I can’t say this to my kid’s face, of course, but...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still would like to know what OP’s DC did with respect to EF EA. Some of these schools - Tulane or Emory for example - become exponentially more difficult at RD so they go from being likely to reach.

Emory is not a likely for anyone.

Yes it is for some. So is Harvard, MIT, Stanford.

Unhooked? Nope.

Unhooked, yes. You have to have significant achievements though (obviously).

Significant achievements? Such as? Regeneron = hook.

Regeneron is a strong hook?

[Anonymous]

1580/1600 means you only got one question wrong, right?

What’s going on? This is the world now? Kids who only get one question wrong on their sats can barely get into college??

[Anonymous]

OP said “mid-1500s” she did not give a number.
Tulane may very well have been yield protecting. A kid with high stats is probably shooting higher, so they just reject to make room for the kid who might actually go.

[Anonymous]

There are colleges for kids with 1000-1200 SATs and 20s ACTs - you just have to set your expectations accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are colleges for kids with 1000-1200 SATs and 20s ACTs - you just have to set your expectations accordingly.

Even if you got a 1550?

[Anonymous]

My son is in a similar boat. 3.9 GPA at a Big 3, perfect ACT score (36 on all sections), waitlisted at UChicago, WashU and Emory so far. College counselor had called Emory a match/likely for him.

[Anonymous]

OP, yield protection is real. Case and Emory are definitely practicing yield protection. Your DC might have a good outcome in the end from the waitlist if a commitment to a school can be demonstrated.

I agree with one PP that for the rest of the world, stats are the determining factor, and the process is more predictable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in a similar boat. 3.9 GPA at a Big 3, perfect ACT score (36 on all sections), waitlisted at UChicago, WashU and Emory so far. College counselor had called Emory a match/likely for him.

With those stats, every school in the world is at best a Match. For my DC, Georgia Tech showed up as a safety and he was rejected!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in a similar boat. 3.9 GPA at a Big 3, perfect ACT score (36 on all sections), waitlisted at UChicago, WashU and Emory so far. College counselor had called Emory a match/likely for him.

What?!!!! What did college counselor say? What school did he get into?

This is such a depressing thread for the parent of an 8th grader to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's why I despise the American college exceptionalism.

Everywhere else, students are accepted on academic merit, with thresholds for grades and/or exams, which universities tweak for international students with different high school systems.

This makes the most sense, because universities remain places of higher learning, and judging based on extra-curriculars that don't have standardized norms makes comparing students impossible.

So at least in other countries, you know where you are. You're not messed around and have hopes dashed after waiting for months. As soon as you know your exam results, you also know where you're getting in.

I am reposting the following post from CC on American exceptionalism (discussing the Varsity Blues Netflix show):


Perhaps this is part of American exceptionalism, but nobody, even the Europeans who chose not to aboard the ship to to the U.S. some 100~200 years ago, understands American “holistic” admission process. The world thinks, well, it’s snake oil. A few examples:

Why do you have to be a good essayst to earn a spot in university? Shouldn’t you be, like, a scholar or a researcher?

Who is a superior human being: one with 14 APs with perfect scores vs one with 5 APs with perfect scores plus 20 hours per week working at McDonald’s?

Why do you need to check the race of an applicant?

Why should one who worked as a volunteer earn advantage over one who did not - to earn a spot in unversity? What is university? A privilege or an accolade given to superior beings, or a place to advance academia?

What is a good character, as opposed to a mundane one? Why should it matter to earn a spot? What is university? A horse race bet for who will succeed in life (and make donations)?

If you are boring, why should you be rejected?

Why do sports matter to a university? What does football have anything to do with academia?

If your political view happens to be at the diametric opposite end of your interviewer’s, should you be punished and rejected for that, or should you fake and feign? (happened to me once at the Harvard interview.)

Why do universities encourage EVERYONE to apply only to reject 99.9% of them?

Why do universities encourage there is no mimimum GPA required for acceptance, when they know it takes a Jared Kushner to get in with a 2.0?

Why do universities care about their matriculation rates? What relevance does it have to, say, an education? Isnt it basically a childish bragging rights, little else?

Why 100 times more expensive than, say, a German, a French or a Korean unversity education? What does it cost to teach someone, say, English literature, really?

