Parents of Asian-American Kids: What did you learn from the college admissions process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL

That is funny. I also, from the DMV, had never heard of that school. Amusing that they think it is SO impressive in their little NoVA bubble

Bud, your bulb is weak to sputtering. Seriously lacking in minimum needed brightness.

Signed - Not a TJ parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the white parent of a TJ kid, and I will tell you what I have seen in action. There are excellent, very well respected schools where your kid will get a great education— even in STEM— and that will place them at the top of the grad school admissions heap. And Asian kids are not applying. Those that do are getting a boost over white girls (girls are also over represented).

For example, Grinnell and Oberlin are both top SLACs. They are also both in the top 5 in science PhD production by graduates. Their science grads consistently get into the top handful of grad programs in their field. They both having phenomenal med school placement. A science kid will go and do hands on published research with a professor for 4 years if they want it and get great internships. Because they aren’t competing with grad students. And a high achieving Asian kid is likely to be considered URM and get half tuition merit aid.

These schools also exist in engineering (but the selection is weaker). Mudd, of course. Rose Hulman. Cooper Union. You have a girl who is interested in international relations? HRC and Madeline Albright went to Wellesley. Have your kid who writes apply to Kenyon.

OTOH, the landscape for UVA, Michigan, Purdue is pretty brutal. For whites too. But it does look like Asian boys take the hardest hit.

From the outside looking in, it seems like Asian parents are overlooking small schools that lack national name recognition, but are very well respected in their fields. Asian kids are being heavily recruited by these schools right now. Look on the the Liberal Arts College side of USNWR instead of national university. Liberal arts doesn’t mean underwater basket weaving, or even humanities. It means no grad school. Which can be a huge benefit to kids who aren’t crowded out by grad students and sitting in huge classes taught by TAs. They get small classes and a lot of access to the full professors.

Anyway. I know you wanted the Asian insight. And I respect that. But from the outside looking in, I’m shocked as to where Asian kids aren’t applying.

Thanks for posting this. Really good perspective. I am open to listening to what we are overlooking. Socially, i would want my kids to go where there are at least some representation of Asian American students. Greek life is not what we are looking for at all.

My kid is actively looking for SLACs with no Greek Life. The midwestern ones (Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Macalester, St. Olaf) have little or no Greek life. Some of the more Eastern ones Greek is bigger.

From the outside looking in, but talking to a lot of Asian parents about college. it seems like the Asian system of higher education is more tracked. Top scores to top university with a tight ranking system to a top company. So they think top college (Harvard) to top grad school to to job. But the US system is multitracked. You can get to the top grad school and top job several ways. But Asian parents often miss some of the tracks. An Ivy or top 20 will get you there. But you will still be competing heavily for lots because top med schools also want representation. You also can go top SLAC to top medical school. And top SLACs are way over represented because they teach kids to think and write and discuss. And top a OOS U (besides a UC or UVA or UMD) and get there. uT Austin flys under the radar. You will have to hustle for research opportunities, but it is very doable.

I would think the good news for Asians is that there are top schools that will get their kids where they want to go that desperately want talented Asian kids.

DP. Those are some good points. But I think we’re already seeing this with UVA. I’m not aware of a single Asian parent in nova who would be disappointed if their kid went there.

UVA is getting significantly harder for TJ kids. This year less than half of the TJ applicants were accepted. Not that long ago, 2/3 were accepted.

UVA finally figured out that, by the time kids graduate college, TJ kids were no better.

Untrue. A Dean at UVA wrote a piece a few years back about TJ and Ivy admissions and UVA, WM and VT. It was reposted here or in AAP about a year ago if you dig with the search function. He was asked if TJ was worth it if only so many kids could go Ivy. And he said absolutely. As part of his job, he sorted the GPAs of UVA students by high school every year, and then looked at all the schools with at least ten kids on campus. Year after year, TJ kids had the highest average GPAS of any high school in the country, public or private and had phenomenal grad school placements. His point was that even if it’s not an Ivy in the short term, long term it pays off. With a lot of so choose UVA thrown in. Interesting read.

He also said most schools did this, but won’t release full results because it ends up embarrassing people or pissing them off. But it makes sense. It’s how they get a handle on what a GPA means in the context of a given high school when there is different rigor and different scales. What GPA do kids from X school need to succeed.

