What’s the magic formula for getting accepted?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think this thread has discussed the benefit of being a legacy at many elite colleges.

FWIW the number of international applicants is way down, which is an awful development for our country’s economic future, but that’s a topic for a whole other board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think this thread has discussed the benefit of being a legacy at many elite colleges.

FWIW the number of international applicants is way down, which is an awful development for our country’s economic future, but that’s a topic for a whole other board.

My understanding is that international applicants were way down, but significantly increased after the election but before early deadlines.

[Anonymous]

+1, they're actually up significantly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were really committed to your kid going to a top college, you’d move to wyoming or montana or someplace like that. It’s easier to get in from a remote state that doesn’t send a ton of kids to top schools than it is from the DC metro area/any of the major cities.

Not really. They take one student from a state like this as their scores are lower, etc. They will take many from DC. The place to live is DC proper rather than VA or MD.

[Anonymous]

You need a National Award. It checks a box.

[Anonymous]

We’ll never really know why my son was accepted into every school he applied to including an Ivy where he’s attending but my guess is that (aside from good grades and test scores) he wrote a brilliant essay and is an unusual kid. He plays the bag pipes and spent the summer working as a chocolatier in France.

[Anonymous]

It helps to make an enormous donation, and it is totally legal, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The secret is sports. Every sport at every school is allowed a certain number of recruits and those kids don’t need to have the same insane resumes. They usually still need decent grades and scores but there is way more flexibility. Make friends with the coaches at the chosen school bye emailing them in a friendly manner and that way they will remember your kid and possibly offer them one of the slots.

+1

This is what a friend did for a HYPS recently - and it worked, even though the DC warmed the bench, more often than not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ll never really know why my son was accepted into every school he applied to including an Ivy where he’s attending but my guess is that (aside from good grades and test scores) he wrote a brilliant essay and is an unusual kid. He plays the bag pipes and spent the summer working as a chocolatier in France.

I can’t stand the bagpipes but that sounds awesome about being a chocolatier! I want to encourage my kids to get hands on experience in a trade regardless of whether they end up in college or not. Then again I don’t care about HPY or elite anything, just that my kids can make a living and are happy people so maybe I don’t fit in here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the F even is a GPA over 4.0. That’s garbage. The highest grade you can get is an A which is a 4.0 so this nonsense to artificially inflate grades makes me insane. Haven’t hey also made the SAT higher scoring?

Smartest thing kids can do these days is to get an actual vocation.

You must be new here. A 4.1 GPA is like garbage for selective schools.

Except that not all schools weight their GPAs. For the most part, colleges know the difference between a 3.9 at one school, a 4.1 at another and a 5.0 (or whatever insane GPA some schools allow).

True, of course. Some private schools max at 4.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It helps to make an enormous donation, and it is totally legal, OP.

Where this is true (and it isn't everywhere), the particulars about "the number" and who to talk to at the school will circulate amongst those capable of such donations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a 23 and me test and hope you have URM blood.
Get recruited for sports.
Find a seriously connected friend.
Donate 7 figures.
Beyond that it's a lottery.

Seriously, you're best off letting your child know that there's no promise of getting into a first choice and not to pin their hopes on one school. Trying to do things to impress colleges will lead to an unhappy high school career.

You’re joking about 24 and me, right? Because my 24 and Me shows a tiny BBC amount of Nigerian ancestry and Native American ancestry and we’re still putting down “white.” We look white. We act white. We have white privilege. Trying to pretend we’re URM seems wrong

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It helps to make an enormous donation, and it is totally legal, OP.

Where this is true (and it isn't everywhere), the particulars about "the number" and who to talk to at the school will circulate amongst those capable of such donations.

And it doesn’t always work. My boss donated $1 million to get his kid into the SIUC (3rd tier) law school and they still didn’t accept him. He had to turn around and do the same at Northern Illinois. And then had his paralegals doing the kids writing assignments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ll never really know why my son was accepted into every school he applied to including an Ivy where he’s attending but my guess is that (aside from good grades and test scores) he wrote a brilliant essay and is an unusual kid. He plays the bag pipes and spent the summer working as a chocolatier in France.

I love this PP. Such a refreshing change to creating an app / playing in division 1 sports / building huts in Africa. All of which I hear about frequently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t forget the percentage of international students really cut into the ‘normal’ American kids getting accepted to selective schools. Profit margins increased with full pay foreign students. Once you also were considered unique if you lived abroad - were the child of missionaries or diplomats. Now they simply recruit directly from the place your family was ‘posted.’ You don’t seem very unique against an international student who pays full freight. Also, agreed on quality drop in American high schools. Probably combination of factors there but seems everyone gets a medal type of thinking...

What selective colleges do this? Please be specific.

NP but I used to teach at Yale and it is common knowledge that this is true.