Big 3 (or thereabouts) College Results - Class of 2021

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College in the U.S. went from crapshoot to total crapshoot.

Now with no tests, merit, or recommendations plus new quotas for URMs and first time college it’s just like spinning a wheel who picks you for the x colored, x gendered, x race, x geography’s, etc.

Kids are even applying for math or stats (or engineering) just to get IN to the school, then quickly switch to liberal arts or sociology. Total game. So ridiculous.

Meanwhile everyone’s pissed there aren’t enough XYZ folks in finance, stem, med yet no one earns a relevant major or can demonstrate actual interest! Much easier to just do “journalism” blogging about it.

Careful your racism is showing

Not the PP. but you’re annoying. No racism. But I’d says tests don’t equal merit.

I agree 100%. That kid is a leader and this is a great example of who should be on a yes pile at HYSP etc. Intelligence, values, courage of one’s convictions.

How does one show merit nowadays, outside of competitive sports?

Well rounded child who writes their own original essays. We can tell. (Well rounded is a huge problem for many snarky moms freaking out about DL in our top private). How about this: I bet you that Senior who wrote an open letter to the school to stand up
for the teachers’ right to choose DL or HL got into the top choice? It was mocked by a certain toxic group on DCUM, but I cheered that kid on the whole way and sure hope the full experience is on the essay. Heck, that letter should have been the essay.

I agree 100%. That kid is a leader and this is a great example of who should be on a yes pile at HYSP etc. Intelligence, values, courage of one’s convictions.

One word on sports — not only are they great for admissions but they are great for college friendships, jobs, even marriages.

+1 I married a fellow university athlete from another sport from a top college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the truth is more nuanced than this board suggests. Parents happy with the admissions are probably keeping quiet b/c would get torn apart or think it’s uncouth, but there are many.

+1

[Anonymous]

At least at my Big 3, the Ivy and state school results have been alarmingly dismal. ED applicants at the SLACs did about as well as they do very year.

[Anonymous]

Is the picture still bleak? Did things get better for ED2 applicants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly, but the exams in most countries are not privatized with a whole bunch of cross-sell products that leave the very children they are meant to open the doors behind.

Sports, poetry, other pursuits are what tells us who the child is
since many parents don’t let them write their own essays any longer either.

So you want the federal government to come up with one exam that works for every school district in all 50 states? Guess what they'd do? Hire the College Board to create it and it would end up looking like the SAT or, God forbid, the PAARC exam.

And spare us with the "the other pursuits" argument -- as if sports and writing and all the other ECs are any less privatized in the pursuit of college application superiority.

I’m sort of shocked by that assumption. Our DCs are completely independent, but I can assure no one’s throwing the ball or holding the pen for them. Maybe that’s why they’ve gotten into every top school and grade everywhere?

You missed the point. No one is taking the SAT for a kid either (well, Singer aside, lol). Yes, some kids are naturals at ECs (and some ace the SAT with no prep too). But you know kids attend expensive sports clubs and camps, and go to writing classes and have tutors and go to writing camps, etc. It is privatized. You can game the ECs through privatization the same as tests, and that leaves kids who can't afford all that behind too. That's all.

[Anonymous]

Straight A students at STA/NCS (and there are a lot) continue to be very disappointed with their college acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Straight A students at STA/NCS (and there are a lot) continue to be very disappointed with their college acceptances.

Funny, a few weeks ago people were falling over themselves to argue that straight A students are rare at STA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Straight A students at STA/NCS (and there are a lot) continue to be very disappointed with their college acceptances.

Funny, a few weeks ago people were falling over themselves to argue that straight A students are rare at STA.

And the parents of B students love to say that a B at STA/NCS is actually an A everywhere else. Total exaggeration and delusion.

[Anonymous]

Because just getting straight A's isn't enough anymore for the top schools. Every top student at every good public and private school in the country is applying to the same 10-15 colleges. Then you have international applicants, athletes, URM, big donors, connected kids and applicants who have started their own companies etc. There just aren't many spots left for your "average" straight A student. If you accept that reality and plan accordingly, you won't be disappointed if you aren't one of the lucky random few who gets admitted to these schools.

[Anonymous]

It’s not *that* random. The top students still get into the top schools, although they generally can’t count on getting into a specific one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not *that* random. The top students still get into the top schools, although they generally can’t count on getting into a specific one.

Yeah, this. Seems highly unlikely that a top student from the Big 3 is going to be shut out of the top colleges, even if multiple rejections/WLs are still quite possible or even probable.

[Anonymous]

Define top--top 20, top 30, top 40?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not *that* random. The top students still get into the top schools, although they generally can’t count on getting into a specific one.

Yeah, this. Seems highly unlikely that a top student from the Big 3 is going to be shut out of the top colleges, even if multiple rejections/WLs are still quite possible or even probable.

This is no longer true and is the reality that people don't want to talk about or admit, especially after spending $40K-$50K per year per kid. Lots of kids get As at the Big 3, probably around 25%-30% depending on the school. They may not all get high As, but they get As and A-s and then an even larger percentage get all As with one or two Bs. You're basically looking at 50%-60% of the class getting As or mostly As and a few Bs. The top 14-18% of students may be able to get into top 25 universities if they have things going for them more than just grades. The remaining 80% of students have less luck. Parents all like to think their child will fall into the top 20% of the class, but 80% won't and that's a fact. This means 80% of students, many of whom get mostly As, don't get into top 25 or even top 40 schools. It's just a reality.

[Anonymous]

Using your definitions, are the top 20 percent of public school seniors consistently getting admitted to top 25/40 colleges? I doubt it, and my suspicion is that even the top 10 percent of these classes struggle to do so. In public, all else being equal, you likely need to be top 5 percent or better to have admissions odds comparable to the top 20 percent at a Big 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not *that* random. The top students still get into the top schools, although they generally can’t count on getting into a specific one.

Yeah, this. Seems highly unlikely that a top student from the Big 3 is going to be shut out of the top colleges, even if multiple rejections/WLs are still quite possible or even probable.

This is no longer true and is the reality that people don't want to talk about or admit, especially after spending $40K-$50K per year per kid. Lots of kids get As at the Big 3, probably around 25%-30% depending on the school. They may not all get high As, but they get As and A-s and then an even larger percentage get all As with one or two Bs. You're basically looking at 50%-60% of the class getting As or mostly As and a few Bs. The top 14-18% of students may be able to get into top 25 universities if they have things going for them more than just grades. The remaining 80% of students have less luck. Parents all like to think their child will fall into the top 20% of the class, but 80% won't and that's a fact. This means 80% of students, many of whom get mostly As, don't get into top 25 or even top 40 schools. It's just a reality.

Anecdotally this doesn’t match what we’ve seen either for the grades or the college admissions.