Strange UPenn admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is creepy.

Yes. Some parents are losers.

I think this thread should be removed. Others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a rich donor in her family you don't know about.

Though she did have a fantastic GPA, so there is that. And maybe her teachers wrote glowing letters of rec.

+1 and maybe she had a fantastic arts portfolio

You also have little clue of her ECs as several kids have accomplishments outside of school. Add in essays and awards also.

When I graduated in the early 2000s, we had a quiet kid who turned out to be homeless/raising himself for most of high school (single mom was strung out on drugs). Always composed and well put together, only stood out to me because he often wore suits. Ended up at Cornell. I couldn't tell you of a single club he was a part of at school. I also had no clue that he was working mostly fulltime outside of school. I didn't find out about any of this until after graduation.

Omg. this breaks my heart.

But also inspiring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a rich donor in her family you don't know about.

Though she did have a fantastic GPA, so there is that. And maybe her teachers wrote glowing letters of rec.

+1 and maybe she had a fantastic arts portfolio

You also have little clue of her ECs as several kids have accomplishments outside of school. Add in essays and awards also.

When I graduated in the early 2000s, we had a quiet kid who turned out to be homeless/raising himself for most of high school (single mom was strung out on drugs). Always composed and well put together, only stood out to me because he often wore suits. Ended up at Cornell. I couldn't tell you of a single club he was a part of at school. I also had no clue that he was working mostly fulltime outside of school. I didn't find out about any of this until after graduation.

What happened to him? Can you find him on Linkedin?
Hope he "made" it.

[Anonymous]

Direct descendant of Ben Franklin on one side, and Joseph Wharton on the other. Another relative invented the cheesesteak. And yet another invented the question mark. And there you have it!

[Anonymous]

A few months back, I ran into some parents at a school event. They have an older kid who is already in college in addition to kid who is in my DC’s grade at school. I asked a polite “I hope the process was smooth! How’re they doing at school?” And got an earful about how other kids got into “X” school and it was a mystery how some of these kids got into the schools they did etc.

Parents (and kids, because they all talk and it’s how parents learn these stats/grades/factoids about everyone else) judge and hang on to the bitterness which in this case was weird by the way, their kid got into a great school!

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how this is surprising to anyone. This has been happening for more than a decade (other than a poor SAT, that’s just test optional). Sometimes students convince the right AO at the right time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a rich donor in her family you don't know about.

Though she did have a fantastic GPA, so there is that. And maybe her teachers wrote glowing letters of rec.

+1 and maybe she had a fantastic arts portfolio

You also have little clue of her ECs as several kids have accomplishments outside of school. Add in essays and awards also.

When I graduated in the early 2000s, we had a quiet kid who turned out to be homeless/raising himself for most of high school (single mom was strung out on drugs). Always composed and well put together, only stood out to me because he often wore suits. Ended up at Cornell. I couldn't tell you of a single club he was a part of at school. I also had no clue that he was working mostly fulltime outside of school. I didn't find out about any of this until after graduation.

What happened to him? Can you find him on Linkedin?
Hope he "made" it.

We were loosely connected on FB for years. I can't recall if we were friends or just had several HS friends in common, guessing the latter. In our late 20s, there was confirmation that he was doing well at that point as one of his HS friends tagged him in a celebratory post of some career milestone (he's either an attorney or an engineer). I can't even find any social media profiles of him today which is not at all surprising as he was really private, outside of a couple of really close friends. He seemed to intentionally start a separate life after graduation. I don't know if he ever returned to the area (this was in the DMV fyi).

That said, imagine someone telling this kid that he didn't deserve Cornell. He presented as a quiet MC/UMC kid with resources. He even paired his jeans with blazers. LOL. I didn't know at the time that Ivies didn't offer merit scholarships, so I assumed the "full ride scholarship" was because he was wicked smart. There were so many interactions that I looked at differently once I found out about his situation. With one of the popular teachers, he was definitely one of her favorites and she didn't care to hide it. She found a reason to humble virtually every kid (it came from a good place, we knew we were loved) but him. He could do no wrong, but I just figured it was because he was so mild-mannered and polite. Today, I'm certain she knew. Shout out to the awesome teachers out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is creepy.

Yes. Some parents are losers.

I think this thread should be removed. Others?

No - keep the shame coming to prevent other useless posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is probably a rich donor in her family you don't know about.

Though she did have a fantastic GPA, so there is that. And maybe her teachers wrote glowing letters of rec.

+1 and maybe she had a fantastic arts portfolio

You also have little clue of her ECs as several kids have accomplishments outside of school. Add in essays and awards also.

