if this is what happens.

Why? Each application is evaluated on its own. Colleges do not send messages to schools or groups of students like this. They are happy to take the application fee and read anything that they want to submit. There is no way that a HS should ever limit who or how many kids can apply to one school. If Johnny wants to blow his ED on a school that he is not really qualified for, who else's business is that?

Sidwell is doing a MASSIVE disservice if they are not honestly advising on the reality of a student's ED chances, particularly if that student is not a target candidate for a particular school. I find it hard to believe all 15 had a real shot at ED.

Given the 0 for 15 outcome, I think Brown is sending a pretty clear message: we expect you to curate. This happens through brutally honest advising. Brown has different expectations for Sidwell administration than, say, kid randomly applying from MCPS high schools.

They tell people it is a reach + ... if you have 5 kids who are legacies and another 10 who absolutely love the school and feel they have a good chance for whatever reason, the CCO can tell them it is a 2% chance or whatever, but unless the school changes rules to be like a NE boarding school where they limit options for the applicants, then it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

I heard that something like 15 kids from Sidwell applied early to Brown. There's no way that all 15 were in the top 20% of the class (or whatever a reasonable cut-off for an Ivy acceptance is).
So basically you had a lot of kids/parents with inflated sense of their own desirability and Brown responded by cancelling out the entire group.
Sidwell should really limit where kids can apply (like Andover and Exeter do) if this is what happens.

Why? Each application is evaluated on its own. Colleges do not send messages to schools or groups of students like this. They are happy to take the application fee and read anything that they want to submit. There is no way that a HS should ever limit who or how many kids can apply to one school. If Johnny wants to blow his ED on a school that he is not really qualified for, who else's business is that?

Sidwell is doing a MASSIVE disservice if they are not honestly advising on the reality of a student's ED chances, particularly if that student is not a target candidate for a particular school. I find it hard to believe all 15 had a real shot at ED.

Given the 0 for 15 outcome, I think Brown is sending a pretty clear message: we expect you to curate. This happens through brutally honest advising. Brown has different expectations for Sidwell administration than, say, kid randomly applying from MCPS high schools.

They tell people it is a reach + ... if you have 5 kids who are legacies and another 10 who absolutely love the school and feel they have a good chance for whatever reason, the CCO can tell them it is a 2% chance or whatever, but unless the school changes rules to be like a NE boarding school where they limit options for the applicants, then it is what it is.

+1. Also, who really thinks Brown — or any school — is unhappy about getting more applications from anywhere, let alone Sidwell? They market to students for precisely that reason. C’mon, man.

[Anonymous]

If 15 applied then a bunch of middle-of-pack applied because I seriously doubt each of the top 15 kids applied to Brown. Basically a bunch of kids applied who had no business applying. Their rejection is on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

I heard that something like 15 kids from Sidwell applied early to Brown. There's no way that all 15 were in the top 20% of the class (or whatever a reasonable cut-off for an Ivy acceptance is).
So basically you had a lot of kids/parents with inflated sense of their own desirability and Brown responded by cancelling out the entire group.
Sidwell should really limit where kids can apply (like Andover and Exeter do) if this is what happens.

Why? Each application is evaluated on its own. Colleges do not send messages to schools or groups of students like this. They are happy to take the application fee and read anything that they want to submit. There is no way that a HS should ever limit who or how many kids can apply to one school. If Johnny wants to blow his ED on a school that he is not really qualified for, who else's business is that?

Sidwell is doing a MASSIVE disservice if they are not honestly advising on the reality of a student's ED chances, particularly if that student is not a target candidate for a particular school. I find it hard to believe all 15 had a real shot at ED.

Given the 0 for 15 outcome, I think Brown is sending a pretty clear message: we expect you to curate. This happens through brutally honest advising. Brown has different expectations for Sidwell administration than, say, kid randomly applying from MCPS high schools.

Yes. At a school like Sidwell you probably have 25 rockstar kids with a GPA 3.7 and above. Those are the ones who should *MAYBE* be applying early to Brown. If 15 total applied to Brown then you know then PLENTY of the kids were applying to Brown were not in this top group and likely had a GPA of 3.6 or whatever. Now come on. You don't need college counseling advice to know that your 3.6 kid is not going to Brown ESPECIALLY since Sidwell only sends about 2 kids to Brown each year. But your 3.6 kid is going to be chosen? RIGHT.

Parents ruined this by being in la-la-land about their own children's desirability to an elite college. Brown responded by saying----"CURATE THE LIST SIDWELL".

Meh...my 3.8 SFS senior didn't apply to any Ivies.