Nice try though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the white parent of a TJ kid, and I will tell you what I have seen in action. There are excellent, very well respected schools where your kid will get a great education— even in STEM— and that will place them at the top of the grad school admissions heap. And Asian kids are not applying. Those that do are getting a boost over white girls (girls are also over represented).

For example, Grinnell and Oberlin are both top SLACs. They are also both in the top 5 in science PhD production by graduates. Their science grads consistently get into the top handful of grad programs in their field. They both having phenomenal med school placement. A science kid will go and do hands on published research with a professor for 4 years if they want it and get great internships. Because they aren’t competing with grad students. And a high achieving Asian kid is likely to be considered URM and get half tuition merit aid.

These schools also exist in engineering (but the selection is weaker). Mudd, of course. Rose Hulman. Cooper Union. You have a girl who is interested in international relations? HRC and Madeline Albright went to Wellesley. Have your kid who writes apply to Kenyon.

OTOH, the landscape for UVA, Michigan, Purdue is pretty brutal. For whites too. But it does look like Asian boys take the hardest hit.

From the outside looking in, it seems like Asian parents are overlooking small schools that lack national name recognition, but are very well respected in their fields. Asian kids are being heavily recruited by these schools right now. Look on the the Liberal Arts College side of USNWR instead of national university. Liberal arts doesn’t mean underwater basket weaving, or even humanities. It means no grad school. Which can be a huge benefit to kids who aren’t crowded out by grad students and sitting in huge classes taught by TAs. They get small classes and a lot of access to the full professors.

Anyway. I know you wanted the Asian insight. And I respect that. But from the outside looking in, I’m shocked as to where Asian kids aren’t applying.

Thanks for posting this. Really good perspective. I am open to listening to what we are overlooking. Socially, i would want my kids to go where there are at least some representation of Asian American students. Greek life is not what we are looking for at all.

My kid is actively looking for SLACs with no Greek Life. The midwestern ones (Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Macalester, St. Olaf) have little or no Greek life. Some of the more Eastern ones Greek is bigger.

From the outside looking in, but talking to a lot of Asian parents about college. it seems like the Asian system of higher education is more tracked. Top scores to top university with a tight ranking system to a top company. So they think top college (Harvard) to top grad school to to job. But the US system is multitracked. You can get to the top grad school and top job several ways. But Asian parents often miss some of the tracks. An Ivy or top 20 will get you there. But you will still be competing heavily for lots because top med schools also want representation. You also can go top SLAC to top medical school. And top SLACs are way over represented because they teach kids to think and write and discuss. And top a OOS U (besides a UC or UVA or UMD) and get there. uT Austin flys under the radar. You will have to hustle for research opportunities, but it is very doable.

I would think the good news for Asians is that there are top schools that will get their kids where they want to go that desperately want talented Asian kids.

DP. Those are some good points. But I think we’re already seeing this with UVA. I’m not aware of a single Asian parent in nova who would be disappointed if their kid went there.

UVA is getting significantly harder for TJ kids. This year less than half of the TJ applicants were accepted. Not that long ago, 2/3 were accepted.

Kind of embarrassing.

I. Can’t. Even. Every year the stats go up for WM and UVA. It’s tough all over out there. If they filled their entire naoVA quota from TJ, you’d gripe about that too.

Side note: TJ kids have abandoned VT. Last year there was a 60% drop in the number of TJ applicants. More kids applied to and more kids attended Pitt from the class of 2020 than VT. And is seems like they all got close to a full ride. And honors college. Pitt is super hot and really wants TJ kids. VT is...not. Their new emphasis on making the college reflect the demographics of the state is not going over well.

Well a full ride is nice, I guess. But a “Pitt” car decal isn’t exactly what nova mommies are going for.

Which is just wrong. When did education become about getting the best car decal for me and not getting the best pre-med education or whatever for my kid in an environment where they will succeed? And maybe even be happy. When did people become so wrapped up in being perceived as good parents that they forgot to actually be good parents and consider what’s best for their kid.

Lots of kids with Vanderbilt Debt out there sitting in med school classes going deeper into debt — beside Pitt grads or SLAC grads from TJ who are using the money they didn’t spend on college to come out of med school without debt. If your kid ends up at Tufts or Duke, why does it that you got there via Vanderbilt and not Grinnell or Pitt?