When I graduated in the early 2000s, we had a quiet kid who turned out to be homeless/raising himself for most of high school (single mom was strung out on drugs). Always composed and well put together, only stood out to me because he often wore suits. Ended up at Cornell. I couldn't tell you of a single club he was a part of at school. I also had no clue that he was working mostly fulltime outside of school. I didn't find out about any of this until after graduation.

What happened to him? Can you find him on Linkedin?
Hope he "made" it.

We were loosely connected on FB for years. I can't recall if we were friends or just had several HS friends in common, guessing the latter. In our late 20s, there was confirmation that he was doing well at that point as one of his HS friends tagged him in a celebratory post of some career milestone (he's either an attorney or an engineer). I can't even find any social media profiles of him today which is not at all surprising as he was really private, outside of a couple of really close friends. He seemed to intentionally start a separate life after graduation. I don't know if he ever returned to the area (this was in the DMV fyi).

That said, imagine someone telling this kid that he didn't deserve Cornell. He presented as a quiet MC/UMC kid with resources. He even paired his jeans with blazers. LOL. I didn't know at the time that Ivies didn't offer merit scholarships, so I assumed the "full ride scholarship" was because he was wicked smart. There were so many interactions that I looked at differently once I found out about his situation. With one of the popular teachers, he was definitely one of her favorites and she didn't care to hide it. She found a reason to humble virtually every kid (it came from a good place, we knew we were loved) but him. He could do no wrong, but I just figured it was because he was so mild-mannered and polite. Today, I'm certain she knew. Shout out to the awesome teachers out there.

I love the story even more. The teacher knew!!! I hope the LOR shouted this out from rooftops.

Wish the kid had gotten into HYPSM but Cornell will do. I’m confident he used that education and made a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her parents made her apply to every top 20, regardless of fit. I guess this shows that this approach sometimes works, if prestige is the goal. But she doesn't like the school and is not excited to attend (it's a terrible fit). Family doesn't care and is making her attend because it's an Ivy/the only good place she got in.

It worked.

[Anonymous]

I agree that this entire thread is super creepy and borderline outing the child by identifying all the schools she applied to, and outcomes, along with GPA and test score specifics. Does this parent keep a spreadsheet about every student in their kids’ class? Gross! As others have said, MYOB, and leave this girl alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that this entire thread is super creepy and borderline outing the child by identifying all the schools she applied to, and outcomes, along with GPA and test score specifics. Does this parent keep a spreadsheet about every student in their kids’ class? Gross! As others have said, MYOB, and leave this girl alone.

OP is a loser. When my kid got into a top school, people were talking about him like this. I remember him telling about a zoom class meeting where one kid, who he considered a friend, didn't realize he was on and said, "so what's up with Bob getting into Penn?" and laughing. I actually had a parent just like OP came up to me at one of my younger child's games and say, "congratulations to Bob. Did your husband go to Penn. Oh, wait, I heard you FIL is on the board." Neither of those things was true. This went on for months. It was demoralizing and very sad for my kid. He's incredibly smart--and yes--a very uneven student because of learning issues. But super cool, smart, and very hard working--and he'll graduate with a great job this month--so all those losers like OP can f off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that this entire thread is super creepy and borderline outing the child by identifying all the schools she applied to, and outcomes, along with GPA and test score specifics. Does this parent keep a spreadsheet about every student in their kids’ class? Gross! As others have said, MYOB, and leave this girl alone.

OP is a loser. When my kid got into a top school, people were talking about him like this. I remember him telling about a zoom class meeting where one kid, who he considered a friend, didn't realize he was on and said, "so what's up with Bob getting into Penn?" and laughing. I actually had a parent just like OP came up to me at one of my younger child's games and say, "congratulations to Bob. Did your husband go to Penn. Oh, wait, I heard you FIL is on the board." Neither of those things was true. This went on for months. It was demoralizing and very sad for my kid. He's incredibly smart--and yes--a very uneven student because of learning issues. But super cool, smart, and very hard working--and he'll graduate with a great job this month--so all those losers like OP can f off.

That is awful. Congrats to your son on his achievement!

[Anonymous]

Why not mind your own business, nasty jealous witch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid at our school got into UPenn RD. 1200 SAT scores and 3s and 4s on APs (although probably test optional, since this was the last year Penn allowed that). Straight As but avoided many of the hardest classes offered at school, not close to highest rigor. Very mid-level ECs. White girl, no hooks. The only minor "hook" we can think of is that she's an artsy humanities major, which they maybe don't get a lot of due to how pre-professional Penn is. She got uniformly rejected by other top tier, mid tier, and low-mid tier schools. She is really unexcited about going to Penn but committed due to lack of other options. Were Penn admissions strange this year?

This is a creepy and deeply insecure post. Every sentence reeks of insecurity.