My high stat kid’s experience with admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing the OP also pointed, that grabbed my attention, was their kid engaged with teachers beyond the classroom. Makes it easier for the teacher to get to know the kid, what their interests are, how interested there are in learning, and wha they would contribute to the college. Thus, they have information to write a recommendation which describes the kid well.

That was just so easy to do when most of these students spent over a year in lockdown.

At our HS teachers had office hours time every week and hardly any kids took advantage of it. Kids who did make the effort would definitely stand out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

White/Asian expected to submit test scores and when they submit 99% they are still rejected. The elites can once again get their kids in with no test scores and other races get in with no test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

Logic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

White/Asian expected to submit test scores and when they submit 99% they are still rejected. The elites can once again get their kids in with no test scores and other races get in with no test scores.

Life is hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

White/Asian expected to submit test scores and when they submit 99% they are still rejected. The elites can once again get their kids in with no test scores and other races get in with no test scores.

Life is hard.

A lot of Asians really don't care about ivies in a sense if they don't make it, it's not the end of the world. I suspect this might be more of a recent immigrant phenomenon. The more recent their arrival, the hungrier they are. That's been the story of immigrants in this country, not just the Asians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

White/Asian expected to submit test scores and when they submit 99% they are still rejected. The elites can once again get their kids in with no test scores and other races get in with no test scores.

That's not actually true, but if that's the lie you have to tell yourself, who am I to stand in your way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

White/Asian expected to submit test scores and when they submit 99% they are still rejected. The elites can once again get their kids in with no test scores and other races get in with no test scores.

Life is hard.

A lot of Asians really don't care about ivies in a sense if they don't make it, it's not the end of the world. I suspect this might be more of a recent immigrant phenomenon. The more recent their arrival, the hungrier they are. That's been the story of immigrants in this country, not just the Asians.

False

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

White/Asian expected to submit test scores and when they submit 99% they are still rejected. The elites can once again get their kids in with no test scores and other races get in with no test scores.

Life is hard.

A lot of Asians really don't care about ivies in a sense if they don't make it, it's not the end of the world. I suspect this might be more of a recent immigrant phenomenon. The more recent their arrival, the hungrier they are. That's been the story of immigrants in this country, not just the Asians.

False

You can always expect liberal trash DUUMs to tell Asians (and Afrian-Americans) how and what they are supposed to feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

Logic

that's a shorthand way of saying "pulled it out of my ass"

Stanford's common data set for 2021-22 shows that for first year students who enrolled in 2021, 12.6% submitted SAT scores and 8.7% submitted ACT scores. Are you saying that the 80% that did not are all non-white/Asian UMC kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

Logic

that's a shorthand way of saying "pulled it out of my ass"

Stanford's common data set for 2021-22 shows that for first year students who enrolled in 2021, 12.6% submitted SAT scores and 8.7% submitted ACT scores. Are you saying that the 80% that did not are all non-white/Asian UMC kids?

Standford is a sports school. It's not MIT. Unlike Standford, MIT can't allow TO for long without affecting the quality of its program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has much higher SAT but otherwise similar, rejected by ivies, maybe being an asian played a factor. So congratulations to you! Life isn’t always fair but this is the work we live in.

Same here. My DS stats were much higher with more APs. 3 sports. 2 languages . Rejected to all Ivy schools. ( Mixed asian)

That’s incredible. The system works against Asians (I am not Asian BTW)

When acceptance rates are below 7%, it's a crapshoot for everyone. 95% of applicants have extremely high stats (tests, gpa, ec, essays, recommendations). These schools could fill 20 freshman classes with highly qualified students. So it's a lottery. It's NOT the system working against Asians (or any other group).
Colleges want to put together a nice mix of students---from both socio-economic backgrounds, to race, to majors, to location, M/F, ECs, etc. I wouldn't want my kid to attend a school with all 1600/4.0UW/3 sports Captains/etc. I want diversity at many levels so my kid can grow and learn from the people they are surrounded with for 4 years. Take a look around you at your job----highly doubt you work with everyone who went to an Ivy or similar elite school (unless you are in finance in NYC and all went to an elite MBA program---that tends to be the exception). Good chance many of the best people on your team at work went to your local state univ or a smaller, not well know college.

Smart kids will succeed everywhere if they are hard workers---that's what it's all about. But that won't happen if they spend freshman year moping around upset that they "deserved" to be at an Ivy and had to settle for wherever they are. I want hard workers on my team. I don't really care where they went to college. I care about what they did with their time in college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Major is a big factor in acceptance that I think a lot of people forget. Judging by my kids friends, CS was way tougher than engineering or any other major for admissions both for boys and girls. My advice for juniors, is to think carefully about applying to CS.

Did a lot of dithering about retaking the SAT, but only missed one question on the math section. She figured that the schools would know that and not be overly focused on the score. Chasing a few more points when it’s already in the 99% percentile didn’t seem like a valuable way to spend time.

Hard to really know what was decisive for the schools either way. I’m guessing essays stood out. They were authentically her and quite qood (imo). I’m in a quant field and being able to write clearly is a highly in demand skill. Luck is of course also a huge factor.

We were honestly shocked by the Ivy acceptance. With so many spots going to ED kids, RD seemed like a very long shot. We also didn’t get any professional help on the applications, so it was just my kid’s work with some advice from me and DH.

Anyway, for all the talk about high stat kids being dime a dozen, at least for my kid, it worked out. I’m guessing luck, choice of major, and essays were all significant. Maybe also recommendations. Despite being virtual, I think my kid managed to really stand out to her junior year teachers that wrote her recs. I also wonder about the counselor letter. We got a form to fill out for it and I guessed that the counselor might just lift what I wrote for their letter, so I was thoughtful about it. I made it really good and made sure that what I wrote was very personal and showed an aspect of my kid that would be hard to bring out elsewhere in the app.

I think this was really a great idea and I"m using it for my kid in a few years! At large publics around here, counselors don't know the kids that well.

Congrats to your kid!

(Did they choose the Ivy?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always operated with the understanding that optional pretty much means required.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that applications from white/Asian UMC kids in the DMV without a test score can raise a red flag (i.e., why wouldn't they submit a score unless it was weak)? And a 32 ACT may not be stellar, but I think it's still the 97th percentile so why not submit to clear up any doubts?

what is the basis for that understanding? please don't say DCUM.

Logic

that's a shorthand way of saying "pulled it out of my ass"

Stanford's common data set for 2021-22 shows that for first year students who enrolled in 2021, 12.6% submitted SAT scores and 8.7% submitted ACT scores. Are you saying that the 80% that did not are all non-white/Asian UMC kids?

Standford is a sports school. It's not MIT. Unlike Standford, MIT can't allow TO for long without affecting the quality of its program.

tell me you're dumb without telling me you're dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS has much higher SAT but otherwise similar, rejected by ivies, maybe being an asian played a factor. So congratulations to you! Life isn’t always fair but this is the work we live in.

Once you clear a certain threshold it doesn’t matter that SAT higher. They don’t look more favorably at a kid with a 1590 than they do a kid with a 1530. They then look at other things. Read MIT’s statement about requiring tests again.