Families with Ivy-league Caliber Siblings

[Anonymous]

So first off, we don't really care if our kids go to Ivy league, SLAC, or good public universities, but we are hoping they would have the capability to exceed or be accepted there.

We come from a LMC background, and went to good colleges, and through hard work are now solidly DC middle class. We want our kids to have a little easier time, and we all these neighborhood families where sibling goes to an Ivy or similar college (for reference, for my entire county, we had one student go to an Ivy league every year; they were featured in the local paper).

So is there some secret sauce on how to setup all your children for having these kind of options? We emphasize that they do well in school, they do some extracurricular activities in sports and music but NOTHING like travel soccer or piano competitions -- we are working parents and those commitments are hard. We might do some enrichment on the weekends like math work books and we encourage reading and such all the time, but nothing very structured. We volunteer with our church for like holiday events, but again not some huge accomplishment for applications.

Are we preparing them enough? Should we specialize in something like a travel sport? Obviously we try to ask our neighbors and schoolmates but they are pretty cagey and just say "lucky I guess" Which I understand, hence why an anonymous forum may work better!

[Anonymous]

The acceptance rates for Ivy League universities are so low that it is irrational to try to figure out how to be accepted by one. I’m not saying this to be mean; it’s a mathematical fact.

However, two things:

1. There’s nothing special about the Ivy League. It’s a football league at the end of the day. There are dozens of schools just as good as the Ivy League.

2. I know plenty of people who went to Ivy League schools. Some of them are successful and many aren’t. It’s about the same as many other great schools. Your kids will succeed or not based on many other factors than whether they go to an Ivy League school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The acceptance rates for Ivy League universities are so low that it is irrational to try to figure out how to be accepted by one. I’m not saying this to be mean; it’s a mathematical fact.

However, two things:

1. There’s nothing special about the Ivy League. It’s a football league at the end of the day. There are dozens of schools just as good as the Ivy League.

2. I know plenty of people who went to Ivy League schools. Some of them are successful and many aren’t. It’s about the same as many other great schools. Your kids will succeed or not based on many other factors than whether they go to an Ivy League school.

I definitely agree, which is why I find it exceptional that there are families which send multiple siblings to the Ivy league, despite the low odds.

And again, i am not hung up on Ivy league per se, there are many high caliber schools that I will be happy for my kids to attend and feel they will succeed -- but the ability to get accepted to an Ivy likely means they will get accepted wherever they really want to go.

[Anonymous]

Being a legacy helps, being a first gen college student helps, being an extraordinary applicant helps, being the child of someone famous helps....beyond that your neighbors are right, it’s about being lucky. Going to an ivy league school is nice but it’s just college, and you can get a good education at many schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The acceptance rates for Ivy League universities are so low that it is irrational to try to figure out how to be accepted by one. I’m not saying this to be mean; it’s a mathematical fact.

However, two things:

1. There’s nothing special about the Ivy League. It’s a football league at the end of the day. There are dozens of schools just as good as the Ivy League.

2. I know plenty of people who went to Ivy League schools. Some of them are successful and many aren’t. It’s about the same as many other great schools. Your kids will succeed or not based on many other factors than whether they go to an Ivy League school.

I definitely agree, which is why I find it exceptional that there are families which send multiple siblings to the Ivy league, despite the low odds.

And again, i am not hung up on Ivy league per se, there are many high caliber schools that I will be happy for my kids to attend and feel they will succeed -- but the ability to get accepted to an Ivy likely means they will get accepted wherever they really want to go.

Like the PP said, unless they’re a legacy, first gen college student, significant minority (Native American, for example), it's luck. Sometimes people beat the odds and win the lottery. We congratulate them and think they’re better than applicants who didn’t get in, when really they just won a lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The acceptance rates for Ivy League universities are so low that it is irrational to try to figure out how to be accepted by one. I’m not saying this to be mean; it’s a mathematical fact.

However, two things:

1. There’s nothing special about the Ivy League. It’s a football league at the end of the day. There are dozens of schools just as good as the Ivy League.

2. I know plenty of people who went to Ivy League schools. Some of them are successful and many aren’t. It’s about the same as many other great schools. Your kids will succeed or not based on many other factors than whether they go to an Ivy League school.

I definitely agree, which is why I find it exceptional that there are families which send multiple siblings to the Ivy league, despite the low odds.

And again, i am not hung up on Ivy league per se, there are many high caliber schools that I will be happy for my kids to attend and feel they will succeed -- but the ability to get accepted to an Ivy likely means they will get accepted wherever they really want to go.

Like the PP said, unless they’re a legacy, first gen college student, significant minority (Native American, for example), it's luck. Sometimes people beat the odds and win the lottery. We congratulate them and think they’re better than applicants who didn’t get in, when really they just won a lottery.

Gosh, I hope no one reads this and believes it to be true, because it isn't.

It may seem like a lottery, because you can't figure out why one is chosen over another and they don't tell you. But the people choosing work incredibly hard to choose one over the other and there are qualitative reasons. None of it is random. Not one iota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The acceptance rates for Ivy League universities are so low that it is irrational to try to figure out how to be accepted by one. I’m not saying this to be mean; it’s a mathematical fact.

However, two things:

1. There’s nothing special about the Ivy League. It’s a football league at the end of the day. There are dozens of schools just as good as the Ivy League.

