To those who have kids at T20s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS had 3.89 GPA no weighted GPA at his school
1580 on SAT
Perfect scores on 4 SAT 2's
Transferred to college with 23 AP credits
National Merit Finalist
Captain of school sports team
Tons of community service

applied to 4 of the top 20 schools - got into 2, rejected from 2

Almost the exact same here except 4.6 at public magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

NP. Below avg for a t20, but a 1380 is obviously way above national averages. At some high schools it’s 300-400 points above the average, which is reflected in the school profile and can be a bump for the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

NP. Below avg for a t20, but a 1380 is obviously way above national averages. At some high schools it’s 300-400 points above the average, which is reflected in the school profile and can be a bump for the kid.

Not just below average for a T20, but below the 25th percentile. But a full IB bilingual diploma is impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

I'm the PP of this post. Not a donor, no legacy, no connections, not a URM, not first gen. DC is actually half white and half Asian - so that should've been a disadvantage too!! Only advantage is that we're an affluent family who can pay full freight. As I mentioned in my post, I did not think for a million years that DC would get into even a top 30. It was clearly a high reach school for my DC. But we're thrilled of course especially since it was DC's #1 choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

NP. Below avg for a t20, but a 1380 is obviously way above national averages. At some high schools it’s 300-400 points above the average, which is reflected in the school profile and can be a bump for the kid.

Not just below average for a T20, but below the 25th percentile. But a full IB bilingual diploma is impressive.

UCLA and Cornell (t20s) 25th percentile day was under a 1390 until last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

Maybe so but that doesn’t make their idiot kid any more qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

Maybe so but that doesn’t make their idiot kid any more qualified.

NP. A kid with a 1380 is not an idiot that’s higher than many athletic recruits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

Maybe so but that doesn’t make their idiot kid any more qualified.

NP. A kid with a 1380 is not an idiot that’s higher than many athletic recruits

At a T20 school they are a relative idiot. And that’s including the white athletic recruits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

Maybe so but that doesn’t make their idiot kid any more qualified.

NP. A kid with a 1380 is not an idiot that’s higher than many athletic recruits

At a T20 school they are a relative idiot. And that’s including the white athletic recruits

I'm the PP whose child you're calling an idiot. I'm guessing since you're on this board, you have a child who is applying to, or is already in college. I sincerely wish the best for your child(ren) and hope that they attend, or will attend a school that it as wonderful as the one my non-idiot child will attend.

All the best and good health to your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

URM hook?

White legacy? White donor? White connections?

Donors make possible charity cases.

I'm the PP of this post. Not a donor, no legacy, no connections, not a URM, not first gen. DC is actually half white and half Asian - so that should've been a disadvantage too!! Only advantage is that we're an affluent family who can pay full freight. As I mentioned in my post, I did not think for a million years that DC would get into even a top 30. It was clearly a high reach school for my DC. But we're thrilled of course especially since it was DC's #1 choice.

May have helped that your child didnt apply as a STEM major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC just graduated and is going to a top 20 according to the US News rankings. DC applied to four schools in the top 25, and honestly, I didn't think DC would get into any of them. Only got into one, but it was one of the top 20. Full IB Bilingual Diploma, but all humanities at the higher level. 1380 SAT and GPA roughly equivalent to a 3.6 - 3.7 (IB is on a scale of 7). One very strong EC with leadership roles in 11th and 12th, but no state or national prizes or recognition. The one big advantage was probably that we're full pay and checked the "do not need financial aid" box!

I think it's such a random thing - as a pp mentioned earlier - one admissions person may love an essay, while another one thinks its contrived. There's no magic formula here and it's definitely NOT objective.

Wow! Low SAT and got into a US News Ranking T20? Impressed because the stats aren’t great-very average, tbh.

NP. Below avg for a t20, but a 1380 is obviously way above national averages. At some high schools it’s 300-400 points above the average, which is reflected in the school profile and can be a bump for the kid.

Really?! Where? Not at our FCPS HS.