If your high-scorer didn't get in anywhere: where are they now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

This to me seems like a very well rounded list. This poster ended up with some nice options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go to a safety? Which safety? Did they stay? Did they take a gap year?

1560 uva in state. WL or rejected every other T25. Asian male. Loves uva!! 2023 was the hardest graduation year for our high school for anyone without hooks

I feel 2023 was the hardest year for MCPS grads, too. DS also rejected to T15 with super high stats (1580 sat), granted he's a CS major.

Everybody thinks their kids year is the hardest year. It just means you weren’t truly paying attention before. It also likely means you didn’t believe people when they told you this would be the result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Mine is applying to NEU regular admission but really, really likes the school. She's high stats, 35 ACT + good sports, jobs and ECs and she's not at all confident of admission. I know there's a lot of hate, but our experience has been it's a tough admit for strong applicants. Based upon local experience, she's more confident about BC and BU, which are down her list.

How do people not understand that the good programs at NEU are mostly filled in ED. There are just not enough spots left in RD to accommodate all the little geniuses who didn’t bother to look at the CDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The world has changed - State Schools are harder to get into. Who would've thought VA Tech and UVA is not where a good percentage of a VA HS went to.

The hard to get into schools of ole days are not that hard: I was surprised to see Rensselaer is like 60% it was 20-30% just 10 - 15 years ago. Vassar is getting dragged through the mud on this forum - that used to be hard to get into.

And easier schools are now hard: Swarthmore.why? besides the dukakis bump - anything else?

Some are severely under valued.
if Bryn Mawr College has a 98% medical school acceptance rate - why is the acceptance rate to the college only 33%. I thought medical school as impossible to get into these days. If my kid said medical school - I'm thinking this school for Bachelors. https://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/about-program/director#:~:text=Our%20graduates%27%20history%20of%20success,rate%20consistently%20exceeds%2098%20percent.

Feel like we are in a college bubble - why apply to xyz? because everyone else is and no one will respect you if you don't go there. And one day - all the single digit acceptance colleges will drop to double digits. Investment devalued. See Rensselaer.

As far as I can tell, it's harder to get in everywhere. Vassar was never hard to get into. When I graduated HS 30 years ago, Vassar was barely above a safety. UVa was pretty hard, but not nearly as difficult as it is now (even though its ranking has dropped), and RPI was also not as difficult as it is now. UCLA was considered a safety back then, and now it's top 30. I can't think of any school that is actually easier to get into than it was 25 years ago.

Not sure what you are talking about:

RPI got easier to get into: https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/trends/rensselaer-polytechnic-institute/admission/ and 30years ago it was harder. I remember I applied and got in.

UVA 30yrs ago you needed a 3.5 and barely above JMU. UVA was the safety school for

If Vassar is your safety you are doing good - https://www.discoursemagazine.com/p/harvards-big-mistake-it-keeps-telling-its-students-theyre-special
Vassar worse was 26%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go to a safety? Which safety? Did they stay? Did they take a gap year?

1560 uva in state. WL or rejected every other T25. Asian male. Loves uva!! 2023 was the hardest graduation year for our high school for anyone without hooks

I feel 2023 was the hardest year for MCPS grads, too. DS also rejected to T15 with super high stats (1580 sat), granted he's a CS major.

Everybody thinks their kids year is the hardest year. It just means you weren’t truly paying attention before. It also likely means you didn’t believe people when they told you this would be the result.

well, yes, he's my oldest child, and I went to school in CA eons ago. Didn't look at any other colleges outside of CA.

But I do think 2023 had the most students applying for college, and most colleges were TO which probably hurt high stats kids the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is at Wisconsin, which was a safety. He has said a couple of times that if he had known this was where he was going, he would have had a little more fun in high school and wouldn't have killed himself taking such hard classes. In the end, no one understood what happened -- other than the two rounds of ED didn't work out and then he was stuck in the seventh circle of waitlist hell until early July. He got into one or two schools that might be considered better than Wisconsin but there are more opportunities in his major in Madison. I wish the process hadn't sucked so much and I wish he had been more proud of how it turned out but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter and he is happy.

Then he might not have gotten into Wisconsin!

Doesn't seem that way based on the GPAs/scores/ECs of the other kids who went from his school. He graduated in the top 10 of a pretty good NYC private and had a 1550 (perfect math score) SAT. Took such high level math in high school that he couldn't even place into it at Wisconsin. He definitely didn't need this to get in. His first semester has been sort of a joke to be honest and even though he's in the honors college my impression is it won't ramp up until probably second semester sophomore year. Whatever, he's enjoying this time and looks at it like he's getting the fun he missed in high school. It's a good lesson about life balance.

What does "Took such high level math in high school that he couldn't even place into it at Wisconsin" mean? My kid has applied to Wisconsin and is taking high level math in high school. Are you saying that the high-level classes in high school didn't prepare him for high-level math classes at Wisconsin so he couldn't place into them? So it was as if he had never taken them before and he had to retake them in Wisconsin?

[Anonymous]

We are seeing a convergence of colleges - the smaller private and public schools are shutting down. The movement is to higher brand schools which is making it harder. Its not that its harder to get into college - its harder to get the nationally recognized brand. Look at Virginia Public and where is your kid applying?

https://cardinalnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/jlarc_enrollment.png

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The title of this post is so gross I came on here expecting the thrashing OP deserves, and instead people are actually agreeing that accepting a legitimate offer constitutes not getting in “anywhere.” What’s more, many of these “nowhere” schools are reaches for most high-performing students (e.g. Barnard, UVA). The lack of perspective on this board is staggering.

