Lessons learned: 2025-2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trust that you know your kid best and really be honest with yourself about what will make them thrive and be happy. Put your own shit aside. It may not be the “best” school that they can get into. Don’t give much weight to friends, family, neighbors etc that are guided by their own opinions/anxiety/judgement. You are your kids best advisor. Don’t focus on the same 15 schools everyone else is trying to get into. Let go of your own need for prestige and praise around their process.

Yes to this! Fit over prestige. It’s silly to look at the US News ranking for selecting schools.

DC will seriously consider Colorado even though it’s ranked low. Love the block plan. Premed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Understand the role of institutional priorities and how few slots outside of that actually remain in regular decision. Lots of old links on here.

If you are early in the process, think about how you can hit a double or trifecta with some of these priorities: (legacy/donor/undersubscribed major/geo diversity/demo diversity/qualities to directly match new university programming/centers)

Some good videos on the AO review process - read the comments!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muoflMbC1IM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfb4od5j57I

these are nuts. i hope its more than this. after months of agony.

[Anonymous]

College admission decisions aren't verdicts on your child. They are business decisions. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't. But they're not personal. And that goes both ways.

Neither the victories nor the defeats are personal, so those shouldn't go to the head (if you get in) or heart (if you don't). Life happens before and after college. It's just a small blip in a larger journey. There will be more battles to be won after they graduate and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College admission decisions aren't verdicts on your child. They are business decisions. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't. But they're not personal. And that goes both ways.

Neither the victories nor the defeats are personal, so those shouldn't go to the head (if you get in) or heart (if you don't). Life happens before and after college. It's just a small blip in a larger journey. There will be more battles to be won after they graduate and move on.

Beautifully said.

[Anonymous]

1) Test optional is not really test optional.
2) High stats are only a baseline for admission to highly selective schools.
3) Unhooked students must be both academically competitive AND compelling.
4) Female applicants are disadvantaged in the admissions process at most selective schools (due to the growing gender imbalance in college applicant pools) and when feasible should apply early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trust that you know your kid best and really be honest with yourself about what will make them thrive and be happy. Put your own shit aside. It may not be the “best” school that they can get into. Don’t give much weight to friends, family, neighbors etc that are guided by their own opinions/anxiety/judgement. You are your kids best advisor. Don’t focus on the same 15 schools everyone else is trying to get into. Let go of your own need for prestige and praise around their process.

Yes to this! Fit over prestige. It’s silly to look at the US News ranking for selecting schools.

DC will seriously consider Colorado even though it’s ranked low. Love the block plan. Premed.

I’d be nervous sending my kids there with the recent issues of suicides on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) Test optional is not really test optional.
2) High stats are only a baseline for admission to highly selective schools.
3) Unhooked students must be both academically competitive AND compelling.
4) Female applicants are disadvantaged in the admissions process at most selective schools (due to the growing gender imbalance in college applicant pools) and when feasible should apply early.

After graduating, you're all in the same general work world so it doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) Test optional is not really test optional.
2) High stats are only a baseline for admission to highly selective schools.
3) Unhooked students must be both academically competitive AND compelling.
4) Female applicants are disadvantaged in the admissions process at most selective schools (due to the growing gender imbalance in college applicant pools) and when feasible should apply early.

What does compelling mean in this context?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Don't ED to a school that no one at your HS matriculates to.

2) Don't ED to a very small SLAC if a significant number of ED admissions are essentially pre-admitted through pre-reads for recruited athletes. The ED admission rate is very misleading but when you take out athletes (who are essentially pre-admitted at 100% by pre-reads and full coach support) and leave some spaces for institutional priorities (First Gen, Low-income, rural, legacy, donor), there is actually very little space left!

3) If you must ED to a reach, emphasize that it is a very long shot, and DC should keep working on applications with the expectation they will NOT get into ED. That will help them bounceback from a deferral or decline.

4) Do NOT panic and ED2 to a lesser choice just because DC is feeling panic/fear/worry about not getting in admitted to their true 1st choice ED1. Let them work through their disappointment, focus on the colleges in the RD pool and while they are writing essays they will fall back in love with their other options.

5) Your DC is still growing/developing through senior year. Over holiday break, DC thinks they may want a bigger, more urban campus (the opposite of their ED1) and also is rethinking major! While they may have been happy with getting into ED1 and being "done" with the process over holiday break (a true bonus), I suspect in the long run not getting in and having more options to consider over the course of the year will be better for them.

Just know, you won't be getting in Rd, where there's 10-12x the amount of competition and not that many more seats available.

Just stop. You keep saying that on every thread.

My own kid got into 2 Ivies, Hopkins and Pomona RD after getting deferred from Georgetown. Friends similarly did better RD, or were WL and got off WLs RD in May.

Quit trying to scare everyone.

Dp, but Last year’s wait list experience will not be replicated. It was due to Trump’s policies regarding international students. That’s already baked in this cycle.

Most kids get only a few RD acceptances and few are reaches. Your kid was an outlier.

Then your list of schools to apply to probably needs a bit of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Test optional is not really test optional.
2) High stats are only a baseline for admission to highly selective schools.
3) Unhooked students must be both academically competitive AND compelling.
4) Female applicants are disadvantaged in the admissions process at most selective schools (due to the growing gender imbalance in college applicant pools) and when feasible should apply early.

What does compelling mean in this context?

A compelling story, interest, spike etc.

[Anonymous]

The more selective the school, the less impactful "traditional" leadership roles are (newspaper editor, student body president, team captain, etc.) They're looking for evidence of sustainable impact on communities that extend beyond a student's school.

[Anonymous]

Rank in true order of preference!

iykyk

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The more selective the school, the less impactful "traditional" leadership roles are (newspaper editor, student body president, team captain, etc.) They're looking for evidence of sustainable impact on communities that extend beyond a student's school.

I would agree regarding the traditional leadership roles being a dime a dozen, but I think any unique accomplishment helps students stand out. One T10 student I know won art awards and then started a summer art camp for low-income student. Google some of the Ivy-League bound kids on the instagram pages - one won composition awards and...shouldn't really say more because many of the accomplishments are unique enough to out them.

[Anonymous]

1. people spend too much time "building the list". there are no secret schools. you know the list. or 90% of the list. move it along

2. people spend too little time on the apps. each app takes weeks. each apps needs the right mixture of intellectual heft with humor/humility/nice guy touches.

3. your soundbite is the most important thing. how are you described in a committee room, the applicant from Brooklyn whose love in physics started with bowling

4. ED to your favorite. dont game it. that leads to regrets, even if your kid doesn't express it to you

[Anonymous]

Less safety school apps. One is fine - if you don’t happen to get in, there are plenty out there to get apps in at after the fact. Waste of time and money and once you get the first non-safety acceptance, they fall by the wayside.

DC completed a lot of apps early to hit EA at schools on top of their ED - that was a good strategy, even if some notify later than others.