Things you wish you knew…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we had pushed harder on grades from day 1. Not in a crazy “you can’t have a life” kind of way. But, I was judging grades as they were regarded in my day. And I also thought people still cared about an upward trend. Nothing matters but gpa anymore.

Sorry but what year did colleges especially select ones ever care about an upward trend? Like, where was that ever listed in admissions web sites as a consideration? It sounds more like DCUM fable repeated to make moms of underperforming kids feel better about chances.

Upward trend discussions are not about the highly selective colleges. We just had this discussion about a kid who was not diagnosed with a LD until late 9th, and so there are a lot of Cs before treatment started and an "upward trend" to As in a rigorous course load, plus high SAT after treatment, showing the LD is being managed correctly. Not aiming for top 25, but the schools below that do appreciate the upward trend coupled with the reason. It shows that in spite of a low GPA the student has proved he can handle college level work at a high level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be ok no matter where your kid ends up. It will be fine.

This is the most important message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your reaches are actually improbable
Your likely list is your reach
Your safety schools are actually likely but definitely not safety

Your setting your kid up to be disappointed

Not our experience. If you accurately pick Reach, target, safety and likelies it works out well. Also you must consider Major. Applying for CS at a school with 60% overall acceptance does not make it a Safety if the CS acceptance rate is 18%===it's then a reach for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parents school are the biggest indicator of who gets in where. For the most part kids are following in their parents footsteps, if you went to an Ivy your kid will end up at the equivalent school or slightly lower. In our community, I haven’t see a senior end up at a school ranked higher than their parent’s alma mater .

You live in a very small bubble. This is not true for the majority of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we had pushed harder on grades from day 1. Not in a crazy “you can’t have a life” kind of way. But, I was judging grades as they were regarded in my day. And I also thought people still cared about an upward trend. Nothing matters but gpa anymore.

Opposite here. Don’t push b/c you can push and still not end up where you wanted. Whats the point?

THis 1000%. Make the choices you make because it's what your kid wants to do. DOn't make them take 6+ APs junior year if they don't want to. Because you can take APUSH, APEng, and 3-4 AP STEMS and still not get into your top choices because they are highly rejective. So let your kid have a balanced approach of APs they enjoy and match their possible major (it's okay to have only STEM AP if your kid wants to be an engineer/CS). Skip APUSH and APEng and enjoy junior year a bit more and get more than 2 hours of sleep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents school are the biggest indicator of who gets in where. For the most part kids are following in their parents footsteps, if you went to an Ivy your kid will end up at the equivalent school or slightly lower. In our community, I haven’t see a senior end up at a school ranked higher than their parent’s alma mater .

This is fascinating….

And super hyper local anecdotal. We don't see that at all: the opposite, if any trend at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High stats that used to guarantee in state flagship acceptance at the big 3 of UVA, VT & WM are now likely rejections or waitlists. Don't snub the southern and midwest flagships that did not go test optional. They have generous merit and beautiful facilities.
Hope for a return to merit and test required to fix the flood of applications everywhere that is destroying the application process.

[Anonymous]

Drop a level in sports competition if you aren't recruit material and put that time into GPA. Unless recruited, every EC is the same -- admissions don't care and don't know the different levels of local competition. Keep doing the activity, but don't fret about levels.

Also, better to be captain of a team at a school with a not very competitive team than a bench sitter at the "best school" for your sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any safe advice for early high schoolers? Things you wish your child knew? Things you wish you knew? Activities? Resources? All of it?

Learn your DC’s college matches early and often. Do not tell ANYONE where your DC is applying. Learn “the game” for your top match and play that game HARD. You’re welcome.

[Anonymous]

Teacher/Counselor Recommendation was taking forever. DC was very interested in a rolling admission school, and getting the app in early. In his app he highlighted his HS leadership roles, that to get, had required recommendations. He was admitted before the official recs ever went in.

We found our HS completely unaccommodating to any unique timeline, even with months of advance notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents school are the biggest indicator of who gets in where. For the most part kids are following in their parents footsteps, if you went to an Ivy your kid will end up at the equivalent school or slightly lower. In our community, I haven’t see a senior end up at a school ranked higher than their parent’s alma mater .

This is fascinating….

And super hyper local anecdotal. We don't see that at all: the opposite, if any trend at all.

Same.

[Anonymous]

K ow that while you may be inherently much more intelligent than your competition, your competition has tutors in each of their subjects, each day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:K ow that while you may be inherently much more intelligent than your competition, your competition has tutors in each of their subjects, each day.

*know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents school are the biggest indicator of who gets in where. For the most part kids are following in their parents footsteps, if you went to an Ivy your kid will end up at the equivalent school or slightly lower. In our community, I haven’t see a senior end up at a school ranked higher than their parent’s alma mater .

Your post is just showing the privileged community you live in and is not true of the majority of college kids. You are in a community of highly successful people, right? At a school where almost all parents have a college degree, advanced degree? By contrast, I grew up in a community where most of my classmates' parents didn't go to college at all. And most kids I grew up with did indeed do better than their parents did. My parents went to college but they were both the first in their families to go to college and went to the public university in my hometown which I'm 99% sure most on this board have never heard of whereas my siblings and I all went to top 25 colleges.

But maybe it’s relevant for those of us in affluent private HS communities….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parents school are the biggest indicator of who gets in where. For the most part kids are following in their parents footsteps, if you went to an Ivy your kid will end up at the equivalent school or slightly lower. In our community, I haven’t see a senior end up at a school ranked higher than their parent’s alma mater .

I agree with this - it does seem to be the case coming from private independent!