reality for 1500 SAT (no SLAC)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I admit I was naive with my recent grad after she scored a 1520. All the rigor, AP scores, good but not national ECs. Rejected to the first five on this list. I knew they were reaches but I thought there was hope for a couple in RD.
Good luck!

I’m glad my 1520 kid refused to listen to me and did not apply to most of the schools on OP’s list a couple years ago. They were more accepting/cognizant of how hard it is now, while I was stuck in my Gen X college admissions memory lane.

[Anonymous]

I'd add Chicago and especially Oxford or Cambridge -- schools that don't care about fabricated EC stories or sports or such hooks, and only care about your academic performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd add Chicago and especially Oxford or Cambridge -- schools that don't care about fabricated EC stories or sports or such hooks, and only care about your academic performance.

Oxford and Cambridge want to see a higher test score? Is 1500 enough for Oxybridge?
Then there are APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve looked at Naviance, and at least at our school the outcomes really do vary. I can’t quite understand why a student with a 1430 might get in while someone with a 1580 doesn’t.

I’m also curious how people define “amazing” extracurriculars. Are there concrete examples of what’s considered good versus great?

Thank you! And is anyone else navigating this without relying on a counselor?

I do alumni interviews for an Ivy and you have no idea how homogeneous files of strong students generally look. It's the 1500(+) SAT applicants who stand out in some way, and have a cohesive narrative, that have some chance at the high reaches. Especially in the DMV, where strong unhooked applicants are a dime a dozen and kids are competing against international Olympiad medalists, award-winning musicians, recruited athletes, published researchers, VIP kids etc. (great ECs) The competition is simply brutal. Good = leadership in school clubs, editing the school newspaper, long-term commitment to music, art, athletics, Scouts. Not likely to move the needle at a high reach but with strong essays, solid chance at a high target.

A 1430 kid is not getting into a T-10 unless hooked, usually FGLI and representing geographic diversity as well.

Everyone always says this, but Penn has 2500 freshman; they can't all be national award winners, especially when a lot of those award winners are at other top 10 schools.

2500 freshman
how many hooked? athletes, legacy, donor, faculty, FG LI, URM.
Philly local public school kids. How many?
Then there are feeder schools nation wide.
A small piece of pie for the MC UMC.

Legacy is pretty much irrelevant if not a big donor. Faculty is going to be a few kids each year at most. URM is not permitted anymore. FGLI I'll give you, but again, not a huge number. Athletes are probably the biggest hook, but that aside still leaves plenty of room for normal academic standouts.

That’s your opinion, not a fact. There are Research studies that show that legacy preferences at elite schools (Ivy plus excluding MIT and cal tech which explicitly disregard legacies) can make students up to 4x more likely to be accepted than non-legacy students with similar credentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd add Chicago and especially Oxford or Cambridge -- schools that don't care about fabricated EC stories or sports or such hooks, and only care about your academic performance.

The biggest factor for Chicago is whether you apply early decision and commit to going there no matter what so that they can artificially inflate their yield numbers. That doesn’t mean that they only care about academic performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I was naive with my recent grad after she scored a 1520. All the rigor, AP scores, good but not national ECs. Rejected to the first five on this list. I knew they were reaches but I thought there was hope for a couple in RD.
Good luck!

I’m glad my 1520 kid refused to listen to me and did not apply to most of the schools on OP’s list a couple years ago. They were more accepting/cognizant of how hard it is now, while I was stuck in my Gen X college admissions memory lane.

Yes but there is a lot of randomness in the college admissions process in America so if you can afford the application fees and your kid has the patience to do a few essays extra, why not apply?

[Anonymous]

do kids actually do their own essays these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do kids actually do their own essays these days?

The ones who aren’t rich do.

[Anonymous]

1520 —> Penn ED (2030)
1530 —> Cornell and NU RD (2028)
Public nova, no hooks, just normal kids, wrote their own essays

It can be done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is a reach not a target. Probably UNC CH too.

Yes.

Both my kids with 1500+ SATs, rigorous courses, great grades and extracurriculars were rejected from UVA (but accepted to top 10 schools)

Several friends kids over the past few years with similar stats were also rejected from UVA after being accepted to higher schools like Michigan, U of Chicago, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon.

UVA admissions is weird. They do favor girls though, so 1500 not male might get your kid in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I admit I was naive with my recent grad after she scored a 1520. All the rigor, AP scores, good but not national ECs. Rejected to the first five on this list. I knew they were reaches but I thought there was hope for a couple in RD.
Good luck!

I’m glad my 1520 kid refused to listen to me and did not apply to most of the schools on OP’s list a couple years ago. They were more accepting/cognizant of how hard it is now, while I was stuck in my Gen X college admissions memory lane.

Yes but there is a lot of randomness in the college admissions process in America so if you can afford the application fees and your kid has the patience to do a few essays extra, why not apply?

I’m the first 1520 poster that they’re responding to... While we were a bit naive, as we got further along I did still think there was a chance due to the lottery-like nature of it and seeing some stats online. But now I know how much harder it is for certain majors and geographic areas and that of course you have no way of knowing other kids’ application content and strengths. (Test optional policies didn’t help them either at say, Vandy, IMO).
Thankfully they had other targets and got in a bunch! It’s that super top tier that was a bust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do kids actually do their own essays these days?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve looked at Naviance, and at least at our school the outcomes really do vary. I can’t quite understand why a student with a 1430 might get in while someone with a 1580 doesn’t.

I’m also curious how people define “amazing” extracurriculars. Are there concrete examples of what’s considered good versus great?

Thank you! And is anyone else navigating this without relying on a counselor?

I do alumni interviews for an Ivy and you have no idea how homogeneous files of strong students generally look. It's the 1500(+) SAT applicants who stand out in some way, and have a cohesive narrative, that have some chance at the high reaches. Especially in the DMV, where strong unhooked applicants are a dime a dozen and kids are competing against international Olympiad medalists, award-winning musicians, recruited athletes, published researchers, VIP kids etc. (great ECs) The competition is simply brutal. Good = leadership in school clubs, editing the school newspaper, long-term commitment to music, art, athletics, Scouts. Not likely to move the needle at a high reach but with strong essays, solid chance at a high target.

A 1430 kid is not getting into a T-10 unless hooked, usually FGLI and representing geographic diversity as well.

Everyone always says this, but Penn has 2500 freshman; they can't all be national award winners, especially when a lot of those award winners are at other top 10 schools.

2500 freshman
how many hooked? athletes, legacy, donor, faculty, FG LI, URM.
Philly local public school kids. How many?
Then there are feeder schools nation wide.
A small piece of pie for the MC UMC.

Legacy is pretty much irrelevant if not a big donor. Faculty is going to be a few kids each year at most. URM is not permitted anymore. FGLI I'll give you, but again, not a huge number. Athletes are probably the biggest hook, but that aside still leaves plenty of room for normal academic standouts.

Faculty/staff is way more than a few kids. From my kid’s Philly area HS last year about 15 went to Penn and I think basically all had parents who worked there. That’s just one HS.

[Anonymous]

All these schools are reach for 1500. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1520 —> Penn ED (2030)
1530 —> Cornell and NU RD (2028)
Public nova, no hooks, just normal kids, wrote their own essays

It can be done!

Tell us more

Majors?
ECs?