What does the future hold for kids applying in the next 5 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The current situation is that colleges have become less predictable in whom they accept, in part due to test-optional admissions. It's not so much that college admission is more selective across the board, although it has certainly become so at the top universities and colleges, but that students are forced to widen their search and apply to more schools to ensure admission at one of them. And tuition increases every year, faster than salaries can keep up.

And that's a very bad thing. It puts the burden on the student and their family to navigate an extremely complex, non-transparent, process. Colleges and universities profit from the murkier admissions criteria ("holistic" and "equitable" my foot) to cherry-pick the class that suits them that year, to sculpt their brand and image. Profit, in the form of reputation and money, is the end goal, at the expense of individual students.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

Disagree with this. There is an old article (maybe Economist) titled “the one shot society “ (about South Korea).

South Korea is quantitate though. High stress yes, but it's not subject to the hidden whims of AOs. I predict students within two years will be applying to 30 schools. My DC applied to 17 and it wasn't enough with all the random decision making.

What is your definition of "it wasn't enough?"

I suspect your kid's perceived FAILURE was in fact not making it into a school that you felt you could brag about. What a shame for your child if you communicated that disappointment.

How is he/she supposed to get excited about what they achieved, if you clearly are not excited for them. You sound selfish and status-driven. Love the child you have. Expect them to try their best, and when they do, express sincere proud about what that earned. That is what good parents do.

You're an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think, as the cost of those so-called top-tier colleges keeps increasing, More and more parents of really strong students are just not willing to pay these outrageous prices, or we are unwilling to pay them. People are unwilling to take on debt to pay 40, 50, 60, $70,000 a year. A lot of parents right here on DC urban mounts managed to save a full tuition for their kids, but in the rest of the world most of us have not. As a result we are steering our kids to more reasonably priced state colleges. This makes state schools more competitive.

Agree, and there is absolutely a “trickle down” of students to the lower ranked public universities, as the highly ranked flagships become more competitive. Pitt and Auburn had a huge increase in applications (Auburn up 150% over two years) and some of the panic you see is folks whose kids didn’t get into what they thought were “safeties.”

On the flip side: Pretty good need-aware universities will probably be easier for full-pay students to get into. A lot of those will be hungry for tuition money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

Nope. The high school of class 2020 doesn’t count, they had it so great. So many students got into their dream schools b/c of COVID-19, with US students’ families taking a huge financial and hit internationals staying home. That book is irrelevant now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This won’t work for the large majority of people but I bring it up anyway because it will apply to some of you: if your kid is genuinely unusual, or has strange or rare interests, lean into that pretty hard. Especially if they are at all charismatic and have good people skills. This is an alternate formula that worked out for my son and several of his friends this year

Hypothetical examples might include a lifelong interest in playing traditional irish music for fun, in your spare time (NOT an EC.). Saltwater aquarium building/ tending. A demonstrated passion for Snowmobiling (you own 3, you repair them yourself, you took your blind aunt on a snowmobile excursion in the adirondacks when everyone in the family said it couldn’t be done)

My son and his friends are all into T15 schools next fall with no hooks. Some are full pay but not all. They’re smart, yes, but that’s the starting point. What pushed them over the edge into acceptance I think was that each one is a little odd, in a good way. With good social skills. I’m sure their LOR support that and their essays too

Serious question. Private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading about some of the rejections and it’s intense. Mind you Ivy League was never the goal in our household but kids are getting rejected left and right from state schools. Is all this craziness worth it? I want my DC to have a good high school experience. Reading these threads I’m like…well they can either find the cure for cancer and get in to decent schools OR they can just be normal kids and settle somewhere else. What are the strategies for parents with kids applying in the next 5 years? I’m thinking at the very least save more money in case in states are out and we need to go less well known privates?

Go back on this board and read posts from 5-7 years ago. See how much has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read who gets in and why too, and while very insightful, I’m not sure it gives a magic formula.

What I took away from WGIAW it was:

Be very smart and get an A and 5 on BC Calc junior year (especially if female as this illustrates high quant IQ.)
Take the other hardest courses at your school and get As
Apply ED and EA
Be full pay
Be recruited for a sport
Most importantly, admission officers are human and make many seemingly random decisions

Anyway, this “recipe” is not possible for most kids. For my kids, we are going to do a lot of rolling and EA schools and be happy with those schools. We are not getting attached to any one perfect school. I am encouraging my kid to apply to schools they fit their areas of interest but have admission rates above 50%. Maybe they will try for one harder to get into school for ED but that will be balanced with others that are more likely.