If someone appears so smart that he looks as if he might get accepted to Harvard, why do other schools reject him? Is such practice morally defensible when committed by an educational institution?

What is the name of the university admission game? Meritocracy? Whatever the university needs at the moment?

If an applicant asks Rick Singer to write the entire application on his behalf, is there a fail-proof way to tell, or is this too minor a breach to care?

Why are “unique” and “rare” virtues to universities? Are they in stamp collecting business?

When a university’s advertised acceptance rate is 4%, does it mean the chance for an international, FA, no donation, no legacy pushed ORM would be, like, 0.1%?

Why did they make the selection process so arbitrary? To show that they are anti-elitests?

What happened to OP's DC is the natural outcome of this crappy process, in a crappy year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is in a similar boat. 3.9 GPA at a Big 3, perfect ACT score (36 on all sections), waitlisted at UChicago, WashU and Emory so far. College counselor had called Emory a match/likely for him.

What?!!!! What did college counselor say? What school did he get into?

This is such a depressing thread for the parent of an 8th grader to read.

OMG do not worry about someone else's college application experience, especially based on two outliers, in the middle of a pandemic.

Sorry, but these are outliers. Most kids get into plenty of schools.

Class of 2020 kid : 7/8 acceptances
Class of 2021 kid: 4/5 acceptances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still would like to know what OP’s DC did with respect to EF EA. Some of these schools - Tulane or Emory for example - become exponentially more difficult at RD so they go from being likely to reach.

Emory is not a likely for anyone.

Yes it is for some. So is Harvard, MIT, Stanford.

Unhooked? Nope.

Unhooked, yes. You have to have significant achievements though (obviously).

Significant achievements? Such as? Regeneron = hook.

Regeneron is a strong hook?

"Strong" is relative, but yes it is a solid hook

https://www.ivycoach.com/the-ivy-coach-blog/college-admissions/regeneron-science-talent-search-scholars/

https://www.reddit.com/r/chanceme/comments/ax7191/how_much_does_regeneron_sts_semifinalistscholar/

AIME is probably better? But the point was significant achievement = hook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in a similar boat. 3.9 GPA at a Big 3, perfect ACT score (36 on all sections), waitlisted at UChicago, WashU and Emory so far. College counselor had called Emory a match/likely for him.

Then get that damned counselor on the phone with Emory admission today and make them get him off the waitlist or he will discourage any kid from your HS from applying there in the future.

And yes, this actually matters. Colleges do not like to see applicants from good HS drop off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I give up. It’s hard to to stay optimistic. He worked his ass off at his private school, got mid-1500 on his SAT, continued his in person volunteering throughout the pandemic (which I was not excited about, but he wanted to do it). He has had one B+ his entire 4 years of college, the rest As. His teachers speak highly of him and I believe they must have written good letters.

His counselor said his list was solid. He’s been waitlisted or rejected nearly everywhere. He has one acceptance to a “likely” and that’s it. Only one place teaming and it’s a huge reach, esp this year.

It’s hard to stay positive, happy, and upbeat for my kid. He is unexcited about the one place he got in. I know I should try to point out the positives of getting in that one place but it is so hard. I wish he would defer and take a gap year. I brought it up once but he said he isn’t interested.

I’m not thrilled with his college counselor at school. She hasn’t even checked in on his to see how he is doing. I give up on that process too. He is crushed. I am crushed for him.

I’d anyone else having this horrible of a situation? And please don’t say, “my love sucks too, my daughter only got into Emory and not Brown” or some such nonsense. His safety he got in is a safety for everyone.

If he doesn’t like the one option that he has, I would look around for other options. Many state schools (mostly directional) and LACs are still taking applications. Knox College just sent us a post card that said if you don’t like your acceptances, they will allow you to apply and give you a quick answer. See if you can’t find something attractive fir him. And remind yourself that where you start isn’t where you end up. This is just the start of his adult life. Lots of people go to Whatsammater U and have great lives and careers. He’s going to do great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Remember I gave you a partial list. He was also rejected by one foundational school and one match.

He did ED1 to one of the one of the schools I listed as rejection but did not do an ED2.

What's the list? We can't help you without knowing those and the safety he's in, but not excited about. I doubt anyone will be able to ID him.