[Anonymous]

PP, there are parents that care about the car decal or telling family where there kid goes to college (or announcing it on FB or whatever). My child has a friend who goes to Haverford. The parents are thrilled that their relatives actually think it's Harvard and don't know the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, there are parents that care about the car decal or telling family where there kid goes to college (or announcing it on FB or whatever). My child has a friend who goes to Haverford. The parents are thrilled that their relatives actually think it's Harvard and don't know the difference.

Okay. This board is depressing sometimes. But this is the saddest thing I have ever seen. Haverford is amazing. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a kid there? I actually want my kid to apply to Haverford. Badly. But it’s no merit aid and we are in a nasty donut hole. There is no way for my kid to do it without about 10k a year of debt, plus tuition increases. And I can’t okay that with WM right here, debt free, money left over for grad school or a down payment. But it would be great if budgets weren’t things.

That poor kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, there are parents that care about the car decal or telling family where there kid goes to college (or announcing it on FB or whatever). My child has a friend who goes to Haverford. The parents are thrilled that their relatives actually think it's Harvard and don't know the difference.

Okay. This board is depressing sometimes. But this is the saddest thing I have ever seen. Haverford is amazing. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a kid there?[b] I actually want my kid to apply to Haverford. Badly. But it’s no merit aid and we are in a nasty donut hole. There is no way for my kid to do it without about 10k a year of debt, plus tuition increases. And I can’t okay that with WM right here, debt free, money left over for grad school or a down payment. But it would be great if budgets weren’t things.

That poor kid.

Not the poster you're replying to, but my wild guess is, "relatives" who don't know Haverford from Harvard live in China and to them Haverford is an epic fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, there are parents that care about the car decal or telling family where there kid goes to college (or announcing it on FB or whatever). My child has a friend who goes to Haverford. The parents are thrilled that their relatives actually think it's Harvard and don't know the difference.

Okay. This board is depressing sometimes. But this is the saddest thing I have ever seen. Haverford is amazing. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a kid there?[b] I actually want my kid to apply to Haverford. Badly. But it’s no merit aid and we are in a nasty donut hole. There is no way for my kid to do it without about 10k a year of debt, plus tuition increases. And I can’t okay that with WM right here, debt free, money left over for grad school or a down payment. But it would be great if budgets weren’t things.

That poor kid.

Not the poster you're replying to, but my wild guess is, "relatives" who don't know Haverford from Harvard live in China and to them Haverford is an epic fail.

I’d wager that 90% of the imbeciles on this board haven’t heard of Haverford. No need to go to China.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the white parent of a TJ kid, and I will tell you what I have seen in action. There are excellent, very well respected schools where your kid will get a great education— even in STEM— and that will place them at the top of the grad school admissions heap. And Asian kids are not applying. Those that do are getting a boost over white girls (girls are also over represented).

For example, Grinnell and Oberlin are both top SLACs. They are also both in the top 5 in science PhD production by graduates. Their science grads consistently get into the top handful of grad programs in their field. They both having phenomenal med school placement. A science kid will go and do hands on published research with a professor for 4 years if they want it and get great internships. Because they aren’t competing with grad students. And a high achieving Asian kid is likely to be considered URM and get half tuition merit aid.

These schools also exist in engineering (but the selection is weaker). Mudd, of course. Rose Hulman. Cooper Union. You have a girl who is interested in international relations? HRC and Madeline Albright went to Wellesley. Have your kid who writes apply to Kenyon.

OTOH, the landscape for UVA, Michigan, Purdue is pretty brutal. For whites too. But it does look like Asian boys take the hardest hit.

From the outside looking in, it seems like Asian parents are overlooking small schools that lack national name recognition, but are very well respected in their fields. Asian kids are being heavily recruited by these schools right now. Look on the the Liberal Arts College side of USNWR instead of national university. Liberal arts doesn’t mean underwater basket weaving, or even humanities. It means no grad school. Which can be a huge benefit to kids who aren’t crowded out by grad students and sitting in huge classes taught by TAs. They get small classes and a lot of access to the full professors.

Anyway. I know you wanted the Asian insight. And I respect that. But from the outside looking in, I’m shocked as to where Asian kids aren’t applying.

Thanks for posting this. Really good perspective. I am open to listening to what we are overlooking. Socially, i would want my kids to go where there are at least some representation of Asian American students. Greek life is not what we are looking for at all.

