Getting the most out of reading college forums

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are the kind of person who can easily distinguish between facts and opinions, any forum (or a combination of forums since they tend to draw different audiences) will work for you. Pay attention to the facts.

Another point, the only correct answer to most questions about college admissions is “it depends”, so instead of looking for a yes, no or a number, try to understand all the different angles.

Agree with this. And...I'm here for opinions. Also because there are more parents of high stats kids on here than I have access to in my town/area. I used to live in MoCo. Competition is national. I don't care if people make factual mistakes. I want to know what they think and understand why they think that. I don't like disruptive trolling but I don't think the site is ruined if there is old info being shared or incorrect info. It's no different than the regular internet.

[Anonymous]

My best source of info is our school-level data. Our school profile and the acceptance & matriculation list for the last few years - both are usually posted on high school websites. Some schools also post more granular data. Graduating class “decision” Instagram accounts plus linked-in to get a sense of ECs. And finally Naviance. Using all of these, in combination with Common Data Sets, can be helpful.
Your high schooler should ask their classmates/friends who are seniors for advice on classes, teachers, who to avoid, what colleges they got into/rejected from. Kids are usually more than happy to pass on details and stats once they’re nearing graduation! Finally, most students are over confident and apply to schools they are unlikely to get into. Having a robust well-rounded list will give your kid a less stressful experience.

[Anonymous]

Never ask about SAT scores here because the only people who respond are humble braggers with kids who scored over 1500. It will give you a warped sense of reality.

[Anonymous]

I’m a latecomer to this thread but tread carefully and be mindful of the (mostly privileged) demographic that dominates. Dont second guess yourself based upon something here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found the lessons learned threads to be very helpful. I actually copied and pasted a lot of the answers into a Word Doc to have for easy reference.
Otherwise, lots of people opining about colleges about which they know nothing.

Same. Those lessons learned have hidden nuggets!!