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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was reading these posts about the Ivy League/Stanford not taking as many TJ grads. The trend is clear and it should not be surprising given the decision of the Ivy League and Stanford (and many other elite colleges) to go test optional, and to take at least 1/3 or so of their admissions classes from HS graduates who don't report (aka they don't want to report) their SAT/ACT scores.

The reason these schools have gone test optional started with Covid, but it has continued with the Harvard Supreme Court case alleging that Harvard is discriminating against Asian students in admissions decisions. The primary evidence against Harvard is SAT scores.  Harvard and the rest of the Ivy League anticipate losing this case and they know that the only way for them to continue to racially balance their classes without being sued again is to deemphasize standardized tests.

Why? Because whites and especially Asians, ON AVERAGE, score significantly higher than Blacks and non-white white Hispanics on standardized tests. The assumption of these schools and their administrators is that these tests must somehow be racist against these low-scoring groups. This Ivy trend of deemphasizing testing has been going on for years.

Because the TJ classes of this year and past years were required to take standardized tests to be admitted to TJ, and have historically scored well on these tests, their historical admittance rates to these top schools were based on their high test scores. With these scores being deemphasized, the TJ admittance rates to top schools have been falling.

But not all colleges are playing along with this Ivy League trend of deemphasizing standardized tests and bypassing TJ grads.  The University of Chicago in particular has stepped into the breach and is taking as many if not more TJ students than it dis historically.

Word is there are at least 15 TJHSST University of Chicago admits this year and their were 14/15 last year. One of the TJ parents heard directly from an admissions officer at UC that they are aware of the current trend of Ivy League freezing out TJ grads (and grads from other magnet schools) and are specifically focusing on grabbing up these top students.

It shouldn't be that surprising as University of Chicago has historically, placed a high emphasis on standardized tests. The college with the highest average SAT/ACT scores is not MIT or Caltech, and certainly not Harvard, or Yale or Princeton but instead the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago's decision should not be completely surprising given its history. In particular, in the early part of the 20th century Chicago refused to play along with the Ivy league and their self-imposed "Jewish quota" effort to boycott admitting Jewish HS graduates, with the University of Chicago taking many brilliant Jewish students that the Ivy League passed over. [/quote]

Perhaps it wouldn't be an issue if every TJ kid weren't applying to be a CS major. Maybe it is true that the ivy's are imposing a quota on magnet students but that doesn't explain why UVA acceptances are down too. Off course these kids are well qualified to be admitted in any school but it is too simplistic of an argument to say Test Optional is the reason why these kids aren't being admitted to ivys.

College admission process is broken and that not just for the magnet school kids or Asian and white kids. It is broken for everyone and has always been broken for the minority communities. And yes SAT scores do not account for the wealth disparity and income inequality that exist between different communities. So making it easier for kids from these communities to be admitted to elite schools is one way to fix that imbalance. If that means my kid has to sacrifice then let it be -

Signed

A TJ parent of an Ivy reject kid with a perfect SAT score.[/quote]

Good that you recognize that.  Your kid has the support system in place to do exceedingly well wherever they go.  The lower income kid who "gets their spot" at a T20 school could now be on a trajectory to a completely different life---where they go to college can truly change their life and that of their future family.    Some of us that come from a place of privilege recognize that, but not nearly enough[/quote]

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