Insane acceptances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has two friends who were rejected from their #1s, UVA, but each got accepted to an Ivy (Penn & Princeton). One was also rejected from each of his safety schools. The safeties! It makes no sense! How can you get accepted to Penn and rejected from UVA, W&M, JMU, and UMD??

Makes me wish I had pushed my son to apply to some ivies. He didn't have any desire in them, but his stats are only slightly less than the friend who got into Penn (unhooked) and about on-par with the friend who got into Princeton. And DS was accepted to UVA, which was his reach and #1. His gf was rejected from UVA, and she has much better stats than DS. His gf was applying for engineering and DS is going for biology for pre-med, though, so I know that also factors in.

I'm so glad DS is my last kid to go through the college acceptance process because I can't take the stress of another around. Cannot.Do.It!

UVA, W&M, JMU, and UMD know they're not interested in attending and would rather give the spot to someone who's likely to say yes.

This wasn't true at our private. UVA and W&M did not yield manage this cycle. They took the top5 in the class kind of kids who will almost all attend HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For parents asking about hooks, and especially athletic hooks, keep in mind that at least two hooks (athlete and legacy) are only applicable to one school. These people with multiple acceptances are not recruited athletes. Athletes by and large apply ED after having gone through athlete recruiting. If they're putting in multiple apps, they're not recruited athletes. Some who only just meet the academic requirements may put in some EA or RD apps for safety). No one is getting in all Ivies because they're an athlete. Same with legacy. Athletes may visit and talk to lots of schools (typically during junior year), but they don't shotgun applications. Rather, they get the benefit of a pre-read. They apply ED because they've committed. That also allows them to still apply RD if something goes wrong and admissions doesn't accept them in the end (for instance, if there is something in the full application that negates a positive pre-read (bad LORs, for instance).

So who are these people getting into all T20?

What I've seen, it's usually a very qualified URM. The very qualified non-URM typically land well, but don't have a laundry list of acceptances.

This was me back in the day. I was accepted everywhere I applied including more than one HYPSM. And no, I wasn't a URM. Now that was a while ago, and I do know things are different now. But I think some apps just have that "it" quality. That part hasn't changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For parents asking about hooks, and especially athletic hooks, keep in mind that at least two hooks (athlete and legacy) are only applicable to one school. These people with multiple acceptances are not recruited athletes. Athletes by and large apply ED after having gone through athlete recruiting. If they're putting in multiple apps, they're not recruited athletes. Some who only just meet the academic requirements may put in some EA or RD apps for safety). No one is getting in all Ivies because they're an athlete. Same with legacy. Athletes may visit and talk to lots of schools (typically during junior year), but they don't shotgun applications. Rather, they get the benefit of a pre-read. They apply ED because they've committed. That also allows them to still apply RD if something goes wrong and admissions doesn't accept them in the end (for instance, if there is something in the full application that negates a positive pre-read (bad LORs, for instance).

So who are these people getting into all T20?

What I've seen, it's usually a very qualified URM. The very qualified non-URM typically land well, but don't have a laundry list of acceptances.

This was me back in the day. I was accepted everywhere I applied including more than one HYPSM. And no, I wasn't a URM. Now that was a while ago, and I do know things are different now. But I think some apps just have that "it" quality. That part hasn't changed.

Have you had a child go through this process in the past couple of years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why private schools limit applications. So selfish to the other kids in the top 10%.

You know these kids can only enroll at one college each, right? They are taking up zero spots for other applicants? Who are they hurting, exactly?

Are you seriously suggesting strong candidates cast a smaller net for themselves because you don't understand how this works?

Yes, they can only enroll in ONE school. And if they are accepted at 15+ T25 schools, that means, even with Yield planning, those other 15 schools (your kid cannot attend) could have accepted kids who would actually attend instead.

Not saying 1 school, but applying to 20+ is ridiculous

They DO accept the other kid, just from the wait-list. AOs know that kids are sending out applications far and wide, and that a lot of their accepted students will get a better offer elsewhere. The robust, and equally qualified wait-list student gets a quick phone call or email on May 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These really make me support a cap of say 7-8 applications. Then kids/parents set realistic goals, admissions offices are not buried in applications and the “T25” can’t brag about rejecting 96 percent.

I read an article about a kid admitted to college in all 50 states. What a complete waste of time for so many …

Why should the cap be on the kids? How about having some kid of ranked match like medical residency, so kids only get into their highest preferred T20?

to elaborate, the kid can apply to all T20, but at best only their highest ranked school can accept them

Love this

It was meant to address exactly this sort of feast or famine combined with randomness.

[Anonymous]

I understand the knee-jerk reaction that a kid is taking spots from someone else. But I know two near-perfect candidates (stats and ECs) who shot-gunned nearly every Ivy and Stanford as well as Northwestern/Vanderbilt tier schools, and in both cases were almost universally rejected, except for a single acceptance by a higher tier school (Stanford and Dartmouth, respectively) as well as Northwestern. My point being, if they hadn't cast such a wide net, they probably wouldn't have gotten in somewhere they wanted to go. The process is so insane today that you need to cover your bases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These really make me support a cap of say 7-8 applications. Then kids/parents set realistic goals, admissions offices are not buried in applications and the “T25” can’t brag about rejecting 96 percent.

