What is going on - really worried

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of my kids, and he keeps saying he should have switched to public for 11th & 12th. His friends from club sports who go to public do a fraction of the work he does, have straight As or A pluses (which our school doesn’t even give), lower SATs and are getting in to much better schools. I do think it matters who he’s competing vs at his school, and they can only take so mah from these smaller privates.

What a terrible attitude of entitlement. It is really self-centered that he thinks of his friends this way instead of celebrating their successes.

Please let them know so they can consider whether they still want to remain friends.

But the teaching is terrible in public. That’s our experience in dcps. The kids often have to teach themselves. The As in APs aren’t easy to come by. And there’s a ton of memorization involved. I hate that they don’t teach writing and research well at all, but it’s not the kids fault. In some schools, they’re no longer reading full books.

Your experience in DCPS is not people’s experience elsewhere. There’s a reason people move to the suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Too early to despair. Be patient. It’s hard.

Your daughter has a great acceptance and may get more.

We are public school - I firmly believe the teaching at our public school is much more rigorous in depth and breadth than any private school in the DMV so don’t disparage public school education. My kid works hard- has done more APs and got more 5s than your kid. Higher GPA and higher SAT. Also higher level ECs with community impact, etc. completely unhooked. Fabulous Genuine essays (without AI). Accepted ED at ivy.

Your kid sounds strong but not stand out… ar least not stand out compared to my kid’s public school friends. Several EDs to ivies at our public, even early admits to the other schools you mentioned (except not sure about Santa Clara).

The main element in your post that may be the main culprit is this sense of entitlement that just because she attends private school, she is owed an acceptance even with lower stats/ECs. The chip on your shoulder may have come through in the application. The statement that public kids work less hard is laughable and may be a personality these universities don’t want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of my kids, and he keeps saying he should have switched to public for 11th & 12th. His friends from club sports who go to public do a fraction of the work he does, have straight As or A pluses (which our school doesn’t even give), lower SATs and are getting in to much better schools. I do think it matters who he’s competing vs at his school, and they can only take so mah from these smaller privates.

Anonymous wrote:This is one of my kids, and he keeps saying he should have switched to public for 11th & 12th. His friends from club sports who go to public do a fraction of the work he does, have straight As or A pluses (which our school doesn’t even give), lower SATs and are getting in to much better schools. I do think it matters who he’s competing vs at his school, and they can only take so mah from these smaller privates.

How does he even know how much work they’re doing? He’s taking polls of all his public school friends and how much they work every night for each class? He knows everyone’s SAT scores?

Every school has kids that work harder than others. Private and public. Maybe your son has to spend more time to learn things than his friends. No shame in that, everyone is different.

My public school kids work hard, they spend a lot of time studying and they talk about what they’ve been learning at the dinner table, which tells me that they’re engaged with the content and making connections. They haven’t been to a private school to compare, but they’re hard working and well rounded and really bright. Public school kids aren’t a bunch of bumbling idiots who don’t deserve to go to college as much as your kid does.

+1000

My senior is doing a ton of work with all APs and honors. Btw, she is in at 6 schools so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid from a good private - top 30% of class with 1550 SAT and all 5's on APs. Solid EC's with leadership and community service, but no hook other than private school. Applied humanities - rejected ED to Ivy, deferred Santa Clara, USC and UMich. In at Pitt with merit and honors college. Waiting on a bunch more but feeling rather hopeless right now. Essays were excellent. Any thoughts?

This was our kid, similar, we are full pay, ACT 35, deferred at MI, rejected from UNC, WL at Vanderbilt, and more, who ended up at Pitt. All I can tell you is, she's happy there. Has made good friends, doing well in school, had excellent internships, etc. Counselor said the schools all thought they were her safetys

Why didn’t the counselor tell the schools her actual situation?

[Anonymous]

Top 1/3 of class is not very strong? Stronger classmates are getting into the high targets and reaches, that's all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too early to despair. Be patient. It’s hard.

Your daughter has a great acceptance and may get more.

We are public school - I firmly believe the teaching at our public school is much more rigorous in depth and breadth than any private school in the DMV so don’t disparage public school education. My kid works hard- has done more APs and got more 5s than your kid. Higher GPA and higher SAT. Also higher level ECs with community impact, etc. completely unhooked. Fabulous Genuine essays (without AI). Accepted ED at ivy.

Your kid sounds strong but not stand out… ar least not stand out compared to my kid’s public school friends. Several EDs to ivies at our public, even early admits to the other schools you mentioned (except not sure about Santa Clara).

The main element in your post that may be the main culprit is this sense of entitlement that just because she attends private school, she is owed an acceptance even with lower stats/ECs. The chip on your shoulder may have come through in the application. The statement that public kids work less hard is laughable and may be a personality these universities don’t want.

+1

[Anonymous]

your kid is competing with other kids in their class. So, top 30% is not that high for Ivies, or even UMich.

Pitt is a great school, especially with merit.

[Anonymous]

My kid had a 1580, 4.92 wgpa, 4.0 unwgpa at a magnet program, and was waitlisted at Mich (in the end, they did get off the waitlist but decided against it).

They were also rejected at UIUC and GATech, albeit a CS major.

Went to our in state flagship with merit, and doing really really well. Great internships.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the test:
How are the kids doing that are slightly higher than your kid? Is your kid going to be competing with them for RD or did they get into their early choices?

The Pitt merit/honors is a good sign of appreciation strength.

Which humanities major? Any ECs align with major? Any awards?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top 1/3 of class is not very strong? Stronger classmates are getting into the high targets and reaches, that's all.

This. It's not complicated, and the counselor should have advised accordingly. High test scores don't help if you're not top 10% in the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 1/3 of class is not very strong? Stronger classmates are getting into the high targets and reaches, that's all.

This. It's not complicated, and the counselor should have advised accordingly. High test scores don't help if you're not top 10% in the class.

Yeah, I’m confused about why the counselor did not discourage an Ivy ED in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 1/3 of class is not very strong? Stronger classmates are getting into the high targets and reaches, that's all.

This. It's not complicated, and the counselor should have advised accordingly. High test scores don't help if you're not top 10% in the class.

Gee, can you guess why private schools don’t want to counsel this (or even admit it to themselves)?

Meanwhile this practice of using only Pitt as the only by-January safety is unhealthy. Yes, you’re into a school but it’s much easier to appreciate the upside of Pitt if you don’t feel backed into a corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one of my kids, and he keeps saying he should have switched to public for 11th & 12th. His friends from club sports who go to public do a fraction of the work he does, have straight As or A pluses (which our school doesn’t even give), lower SATs and are getting in to much better schools. I do think it matters who he’s competing vs at his school, and they can only take so mah from these smaller privates.

If this is DCPS, ok. FCPS (Langley, McLean, etc), TJ, MCPS schools (Richard-Mont, Churchill, etc)? Nope. The calibre of education/competition & playing field to get into the top schools far exceed most privates.

[Anonymous]

This was my kid.
Got into Cornell RD. All good.

[Anonymous]

I don't think RD will be much better with a 3.7 gpa unless they are lucky. Top 30% even from private school is not that strong. You could tell your couselor that Michigan is top choice and have them communicate it to Michigan. We went through this with our niece a couple of years back with similar GPA from a top private school. Ivies will not work in RD because she will compete with kids with higher gpas from her own school. Cornell might work if not applying to top colleges there. Also, niece got into Georgia Tech off wait list and had a 1580 SAT score.