What schools do you think constitute not getting in anywhere? Somehow everyone knew what was meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The world has changed - State Schools are harder to get into. Who would've thought VA Tech and UVA is not where a good percentage of a VA HS went to.

The hard to get into schools of ole days are not that hard: I was surprised to see Rensselaer is like 60% it was 20-30% just 10 - 15 years ago. Vassar is getting dragged through the mud on this forum - that used to be hard to get into.

And easier schools are now hard: Swarthmore.why? besides the dukakis bump - anything else?

Some are severely under valued.
if Bryn Mawr College has a 98% medical school acceptance rate - why is the acceptance rate to the college only 33%. I thought medical school as impossible to get into these days. If my kid said medical school - I'm thinking this school for Bachelors. https://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/about-program/director#:~:text=Our%20graduates%27%20history%20of%20success,rate%20consistently%20exceeds%2098%20percent.

Feel like we are in a college bubble - why apply to xyz? because everyone else is and no one will respect you if you don't go there. And one day - all the single digit acceptance colleges will drop to double digits. Investment devalued. See Rensselaer.

As far as I can tell, it's harder to get in everywhere. Vassar was never hard to get into. When I graduated HS 30 years ago, Vassar was barely above a safety. UVa was pretty hard, but not nearly as difficult as it is now (even though its ranking has dropped), and RPI was also not as difficult as it is now. UCLA was considered a safety back then, and now it's top 30. I can't think of any school that is actually easier to get into than it was 25 years ago.

Not sure what you are talking about:

RPI got easier to get into: https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/trends/rensselaer-polytechnic-institute/admission/ and 30years ago it was harder. I remember I applied and got in.

UVA 30yrs ago you needed a 3.5 and barely above JMU. UVA was the safety school for

If Vassar is your safety you are doing good - https://www.discoursemagazine.com/p/harvards-big-mistake-it-keeps-telling-its-students-theyre-special
Vassar worse was 26%

I don't think UVA was ever easy to get into.

It isn't the GPA that is relevant. What is a good GPA changes with the times and is different from high school to high school. Class rank is what is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Same for DD with 1570 in 2023

I genuinely don’t get this. How is Northeastern rejecting kids with 1570 on the SATs? I know I’m old, but are there that many kids with scores like that out there?

.

It’s a super score probably after having taken the test eight times

DD’s 1570 is once and done (800 math) I guess it is too much for NEU ..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they really were top scorers with no red flags, its very unlikely they'll end up at a safety. Well, that is if they applied to more top schools other than HYSPM. Most would get into at least one T25.

No that is not true. Even with great scores and grades you are not likely to get in to a t25 school. There are just a lot more kids with great scores/grades vs spots available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

Extremely surprised at Northeastern. Did you submit a 1400 or something? They hate submitters that are below median.

It was a dang 1560. EA, deferred, WL. 2023 seemed a little chaotic at NEU.

Mine is applying to NEU regular admission but really, really likes the school. She's high stats, 35 ACT + good sports, jobs and ECs and she's not at all confident of admission. I know there's a lot of hate, but our experience has been it's a tough admit for strong applicants. Based upon local experience, she's more confident about BC and BU, which are down her list.

How do people not understand that the good programs at NEU are mostly filled in ED. There are just not enough spots left in RD to accommodate all the little geniuses who didn’t bother to look at the CDS.

Cute. Don't think it's a matter of not understanding. Some applicants just can't afford or choose not to apply ED. Everyone understands the sub 10% acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes: UMD, WM, CWRU, Pitt, Lehigh, BU, UMN, Ohio St.
No: Harvard, Penn, UVA, NEU

This to me seems like a very well rounded list. This poster ended up with some nice options.

PP. Appreciate that. While there was primarily disappointment with UVA, think my kid had some very good options. Loving UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tufts, Occidental

Tufts' 25th-75th percentile range was 1480-1560 and its acceptance rate was 10 percent. Maybe it wasn't the reachiest of reach schools you were hoping for, but unless you bought a building it wasn't a safety.

Did I say it was a safety? No. I said that the person in question didn’t get into any of the schools that they really wanted to go to and they wound up at Tufts. I thought that was the assignment per OP.

OP asked about students who “didn’t get in anywhere” not students who didn’t get in to their first choice. Come on let’s not be ridiculous and pretend “wound up at Tufts” is on par with having to go to community college when all Ivies failed.

Exactly. OP's question wasn't "where did your uber high stat kid end up after not getting in to HYP or their other top choice"...if it had been, Tufts would make perfect sense. The question was about students who "didn't get in anywhere"...of course, on DCUM, "anywhere" likely means "top 10."

"Didn't get in anywhere," seems to have various meanings. It could mean the kid truly didn't get into a single school they applied to and the options are cc or a school on the NACAC open list or a gap year.

Or it could mean they didn't get in anywhere that the kid/parent feels is worthy of going to (safety schools don't count). I don't know anyone in the former category but I do know a couple in the latter. They ended up going to the safety, enjoyed it, did well and are graduating this spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is at Wisconsin, which was a safety. He has said a couple of times that if he had known this was where he was going, he would have had a little more fun in high school and wouldn't have killed himself taking such hard classes. In the end, no one understood what happened -- other than the two rounds of ED didn't work out and then he was stuck in the seventh circle of waitlist hell until early July. He got into one or two schools that might be considered better than Wisconsin but there are more opportunities in his major in Madison. I wish the process hadn't sucked so much and I wish he had been more proud of how it turned out but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter and he is happy.

Then he might not have gotten into Wisconsin!

Exactly! PP and DS completely obnoxious.