My kid is actively looking for SLACs with no Greek Life. The midwestern ones (Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Macalester, St. Olaf) have little or no Greek life. Some of the more Eastern ones Greek is bigger.

From the outside looking in, but talking to a lot of Asian parents about college. it seems like the Asian system of higher education is more tracked. Top scores to top university with a tight ranking system to a top company. So they think top college (Harvard) to top grad school to to job. But the US system is multitracked. You can get to the top grad school and top job several ways. But Asian parents often miss some of the tracks. An Ivy or top 20 will get you there. But you will still be competing heavily for lots because top med schools also want representation. You also can go top SLAC to top medical school. And top SLACs are way over represented because they teach kids to think and write and discuss. And top a OOS U (besides a UC or UVA or UMD) and get there. uT Austin flys under the radar. You will have to hustle for research opportunities, but it is very doable.

I would think the good news for Asians is that there are top schools that will get their kids where they want to go that desperately want talented Asian kids.

DP. Those are some good points. But I think we’re already seeing this with UVA. I’m not aware of a single Asian parent in nova who would be disappointed if their kid went there.

UVA is getting significantly harder for TJ kids. This year less than half of the TJ applicants were accepted. Not that long ago, 2/3 were accepted.

Kind of embarrassing.

I. Can’t. Even. Every year the stats go up for WM and UVA. It’s tough all over out there. If they filled their entire naoVA quota from TJ, you’d gripe about that too.

Side note: TJ kids have abandoned VT. Last year there was a 60% drop in the number of TJ applicants. More kids applied to and more kids attended Pitt from the class of 2020 than VT. And is seems like they all got close to a full ride. And honors college. Pitt is super hot and really wants TJ kids. VT is...not. Their new emphasis on making the college reflect the demographics of the state is not going over well.

Well a full ride is nice, I guess. But a “Pitt” car decal isn’t exactly what nova mommies are going for.

Which is just wrong. When did education become about getting the best car decal for me and not getting the best pre-med education or whatever for my kid in an environment where they will succeed? And maybe even be happy. When did people become so wrapped up in being perceived as good parents that they forgot to actually be good parents and consider what’s best for their kid.

Lots of kids with Vanderbilt Debt out there sitting in med school classes going deeper into debt — beside Pitt grads or SLAC grads from TJ who are using the money they didn’t spend on college to come out of med school without debt. If your kid ends up at Tufts or Duke, why does it that you got there via Vanderbilt and not Grinnell or Pitt?

It just does. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, there are parents that care about the car decal or telling family where there kid goes to college (or announcing it on FB or whatever). My child has a friend who goes to Haverford. The parents are thrilled that their relatives actually think it's Harvard and don't know the difference.

Okay. This board is depressing sometimes. But this is the saddest thing I have ever seen. Haverford is amazing. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to have a kid there? I actually want my kid to apply to Haverford. Badly. But it’s no merit aid and we are in a nasty donut hole. There is no way for my kid to do it without about 10k a year of debt, plus tuition increases. And I can’t okay that with WM right here, debt free, money left over for grad school or a down payment. But it would be great if budgets weren’t things.

That poor kid.

Maybe relatives will think it’s Williams and not William and Mary,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the white parent of a TJ kid, and I will tell you what I have seen in action. There are excellent, very well respected schools where your kid will get a great education— even in STEM— and that will place them at the top of the grad school admissions heap. And Asian kids are not applying. Those that do are getting a boost over white girls (girls are also over represented).

For example, Grinnell and Oberlin are both top SLACs. They are also both in the top 5 in science PhD production by graduates. Their science grads consistently get into the top handful of grad programs in their field. They both having phenomenal med school placement. A science kid will go and do hands on published research with a professor for 4 years if they want it and get great internships. Because they aren’t competing with grad students. And a high achieving Asian kid is likely to be considered URM and get half tuition merit aid.

These schools also exist in engineering (but the selection is weaker). Mudd, of course. Rose Hulman. Cooper Union. You have a girl who is interested in international relations? HRC and Madeline Albright went to Wellesley. Have your kid who writes apply to Kenyon.

OTOH, the landscape for UVA, Michigan, Purdue is pretty brutal. For whites too. But it does look like Asian boys take the hardest hit.

