Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

White.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Brown? Why a washout?

An oversized number of kids applied ED and none were admitted and several were rejected outright.

Seems like Brown is sending a message to the Sidwell - you're letting too many apply.

I heard that something like 15 kids from Sidwell applied early to Brown. There's no way that all 15 were in the top 20% of the class (or whatever a reasonable cut-off for an Ivy acceptance is).
So basically you had a lot of kids/parents with inflated sense of their own desirability and Brown responded by cancelling out the entire group.
Sidwell should really limit where kids can apply (like Andover and Exeter do) if this is what happens.

Yes, it was 0 for 15 I heard.

Sidwell provides very little information for kids/parents to know where they fall in the class. It is much more a lack of information and context than an inflated sense of desirability. And on top of that there is very little advising from the counseling office that might dispense a dose of reality.

It would help to know the race of all these kids. I am guessin they were white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

White and Asian (East and South Asian). Repeating pattern this year on ED. Acceptances URM, legacy, athlete, and not saying these candidates were any more or less qualified. Just answering the question asked.

[Anonymous]

I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

Another parent of a SFS senior here, and I suspect we're friends. I like your style! Thank you for this - well said and very fair on all counts.

[Anonymous]

I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

I think you are a troll, based on my knowledge of the parent body and your grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

NP here. This is very helpful, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

I know of at least 1 Sidwell NMSF deferred at Wisconsin so I take umbrage with your premise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least one kid applying to Brown was top 5 percent of the class and deferred. Friends were very surprised.

Agree. At least one of my DC's good friends took most challenge courses (both math and science) and get almost all As got deferred.

What race were all these deferred kids?

I think you are a troll, based on my knowledge of the parent body and your grammar.

Agreed. Sounds like a student.

[Anonymous]

You don’t seem to understand, these kids did apply to places like Pitt, Wisconsin, etc and they are getting yield protected out given that many of these places got over enrolled in 2021. Study the Virginia tech situation and what happened with housing at Purdue last year. Apps at all these places are up over 30 percent after being up over 50 percent last year.

[Anonymous]

So sick of this fake fairness argument. On the one hand, SFS CCO strongly advises against getting a private Counsellor. On the other, they appear not to be providing the kind of services applicants need. Provide the high level of service to all that ask for it, problem solved. There, got that off my chest….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the elephant in the room is that a good chunk of the very top students are “stranded”. They are doing less well than the bottom 85% of the class. Yield protected at likelies/matches and not into any SCEA or ED. Sidwell needs an explicit strategy for these kids. It’s not to late to advocate for this group imo. No entitlement here at all. I don’t think CCO gets the macro picture here. These kids had safeties but safeties are not acting like safeties for this high performing group.

So, here's the thing...EVERY kid should have applied to a real safety school with rolling admission or EA (think UVM, Pitt, Penn State...maybe Wisconsin or Indiana)...it is hard for me to believe that very top students from SFS applied to these types of schools and did not get in. More likely, they decided that University of Michigan or Northeastern was their "safety" ...but anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years knows that these schools have become VERY competitive (and unpredictable) over the past few years. If these students were depending on such schools to be their backups and are "stranded" right now, that does not seem to be the fault of the CCOs (unless the CCOs were giving very bad advice--which is hard for me to believe, as a parent of a "top student" at another Big 3)...

False. Well qualified seniors have been rejected or WL from UVM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior who got in ED so I don't read the CCO emails anymore. I looked up the email after seeing it mentioned on this thread. Super annoying! It doesn't spell anything out. How do they strongly support seniors candidacy? When we asked specific questions during parent meetings, the general reply was that CC was there to support our student and family. When my kid asked for specific support with the activities section of the CA, DC was told it could not be provided because it wouldn't be fair to other students and was made to feel horrible about asking. We were worried that CC would not be writing a good reccomendation for our child after the interactions with CC.

I have not met any obnoxious or aggressive parents in the class of 2022. I consider all the parents in my child's friend group to be lovely. Never met anyone annoying or aggressive at a game, sports banquet, committee meeting, potluck... So I am sick of the messaging coming out of Sidwell that somehow the Senior parents don't know how to behave with the CCO office. Maybe it is time for Sidwell to learn how to partner with parents to help the seniors through the college process. Sidwell can start by giving parents full access to Naviance. How about the CC having a weekly or every other week appointment with a student to work on the application. It was rediculously hard for my DC to schedule an appointment and Friday drop ins were a joke. I still do not understand why the Sidwell CCO cannot provide the assistance to seniors that my DC's friends were receiving from private college counselors. One of my DC's friends started working on the supplemental essays the weekend leading into November 1st another didn't submit any applications until November 15th. Both theses kids obviously needed more support than what they were given from the CCO.

About 40% of DC's friend group got in ED/SCEA, 40% have an EA acceptance they are happy with such as Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, UT Austin..., and 20% are on pins and needles. I hope the CCO steps up their game for future classes.

As a DMV parent whose DC does not attend Sidwell yet did fairly well with admissions this year, I am so annoyed with the annual hackneyed 'woe is my DC' whining that I read every year coming from this school. There are many qualified students from the DMV that are considered for seats each year to top schools. And having met some over the years, I would honestly say that our best and brightest overall tend to come from the magnets, though there are top students from other schools as well. My DC is going top 10 (chose nor to use my legacy) but is happy, yet DC's peers are in at top 10/Ivies and yes, they did not attend a top 3.

It just always comes across as distasteful whenever I read these complaints, year after year. Please do better. There is tremendous talent in this area that is very deserving of those seats as well, and do get them.