2. I know plenty of people who went to Ivy League schools. Some of them are successful and many aren’t. It’s about the same as many other great schools. Your kids will succeed or not based on many other factors than whether they go to an Ivy League school.

I definitely agree, which is why I find it exceptional that there are families which send multiple siblings to the Ivy league, despite the low odds.

And again, i am not hung up on Ivy league per se, there are many high caliber schools that I will be happy for my kids to attend and feel they will succeed -- but the ability to get accepted to an Ivy likely means they will get accepted wherever they really want to go.

Like the PP said, unless they’re a legacy, first gen college student, significant minority (Native American, for example), it's luck. Sometimes people beat the odds and win the lottery. We congratulate them and think they’re better than applicants who didn’t get in, when really they just won a lottery.

Gosh, I hope no one reads this and believes it to be true, because it isn't.

It may seem like a lottery, because you can't figure out why one is chosen over another and they don't tell you. But the people choosing work incredibly hard to choose one over the other and there are qualitative reasons. None of it is random. Not one iota.

But some of those qualitative reasons are mere accidents of birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The acceptance rates for Ivy League universities are so low that it is irrational to try to figure out how to be accepted by one. I’m not saying this to be mean; it’s a mathematical fact.

However, two things:

1. There’s nothing special about the Ivy League. It’s a football league at the end of the day. There are dozens of schools just as good as the Ivy League.

2. I know plenty of people who went to Ivy League schools. Some of them are successful and many aren’t. It’s about the same as many other great schools. Your kids will succeed or not based on many other factors than whether they go to an Ivy League school.

I definitely agree, which is why I find it exceptional that there are families which send multiple siblings to the Ivy league, despite the low odds.

And again, i am not hung up on Ivy league per se, there are many high caliber schools that I will be happy for my kids to attend and feel they will succeed -- but the ability to get accepted to an Ivy likely means they will get accepted wherever they really want to go.

Like the PP said, unless they’re a legacy, first gen college student, significant minority (Native American, for example), it's luck. Sometimes people beat the odds and win the lottery. We congratulate them and think they’re better than applicants who didn’t get in, when really they just won a lottery.

Gosh, I hope no one reads this and believes it to be true, because it isn't.

It may seem like a lottery, because you can't figure out why one is chosen over another and they don't tell you. But the people choosing work incredibly hard to choose one over the other and there are qualitative reasons. None of it is random. Not one iota.

Op here. This is my feeling. What are we missing?

[Anonymous]

If you don’t think it’s random to some extent you’re naive.

When there are well more qualified applicants than spots, there is a significant element of randomness.

I say this as someone who has been admitted to multiple programs with less than 10% acceptance rates. I’m not so arrogant as to say I wasn’t the beneficiary of a random choice between another qualified applicant and myself.

[Anonymous]

Proof. This former Yale admissions officer backs a literal lottery for spots at Yale.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/former-yale-interviewer-explains-the-random-college-admissions-process-2016-10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t think it’s random to some extent you’re naive.

When there are well more qualified applicants than spots, there is a significant element of randomness.

I say this as someone who has been admitted to multiple programs with less than 10% acceptance rates. I’m not so arrogant as to say I wasn’t the beneficiary of a random choice between another qualified applicant and myself.

But if it is random how come we know soo many families with multiple ivy students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t think it’s random to some extent you’re naive.

When there are well more qualified applicants than spots, there is a significant element of randomness.

I say this as someone who has been admitted to multiple programs with less than 10% acceptance rates. I’m not so arrogant as to say I wasn’t the beneficiary of a random choice between another qualified applicant and myself.

But if it is random how come we know soo many families with multiple ivy students?

Ask them how many are legacies, recruited athletes, etc. Also, if they are coming from top private schools, they do have a better shot. Beyond those things, you’re either exaggerating how many of these families you know, or they are the beneficiaries of extraordinary luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Proof. This former Yale admissions officer backs a literal lottery for spots at Yale.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/former-yale-interviewer-explains-the-random-college-admissions-process-2016-10

Uh, Admission officer? He sounds like an Alumni interviewer, and he volunteered once.

But it is opaque and capricious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t think it’s random to some extent you’re naive.

When there are well more qualified applicants than spots, there is a significant element of randomness.

I say this as someone who has been admitted to multiple programs with less than 10% acceptance rates. I’m not so arrogant as to say I wasn’t the beneficiary of a random choice between another qualified applicant and myself.

But if it is random how come we know soo many families with multiple ivy students?

Because their parents went to those Ivy League schools? The admissions boost for a legacy applicant can be 30-40% over a non-legacy candidate with comparable stats. Even having a grandparent or uncle who has attended a school can help relative to the average applicant. Plus there’s an admissions boost when you have had a sibling enrolled. Not a guarantee of admission obviously, but a boost over the regular unhooked applicant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proof. This former Yale admissions officer backs a literal lottery for spots at Yale.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/former-yale-interviewer-explains-the-random-college-admissions-process-2016-10

Uh, Admission officer? He sounds like an Alumni interviewer, and he volunteered once.

But it is opaque and capricious.

Just think about it logically. How could there not be an element of randomness when you have to reject so many qualified applicants? I know it’s hard to accept it, but it’s just true.