Parents of Ivy admits — what were their ECs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

[Anonymous]

My kids had the regular EC...good ones. Newspaper editor, in a number of clubs, required volunteering and internship, etc. Played an instrument but not at any national level or anything. Was not a sports kid. Did not create his own organization or travel to Zambia to do volunteer work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So tired of all the advice that kids have to be pointy. My kid rising sophomore is a regular kid with interests in sports, sneakers, and girls.

Somehow in the next two years, he’s supposed to develop deep intellectual interests, do innovative research, or somehow be the best in his field at something.

Is this real, or do normal kids have a chance at Ivy admissions? Parents of Ivy admits, can you share what your kids ECs were?

We have gotten to know many ivy friends of my rising junior ivy student. They have visited our home or we have spent time with them on campus. Almost all did a fine art/music and did it for years before high school and had state or regional accolades. Some were also top debaters/model UN, or did legitimate research (not pay to play). They are all engineers and premeds and only one out of 8 is hooked: rest are white or asian nonlegacy kids, not recruited, most were Val or Sal unless from a feeder private but still top5%. They all talk about being top in their school winning high school awards or getting into prestigious NJ/other summer governors school, then coming there and being above average and they joke about it. They all are highly intelligent: to just listen to them is amazing, but they are almost all humble. They are from all over the country, and one from Canada. Most got in to at least one other T10(this ivy is in the T10). Every one speaks and has a demeanor that is mature beyond their years.

They sound wealthy. From this description, I can see how the process is geared towards those with money and without a need to earn money for the family. Music lessons are expensive, and I assume a governor's school is expensive too.

So, full pay would be one hook for these admits, I assume.

Ummm...'governor's school' is completely free. My husband who grew up poor and went to college on a Pell grant was in governor's school.

The fact they know nothing about Governor's school tells me everything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids had the regular EC...good ones. Newspaper editor, in a number of clubs, required volunteering and internship, etc. Played an instrument but not at any national level or anything. Was not a sports kid. Did not create his own organization or travel to Zambia to do volunteer work.

This is the golden ticket at our private for an ivy slot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

Ivies and peers give some need aid to most who make under 200k gross household income. That is not low income, it is upper middle class. The big-need-$ is to the truly low income families, but ivies are very generous. For many average and below avg families Ivies are cheaper than their in-state flagship. Ivies have about half or more of their students on some amount of need based aid, thus less than half are full pay.

[Anonymous]

No. One. Knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So tired of all the advice that kids have to be pointy. My kid rising sophomore is a regular kid with interests in sports, sneakers, and girls.

Somehow in the next two years, he’s supposed to develop deep intellectual interests, do innovative research, or somehow be the best in his field at something.

Is this real, or do normal kids have a chance at Ivy admissions? Parents of Ivy admits, can you share what your kids ECs were?

We have gotten to know many ivy friends of my rising junior ivy student. They have visited our home or we have spent time with them on campus. Almost all did a fine art/music and did it for years before high school and had state or regional accolades. Some were also top debaters/model UN, or did legitimate research (not pay to play). They are all engineers and premeds and only one out of 8 is hooked: rest are white or asian nonlegacy kids, not recruited, most were Val or Sal unless from a feeder private but still top5%. They all talk about being top in their school winning high school awards or getting into prestigious NJ/other summer governors school, then coming there and being above average and they joke about it. They all are highly intelligent: to just listen to them is amazing, but they are almost all humble. They are from all over the country, and one from Canada. Most got in to at least one other T10(this ivy is in the T10). Every one speaks and has a demeanor that is mature beyond their years.

They sound wealthy. From this description, I can see how the process is geared towards those with money and without a need to earn money for the family. Music lessons are expensive, and I assume a governor's school is expensive too.

So, full pay would be one hook for these admits, I assume.

I am the PP. Governor's school is free. Music lessons are free at our publics. One of the 8 is extremely low income and is hooked based on race demographics. 3 of the others are on need based aid and have a much smaller budget for spending than the rest, incl mine, which the group tries to navigate when planning trips over breaks: they try to stay with each others families when possible. Not sure if any of the others are truly wealthy based on DCUM, and i do not know if full pay or just partial need, but more than one has an on-campus job so could be work study i do not know. Ivies are need blind. Full pay is not a hook--FG/LI is .
You really cannot admit that there are smart, kind, unhooked kids at ivies can you? OF course there are jerks and recruited athletes(the biggest boost of all) and other hooks, but there is a reasonable cohort of unhooked kids who do get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

This is so not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids had the regular EC...good ones. Newspaper editor, in a number of clubs, required volunteering and internship, etc. Played an instrument but not at any national level or anything. Was not a sports kid. Did not create his own organization or travel to Zambia to do volunteer work.

This is the golden ticket at our private for an ivy slot.

Yeah, it really is.

Editor of the school paper is where it's at. It's always an embarrassment of riches. But the students know that, so it can be a little cutthroat.

[Anonymous]

Just had a grad of an Ivy and another one last year. ECs were Debate and starting a non profit and a congressional internship. Those were the main ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

This is so not true.

I was at a consortium recently with presentations from 8 AOs from diff schools. Yale, Brown and Harvard said this precise thing. Each also said their income thresholds for free tuition and also tuition, room and board. All but one offer nothing other than need based scholarships.