From the outside looking in, it seems like Asian parents are overlooking small schools that lack national name recognition, but are very well respected in their fields. Asian kids are being heavily recruited by these schools right now. Look on the the Liberal Arts College side of USNWR instead of national university. Liberal arts doesn’t mean underwater basket weaving, or even humanities. It means no grad school. Which can be a huge benefit to kids who aren’t crowded out by grad students and sitting in huge classes taught by TAs. They get small classes and a lot of access to the full professors.

Anyway. I know you wanted the Asian insight. And I respect that. But from the outside looking in, I’m shocked as to where Asian kids aren’t applying.

Thanks for posting this. Really good perspective. I am open to listening to what we are overlooking. Socially, i would want my kids to go where there are at least some representation of Asian American students. Greek life is not what we are looking for at all.

My kid is actively looking for SLACs with no Greek Life. The midwestern ones (Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Macalester, St. Olaf) have little or no Greek life. Some of the more Eastern ones Greek is bigger.

From the outside looking in, but talking to a lot of Asian parents about college. it seems like the Asian system of higher education is more tracked. Top scores to top university with a tight ranking system to a top company. So they think top college (Harvard) to top grad school to to job. But the US system is multitracked. You can get to the top grad school and top job several ways. But Asian parents often miss some of the tracks. An Ivy or top 20 will get you there. But you will still be competing heavily for lots because top med schools also want representation. You also can go top SLAC to top medical school. And top SLACs are way over represented because they teach kids to think and write and discuss. And top a OOS U (besides a UC or UVA or UMD) and get there. uT Austin flys under the radar. You will have to hustle for research opportunities, but it is very doable.

I would think the good news for Asians is that there are top schools that will get their kids where they want to go that desperately want talented Asian kids.

DP. Those are some good points. But I think we’re already seeing this with UVA. I’m not aware of a single Asian parent in nova who would be disappointed if their kid went there.

UVA is getting significantly harder for TJ kids. This year less than half of the TJ applicants were accepted. Not that long ago, 2/3 were accepted.

UVA finally figured out that, by the time kids graduate college, TJ kids were no better.

Untrue. A Dean at UVA wrote a piece a few years back about TJ and Ivy admissions and UVA, WM and VT. It was reposted here or in AAP about a year ago if you dig with the search function. He was asked if TJ was worth it if only so many kids could go Ivy. And he said absolutely. As part of his job, he sorted the GPAs of UVA students by high school every year, and then looked at all the schools with at least ten kids on campus. Year after year, TJ kids had the highest average GPAS of any high school in the country, public or private and had phenomenal grad school placements. His point was that even if it’s not an Ivy in the short term, long term it pays off. With a lot of so choose UVA thrown in. Interesting read.

He also said most schools did this, but won’t release full results because it ends up embarrassing people or pissing them off. But it makes sense. It’s how they get a handle on what a GPA means in the context of a given high school when there is different rigor and different scales. What GPA do kids from X school need to succeed.

Nice try though.

How was he supposed to answer that question then?? It was a pre-set question. He would’ve given the same answer no matter the school.

Dumb.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if the anecdotes on here about striving parents are true or just exaggerated - but they are infinitely better than kids left home alone with nothing to do, in truancy, or worse, are involved in break-ins, drugs, in jail or whatever. When first-gen immigrants come here and will not work hard, go on welfare with no effort to improve themselves, that's when I worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Know that the "cap" on Asians is an artificial and random cap. We are being discriminated against now, but we will be in a position of power to champion for merit instead of race, later in life.


Our frugality will allow our children to reap the reward of higher education. Nothing can beat the feeling to be able to afford college and the college application process for our kids, because we lived on rice and beans and saved for college.

Like.

Our mission is done if we successfully transfer our core values to our kids. In a way, I envy our kids, they are coming into a landscape that is very different for Asians compared to when I graduated HS.

[Anonymous]

My white kid and his Asian American best friend had similar GPAs/courseloads/SATs and they had nearly identical admissions outcomes. But they weren't going for HYPS. They did both apply to UVA/W&M though and got in both. From what I can see from our HS, for the VA publics, it seems like it always came down to GPA/SAT tempered by ec's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the white parent of a TJ kid, and I will tell you what I have seen in action. There are excellent, very well respected schools where your kid will get a great education— even in STEM— and that will place them at the top of the grad school admissions heap. And Asian kids are not applying. Those that do are getting a boost over white girls (girls are also over represented).

