After elite acceptance, how do you re to "Any advice?" ... "How'd ya do it?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore. My favorite comment was "Oh, I never heard of those schools". Kept me humble.

I know those are great schools. It is an "east coast thing" though that the only people who have heard of these schools are boarding school families/east coast types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be rude, but I don't think there are any secrets. If not an all-state athlete, earn As and no more than a couple Bs in a challenging schedule, rack up 5s on AP exams, get high PSAT, SAT, SAT subject scores. Illustrate you're outgoing by being super involved at school (leadership positions by 11th and 12th) and outside of school. Do one quirky extracurricular or job for at least three years.

Isn't this all common knowledge?

Sometimes it is also pure luck. I have twins and they have all these - one got in and the other did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore. My favorite comment was "Oh, I never heard of those schools". Kept me humble.

Unless you hang with a lot of boarding school families, those aren’t gonna be on people’s radar.

Oh please, anybody that’s anybody has heard of these colleges. If you haven’t then you’re likely not particularly well informed on anything.

The sentence right above says it all about the type of person who wrote it. Res ipsa loquitor.

res ipsa loquitur
Lo que Natura non da, Salamanca non presta..

[Anonymous]

'in dubio pro reo'
'nemo praesumitur malus nisi probetur '
Pope Francis.

[Anonymous]

It would never occur to me to ask that.

There is a reverence for elite schools here that I just do not get.

[Anonymous]

My parents are rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents are rich.

That always help - someone has to pay the bill.

[Anonymous]

My parents' standard reply after my sister and I got into all of the elite private schools we applied to and had a perfect record on our college admissions (see? you're not the only one who has success):

Our daughters work very hard, and we are very proud of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be rude, but I don't think there are any secrets. If not an all-state athlete, earn As and no more than a couple Bs in a challenging schedule, rack up 5s on AP exams, get high PSAT, SAT, SAT subject scores. Illustrate you're outgoing by being super involved at school (leadership positions by 11th and 12th) and outside of school. Do one quirky extracurricular or job for at least three years.

Isn't this all common knowledge?

Sure, to you and me, but don’t forget a lot of parents didn’t go to college, didn’t go to college in the US, or didn’t go to a highly selective college so it’s new to them.

This. But also all the listed above do not guarantee the admission. My kid fits your profile (not an athlete, but other significant EC, no Bs at all in 12 years), top SAT, ACT 34, but was denied by Stanford (got to other Ivy though). According to Stanford recent article, they have around 400,000 applicants with GPA 4.0+, top test scores, remarkable EC/sport, national and international achievements and they still have to choose a small fraction out of those.

So for me it was always interesting what that thing that tipped the scale for other people who have the same stats but got in.

I always asked that question on the college tours. I asked the tour guide kid " What exactly helped you to get here?" Surprisingly, it was either a generational hook, or the first time in college, or minority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore. My favorite comment was "Oh, I never heard of those schools". Kept me humble.

Unless you hang with a lot of boarding school families, those aren’t gonna be on people’s radar.

I am a foreigner and already have one kid in college (STEM), so we've done some college research. Never heard of any of those schools. It is probably known to a small group within US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be rude, but I don't think there are any secrets. If not an all-state athlete, earn As and no more than a couple Bs in a challenging schedule, rack up 5s on AP exams, get high PSAT, SAT, SAT subject scores. Illustrate you're outgoing by being super involved at school (leadership positions by 11th and 12th) and outside of school. Do one quirky extracurricular or job for at least three years.

Isn't this all common knowledge?

Sure, to you and me, but don’t forget a lot of parents didn’t go to college, didn’t go to college in the US, or didn’t go to a highly selective college so it’s new to them.

This. But also all the listed above do not guarantee the admission. My kid fits your profile (not an athlete, but other significant EC, no Bs at all in 12 years), top SAT, ACT 34, but was denied by Stanford (got to other Ivy though). According to Stanford recent article, they have around 400,000 applicants with GPA 4.0+, top test scores, remarkable EC/sport, national and international achievements and they still have to choose a small fraction out of those.

So for me it was always interesting what that thing that tipped the scale for other people who have the same stats but got in.

I always asked that question on the college tours. I asked the tour guide kid " What exactly helped you to get here?" Surprisingly, it was either a generational hook, or the first time in college, or minority.

Or it was pure luck. When you have two kids with the exact same stats, and neither has a hook (and it happens all the time), the admissions officer has no choice but to essentially flip a coin. So at the end of the day, your kid earned his/her spot in the pile of applications not thrown out immediately, but when you're talking about an acceptance to a school with an acceptance rate under 15%, the best answer is "my kid, at the end of the day, literally won a lottery. Good luck, I guess!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore. My favorite comment was "Oh, I never heard of those schools". Kept me humble.

Unless you hang with a lot of boarding school families, those aren’t gonna be on people’s radar.

I am a foreigner and already have one kid in college (STEM), so we've done some college research. Never heard of any of those schools. It is probably known to a small group within US.

lacs are a distinctly American thing. I am an immigrant and i would never attend one or send my kids there. They have zero name recognition abroad.

[Anonymous]

It's not a 'real' question - everyone already knows the various factors etc. It's one of those small talk questions (where they are essentially trying to socially acceptably say 'wow, that's great' or 'i'm jealous but happy for you (or just jealous) etc). But you knew that.

(2x Ivy grad, so know from experience, and get that even typing this, I'm just bragging)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore. My favorite comment was "Oh, I never heard of those schools". Kept me humble.

Unless you hang with a lot of boarding school families, those aren’t gonna be on people’s radar.

I am a foreigner and already have one kid in college (STEM), so we've done some college research. Never heard of any of those schools. It is probably known to a small group within US.

LOL Most educated professionals have certainly heard of Williams, Amherst or Swarthmore just as they know the names Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to Williams and Swarthmore. My favorite comment was "Oh, I never heard of those schools". Kept me humble.

Unless you hang with a lot of boarding school families, those aren’t gonna be on people’s radar.

I am a foreigner and already have one kid in college (STEM), so we've done some college research. Never heard of any of those schools. It is probably known to a small group within US.

LOL Most educated professionals have certainly heard of Williams, Amherst or Swarthmore just as they know the names Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth.

Sorry, you can LOL as much as you want. I have 3 degrees, so I am an educated professional. Never heard of Williams, Amherst or Swarthmore. I heard about Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth. As I mentioned before, those schools are known only to americans. Very few foreigners ever heard about them. And I do work with the people who had liberal arts degrees. I assume those schools even less known in STEM fields.