Reply to How the hell is anyone supposed to get into college now?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Like so many straight A students who were chief school newspaper editor, captain of a varsity sports team, volunteering, and more who can't even get to VA Tech. I don't know what people who get into schools like Michigan or the Ivy Leagues are doing in high school. [/quote]

My daughter's friend who got into Yale was an Asian male with a very high wGPA who won Science Olympiad competitions and is an advanced string player.

Straight A doesn't mean anything, OP, you should know this. There is a world's difference between an A in a regular classs and an A in an AP class. [b]Kids who get into the top colleges have 10+ APs, have a national level EC, etc. [/b]Your newpaper editing and team captainship worked a generation ago, but not today. [/quote]

This is sounds exhausting. Kids have no time to be kids.[/quote]

I am 44, and in my European country, high school was a stressful workathon culminating in one heck of a national exam week. I was so stressed out I couldn't eat on the first day of national exams. But that's nowhere near the worst. My cousins come from a country in Asia known for its teen suicide rate due to exam failure. Over there, when school ends for the day, the kids go to afternoon prep schools to cram. I know *elementary school kids* who had [i]tutors[/i] to prepare for admission into the most prestigious afternoon prep schools!!! Separate from their regular school! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?

All to say: don't ever believe the US has it bad. I promise you, even for the kids who take grades seriously... it's still a layabout's paradise. :-)

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Huh? [b]My NYC sibling had a tutor for her 2yo to prep for preschool admissions to get into the right preschool that would line up for the right elementary. [/b]That was over 20 years ago. She had two kids - one ended up graduating from Wash U and is unemployed. The other is at an Ivy.

[b]One of my kids had a tutor by elementary.[/b] All had tutors in high school and SAT prep. All took multiple APs, as early as 9th grade. The thing about US education isn’t that it’s laid back - it’s that it’s very individual. It’s a huge country and getting into the top 10-15 schools is very hard - but no one will force you to do those things. There are a lot of less competitive options and that’s where most of the laid back kids will end up. [/quote]

And yet mine and many others are in ivies, unhooked , and got into the "top" preK and elementary, and later magnet high school,  based on testing with no tutor and no prep. Rose to the top. There are naturally intelligent , self-disciplined motivated and focused kids out there. The ivies are chock full of them. Why would any parent have their kid in a school they only could survive with tutoring?
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+100

My unhooked kid is headed to an Ivy.  You could tell from when he was little.  We never tutored or test prepped and he was self-motivated—-but frankly never had to study or struggle like other kids. [/quote]

Next we will be hearing about first chairs at MCYO who never practice. Please. There exist prodigies for sure, and I've met some. Nowhere close to fill top 5, much less top 20 schools.[/quote]

[b]The PP is speaking of not needing to study as much as other kids[/b] and being highly slef motivated at school not music prodigies. The ivies are filled with naturally bright students who sailed through high school without tutors and aced the SATs and APs in the hardest classes. The vast majority of them were absolutely standout 1-2 kids in their high schools, not counting the mega donors or athletes or other big hooks. Well over half there are unhooked and were superstars in their high school. The adjustment that most will just be around average at the ivy can be hard. It is a significant mental toll on some. [/quote]

[b]The brilliant kids I know study most of the time, typically more than average kids. However, they study much harder material, so they perform at a much higher level.[/b]

I know a kid who won a silver medal at IPHO as a HS sophomore. It's no secret that he studies all day long, he will tell you this. I don't think he has a tutor in an ordinary sense, but he certainly has a lot of support. You don't get to that level on your own, just like you are not winning the Menuhin by being self-taught.

So, yes, these kids don't need to study much to get a 5 at AP, but they need to study just as much to go beyond that.

I wish brilliant lazy kids were more sought after but I don't think this is the case.[/quote]

Not in my house. It's funny--every year I told my sons when they were screwing around 'hey- next year you won't be able to do this, things are really going to ramp up'. I said this going into their private HS and every year...including 'Junior year is no joke. You aren't going to have time.' My husband always was telling them they weren't doing any of the study stuff for ACT blah, blah...

My youngest just said to me when I warned him about how hard Junior year was going to be "you always say that".  Oldest graduate with straight As and is headed to an Ivy next year. Younger brother also has straight As and also 5s AP exams.

The older one does study more than the younger one ever has (barely see him study), but nothing compared to peers.

I am at a job with a huge amount of attrition because it is production based, critical thinking and a lot of writing.  My friend's husband asked why I never work voluntary overtime to get stuff done and how do I have so much free time when his wife can barely hang on.

We have great [b]memories[/b] in my family.  We absorb info fast.  Good critical thinking skills.  Read fast, but thorough. [b]High processing speed, [/b]etc.

At my dad's funeral (organic chemist), his friends were joking about my dad 'the party guy'.  They said he would come into the lab and tell them ---get out, let's have some fun--while they struggled. They said 'that son-of-a-b*ch was a genius. Never had to study, etc.'  lol[/quote]

I have a similar kid at a top private who is applying to Ivies this year.  He's been taking the very top classes at the school (top math track, etc) and really never studies. I've been telling him for years "it will get harder".  [b]It never does.[/b] He never does more than 30 minutes of homework per night and always while watching TV, listening to music or both at the same time.  He got a 36 ACT on his first try with no studying and basically no sleep (he was out with friends until 2am that night).  5's on APs across the board (on classes he both took and did not actually take).

He has a photographic memory and ADHD with a super high processing speed.  He goes to many parties, drinks on occasion and is a super social kid. He  lives life at 100 mph at all times and occasionally does dumb stuff.  I worry about him.

I have two other kids who are nothing like this.  They plod away for 3-4 hours a night.  They do well in school too but they work hard. [/quote]

[b]Until it does. You know nothing.[/b] Your kid is in HS and is clearly sheltered from highest achievers. You don't know what other kids are doing. Which is fine, but stop portraying your lazy ass son as some sort of highly accomplished genius.[/quote]

It didn't get hard for me until med school.  I had to learn to study in med school.  I was that kid until then.

[/quote] You're proving their point. Hard things like medical school or IPhO require studying even from smart kids, while normal things like private school or undergrad do not.[/quote]
Who the hell isn’t studying in undergrad? Especially in the sciences, I call bs. Unless you went to a complete education mismatch institution, the purpose of undergrad is to challenge students of all levels.[/quote] The PP who said they had to study for the first time in medical school. They didn't necessarily need to have been a science major.[/quote]
Sure they could’ve been an art major with much dedication to studio time (non sequitur but those courses are serious!). You still need to study the bio series, organic chem, and physics in 99% of situations. [/quote]

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