Reply to College admissions from APS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU.  They don't care about Harvard.  Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.[/quote]

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre. [/quote]

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better.  The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in.  APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.[/quote]

I am an Arlington parent with 1 who just graduated from college and two currently at UVa.  I have lived and breathed APS college admissions for the past 5 years.

Have any of you posters who are so critical of what colleges APS and FCPS students are accepted at and attend actually had or have a high school student at any of these high schools?  I doubt it or you would not sound so ignorant.

Getting accepted is a very different landscape and much more difficult than when most of us applied to college 20+ years ago for a variety of reasons which you will find out soon enough when your kids are high school juniors.

And then there's the fact that a top college or university costs $65K or more per year for one child.  Many parents in Arlington that I know don't even give their child the option of applying to schools that cost that much when their child can go to William & Mary or UVa for less than half of that. [/quote]

Why is admission allegedly so much more difficult now?[/quote]

I knew someone would ask that after I posted.
Here are a couple reasons.  First, the common app, the decrease in colleges having supplemental essays in addition to the one on the common app, and the increasing number of colleges waiving the application fee makes it extraordinarily easy to apply to well over 10 colleges.  My first year at UVa applied to 13. His brother at UVa applied to 12.  His best friend applied to 15.  My neighbor applied to 14.  And we are talking top 30 colleges and universities, plus maybe one safety.  The end result is more applications to many of the top colleges, with the colleges often having no clue how serious the student actually is about attending.
And the colleges actually like this increase in applications (hence why they waive the application fee and got rid of the supplemental essay) so that they can reject more students and look more selective.

Here's a second reason.  There are many more international students applying to US colleges and universities and colleges like them because they generally pay full tuition.  [/quote]

What’s your third reason?[/quote]

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