I read an article about a kid admitted to college in all 50 states. What a complete waste of time for so many …

Why should the cap be on the kids? How about having some kid of ranked match like medical residency, so kids only get into their highest preferred T20?

to elaborate, the kid can apply to all T20, but at best only their highest ranked school can accept them

Love this

It was meant to address exactly this sort of feast or famine combined with randomness.

And yet it addresses nothing, fixes nothing, improves nothing and reduces choices for both students and the colleges.

[Anonymous]

It's fairly common that if you get into MIT or Harvard you'll get in everywhere else too. I was one of those kids, but I'll tell you what you don't know of you will actually get in. Too many students at my school applied EA to another HYPSM, got in (3). So when I did regular admissions I didn't get in despite getting into other HYPSM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's fairly common that if you get into MIT or Harvard you'll get in everywhere else too. I was one of those kids, but I'll tell you what you don't know of you will actually get in. Too many students at my school applied EA to another HYPSM, got in (3). So when I did regular admissions I didn't get in despite getting into other HYPSM.

What do you do now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid did amazing RD last year unhooked. Acceptances from Ivies, Pomona, Hopkins, etc. so I know it happens. Kids only report the school they are going to attend- not all of their acceptances so it happens more than you think.

Unhooked?Really?

Yes. White. Not a legacy or an athlete, etc.

Said the person kid in private school, SAT tutor, Essay writing coach

Just 6 weeks of 1 hour a week test prep. No essay coach (I helped with the editing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For parents asking about hooks, and especially athletic hooks, keep in mind that at least two hooks (athlete and legacy) are only applicable to one school. These people with multiple acceptances are not recruited athletes. Athletes by and large apply ED after having gone through athlete recruiting. If they're putting in multiple apps, they're not recruited athletes. Some who only just meet the academic requirements may put in some EA or RD apps for safety). No one is getting in all Ivies because they're an athlete. Same with legacy. Athletes may visit and talk to lots of schools (typically during junior year), but they don't shotgun applications. Rather, they get the benefit of a pre-read. They apply ED because they've committed. That also allows them to still apply RD if something goes wrong and admissions doesn't accept them in the end (for instance, if there is something in the full application that negates a positive pre-read (bad LORs, for instance).

So who are these people getting into all T20?

What I've seen, it's usually a very qualified URM. The very qualified non-URM typically land well, but don't have a laundry list of acceptances.

Agree, if in at all Ivies, almost always urm or first gen. Institutional priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's fairly common that if you get into MIT or Harvard you'll get in everywhere else too. I was one of those kids, but I'll tell you what you don't know of you will actually get in. Too many students at my school applied EA to another HYPSM, got in (3). So when I did regular admissions I didn't get in despite getting into other HYPSM.

Your experience two or three decades ago not relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For parents asking about hooks, and especially athletic hooks, keep in mind that at least two hooks (athlete and legacy) are only applicable to one school. These people with multiple acceptances are not recruited athletes. Athletes by and large apply ED after having gone through athlete recruiting. If they're putting in multiple apps, they're not recruited athletes. Some who only just meet the academic requirements may put in some EA or RD apps for safety). No one is getting in all Ivies because they're an athlete. Same with legacy. Athletes may visit and talk to lots of schools (typically during junior year), but they don't shotgun applications. Rather, they get the benefit of a pre-read. They apply ED because they've committed. That also allows them to still apply RD if something goes wrong and admissions doesn't accept them in the end (for instance, if there is something in the full application that negates a positive pre-read (bad LORs, for instance).

So who are these people getting into all T20?

What I've seen, it's usually a very qualified URM. The very qualified non-URM typically land well, but don't have a laundry list of acceptances.

+100 Especially Hispanic kids, indicated by the SAT Hispanic award, whatever that one is called.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has two friends who were rejected from their #1s, UVA, but each got accepted to an Ivy (Penn & Princeton). One was also rejected from each of his safety schools. The safeties! It makes no sense! How can you get accepted to Penn and rejected from UVA, W&M, JMU, and UMD??

Makes me wish I had pushed my son to apply to some ivies. He didn't have any desire in them, but his stats are only slightly less than the friend who got into Penn (unhooked) and about on-par with the friend who got into Princeton. And DS was accepted to UVA, which was his reach and #1. His gf was rejected from UVA, and she has much better stats than DS. His gf was applying for engineering and DS is going for biology for pre-med, though, so I know that also factors in.

I'm so glad DS is my last kid to go through the college acceptance process because I can't take the stress of another around. Cannot.Do.It!

UVA, W&M, JMU, and UMD know they're not interested in attending and would rather give the spot to someone who's likely to say yes.

This wasn't true at our private. UVA and W&M did not yield manage this cycle. They took the top5 in the class kind of kids who will almost all attend HYP.

Agree, UVA is always as a by the numbers admission at our oos private, always has been.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's fairly common that if you get into MIT or Harvard you'll get in everywhere else too. I was one of those kids, but I'll tell you what you don't know of you will actually get in. Too many students at my school applied EA to another HYPSM, got in (3). So when I did regular admissions I didn't get in despite getting into other HYPSM.

What do you do now?

You can't apply to HYPSM and get into 3 w/ scea. Not sure why were talking about things that happened in 1992