I can’t say this to my kid’s face, of course, but...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's why I despise the American college exceptionalism.

Everywhere else, students are accepted on academic merit, with thresholds for grades and/or exams, which universities tweak for international students with different high school systems.

This makes the most sense, because universities remain places of higher learning, and judging based on extra-curriculars that don't have standardized norms makes comparing students impossible.

So at least in other countries, you know where you are. You're not messed around and have hopes dashed after waiting for months. As soon as you know your exam results, you also know where you're getting in.

What's "exceptional" about the American college admission process?

They are just a big business cartel, fronting as a non-profit providing education, getting subsidized by us, the taxpayer, and doing whatever they want in the name of "holistic" admission and other BS. Imagine if things were as straightforward as you describe.. Kids will be applying to a handful of schools (not 15+), not wasting time and money on college admission coaches and essay writers, high cost ECs, etc. Imagine the amount of waste we would save..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had this situation. My suggestion is to really work the waitlists and consider hiring a college counselor to coach working the waitlist. He may get a spring admit.

How could a college counselor help work the waitlist? If there is a counselor that has connections at a particular school, then maybe I could see how someone might be able to put a thumb on the scale. Otherwise, I'm not sure how that would work.

That happened at my high school. The college counselors knew the Deans of Admission and could call them up and pull for kids.

Ever heard of Operation Varsity Blues? LOL...

No, college counselors letting schools know of waitlisted student's strong interest is not unethical. What a dumb comment.

[Anonymous]

OP, you need to get n the phone with your HS guidance office NOW and have them work those waitlists aggressively. Make them make calls. Discuss the specifics. Find out who they have relationships with. Be relentless. Follow other poster's advice on sending LOCIs also.

And please ignore all the other BS in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is everyone else doing in his school? Is it the school or there’s something wrong with his application that you haven’t noticed.

This is OP. It has been tough at his school but kids have certainly got in places.

I won’t tell you his entire list in case anyone is reading this and can figure out who he is, but here is a partial.

Waitlist: Case, Tulane, VErmont
Rejected: Northeastern, Vandy, Tulane, Emory

It seems like the college gudiance counselor should be able to help with whichever of the waitlisted are the top priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is everyone else doing in his school? Is it the school or there’s something wrong with his application that you haven’t noticed.

This is OP. It has been tough at his school but kids have certainly got in places.

I won’t tell you his entire list in case anyone is reading this and can figure out who he is, but here is a partial.

Waitlist: Case, Tulane, VErmont
Rejected: Northeastern, Vandy, Tulane, Emory

What the heck. According to naviance, kids in our school were admitted to all of those, even Vanderbilt, with 1200s (and some less). Hard to compare GPAs though.

[Anonymous]

Rejected from Tulane with a 1580?! What in the world.

It’s only out of 1600 right? (The did away with the writing section that they were doing for a while?)

How can a kid with 1580/1600 be rejected from Tulane?!

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, OP. It has been a rough year for my daughter too. And I struggle to be empathetic and honest with her, but also see the light. She still has a couple of outstanding applications, but is also weighing a gap year, a "fun" junior college experience (Santa Barbara) plus work for the next year, and schools abroad. Even though those aren't what some would call ideal paths, having "options" has helped her to feel less down about the situation. Good luck to you and your son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still would like to know what OP’s DC did with respect to EF EA. Some of these schools - Tulane or Emory for example - become exponentially more difficult at RD so they go from being likely to reach.

Emory is not a likely for anyone.

Yes it is for some. So is Harvard, MIT, Stanford.

Unhooked? Nope.

Unhooked, yes. You have to have significant achievements though (obviously).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rejected from Tulane with a 1580?! What in the world.

It’s only out of 1600 right? (The did away with the writing section that they were doing for a while?)

How can a kid with 1580/1600 be rejected from Tulane?!

Yield Protection!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still would like to know what OP’s DC did with respect to EF EA. Some of these schools - Tulane or Emory for example - become exponentially more difficult at RD so they go from being likely to reach.

Emory is not a likely for anyone.

Yes it is for some. So is Harvard, MIT, Stanford.

Unhooked? Nope.

Unhooked, yes. You have to have significant achievements though (obviously).

Significant achievements? Such as? Regeneron = hook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected from Tulane with a 1580?! What in the world.

It’s only out of 1600 right? (The did away with the writing section that they were doing for a while?)

How can a kid with 1580/1600 be rejected from Tulane?!

Yield Protection!

What does this mean? He would have gone there, op says.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how accurate PrepScholar is, but with a 1550 and a 4.1 GPA, it says he’d have a 28% chance at Vanderbilt.

Northeastern would be a 40% chance.

Tulane would be a 75% chance.

Something doesn’t add up here.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, our kid had almost comparable stats to OP's, got into a few schools, but none of the super-highly-selective ones. Despite distance learning this year as a Freshman, has had a great experience and is really looking forward to being on campus in the fall.

[Anonymous]

OP, I have been wondering this year about the independent school kids (ours goes to public), bz so many of them put a limit on the # of apps a student can do for colleges. I think I learned from a friend that Sidwell only allows 8. This year, public HS kids (at least in MoCo) are doing many more to mitigate risk (our kid did 14). I do agree with other posters to work the waitlist & also to log into Common App (I just searched for Fall 2021 admissions with deadline 3/31 or later & while most were not schools I'd recognize, there were a scattering of schools your DC might like). I personally would flip into action mode, coming up with a plan B (like spring 2022 start; finding more schools to apply to; figuring out if safety they are accepted to is actually better than it seems at first blush).

I am really sorry for your predicament. I think all of us who have kids applying this year recognize that it is a stressful cluster$%*&. Hang in there - and get to work for your kid, who may not be able to muster the energy. Give them some new options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still would like to know what OP’s DC did with respect to EF EA. Some of these schools - Tulane or Emory for example - become exponentially more difficult at RD so they go from being likely to reach.

Emory is not a likely for anyone.

Yes it is for some. So is Harvard, MIT, Stanford.

Unhooked? Nope.

Unhooked, yes. You have to have significant achievements though (obviously).

Significant achievements? Such as? Regeneron = hook.

I don't think you understand what a hook is. Anything that is merit based is not a hook. Demographics, legacy, sexuality are a hook, not Regeneron or IMO.