If you had a high stats kid from a strong local private . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

+1 We used a private counselor in addition to the high touch counseling at our Bay Area private school and his advice did differ especially as it related to the Ivy+ schools which was essentially to apply to almost all except ones he truly did not think he would be happy at (in DS' case there were 3 of those he just didn't like). DC's had more and better choices than his peers who followed the more traditional advice of the school counselor . . . If your kid is unhooked and truly high stats (max rigor, top 5% of class, mid 1500's SAT, significant EC's with leadership/impact) you probably don't want to limit their list on the basis of weather, ranking of sports teams etc. . . Kid can those things to decide where to go not where to apply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to tell us what the school is. The previous poster who talked about the "close to 4.0, 1500)" as having a shot for top 25-30 is completely not relevant to a kid at Sidwell or STA. If you're at those schools then a close to 3.9/1500 will have a top 25-30 as a safety and you're almost assured to get into a top10. If you're at Gonzaga or Visitation it's going to be different because their grading is different and their matriculations are different.

Point is: any advice here is worthless without naming the school.

Tell that to my DC who went to one of those schools, had a 3.9/1500 and ended up only getting into schools that were nowhere near the top 25-30. The game isn't what you think it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools also will push safeties. Mine applied to too many — about five and two of the five DC did not want to attend.

Only applying to one safety is nerve wracking to parents and college counselors, so it isn’t ideal. I think 2 is ideal for a high stats kid. My DC was stubborn. DC’s school was pushing 3 safeties. My DC refused to apply to any school they would not be excited to attend. We found one safety DC liked a lot. Even going into winter break, college counselor wanted DC to add 2-3 more safeties. We found 2 that required no essays and college counselor agreed that DC would apply to these schools in January/RD if early return EAs (targets) did not yield an acceptance. DC was accepted EA to a school they are very happy with, so no more safeties.

If your kid likes Pitt, apply in September and be done with safeties.

I keep hearing this about Pitt. Do they yield protect or consider demonstrated interest or just accept everyone with high stats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

Far more parents think their kids should by applying to the “ reachy” schools that the actual number of kids who stand a chance.

DP can you share a sample profile of someone who really stands a chance vs. those who think they do but really don't? Wondering if we are in group 1 or group 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle of the road stats, solid private:

Reach:
NYU
McGill
Brown

Hopeful:
UVM
UofMaryland College Park

Safeties:
St. Mary's
Washington
McDaniel

She ended up only applying to one safety that she really liked. She got into a hopeful and is waiting for RD at reaches.

Brown?? I know top 10% kids from feeder privates who didn't get into Brown ED

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

Far more parents think their kids should by applying to the “ reachy” schools that the actual number of kids who stand a chance.

DP can you share a sample profile of someone who really stands a chance vs. those who think they do but really don't? Wondering if we are in group 1 or group 2

Different people understand the term "reach" differently. We have to first define what is a "reach".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top stats isn’t as important as relative rank as pp noted above. The school will try to get the top ranked kids into the best schools. If your kid has great stats but isn’t tippy top focus on top 25 LAC and top 25 universities and then look for best fit.

I am confused… hard to imagine any top ranked kids who are low stats. What are you talking about?

OP here,

I didn't write that. But my kid goes to a school where they don't weight classes. A student can have a 3.9 GPA and be in the top 10%. They don't publish ranks, but this is clear from the student profile.

At our local public school, more than half of the kids have GPA's over 4.0, because of generous ranking.

A kid from our school with a 3.9 has a shot at a T25. A kid with a 3.9 from public does not.

DP this is true for a lot of good privates, at some of them a 3.9 put you among top 5 kids (not top 5%) and you can have your pick of HYP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

Why if the student genuinely doesn't want to be at a city school or somewhere rural, or doesn't want to cross time zones?

[Anonymous]

My take is private school counselors are helpful - we never had an outside one for either of my kids.

My kids friend groups all got in somewhere that was on their list of top choices but not all got their first choice.

Lean into legacy where you have it and it still matters. Don't be afraid to play the long RD game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

Why if the student genuinely doesn't want to be at a city school or somewhere rural, or doesn't want to cross time zones?