For example, Grinnell and Oberlin are both top SLACs. They are also both in the top 5 in science PhD production by graduates. Their science grads consistently get into the top handful of grad programs in their field. They both having phenomenal med school placement. A science kid will go and do hands on published research with a professor for 4 years if they want it and get great internships. Because they aren’t competing with grad students. And a high achieving Asian kid is likely to be considered URM and get half tuition merit aid.

These schools also exist in engineering (but the selection is weaker). Mudd, of course. Rose Hulman. Cooper Union. You have a girl who is interested in international relations? HRC and Madeline Albright went to Wellesley. Have your kid who writes apply to Kenyon.

OTOH, the landscape for UVA, Michigan, Purdue is pretty brutal. For whites too. But it does look like Asian boys take the hardest hit.

From the outside looking in, it seems like Asian parents are overlooking small schools that lack national name recognition, but are very well respected in their fields. Asian kids are being heavily recruited by these schools right now. Look on the the Liberal Arts College side of USNWR instead of national university. Liberal arts doesn’t mean underwater basket weaving, or even humanities. It means no grad school. Which can be a huge benefit to kids who aren’t crowded out by grad students and sitting in huge classes taught by TAs. They get small classes and a lot of access to the full professors.

Anyway. I know you wanted the Asian insight. And I respect that. But from the outside looking in, I’m shocked as to where Asian kids aren’t applying.

Thanks for posting this. Really good perspective. I am open to listening to what we are overlooking. Socially, i would want my kids to go where there are at least some representation of Asian American students. Greek life is not what we are looking for at all.

My kid is actively looking for SLACs with no Greek Life. The midwestern ones (Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Macalester, St. Olaf) have little or no Greek life. Some of the more Eastern ones Greek is bigger.

From the outside looking in, but talking to a lot of Asian parents about college. it seems like the Asian system of higher education is more tracked. Top scores to top university with a tight ranking system to a top company. So they think top college (Harvard) to top grad school to to job. But the US system is multitracked. You can get to the top grad school and top job several ways. But Asian parents often miss some of the tracks. An Ivy or top 20 will get you there. But you will still be competing heavily for lots because top med schools also want representation. You also can go top SLAC to top medical school. And top SLACs are way over represented because they teach kids to think and write and discuss. And top a OOS U (besides a UC or UVA or UMD) and get there. uT Austin flys under the radar. You will have to hustle for research opportunities, but it is very doable.

I would think the good news for Asians is that there are top schools that will get their kids where they want to go that desperately want talented Asian kids.

DP. Those are some good points. But I think we’re already seeing this with UVA. I’m not aware of a single Asian parent in nova who would be disappointed if their kid went there.

UVA is getting significantly harder for TJ kids. This year less than half of the TJ applicants were accepted. Not that long ago, 2/3 were accepted.

UVA finally figured out that, by the time kids graduate college, TJ kids were no better.

Untrue. A Dean at UVA wrote a piece a few years back about TJ and Ivy admissions and UVA, WM and VT. It was reposted here or in AAP about a year ago if you dig with the search function. He was asked if TJ was worth it if only so many kids could go Ivy. And he said absolutely. As part of his job, he sorted the GPAs of UVA students by high school every year, and then looked at all the schools with at least ten kids on campus. Year after year, TJ kids had the highest average GPAS of any high school in the country, public or private and had phenomenal grad school placements. His point was that even if it’s not an Ivy in the short term, long term it pays off. With a lot of so choose UVA thrown in. Interesting read.

He also said most schools did this, but won’t release full results because it ends up embarrassing people or pissing them off. But it makes sense. It’s how they get a handle on what a GPA means in the context of a given high school when there is different rigor and different scales. What GPA do kids from X school need to succeed.

Nice try though.

How was he supposed to answer that question then?? It was a pre-set question. He would’ve given the same answer no matter the school.

Dumb.

The relevant piece here is that TJ grads have the highest average GPA of any HS and the best grad school placement. I’d never even realized colleges track this. But of course they do. He would not have told Madison they have the best GPa. Unless you think he was lying.

[Anonymous]

My mixed race white/Asian children both checked the white box on the common app. Sad but that’s the smart move given the racial quotas in college admissions.