Reply to YCBK - case studies

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "YCBK - case studies "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just listened. [b]Not that helpful as the only AOs who walked through their decision process were based in mountain states[/b] - Colorado College (small CO LAC), CU Boulder (big state safety school), and Grinnell (small Iowa LAC).

Wish there were some coastal representation: NE, SE, NW/SW.

Also seems like a lot of biases from AO readers based on how they grew up. The AOs were all female and seemed to come from less privileged families and more down to earth, and had a bias towards economically disadvantaged applicants who suffered. While they are underdogs, these aren't always the candidates who will thrive most in college!

[/quote]

Serious question.  What would have been more helpful, from your perspective?  I saw the exercise as mocking up how different people bring different perspectives to a review in light of what a college's mission is in selecting a student.  So I viewed it as generic overview of holistic admissions.  What would coastal representation bring that you feel was missing?

Curious if there is additional perspective/insight that was missing that is helpful to know.[/quote]

Yes, it was pretty generic overview of holistic and I guess it wasn't that helpful to me. Our DC is trying to understand the admissions profile for more selective, urban schools. The only state U was a large non-selective school in a mountain state (CU Boulder CO). Everyone gets in at our HS so her insights weren't super helpful to get insights from a safety school AO that has an 80+% acceptance rate. Also, the other AOs and institutions chosen were similar: small, predominantly white institutions in Colorado again or Iowa. Plus they compared cases or files from very different schools that would never be reviewed against each other irl. They should have compared 3 files from the same school to show how the elements are different within the context of one school (competitive public, rigorous private or magnet school). They shouldn't do one of each - like comparing apples to oranges. Most files are read within context of one school (if they send many applicants) or in region or type (homeschools, by what % they send to college, how much tey offer, etc.).[/quote]

Thanks for sharing.  Yeah, I can see how the comparison across schools can change the conversation vs if it was candidates from the same school in a very selective context might be pretty different i.e. What is it like when you are comparing students all with 1500+/34+, [b]8-12 APs,[/b] and deep, but very different ECs  - all from the same school?

[/quote]
First is is coure rigor: which APs. The number is not that relevant, they score rigor based on whether the highest level rigor courses were taken in all or almost all areas. Read Selingo's older book on it, or watch some top schools review the transcript. The most rigorous APs matter to the T20 especially, even in areas the kid does not favor. AOs at ivies say this at admission sessions, they expect you to challenge yourselves in all areas even the ones you do not love. The whataboutism of this course has a hard teacher or this course could not be taken because the kid wanted to double-up in their favorite area of expertise does not matter to elites.
 Next it would be the LORs and the counselor letter which puts them "in contet" and helps them compare to other kids with similar stats (ie relative gpa, rigor in context). Finally, least important but a factor, the ECs: as long as they have 1-2 that were over multiple years and had at least some impact and/or leadership(not always what dcum thinks it means), it is fine. 
 [b]Unless your kid is applying from one of the true feeder schools that gets 20-25% of the class into T15/ivy UNhooked,[/b] there are never dozens of 1500+/34+ all at the top of the class who all had the same course rigor. [/quote]

A great episode would be a roundtable talking about what % of a T25 private is allocated to "feeder private high schools". Is it higher now in the Trump era bc of funding issues?

Did anyone hear Lee Coffin's Admissions Beat this week - where he basically admits he created a supp essay prompt based off the a Quaker quote he saw at Sidwell when he was there for a visit? He actually said that....

I mean.....[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics