Disappointment
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Anonymous
Be very, very excited about state schools most kids can get into. Talk up the amazing things their graduates are doing. Look around and point out the kind and well-functioning adults in your neighborhood and family who have gone to all sorts of colleges. Emphasize no college is a magic pill for success. Teach your child that their success lies in their ability to work hard and push through difficulties and that success can be won at any college (or no college at all!) in America. Do not even tour hard to get into colleges or talk about them until you have a foundation of safety and target schools that are a good fit academically and financially and where your child will be excited to go to and where they have a vision of what they will do and try while they are there. This process of discernment will also help your child figure out which reach schools are a good fit and what they are looking for at them, which will also make them a stronger candidate if they do apply to a highly rejective college. |
Anonymous
The overlap on the Venn diagram is huge. Schools select according to their institutional priorities which are mostly the same priorities of other institutions so an application attractive to one is likely attractive to many. There was a wild thread not too long ago the demonstrated the fundamental lack of understanding of Probability among the highly educated. |
Anonymous
This is why you hear about a URM who gets in to all Ivies. |
Anonymous
The kids who get into many T10/T20 have a lot in common (From a diff reddit post): :I’ve worked with plenty of students admitted to multiple T10s. In my experience, my cross-admit students usually have: stats that immediately put them in the top half of the incoming freshman class — 1550+ SAT, 4.0 GPA, ranked top 1% or their high school class, tons of APs and dual-enrollment (lots of 5s) [NOTE: this is public high school kids] thoughtful, self-reflective Personal Statements that took many months to write and 10+ drafts lots of care in every supplemental essay to show great fit with each college and the specific opportunities they’ll take advantage of on campus at least one EC with significant community impact, OR student has significant family responsibilities lots of care writing and editing the Activities List to really capture the impact of every EC genuinely interested in their field (reading books, watching documentaries), not just obsessed with prestige well-spoken and articulate — so likely to interview well close relationships with multiple teachers and a standout student in their school community, so probably strong LORs generally they seem nice and kind ☺️" |
Anonymous
Funnily enough at my kid’s DMV private, the girl who swept the ivies is Asian! |
Anonymous
Indian boy (!!!) at our non-DMV private!! |
Anonymous
| OP, congrats to your DD. She sounds amazing. How she is feeling about everything now? |
Anonymous
| Outcome seems about right. Nothing unique about OPs child so not sure why they were shooting for the stars |
Anonymous
What stood out to me in that reddit thread" Teacher recommendations and essays matter way more than you think. A lot of Ivies and top schools use something called a "personality score." (EDIT: not necessarily a personality score, but how well you would bond in their specific community as a person). I even know someone with a 1300 SAT and basically zero extracurriculars who got waitlisted at Harvard purely because of his teacher recs and essays. For more info, he didn’t even get into our state flagship either. State schools are much more stats based so it shows that academically, this person wasn't your traditional Harvard candidate, but still was put into the pool of potential candidates. |
Anonymous
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I really think it was the major. BME is just very tough. For example, Hopkins is number the number one ranked program. And 215 kids are pursuing it at CMU.
Pitt is 28th. So, that is a great consolation prize. |
Anonymous
Yes, major matters a LOT at some of these schools. |
Anonymous
In some states it’s more or just as competitive to get into the state flagship and others as a top private. With the price of college so high and merit/aid so unpredictable, state schools are getting apps from everyone that meets the base requirements. This includes all the high stat kids. State schools often distribute admission across zip codes , counties, and schools. So even if your state school has a 40% acceptance and your kid is well above the bar, if your kid is from a high performing school, zip code, or county they could be rejected. I spent years telling my kid that it’s a lottery, great stats buy you a lottery ticket nothing more. If your kid is high performing, they will likely be in a group that sweeps them into the frenzy. It still didn’t blunt his sadness about being rejected from his top choice especially when they see classmates who were lower stats or lied on their apps get in. The one solace is that they won’t be alone. For every cheering, I can’t believe I got in, there are twenty with higher stats who did not get in. |
Anonymous
Work her a$$ off in the fall and apply to transfer. |
Anonymous
| Would love to know what OP's kid decided. OP, did any admitted student day visits win your kid over? Any waitlists open up? How did things shake out in the end? |
Anonymous
| W&M is the top choice of her choices. Great school. |