HYPS SCEA vs Columbia ED (double legacy)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this wasn't your question but since you brought up wanting a school with strengths across the board, UChicago is a good option for a high academic non-hooked kids. Suburban campus 20minutes from a great city. Kids who want an excellent education along with a brand do very well there. Not easy to get into but he has the stats and interesting essays make it more of a possible than HYPSM They appear to be primarily academic focused in their admissions. And, it no longer has the oppressive atmosphere of it's past. Worth a visit. They also have an ED2 option if he refuses to apply to other than Harvard or Stanford early. The kids from the last few years of our private are very happy there. Also , I disagree that MIT would be an alternative. They really care about the contests as evidenced by the application. In our area the kids that get in are either athletic hooks or the best of the STEM public school students.

OP here. At our east coast private there isn't as big of an interest for UChicago as for the Ivies,Stanford so it wasn't in our radar from very early on. However, we eventually did consider it briefly and we did visit but he didn't really vibe with it and I can't say I particularly liked it either. I was concerned about the culture (I guess these days it is probably better than before though). Plus we got the sense that the bioengineering and biomedical infrastructure was lacking compared to our other reach schools. But Chicago would be an amazing place for economics and natural sciences without a doubt. It just doesn't make sense to add a reach he doesn't really care for to the list. The ED2 option there is also binding so it wouldn't work for us, but thank you very much for the suggestion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I don't think you mentioned it but are you aware for applications to Ivies (and white and interested in the sciences) that the SAT II tests and xlnt scores are critical? My DC wanted Princeton and had everything needed but his SAT II's (math I, Math II, and chemistry) were only 750. You need 800s or close to it in SAT II exams. We didn't figure that out in time for the Princeton Harvard, etc. applications. Princeton used to require two SAT II tests. Now it says "Strongly recommended" but the reason they dropped the requirement was to make it easier for poorer students to apply. But if you are otherwise a normal applicant, then you better have top SAT II results.

OP here. Yes forgot to mention it, but he has taken Math II (800), Chemistry (790) and Biology (800). I agree the strongly recommended statement by most top schools is misleading. Any student from a middle-class or upwards background needs to have subject tests to have a chance. The requirement is truly optional only for the students from underprivileged backgrounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UPenn - another good choice if he is Ivy League or bust.

OP here. Penn is one of his top choices, 5th to be exact, after HYPS. It is not that we pressure him that it is Ivy League or bust, we don't put that kind of pressure on him at all. And we told him that what college he ends up at will not make or break him. But he is definitely a very competitive person so he is definitely shooting for these top schools and maybe he also feels a bit of pressure since both of his parents are ivy grads. Since he is well-qualified, we are encouraging of his ambition.

[Anonymous]

What about adding Harvey Mudd to the list - he will get the engineering and Clairmont is very strong in Economics. Pomona is part of the consortium as well.

[Anonymous]

This isn't meant to be mean but you seem to be pinning a lot of hope on academic stats that are good but not the best. Even top 1 or 2 kids have trouble as nonhooked candidates without accomplishments or talents deemed as significant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I don't think you mentioned it but are you aware for applications to Ivies (and white and interested in the sciences) that the SAT II tests and xlnt scores are critical? My DC wanted Princeton and had everything needed but his SAT II's (math I, Math II, and chemistry) were only 750. You need 800s or close to it in SAT II exams. We didn't figure that out in time for the Princeton Harvard, etc. applications. Princeton used to require two SAT II tests. Now it says "Strongly recommended" but the reason they dropped the requirement was to make it easier for poorer students to apply. But if you are otherwise a normal applicant, then you better have top SAT II results.

If you are rationalizing your kid's p'ton rejection as "he only got 750 on his sat2" you are either dumb or listening to a person who is dumb. This is NOT why your kid didn't get in, but I see paid consultants rattle off this BS all the time to lay the "blame" at the kid's feet rather than themselves.

PLEASE STOP SPREADING BAD INFO re Ivy admissions. There are ZERO kids that P'ton "wanted" where ANYONE in committee said "we love him, he's going to change the world, he has everything, but the SAT 2 is a problem, at 750.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't meant to be mean but you seem to be pinning a lot of hope on academic stats that are good but not the best. Even top 1 or 2 kids have trouble as nonhooked candidates without accomplishments or talents deemed as significant.

OP here. We know his academic stats are not absolutely perfect but they are better than just good, they are very strong even by top school standards. He is well within the top 5% of his 200-person class at a rigorous elite private that is a big ivy feeder, and he also has top scores. Also his internship experience is quite strong: he worked at the Fed and in the lab of a famous Columbia professor and contributed a lot to published research in major journals. Plus his leadership experience at school is also very good (he is the leader of two clubs and founded a third). I know he doesn't have a really major award but very few kids do anyway. I don't think all people who make it to HYPS are prodigies with major international and national awards. Sure that would help but there is a chance for very accomplished and driven kids who do not have internationally recognized accomplishments and are not prodigies.

[Anonymous]

My unhooked kid had stats like yours (w/o the internships) and got into her top choice t5 school. You’re right — HYPS is not full of prodigies.

[Anonymous]

Top at one of the best school in the country. Did get into one of the top 5 but not at the first choice. Lots of factors icluding which other kids were interested in the same schools and it was a particularly strong class in terms of students and parent group. The trick is whether you guess right for the early card because if you don't the RD choices will be very good schools but likely not the prestige you seem to be seeking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My unhooked kid had stats like yours (w/o the internships) and got into her top choice t5 school. You’re right — HYPS is not full of prodigies.

I'm guessing Duke.

[Anonymous]

Is Duke top 5?

[Anonymous]

No, not Duke. Agree trick is guessing right wrt EA. Maybe, more precisely, not guessing wrong wrt EA. Sometimes there is probably more than one right EA choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My unhooked kid had stats like yours (w/o the internships) and got into her top choice t5 school. You’re right — HYPS is not full of prodigies.

I'm guessing Duke.

Duke is not top 5. top 5 widely refers to HYPSM. Duke is barely a top 10.

[Anonymous]

Has he considered aiming for these colleges for post grad?

I recall our HS counsellors questioning the approach of applying primarily to ivies, given that these schools are very different, the locations are very different, the "vibe" is very different at each place.

Frank Bruni's college book might be a good read.

There are schools where your son's stats are pretty common, and those stats do not guarantee entry into ivies. That reinforces the wisdom of looking beyond the usual suspects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UPenn - another good choice if he is Ivy League or bust.

OP here. Penn is one of his top choices, 5th to be exact, after HYPS. It is not that we pressure him that it is Ivy League or bust, we don't put that kind of pressure on him at all. And we told him that what college he ends up at will not make or break him. But he is definitely a very competitive person so he is definitely shooting for these top schools and maybe he also feels a bit of pressure since both of his parents are ivy grads. Since he is well-qualified, we are encouraging of his ambition.

UPenn openly discloses on their website early heavily favors their legacies.