What separates the students who get into state flagships versus those who get into T20 universities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure. My kid is a freshman at UT and he is blown away by how smart his peers are there. Sort of surprised me.

Even the 50% auto-admit in-staters

Wdym

in-state auto admit. You can take easier classes have low test score but still admitted if GPA top 5% in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure. My kid is a freshman at UT and he is blown away by how smart his peers are there. Sort of surprised me.

Even the 50% auto-admit in-staters

Wdym

in-state auto admit. You can take easier classes have low test score but still admitted if GPA top 5% in HS.

But completely different for OOS

[Anonymous]

Money. 💵

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer jobs count for more than you would think. Obviously, lots of kids have summer jobs without the highest academics and rigor, but for the kids who have the highest academics and rigor, the majority don't take waiter/waitressing/landscaping/retail jobs in the summer time. Often, with a kid like that, there's a financial need within the family, so there are going to be some confounding factors in terms of other things schools are looking for, but there are a lot of upsides to a kid taking on a regular-degular job, especially if they do it for more than one summer, or during the school year as well.

Omg. Not. My kids attend-attended a private HS. My oldest is full pay at an Ivy.

They were mowing neighbors lawns since 6th grade. They both had part-time summer jobs in retail/food industry summers after sophomore-senior years in HS.

We believe in a work ethic. My spouse and I did ALL kinds of work as teens/college kids— waitress, club bouncer, retail, Dominoes, etc.

My kids are very well-off, but having your kids do paid work as teens is character building. Yes- they played sports, did community service and had time with friends. Both were very proud of the $ they made/saved which we rolled into setting up IRAs for them. Having a “real boss” and work responsibility teaches kids so much.

That's called good parenting. You did a good job.

Thank you . Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure. My kid is a freshman at UT and he is blown away by how smart his peers are there. Sort of surprised me.

Even the 50% auto-admit in-staters

Wdym

in-state auto admit. You can take easier classes have low test score but still admitted if GPA top 5% in HS.

This is incorrect. The class ranks take rigor into consideration. You have to take many APs to get the higher GPAs. Also if you have a lower test score you are not getting into a good major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure. My kid is a freshman at UT and he is blown away by how smart his peers are there. Sort of surprised me.

Even the 50% auto-admit in-staters

Wdym

in-state auto admit. You can take easier classes have low test score but still admitted if GPA top 5% in HS.

This is incorrect. The class ranks take rigor into consideration. You have to take many APs to get the higher GPAs. Also if you have a lower test score you are not getting into a good major.

Top 5% is top 5% UT does not qualify it. It depends on the high school. Many high schools don't consider strength of schedule when determining top 5 % just GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes you think anything does? You are under the delusion that on group is better than the other.

+1. For top flagships, there is also a lot of overlap with students who get into both.

+1 My state flagship was UC Berkeley. Lots of overlap.

Wonder if that's still true now that UC-Berk is test blind. Not many kids with poor scores are also applying to test required top schools. Just keeping it real.

Oh that's a good point. I'm younger than most on this board, but I graduated before test optional was a thing. In fact, SAT was weighted pretty heavily when I went there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure. My kid is a freshman at UT and he is blown away by how smart his peers are there. Sort of surprised me.

Even the 50% auto-admit in-staters

Wdym

in-state auto admit. You can take easier classes have low test score but still admitted if GPA top 5% in HS.

This is incorrect. The class ranks take rigor into consideration. You have to take many APs to get the higher GPAs. Also if you have a lower test score you are not getting into a good major.

Top 5% is top 5% UT does not qualify it. It depends on the high school. Many high schools don't consider strength of schedule when determining top 5 % just GPA.

Are you from Texas?

[Anonymous]

OP, your tone seems to imply that a T20 is preferred. It's not, not by all high achievers. DH and I valued our experience at our respective large in-state publics. Wouldn't change a thing, and that is what we wanted for our kids. Other private school friends we have, whether their experience was HS + college or just private for college, wanted that experience for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High schools. If they go to a top private school, the chances they get into a T20 minus HYPMS is greater than a same person going to a public high school.

Agree. I also think there are more ways to differentiate yourself at a good private school. Super smart, high stats public kids get into top flagships but often not ivy. Imo, public kids kill themselves to take every AP and the transcripts for these top public kids all look the same. In contast, top privates have their own curated curriculum and do not offer AP - so kids go deep in advanced classes in select areas and add more interesting classes to their transcript which help display intellectual curiosity and rigor- and help differentiate the kid. This is just 1 piece of the puzzle.

[Anonymous]

Several public schools are T20 universities (UC Berkeley, UCLA and UMich) (2026 rankings)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your tone seems to imply that a T20 is preferred. It's not, not by all high achievers. DH and I valued our experience at our respective large in-state publics. Wouldn't change a thing, and that is what we wanted for our kids. Other private school friends we have, whether their experience was HS + college or just private for college, wanted that experience for their kids.

+1
I attended a SLAC and always felt stifled by its small size. My own kids attend large state universities and I'm continually amazed by the opportunities they have compared to what I had (or didn't). There is some regret on my part for not choosing the large state school when I had the chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High schools. If they go to a top private school, the chances they get into a T20 minus HYPMS is greater than a same person going to a public high school.

Agree. I also think there are more ways to differentiate yourself at a good private school. Super smart, high stats public kids get into top flagships but often not ivy. Imo, public kids kill themselves to take every AP and the transcripts for these top public kids all look the same. In contast, top privates have their own curated curriculum and do not offer AP - so kids go deep in advanced classes in select areas and add more interesting classes to their transcript which help display intellectual curiosity and rigor- and help differentiate the kid. This is just 1 piece of the puzzle.

This is very true. It’s all about standing out, being different, quirky or unique. Much easier to do with private school than public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure. My kid is a freshman at UT and he is blown away by how smart his peers are there. Sort of surprised me.

Even the 50% auto-admit in-staters

Wdym

in-state auto admit. You can take easier classes have low test score but still admitted if GPA top 5% in HS.

This is incorrect. The class ranks take rigor into consideration. You have to take many APs to get the higher GPAs. Also if you have a lower test score you are not getting into a good major.

Top 5% [/b]is top 5% UT does not qualify it. It depends on the high school. Many high schools don't consider strength of schedule when determining top 5 % just GPA.

[b]Are you from Texas?

[b]. Yeah, I wondered how Texas’ in-state system was relevant to DCUM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For us, definitely the money. A T10 might be life changing, but the education is probably equal at a T50. Some employers will like to see the grit it takes to navigate a large public flagship.

lol No

Harvard was life-changing for me. And the reason why DS is going there next year.

Add Harvard to the list:

Colleges That Change Lives https://share.google/UDIE9qBBGuXqQE4L0

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