Then it’s totally legitimate to prioritize that and accept that the school may be less prestigious as a result. I have a kid who really wanted to be close to home, and that affected the schools he applied to. He is happy. I have another kid who wants to go to a top school and prioritizes that above location (such as being in a city vs rural setting).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

+1 We used a private counselor in addition to the high touch counseling at our Bay Area private school and his advice did differ especially as it related to the Ivy+ schools which was essentially to apply to almost all except ones he truly did not think he would be happy at (in DS' case there were 3 of those he just didn't like). DC's had more and better choices than his peers who followed the more traditional advice of the school counselor . . . If your kid is unhooked and truly high stats (max rigor, top 5% of class, mid 1500's SAT, significant EC's with leadership/impact) you probably don't want to limit their list on the basis of weather, ranking of sports teams etc. . . Kid can those things to decide where to go not where to apply

This is the approach my independent counselor advised as well. It is a long-shot for even the tippy top kids and you never know what will happen at those very selective schools. Curious if you could shares some of the schools your DC got into and which one they chose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

+1 We used a private counselor in addition to the high touch counseling at our Bay Area private school and his advice did differ especially as it related to the Ivy+ schools which was essentially to apply to almost all except ones he truly did not think he would be happy at (in DS' case there were 3 of those he just didn't like). DC's had more and better choices than his peers who followed the more traditional advice of the school counselor . . . If your kid is unhooked and truly high stats (max rigor, top 5% of class, mid 1500's SAT, significant EC's with leadership/impact) you probably don't want to limit their list on the basis of weather, ranking of sports teams etc. . . Kid can those things to decide where to go not where to apply

This is the approach my independent counselor advised as well. It is a long-shot for even the tippy top kids and you never know what will happen at those very selective schools. Curious if you could shares some of the schools your DC got into and which one they chose.

Sure- here is his reach list and results
Yale (SCEA rejected)
Harvard (rejected)
Princeton (WL)
Columbia (accepted and what he choose)
Brown (accepted)
Duke (rejected)
Rice (accepted)
U Chicago (Wait list)
Cal- Accepted
UCLA- Accepted
Williams- Accepted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

+1 We used a private counselor in addition to the high touch counseling at our Bay Area private school and his advice did differ especially as it related to the Ivy+ schools which was essentially to apply to almost all except ones he truly did not think he would be happy at (in DS' case there were 3 of those he just didn't like). DC's had more and better choices than his peers who followed the more traditional advice of the school counselor . . . If your kid is unhooked and truly high stats (max rigor, top 5% of class, mid 1500's SAT, significant EC's with leadership/impact) you probably don't want to limit their list on the basis of weather, ranking of sports teams etc. . . Kid can those things to decide where to go not where to apply

This is the approach my independent counselor advised as well. It is a long-shot for even the tippy top kids and you never know what will happen at those very selective schools. Curious if you could shares some of the schools your DC got into and which one they chose.

This was also our approach for 2 kids at a non-DC private.

RD was nerve-wracking though. We found choice of major to matter a lot in outcomes. Non-stem kid had a lot more “top” options than stem kid.

One kid had stronger national level recognition in ECs. Now Ivy and T10 students - who had options for both in RD.

It required an enormous amount of work and customization for the essays. These T20s are looking for different things. I disagree that you can just tweak a supplemental essay and use it for many T20 schools. At least we did not do that. Some schools like more creative and others more straightforward. Some schools want you to stress personal qualities and others want you to stress your academic interest and relevant experience. It’s hard to do all of that and do it well in one template essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got into their SCEA school and had a long list of other “reachy” schools to apply to had they not. My advice is to rely on your school counselors. They were very upfront that my kid had the stats/activities to apply anywhere. Some classmates that were also great students but not at the very top got different guidance.

OP here,

I'm not questioning the school counselors, we just haven't met with them yet, and I'm looking down the road, but we'll definitely take the counselor's advice if it conflicts with DCUM.

My kid is one of those kids where it's worth applying to the very reachy school, but wondering what kinds of schools to look at for target and safety, and how many we need to find.

The way to do this is to determine the attributes that your kid likes in the reach-y school. Dartmouth is rural, Cornell is in a small town, Columbia and Harvard are in big cities. Likely there is no reason to apply to these four schools other than to brag. If your kid prefers a Harvard or Columbia then look for other schools in cities. If your kid prefers Dartmouth, then look at other smaller schools in smaller towns. Geography is important - if they want to be in the south, then Vanderbilt, Emory and similar would be on the same list. Once you cut down for semester versus quarter, size, setting (rural, suburban, urban) curriculum (open or rigid) etc, you can cull a list pretty easily.

Note this DCUM advice is directly the opposite of what "The Game" guy recommends, which is essentially that if you are a high stats student trying for a T20 winnowing the list down based on location/size preferences will massively reduce chances of ending up at any T20.

Every year private school counselors use this to steer kids one way or the other. Be careful when your kid answers the question. No preference at all would be the best answer.

Why if the student genuinely doesn't want to be at a city school or somewhere rural, or doesn't want to cross time zones?

Then you will be true to yourself. Of course.

For more kids, they are adaptive to weather location or size. They may have a preference, but not strong enough to be steered away. The weak preference should not be used as a limitation.