Brown: https://finaid.brown.edu/aid-types/grants-scholarships#:~:text=Brown%20University%20does%20not%20offer,determined%20solely%20on%20financial%20need.

Yale: https://finaid.yale.edu/costs-affordability/types-aid/scholarships-and-grants#YS

Harvard: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20merit%2Dbased,all%20of%20your%20demonstrated%20need.

Columbia: https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/content/does-columbia-offer-merit-scholarships

Cornell: https://finaid.cornell.edu/types-of-aid/grants-and-scholarships

Penn: https://admissions.upenn.edu/affording-penn/how-it-works#:~:text=Penn%20does%20not%20offer%20merit,US%2C%20Canada%2C%20and%20Mexico.

Princeton: https://admission.princeton.edu/cost-aid/how-financial-aid-works#:~:text=Princeton%20financial%20aid%20is%20awarded,not%20considered%20when%20awarding%20aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

This is so not true.

I was at a consortium recently with presentations from 8 AOs from diff schools. Yale, Brown and Harvard said this precise thing. Each also said their income thresholds for free tuition and also tuition, room and board. All but one offer nothing other than need based scholarships.

Brown: https://finaid.brown.edu/aid-types/grants-scholarships#:~:text=Brown%20University%20does%20not%20offer,determined%20solely%20on%20financial%20need.

Yale: https://finaid.yale.edu/costs-affordability/types-aid/scholarships-and-grants#YS

Harvard: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20merit%2Dbased,all%20of%20your%20demonstrated%20need.

Columbia: https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/content/does-columbia-offer-merit-scholarships

Cornell: https://finaid.cornell.edu/types-of-aid/grants-and-scholarships

Penn: https://admissions.upenn.edu/affording-penn/how-it-works#:~:text=Penn%20does%20not%20offer%20merit,US%2C%20Canada%2C%20and%20Mexico.

Princeton: https://admission.princeton.edu/cost-aid/how-financial-aid-works#:~:text=Princeton%20financial%20aid%20is%20awarded,not%20considered%20when%20awarding%20aid.

I think PP was indicating that there are plenty of kids receiving something between 0% and 100% FA.

They don’t give you 100% if you make $200k (up to $300k at a Princeton), but you will get something.

[Anonymous]

Kid became a protest photographer during BLM and blew up. Now is at Princeton and is making a healthy income doing that, school, and a policy internship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

This is so not true.

I was at a consortium recently with presentations from 8 AOs from diff schools. Yale, Brown and Harvard said this precise thing. Each also said their income thresholds for free tuition and also tuition, room and board. All but one offer nothing other than need based scholarships.

Brown: https://finaid.brown.edu/aid-types/grants-scholarships#:~:text=Brown%20University%20does%20not%20offer,determined%20solely%20on%20financial%20need.

Yale: https://finaid.yale.edu/costs-affordability/types-aid/scholarships-and-grants#YS

Harvard: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20merit%2Dbased,all%20of%20your%20demonstrated%20need.

Columbia: https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/content/does-columbia-offer-merit-scholarships

Cornell: https://finaid.cornell.edu/types-of-aid/grants-and-scholarships

Penn: https://admissions.upenn.edu/affording-penn/how-it-works#:~:text=Penn%20does%20not%20offer%20merit,US%2C%20Canada%2C%20and%20Mexico.

Princeton: https://admission.princeton.edu/cost-aid/how-financial-aid-works#:~:text=Princeton%20financial%20aid%20is%20awarded,not%20considered%20when%20awarding%20aid.

Just so you know, this is for families "with typical assets" which colleges usually cap at 200-250k outside retirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at Princeton. He was not pointy. Big public high school. Strong GPA, class rigor, test scores, etc. He played a varsity sport throughout HS, was in the audition-only jazz choir. Strong writer, enjoyed learning, good relationships with his teachers. Not a legacy, not a recruited athlete, not URM. We joke that maybe he got in because he was homecoming king.

Full pay?

Everyone at an ivy is full pay except those with low incomes.

This is so not true.

I was at a consortium recently with presentations from 8 AOs from diff schools. Yale, Brown and Harvard said this precise thing. Each also said their income thresholds for free tuition and also tuition, room and board. All but one offer nothing other than need based scholarships.

Brown: https://finaid.brown.edu/aid-types/grants-scholarships#:~:text=Brown%20University%20does%20not%20offer,determined%20solely%20on%20financial%20need.

Yale: https://finaid.yale.edu/costs-affordability/types-aid/scholarships-and-grants#YS

Harvard: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20merit%2Dbased,all%20of%20your%20demonstrated%20need.

Columbia: https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/content/does-columbia-offer-merit-scholarships

Cornell: https://finaid.cornell.edu/types-of-aid/grants-and-scholarships

Penn: https://admissions.upenn.edu/affording-penn/how-it-works#:~:text=Penn%20does%20not%20offer%20merit,US%2C%20Canada%2C%20and%20Mexico.

Princeton: https://admission.princeton.edu/cost-aid/how-financial-aid-works#:~:text=Princeton%20financial%20aid%20is%20awarded,not%20considered%20when%20awarding%20aid.

Just so you know, this is for families "with typical assets" which colleges usually cap at 200-250k outside retirement

That is not a lot of money for parents of grown children - likely middle aged.