Chances at HYP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But to help OP or anyone in this situation, is there something DD can do to make her stand out?

Should DD apply EA to one of these schools? Put all her eggs in one basket and show extreme interest in said school? Would that help?

Or would it help if DD knew who else was applying from her class to the same schools? (e.g., is there a legacy applying to H? not Y?)

I mean, could it come down to who's applying from her class? And maybe choosing the less-popular school (which I realize is difficult w/r/t HYP).

HYP don't care about demonstrated interest - they assume everyone is interested in them. Even EA doesn't give much of a boost. The smart thing would be to identify just about any other school (other than Stanford or MIT) and apply binding ED there - where a well-qualified kid like this one would definitely get an admissions bump for applying early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

+1. Dear God. No way would I pay for a "degree" like that, even from HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

+1. Dear God. No way would I pay for a "degree" like that, even from HYP.

.....aaaaannnd the troll reels in sucker after sucker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Challenge of the moment is all the 2020 grads who took a gap year and are reapplying with renewed focus and experience.

You don’t reapply after a gap year. If that was the procedure they wouldn’t have taken the gap year in the first place!

[Anonymous]

I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

I interviewed for Harvard out here and I don’t think intended major makes a big difference. I had a lot of kids interested in the humanities or social sciences.

[Anonymous]

HYPe is more like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

Harvard interviewer here. Do you by chance live or work near a lot of TJ students? I think you do get more STEM focused kids if you live near a major TJ feeder area in FFX county. (We try to pair applicants with interviewers that work or live close to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

The STEM candidates would also be helped by having a long term focused interest in a specific area. STEM is too general.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s pretty close to 0. If you are not URM, you need to be your school’s top student AND a state or national level leader in something, often two things. This something would have been a passion project since childhood, if not 9th grade at the latest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

The STEM candidates would also be helped by having a long term focused interest in a specific area. STEM is too general.

I may have gotten into HYP as an unhooked student because, among other things, I had a very specialized interest in a specific STEM area and worked in that field and took advanced classes in it. It's one that is kind of "gross' to most people so they might have thought hey this kid probably isn't faking this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

The STEM candidates would also be helped by having a long term focused interest in a specific area. STEM is too general.

I may have gotten into HYP as an unhooked student because, among other things, I had a very specialized interest in a specific STEM area and worked in that field and took advanced classes in it. It's one that is kind of "gross' to most people so they might have thought hey this kid probably isn't faking this.

Isn't that specialized interest a hook?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s pretty close to 0. If you are not URM, you need to be your school’s top student AND a state or national level leader in something, often two things. This something would have been a passion project since childhood, if not 9th grade at the latest.

or you could be a white athlete, be nowhere near the top of your athletic peers (they all go to real athletic powerhouses, not HYP), have mediocre academic ratings (as borne out by the Harvard data) and do nothing else because you were so busy becoming the 350th best soccer player in your year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

should have played a sport.

I don't think the sport makes a big difference unless you're good enough to get recruited.

But with a decent resume like the OP's DD, playing a sport at a high level would help.

Not everyone can play sports at a high level. It's not a question of snapping your fingers and boom, you're an athlete.

I know recruiting for sports at the Ivies is controversial but even I acknowledge we're talking about kids who likely have put in far more hours and dedication to their sports than most of the bright Ivy qualified applicants did to their non sport hook areas.

maybe these athletes should spend less time on their sports and more time on their academics, then. because right now, they've got the lowest academic ratings.

Huh. Athletes generally get high gpas in college.

1. They don’t
2. We are talking about admissions. They are the least academically qualified group of admitted students.

Yes they do. They usually have the highest GPAs on campus as a group.

Good one - you think athletes at Harvard have the highest GPAs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

The STEM candidates would also be helped by having a long term focused interest in a specific area. STEM is too general.

I may have gotten into HYP as an unhooked student because, among other things, I had a very specialized interest in a specific STEM area and worked in that field and took advanced classes in it. It's one that is kind of "gross' to most people so they might have thought hey this kid probably isn't faking this.

Isn't that specialized interest a hook?

Perhaps?

I just didn't mean the "big" hooks people talk about--I wasn't a URM, I wasn't a legacy, I wasn't rich, I wasn't a recruited athlete, I didn't win national-level competitions, I wasn't from a rural state.