Lol! I'm glad you summarized this. Their formula is really just common sense and frankly unrealistic for most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

Nope. The high school of class 2020 doesn’t count, they had it so great. So many students got into their dream schools b/c of COVID-19, with US students’ families taking a huge financial and hit internationals staying home. That book is irrelevant now.

I think you meant high class of 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The current situation is that colleges have become less predictable in whom they accept, in part due to test-optional admissions. It's not so much that college admission is more selective across the board, although it has certainly become so at the top universities and colleges, but that students are forced to widen their search and apply to more schools to ensure admission at one of them. And tuition increases every year, faster than salaries can keep up.

And that's a very bad thing. It puts the burden on the student and their family to navigate an extremely complex, non-transparent, process. Colleges and universities profit from the murkier admissions criteria ("holistic" and "equitable" my foot) to cherry-pick the class that suits them that year, to sculpt their brand and image. Profit, in the form of reputation and money, is the end goal, at the expense of individual students.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

Ummm, you think it's bad here? Your fate is determined at AGE q0 in Germany. If you don't make it into Gymnasium which prepares you to pass the Abitur, your only chances of going to.collrge is a high IQ test score. College is free, but only for the intellectually deserving


Furthermore, at age 10 if you are labeled a big giant dummy you get placed in Hauptschule and you only go to school until 9th grade and then enter the lowest od thr low vocational programs.

Despite what people will tell you it is very hard to advance outside your determined academic destiny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The current situation is that colleges have become less predictable in whom they accept, in part due to test-optional admissions. It's not so much that college admission is more selective across the board, although it has certainly become so at the top universities and colleges, but that students are forced to widen their search and apply to more schools to ensure admission at one of them. And tuition increases every year, faster than salaries can keep up.

And that's a very bad thing. It puts the burden on the student and their family to navigate an extremely complex, non-transparent, process. Colleges and universities profit from the murkier admissions criteria ("holistic" and "equitable" my foot) to cherry-pick the class that suits them that year, to sculpt their brand and image. Profit, in the form of reputation and money, is the end goal, at the expense of individual students.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

Ummm, you think it's bad here? Your fate is determined at AGE q0 in Germany. If you don't make it into Gymnasium which prepares you to pass the Abitur, your only chances of going to.collrge is a high IQ test score. College is free, but only for the intellectually deserving


Furthermore, at age 10 if you are labeled a big giant dummy you get placed in Hauptschule and you only go to school until 9th grade and then enter the lowest od thr low vocational programs.

Despite what people will tell you it is very hard to advance outside your determined academic destiny.

+1

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

You need to expand your definition of “top schools”. Start by ignoring the USNWR list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

Exactly how we feel until our DC submitted applications. Legacy parents do make a difference. HS would be more fun and easy if DC didn’t work so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This won’t work for the large majority of people but I bring it up anyway because it will apply to some of you: if your kid is genuinely unusual, or has strange or rare interests, lean into that pretty hard. Especially if they are at all charismatic and have good people skills. This is an alternate formula that worked out for my son and several of his friends this year

Hypothetical examples might include a lifelong interest in playing traditional irish music for fun, in your spare time (NOT an EC.). Saltwater aquarium building/ tending. A demonstrated passion for Snowmobiling (you own 3, you repair them yourself, you took your blind aunt on a snowmobile excursion in the adirondacks when everyone in the family said it couldn’t be done)

My son and his friends are all into T15 schools next fall with no hooks. Some are full pay but not all. They’re smart, yes, but that’s the starting point. What pushed them over the edge into acceptance I think was that each one is a little odd, in a good way. With good social skills. I’m sure their LOR support that and their essays too

People have caught onto this approach though, and a ton of kids work an angle of this sort into their apps. Not sure AOs are impressed by it anymore. It’s possible that your son and direness had other advantages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

Nope. The high school of class 2020 doesn’t count, they had it so great. So many students got into their dream schools b/c of COVID-19, with US students’ families taking a huge financial and hit internationals staying home. That book is irrelevant now.

I think you meant high class of 2021.

No. International students were allowed to return in Fall 2021, not to mention they had to deal with all of the deferrals and hold-outs from 2020. Those that graduated in 2020 for Fall 2020 matriculation had the best chance of getting into their dream school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

You need to expand your definition of “top schools”. Start by ignoring the USNWR list.

+1 Stop wanting specific schools. What you should want is to do YOUR best taking the most challenging courses YOU are capable of handling while getting enough sleep and not stressing out so much that it feels like hell. Some who do this will get into the big name colleges, some will not. They'll all be fine.