Where do unconnected, top academic kids from a feeder private go to college?

[Anonymous]

You need to consult with your school’s college counseling office. They hold the keys to the info and data. You can’t source specifics related to your unnamed “feeder private” from an anonymous message board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she attends a school like Sidwell, NCS, STA or GDS and she is truly in the top 10 students in the class and has decent rigor and resume then any school is possible. If she is top 5 at one of these high schools then HYPMS is almost probable if she has half way decent extracurriculars.

These schools differ than public because the kids are really stratified by grading (there is no bunching at the top). There may be one kid with a 3.95 And then 5 with grades above a 3.9. So when you are in those top kids you are highly desirable to elite colleges.

She is in a school like Sidwell in another state. It’s a very known school to all the top colleges. No grade inflation. She is definitely top 10 academically, possibly top 5.

It's going to really depend entirely on your school. I know one Big3 school the best. If you are top5 there (even better, top3) you can pretty much count on HYPS. You may not have your exact pick but one of the group is a pretty sure thing as almost 100% of top5 grads have during the past 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's a TT NYC school, top 20 is very likely, non-HYP ivy is doable, and HYP (as always) is a big stretch but she should apply.

HYP+MS are big stretches. Other than T5, all possible. 3.9 (if unweighted) is extremely high in these private high school. We only have a handful each year, all goes to top schools with just normal ECs.

OP didn't mention her test score. A high score above 1560 or close to 1600 would also help.

OP: yes, one of only few kids (but we don’t know how many exactly) who have 3.9. We know no one ever gets 4.0 at this school. SAT 1560 first try, no tutoring, may retake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know where connected/legacy/big donors’ kids go. How about academic superstars who are unconnected and full pay with top teachers’ recs? This is a kid loved by teachers in the toughest most advanced subjects, asked to be TA where 95% of classes don’t have a student TA, who has 3.9 GPA where no one gets a 4.0. Otherwise unconnected, no sport, not URM, nothing special ECs (head of robotics club, part-time job type stuff). We know it won’t be Ivies, Stanford, MIT, but where? School sends at least 20% to top 10 schools each year, 50% to top 25; we imagine they are mostly legacy.

Omg just stop

My kids unhooked from public got into Stanford, MIT, etc..

If you paid for private because of this you are fiscally irresponsible.

No way unhooked for S and M unless athlete, URM or big competition winners which are all hooks

[Anonymous]

Why isn’t your college counseling office helping you figure this out, OP? They should be helping your student develop a list of schools based on her profile and their extensive internal data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she attends a school like Sidwell, NCS, STA or GDS and she is truly in the top 10 students in the class and has decent rigor and resume then any school is possible. If she is top 5 at one of these high schools then HYPMS is almost probable if she has half way decent extracurriculars.

These schools differ than public because the kids are really stratified by grading (there is no bunching at the top). There may be one kid with a 3.95 And then 5 with grades above a 3.9. So when you are in those top kids you are highly desirable to elite colleges.

what about a level down, maybe top 20% so 3.75 - 3-9?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she at all interested in SLACs? They would seem likely a good option if she were.

The very top SLACs are almost impossible without a hook. Once they fill sports, legacies, minorities, geographic diversity, etc. there are very few seats left for smart upper middle class white kids with college educated parents from major metro areas on the east coast (assuming that is what you are). It is the law of small numbers.

It’s true they are small but I think you are overstating the difficulty in ED. All these schools are hard but unhooked strong applicants get in from our school every year. It is not “nearly impossible.”

[Anonymous]

First of all, if the chip on her shoulder is anywhere near the size of yours, work on eliminating that. In our "top feeder" private here in DC, not a single one of the Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown admits were legacy. So please stop looking down your nose at people you clearly don't even know. If your kid is truly in the top 5 of the class and admired by teachers, she will get into a top 10 (and then you and she can live with everybody speculating about and scrutinizing all the reasons she really got in).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t your college counseling office helping you figure this out, OP? They should be helping your student develop a list of schools based on her profile and their extensive internal data.

They are. Just wondering what this board thinks. CC suggests a list that include Ivies and Chicago and JHU. I’m more curious about school like Pomona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First of all, if the chip on her shoulder is anywhere near the size of yours, work on eliminating that. In our "top feeder" private here in DC, not a single one of the Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown admits were legacy. So please stop looking down your nose at people you clearly don't even know. If your kid is truly in the top 5 of the class and admired by teachers, she will get into a top 10 (and then you and she can live with everybody speculating about and scrutinizing all the reasons she really got in).

OP: no chip on shoulder, just being realistic. If I don’t takes legacy into consideration then I know she is highly possible at a top 10 school bc how historical trend at her school, but I know it’s not a non factor. Also we’re not focused solely on the top 10 schools due to her personality so curious about other options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t your college counseling office helping you figure this out, OP? They should be helping your student develop a list of schools based on her profile and their extensive internal data.

They are. Just wondering what this board thinks. CC suggests a list that include Ivies and Chicago and JHU. I’m more curious about school like Pomona

Pomona is going to come down to high school patterns. They don’t take anyone from my kid’s school (haven’t in 5+ years) even though kids go to Williams, Amherst, swat etc. So that’s a good question for the CC. JHU and Chicago both make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First of all, if the chip on her shoulder is anywhere near the size of yours, work on eliminating that. In our "top feeder" private here in DC, not a single one of the Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown admits were legacy. So please stop looking down your nose at people you clearly don't even know. If your kid is truly in the top 5 of the class and admired by teachers, she will get into a top 10 (and then you and she can live with everybody speculating about and scrutinizing all the reasons she really got in).

Feels more like you are looking down at me. I wasn’t looking down at anyone. I understand why many colleges take legacy into consideration. It’s not something I have any beef with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know where connected/legacy/big donors’ kids go. How about academic superstars who are unconnected and full pay with top teachers’ recs? This is a kid loved by teachers in the toughest most advanced subjects, asked to be TA where 95% of classes don’t have a student TA, who has 3.9 GPA where no one gets a 4.0. Otherwise unconnected, no sport, not URM, nothing special ECs (head of robotics club, part-time job type stuff). We know it won’t be Ivies, Stanford, MIT, but where? School sends at least 20% to top 10 schools each year, 50% to top 25; we imagine they are mostly legacy.

Omg just stop

My kids unhooked from public got into Stanford, MIT, etc..

If you paid for private because of this you are fiscally irresponsible.

No way unhooked for S and M unless athlete, URM or big competition winners which are all hooks

A hook is something that allows an applicant to get accepted with perhaps just average or below average stats for the school and average ECs (other than for the athletes).

Winning a competition isn’t a hook in that sense…I doubt anyone is accepted that also doesn’t have a stellar application and also won Regeneron…or won some writing contest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's a TT NYC school, top 20 is very likely, non-HYP ivy is doable, and HYP (as always) is a big stretch but she should apply.

HYP+MS are big stretches. Other than T5, all possible. 3.9 (if unweighted) is extremely high in these private high school. We only have a handful each year, all goes to top schools with just normal ECs.

OP didn't mention her test score. A high score above 1560 or close to 1600 would also help.

OP: yes, one of only few kids (but we don’t know how many exactly) who have 3.9. We know no one ever gets 4.0 at this school. SAT 1560 first try, no tutoring, may retake.

Are thee only Ecs robotics and one sport? That is the weak link.

[Anonymous]

University of California
University of Texas