Chances at HYP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

Harvard interviewer here. Do you by chance live or work near a lot of TJ students? I think you do get more STEM focused kids if you live near a major TJ feeder area in FFX county. (We try to pair applicants with interviewers that work or live close to them.

Nope, not near TJ. I think there are just far more applicants interested in STEM. A kid interested in majoring in Arabic or Italian is harder to find -- and those department needs majors. FWIW, a disproportionate number of the humanities majors were admitted (still not many!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

What’s wrong with gender studies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

What’s wrong with gender studies?

Nothing but it may prove difficult to find an employer that will pay you a living wage for your expertise. The reality is that students eventually have to find a job after college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

What’s wrong with gender studies?

I mean if you’re so rich that your kid never needs to support themself financially it’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I alum interviewed for Princeton last year and it was a depressing bloodbath when decisions came out. Several spectacular candidates I thought would be admitted were not even wait listed. These were amazing kids. I do think it helps to be spectacular AND a first gen college student or URM or SES-disadvantaged student. Also, having a well developed specific intellectual interest in the humanities is good, because from what I saw there are so many STEM focused students.

None of this is meant to deter her! But have other options she likes too.

Harvard interviewer here. Do you by chance live or work near a lot of TJ students? I think you do get more STEM focused kids if you live near a major TJ feeder area in FFX county. (We try to pair applicants with interviewers that work or live close to them.

Nope, not near TJ. I think there are just far more applicants interested in STEM. A kid interested in majoring in Arabic or Italian is harder to find -- and those department needs majors. FWIW, a disproportionate number of the humanities majors were admitted (still not many!).

Opposite experience here...All the kids I interviewed who were admitted to HYP were actually STEM kids. I think that it's such a crapshoot and our samples are small that who you saw admitted among your applicants doesn't mean much.

[Anonymous]

HYP is a crapshoot as others have said. You said your DD plays an instrument? Is she super talented? Is she first violin in the regional orchestra? Otherwise most every kid plays an instrument. Does she do anything else? Is she the head of any clubs or the editor of the newspaper? What differentiates her from the thousands of applicants who also have great grades and great test scores. Even at big 3, the HYP kids do something other than study.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Sorry, it's been a busy day at work. I think DD is not wanting to share her top choice to guard against disappointment, but I get the sense Princeton her favorite. Of course her counselor and Naviance are helpful, but the input here is also helpful and interesting. I think she knows it's all a crapshoot, but like all kids, is hoping to have a better idea. Couple of things - definitely no hooks, and as for the major - we suspect grad school is in her future, so we are less worried about that right now. I could see it changing to psychology or another social science. We appreciate the different perspectives and are actually planning to share several thoughts with her tonight! Wish us luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a HYP and interview in DC.

I can say that it's a total crapshoot for kids like your daughter--not a knock on her by any means, it's just the nature of the beast since there are so many applicants like her.

Why HYP though? Which among those is her dream school? And what are the other schools she is applying to?

I come from a really big family and so am familiar with the other HYP schools and I know they're very different.

Yes re really different schools. I have degrees from two of these schools (and was shocked in real time re the differences). No interest in the third. Having also done admissions interviews for one of them (not H), I’d second PP’s crapshoot remark re chances of admission.

Your DD needs to decide which of these schools is her SCEA. If she’s truly indifferent, she could choose the one with the weakest legacy pool in her HS class. Maybe a better approach would be to compare programs/faculty in her preferred major(s). If you suggest the second path, it would also give her a way to start finding other schools she could get excited about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HYP is a crapshoot as others have said. You said your DD plays an instrument? Is she super talented? Is she first violin in the regional orchestra? Otherwise most every kid plays an instrument. Does she do anything else? Is she the head of any clubs or the editor of the newspaper? What differentiates her from the thousands of applicants who also have great grades and great test scores. Even at big 3, the HYP kids do something other than study.

OP again - no, no and no. She's a great kid and has been involved in school but doesn't have anything that would cause her to stand out in the way you're mentioning.

[Anonymous]

The GPA is extremely impressive, but the odds are slim she will be admitted.

At the Big3 my kids attend, I was surprised that so many of the recruited athletes heading to Ivies are also legacies (sometimes double legacies).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Challenge of the moment is all the 2020 grads who took a gap year and are reapplying with renewed focus and experience.

That isn't a gap year, that is just taking a year off. A gap year is when you get admitted and defer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

What’s wrong with gender studies?

Nothing but it may prove difficult to find an employer that will pay you a living wage for your expertise. The reality is that students eventually have to find a job after college.

Most people find jobs in fields unrelated to their major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a senior at a big 3 and is interested in HYP. 35 ACT, 3.9 unweighted most rigorous classes. No hook, but has played an instrument since first grade (no awards). We're full pay and she's thinking women's/gender studies . Chances? We are making her come up with some safeties but she has her heart set on HYP.

Is she checking that just to make it easier to get in? You don’t have to bow to your kid’s every whim. I say no to my kid whenever and wherever I feel like it. No way I’d allow “gender studies.”

What’s wrong with gender studies?

Nothing but it may prove difficult to find an employer that will pay you a living wage for your expertise. The reality is that students eventually have to find a job after college.

Most people find jobs in fields unrelated to their major.

And if you can't find a job, there's always law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry, it's been a busy day at work. I think DD is not wanting to share her top choice to guard against disappointment, but I get the sense Princeton her favorite. Of course her counselor and Naviance are helpful, but the input here is also helpful and interesting. I think she knows it's all a crapshoot, but like all kids, is hoping to have a better idea. Couple of things - definitely no hooks, and as for the major - we suspect grad school is in her future, so we are less worried about that right now. I could see it changing to psychology or another social science. We appreciate the different perspectives and are actually planning to share several thoughts with her tonight! Wish us luck!

If she's applying this year, then there is very little she can do, realistically, because it's already been done. She should focus on her essays, which are the only part of her application that remain within her control and then apply to whichever school she wants. The essays will matter much more than her prospective major.

At some point, the college admissions game is a lottery, which sounds depressing but also means that she could win, but only if she applies. The advice that she should just give up on Princeton or whatever other school is her top choice is, in my opinion, misguided and self-defeating. Not applying is the one sure way not to get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a HYP and interview in DC.

I can say that it's a total crapshoot for kids like your daughter--not a knock on her by any means, it's just the nature of the beast since there are so many applicants like her.

Why HYP though? Which among those is her dream school? And what are the other schools she is applying to?

I come from a really big family and so am familiar with the other HYP schools and I know they're very different.

Yes re really different schools. I have degrees from two of these schools (and was shocked in real time re the differences). No interest in the third. Having also done admissions interviews for one of them (not H), I’d second PP’s crapshoot remark re chances of admission.

Your DD needs to decide which of these schools is her SCEA. If she’s truly indifferent, she could choose the one with the weakest legacy pool in her HS class. Maybe a better approach would be to compare programs/faculty in her preferred major(s). If you suggest the second path, it would also give her a way to start finding other schools she could get excited about.

Agree. I'm the PP and my brother went to a different HYP school than I did two years before me and his experience was incredibly different even though we had similar majors. So just something to think about.

It's also helpful to know the OP's daughter's preferred school out of these and WHY that one is her absolute dream school because it will help her identify the other schools she should be applying to that offer similar environments/faculty in her major/opportunities/student life. For example, my brother and I applied to totally different lists of schools.