TO success stories at top 20 schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO is typical of well-meaning-hyper-empathetic people trying to level the playing field but in the process making a mess of what little structure there was in a complicated & confusing process.

Now nobody knows what the hell is going on even though some people claim they do.

What used to be a gate change at Dulles now looks like the last flight out of Afghanistan. The most you can do is pray that it’s not your kid clinging to the landing gear as it’s being retracted. BRING BACK REQUIRED TESTING!

+100

Good lord, listen to yourselves equating college admissions to the withdrawal from a war zone. GTFO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's reported on the CDS. I dont think you can make the 25/50/75 artificially high - they are what they are. But it's moved them up a lot in the last few years, for sure. Common advice first two years was not to submit unless you're at 50% level or above. So everything shot up.

That’s what “artificially high” means. When a school doesn’t report scores for more than half of the admitted students, what you are seeing is the 25-50-75 for only the top half of the class. To really know what percentage you are seeing, you need both the percentage reported in the cds, but you have to know which categories of admitted students they don’t include at all (satellite, first year abroad, gap year, certain programs like NYU liberal studies). All of those excluded from the stats are people who will graduate with degrees from the college just like the 75th percentile kids.

Don’t be discouraged from applying by looking at those numbers. And don’t be deluded that your kid will be in a classroom full of people who aced the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Essays can't be trusted because of ChatGPT

GPAs can't be trusted because of grade inflation / deflation

SAT/ACT scores can't be trusted because of prepping

What is left?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’re very pointy. Is your kid very pointy? Then it’s not you.

That is untrue. IME, the T20 have a mix of pointy and not pointy applicants.

[Anonymous]

I wish the common data set said how many submitted SAT and ACT both. So I had a better idea of TO. One journalist wrote about a school that had something like 60% sumbit sat and 36% act and thus 96% submit some score. And then added, well some submit both but surely over 90%.

I don’t know about that. I think half those act kids also submit at sat at some schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the common data set said how many submitted SAT and ACT both. So I had a better idea of TO. One journalist wrote about a school that had something like 60% sumbit sat and 36% act and thus 96% submit some score. And then added, well some submit both but surely over 90%.

I don’t know about that. I think half those act kids also submit at sat at some schools.

Your hunch is correct. I've looked at pre-covid CDSs for Brown, Yale, and Cornell, and the percentage submitting was ~115%. Pretty steady for the few years pre-Covid. No way to know whether that trend has continued. But if it has and you recalculate for Brown in 2022-23, for example, that would mean 68% submitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's reported on the CDS. I dont think you can make the 25/50/75 artificially high - they are what they are. But it's moved them up a lot in the last few years, for sure. Common advice first two years was not to submit unless you're at 50% level or above. So everything shot up.

That’s what “artificially high” means. When a school doesn’t report scores for more than half of the admitted students, what you are seeing is the 25-50-75 for only the top half of the class. To really know what percentage you are seeing, you need both the percentage reported in the cds, but you have to know which categories of admitted students they don’t include at all (satellite, first year abroad, gap year, certain programs like NYU liberal studies). All of those excluded from the stats are people who will graduate with degrees from the college just like the 75th percentile kids.

Don’t be discouraged from applying by looking at those numbers. And don’t be deluded that your kid will be in a classroom full of people who aced the SAT.

Aced the SAT? Weird phrasing.

The SAT is becoming LESS relevant each admissions cycle.

Get used to it.

[Anonymous]

68% is still a high number submitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:68% is still a high number submitting.

it's about where APs are now. and nobody cares when you don't submit AP scores anymore.

[Anonymous]

Let me update the example I gave with what it actually was. This journalist used Duke as an example - these are kids who were accepted.

SAT 47% submitted
ACT 46% submitted

Journalist was trying to say, look, together thanks 93%.. even with some overlap that's 90%.

But I wouldn't be surprised if most of those ACTs submitted their SATs. And the number submitted any score was about 65%. But I wish I knew for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:68% is still a high number submitting.

Not to mention, the likelihood of submitting both is lower in the test optional world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me update the example I gave with what it actually was. This journalist used Duke as an example - these are kids who were accepted.

SAT 47% submitted
ACT 46% submitted

Journalist was trying to say, look, together thanks 93%.. even with some overlap that's 90%.

But I wouldn't be surprised if most of those ACTs submitted their SATs. And the number submitted any score was about 65%. But I wish I knew for sure.

I don’t know any kids that submitted both and had a senior going through the process last year. School heavily emphasized only submit the best score. Now,if a kid got perfect score on both, perhaps they submit both, but that’s a very small group of kids

[Anonymous]

Are all of the top 20 still test optional? Not one is requiring test scores for this c/o 2024 cycle?

Surprising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all of the top 20 still test optional? Not one is requiring test scores for this c/o 2024 cycle?

Surprising.

No, MIT requires scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are all of the top 20 still test optional? Not one is requiring test scores for this c/o 2024 cycle?

Surprising.

No, MIT requires scores.

That's...it? No scores required for UVA, Michigan, Berkeley, and UNC either?