Telling my special snowflake he's not so special

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I tell my kids with love that they are not special, all the time.
The college admissions process is a humbling experience. No matter how special the applicant.
Best to realize that now.

College admissions is not a humbling experience, it is a deceptive experience. It is far from how the real world works. It has turned into a very boring gameified process.

Sorry but the real world is also gameified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I tell my kids with love that they are not special, all the time.
The college admissions process is a humbling experience. No matter how special the applicant.
Best to realize that now.

College admissions is not a humbling experience, it is a deceptive experience. It is far from how the real world works. It has turned into a very boring gameified process.

Sorry but the real world is also gameified.

In a generic mid-level corporate environment it is but not for business owners and market leaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got into all of them (H, Y, S, and P) and I have no doubt I'd get in today if I were a HS senior. I don't understand why anybody would think otherwise. My grit and drive would have motivated me to do whatever it took to max out my resources and shine. Now, my kid doesn't have that same level of internal motivation and doesn't have the same top GPA and SAT scores. No way would they get in. Thankfully, they know this and I didn't have to tell them. They'll do great at other types of schools and have a fantastic life. It's all good.

I wonder if this poster isn't onto something. There is probably something (stats aside) from Harvard or Stanford admits that are consistent across time. What probably has changed is your ability to guess who those people are from test scores and grades alone.

It’s never been about grades and test scores alone. The best schools are looking for demonstrated initiative, drive, ambition to make a difference. People who go to Harvard don’t start out with the dream of a job at Google or a federal government agency. They have a vision and want to be a leader.

Right. And maybe those kids continue to get in?

[Anonymous]

If you were an Olympian valedictorian with a 95+% SAT in the 1980s, you were very attractive to the top schools. The fact that today's swimmers have lower times than you did doesn't somehow undo the fact that your times were among the best in the country when you were competing and applying to college. Same for your SAT score. Exactly who is the Olympic swimmer who would get a higher score than you today who didn't take the SAT back then and would knock you off your perch at the top???

If you scored in the top 5% on the SAT as an Olympian today, you'd get in, just like you did 25+ years ago. Same thing for the URM first-gen Valedictorian saxophone prodigy from a low-income background who scored in the 90th percentile on the SAT in the 1980s. That person is getting in today just like she or he did back then. There are certain hooks that when combined with spectacular stats make for the ideal applicant in the eyes of the top schools. That was true back then and it's still true today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were an Olympian valedictorian with a 95+% SAT in the 1980s, you were very attractive to the top schools. The fact that today's swimmers have lower times than you did doesn't somehow undo the fact that your times were among the best in the country when you were competing and applying to college. Same for your SAT score. Exactly who is the Olympic swimmer who would get a higher score than you today who didn't take the SAT back then and would knock you off your perch at the top???

If you scored in the top 5% on the SAT as an Olympian today, you'd get in, just like you did 25+ years ago. Same thing for the URM first-gen Valedictorian saxophone prodigy from a low-income background who scored in the 90th percentile on the SAT in the 1980s. That person is getting in today just like she or he did back then. There are certain hooks that when combined with spectacular stats make for the ideal applicant in the eyes of the top schools. That was true back then and it's still true today.

Top 5 percent SAT is a 1350. That may get some kids into an Ivy but most with that score would be rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were an Olympian valedictorian with a 95+% SAT in the 1980s, you were very attractive to the top schools. The fact that today's swimmers have lower times than you did doesn't somehow undo the fact that your times were among the best in the country when you were competing and applying to college. Same for your SAT score. Exactly who is the Olympic swimmer who would get a higher score than you today who didn't take the SAT back then and would knock you off your perch at the top???

If you scored in the top 5% on the SAT as an Olympian today, you'd get in, just like you did 25+ years ago. Same thing for the URM first-gen Valedictorian saxophone prodigy from a low-income background who scored in the 90th percentile on the SAT in the 1980s. That person is getting in today just like she or he did back then. There are certain hooks that when combined with spectacular stats make for the ideal applicant in the eyes of the top schools. That was true back then and it's still true today.

Top 5 percent SAT is a 1350. That may get some kids into an Ivy but most with that score would be rejected.

Sorry, 95th percentile is 1410. Point still holds. 1350 is 90th percentile.

[Anonymous]

I went to HSPY and that percentile combined with being an Olympic athlete definitely gets you in.

[Anonymous]

OP here. As many PPs wisely stated, I needn't have worried about my junior's rose-colored glasses - all I had to do was wait until this week as his senior friends hear from their ED/EA schools. Thus far, they're all in at their safeties but deferred at their reaches. We'll see what happens over the weekend and next week, but DS is finally getting serious about finding a couple safeties to love!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As many PPs wisely stated, I needn't have worried about my junior's rose-colored glasses - all I had to do was wait until this week as his senior friends hear from their ED/EA schools. Thus far, they're all in at their safeties but deferred at their reaches. We'll see what happens over the weekend and next week, but DS is finally getting serious about finding a couple safeties to love!

That’s great to hear, OP!

[Anonymous]

We have been telling my sons with similar stats that while they meet and exceed the schools base requirements, it’s just a lottery for the top 10 schools. There are so many kids with similar credentials and you can’t take a rejection personally. Schools also have criteria they need to meet that are out of your control: URM, First Gen, geographic, etc.

Don’t get fixated on any one school.

My sons totally understand this and aren’t sweating it. They will get into a good college. It doesn’t have to be top 10.

[Anonymous]

The US population has greatly increased in last 40 years. Add in international students are a much bigger thing than 40 years ago. Now consider we still have same amount of Ivy League schools

That alone is main reason. More people applying so few acceptances.

When I applied college in 1979. Entire application handwritten. I literally went to reference section of library to look up colleges and photocopy page of one’s interested.

I call school to get sent application, hand write our application including writing a hand written essay each college. Then I get a check. Fill out envelope with stamp and go to post office. Time consuming so people applied way less schools. So we also have not only more people but with automation more people applying to schools.

It also is bad as they now auto reject. Look at movie Legally Blonde they looked at individual applications. Today with bulk amounts coming in the applicant system auto rejects most of them.

[Anonymous]

Make him take a customer service job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As many PPs wisely stated, I needn't have worried about my junior's rose-colored glasses - all I had to do was wait until this week as his senior friends hear from their ED/EA schools. Thus far, they're all in at their safeties but deferred at their reaches. We'll see what happens over the weekend and next week, but DS is finally getting serious about finding a couple safeties to love!

Oh boy, did I type too soon. The seniors DS know best were deferred, but others at their high school made it. 3 Harvard, 3 MIT, 2 Stanford confirmed thus far - reports are still circulating through the campus grapevine. DS is getting his hopes up again...