Getting into top 20 college is nearly impossible without
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Anonymous
I agree, What is described above is the 'hook'. It really is not that difficult. To get your kid into top schools: 1. Athlete - girls should go into rowing due to title 9 2.URM - go through your family tree 3. Rich parents or grandparents 4. Famous relatives 5. Interesting activity started since freshman |
Anonymous
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Specifically for HYPSM you need top notch academics and at least one other thing that is really impressive/memorable.
For the non-HYPSM ivies and other top 10 schools you can maybe get away with just (lol) top notch academics and good but not insanely impressive ECs. As you go even further down to places like Emory, Vanderbilt, Rice, WUSTL, Gtown, ND etc, the bar is a bit lower, and usually if your scores are very good they might overlook a GPA or ECs that are less than amazing. |
Anonymous
Nah, you need something really impressive/memorable at Penn and Columbia, too. Nobody overlooks GPA, not at Emory or Vanderbilt, and in fact high scores with low GPA can signal you're a slacker. |
Anonymous
| I disagree with OP. My perfect scorer with perfect GPA class of 2021 kid was accepted into three of the top 5 schools. A well rounded kid with no special ECs does get in. What my kid did have was a one and done perfect score and good social skills that came across on the application. The top schools want to see your full testing history and they are not impressed if it takes a student 3 tries to get a 36 or 1600. They're also not interested in kids who are just going to sit in the library rather they want kids who will participate in the school community. |
Anonymous
Vanderbilt is actually known for giving a huge emphasis on SATs at the expense of everything else in order to keep its USNews ranking. Also we are not talking about bad GPAs, just GPAs in the 3.6-3.8 region which is clearly below what the majority of people in the ivy+ schools have (most top 15 schools have GPA averages of 3.9+) |
Anonymous
| Either explain your acronyms or stop using them |
Anonymous
Ugh, I've been to Ivies and Ivy-similar schools, and they don't really bother to hide the dummies. Everyone knows who they are. And, yes, they are lowering their standards for athletes and kids whose parents give a lot of money. One of the saddest situations I saw was at a top Ivy, and a girl whose father was very rich and not a celebrity himself, but very connected within the celebrity world .... this woman was dumb as rocks and stood out like a sore thumb. People made fun of her behind her back, and I assumed they were just being jerks. Then I had to work with her on an assignment, and realized that, while they were being jerks, they were also correct about her capabilities. |
Anonymous
Fact: Harvard and the Ivies recruit athletes as early as the 9th grade: http://www.gocrimson.com/information/recruiting/helpfulinfo http://www.gocrimson.com/General/Core_Values/20151007 |
Anonymous
I can't stand it when people spew misinformation. From our school's Naviance it tells you the low average and high ACT score for students admitted across the country. Here is the breakdown of the average score: ACT scores national average (according to Naviance): Harvard - 33 Yale - 33 Princeton - 33 Stanford - 32 Brown - 31 Naviance also gives you the low, average and high scores across the middle 50%. You don't have to pay attention to the BS people say on here. If your kid has scores in the middle 50% and has a distinct passion and something to say, they should apply. |
Anonymous
Absolutely, here's a lacrosse kid who committed to Princeton last year in the 9th grade https://twitter.com/tyxanders/status/779836582618664960?lang=en and hockey player verbally committed to Harvard in 9th grade: http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/15-year-old-wunderkind-viral-video-star-oliver-wahlstrom-commits-to-harvard |
Anonymous
Most of the schools in the 10-20 range seem to care a lot more about both grades and SATs than the top 5. Those are where all the unhooked perfect scorers in the top 5 percent of the class end up at our HS (if they don't go to the State flagship or chase merit money). With rare exceptions, the kids who go to Harvard, Stanford, etc. have lower scores and grades (in some cases much lower), but either amazing ECs or hooks. |
Anonymous
Or be black |
Anonymous
Our school, comprised of mostly highly educated families, also showed on Naviance that you need at least a 1500+ on the SAT to be admitted to the types of schools listed above. When we would point out an exception, the counselor would make it clear that was a special case, and not one that applied to our exceptional but not exceptional DS. Brown, for instance, shows on their website that they only admit 7% of applicants with less than a 33 ACT. So sure, apply with your 31 ACT to Brown, but realize you are likely wasting your time and far more likely to go to Bard than Brown. (The exception would be if you are in a school where a 31 is the highest score around -- most likely a school with a less affluent population, and yay for those kids). Time is short senior year, and it is better to have a realistic idea of what is possible and not spend too much time chasing the very unlikely. |
Anonymous
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LOL @ fake template websites (nobody visits). Also LOL @ "created an app!" (nobody ever downloaded or used).
The helicopter-parents / consultant-guided scams are so obvious. |
Anonymous
Bigot |