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[quote=Anonymous]We're tackling this with our DCs at an odd time.

Covid massively messed with grading, and any sense of the playing field in education. There are anecdotes (I have seen a few) of public schools simply handing out grades for submitting papers consisting of the same sentence repeated. A good portion of kids are unable to learn remotely. Many teachers have quit, and others have been fired.

College fairs haven't really happened and visits have been hampered, and so kids I think have less of a sense of the schools they want, and things like rankings loom larger in their minds (though these are of course deeply flawed themselves). The combination of test optional and the common app makes it much more straightforward to simply aim for dozens of schools. And then there's all the deferrals and everyone suddenly coming back, and new algorithms on yield.

Colleges are trying in a very rapidly changing environment to build their brands, and in many cases working to undo the injustices of the past. That's a swing of the pendulum, and suddenly places like Brown go for admissions skewed heavily towards URMs, athletes and others (read the thread on Sidwell). Is this wrong? Meh. Maybe. Unfair? sure, but the process has always been unfair because it's so loosely tied to the idea of actual merit. But this is where we are, and their brand-building matters more to them (based on whatever prioritization they may have of their own strategy) than does our older perceptions of merit.

I think the reason this is upsetting people so much is that the game changed and we weren't really aware of it, and there's not a lot we can do. We used to buy into some vague idea of merit: work hard, put your kid in the best school you can (based on their capabilities and yours, including money), kid gets grades and a few banner ECs and success (alas a narrow definition) will ensue. But that's falling apart, and we feel like we've let down our kids who aren't in the currently preferred categories used to social engineer college brands to be closer to what their strategy tells them they want.

Yes, it's insane. Yes, it hurts the kids who suddenly feel the game changed on them and it stings, because what they were counting on suddenly isn't available in the same way. They've worked hard, and we've worked to keep them focused.

As for DC, so far a few admits and waiting on several. Two good schools, and one great have said yes. Others -- maybe better, maybe not -- will follow in the next week. It'll be ok. And we draw solace in knowing DC is well prepared for college and for life, and to see all of this as some insanity which they survived. [/quote]

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