What does the future hold for kids applying in the next 5 years?

[Anonymous]

In 5 years I see, more seats available in college if the college provides online classes or a virtual school option. This is the future. It will be so hard to accommodate the bursting student population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

+100

Go Hokies ! My peers and neighbors are all Ivy alums.

We have two million+ homes in NW and no debt and came from MC and lower MC backgrounds.

VT isn’t a third tier school. Try Frostburg State, UDC, or Virginia State.

People are so disingenuous when they say “school doesn’t matter” when what they really mean is “it doesn’t matter what top 100 school you go to.”

Thank you! I read part of lesshighschoolstress.com on the advice of a poster on DCUM. As far as I could tell, the site says that your kid will be ok if they can "only" go to William and Mary instead of Harvard. Many, many kids don't have a shot at W&M. Or if they have a shot, it is a reach school. Is anyone telling them not to stress? That ODU will serve them just as well? I'm stressed that my A-/B+ student is going to fall far short of her college dreams, which would have been realistic 5 years ago - and no, it doesn't mean she will "only" go to a Tier 2 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

+100

Go Hokies ! My peers and neighbors are all Ivy alums.

We have two million+ homes in NW and no debt and came from MC and lower MC backgrounds.

VT isn’t a third tier school. Try Frostburg State, UDC, or Virginia State.

People are so disingenuous when they say “school doesn’t matter” when what they really mean is “it doesn’t matter what top 100 school you go to.”

Thank you! I read part of lesshighschoolstress.com on the advice of a poster on DCUM. As far as I could tell, the site says that your kid will be ok if they can "only" go to William and Mary instead of Harvard. Many, many kids don't have a shot at W&M. Or if they have a shot, it is a reach school. Is anyone telling them not to stress? That ODU will serve them just as well? I'm stressed that my A-/B+ student is going to fall far short of her college dreams, which would have been realistic 5 years ago - and no, it doesn't mean she will "only" go to a Tier 2 school.

PP here. Well, it depends on the major. For undergrad “vocational” careers like teaching, nursing, social work, and even to some extent, accounting and pre-allied health majors (such as occupational therapy), I truly believe it doesn’t matter much where you go as long as it’s regionally accredited, non-profit, and affiliated with the proper organization. So I would only look at aascb schools for accounting, for example.

I think it matters more in the case of humanities degrees. For premed I don’t think it matters a ton either, except for top med schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

+100

Go Hokies ! My peers and neighbors are all Ivy alums.

We have two million+ homes in NW and no debt and came from MC and lower MC backgrounds.

VT isn’t a third tier school. Try Frostburg State, UDC, or Virginia State.

People are so disingenuous when they say “school doesn’t matter” when what they really mean is “it doesn’t matter what top 100 school you go to.”

Thank you! I read part of lesshighschoolstress.com on the advice of a poster on DCUM. As far as I could tell, the site says that your kid will be ok if they can "only" go to William and Mary instead of Harvard. Many, many kids don't have a shot at W&M. Or if they have a shot, it is a reach school. Is anyone telling them not to stress? That ODU will serve them just as well? I'm stressed that my A-/B+ student is going to fall far short of her college dreams, which would have been realistic 5 years ago - and no, it doesn't mean she will "only" go to a Tier 2 school.

I think there was somewhere on that site that said the same was true all the way down the spectrum to colleges that admit everyone who applies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

I read it too, and we have focused on the areas as well, but DD is only in safeties at the moment. So, it's not exactly a formula. We can't know all the pieces (eg recs) or what the college needs for its class. I thought we did with a mix of stem and arts, but not so far.

There seems to be nothing more to say except that this year has broken the record for insane applications that last year set. We'll see if we can pick up a few wins at the upcoming craps tables of decision days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

+100

Go Hokies ! My peers and neighbors are all Ivy alums.

We have two million+ homes in NW and no debt and came from MC and lower MC backgrounds.

VT isn’t a third tier school. Try Frostburg State, UDC, or Virginia State.

People are so disingenuous when they say “school doesn’t matter” when what they really mean is “it doesn’t matter what top 100 school you go to.”

Thank you! I read part of lesshighschoolstress.com on the advice of a poster on DCUM. As far as I could tell, the site says that your kid will be ok if they can "only" go to William and Mary instead of Harvard. Many, many kids don't have a shot at W&M. Or if they have a shot, it is a reach school. Is anyone telling them not to stress? That ODU will serve them just as well? I'm stressed that my A-/B+ student is going to fall far short of her college dreams, which would have been realistic 5 years ago - and no, it doesn't mean she will "only" go to a Tier 2 school.

Exactly. My younger kid doesn't want to strive like her sister. Totally fine, but, in this climate, she will have to do some of that or be happy with Towson or UMBC. I feel bad saying it, but she needs to know now that things are likely not going to get any better when she applies.