Reply to If your DC goes to a Big 3 do you feel pressure about them getting into a "good" school?

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Reply to "If your DC goes to a Big 3 do you feel pressure about them getting into a "good" school?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The incredible increase in highly qualified applicants has increased the stress level in terms of getting in anywhere, but has also resulted in an atmosphere where many more schools are considered desirable and a great result even at the big 3-5 DC privates.  It is no longer expected that even the very top students at these schools will necessarily get in or even want to get into HYPS, many still do, but others by choice or if not admitted to HYPS end up at other great places, and clearly in the 25-20 years since we parents were in college, the academic quality in terms of the accomplishments and abilities of the students has gone way up at about the top 25-50 schools. So I think that the atmosphere now is more "we are all in this together worrying about whether our kid will get in anywhere given how random and crazy it all seems" and not so concerned about impressing each other with one or a few pinnacle schools. [/quote]

I've just been through the process and I absolutely saw this. Stanford, Northwestern, and U Chicago are all much harder to get into, and seem to have much higher status among DC's classmates, than in our day. I too could tell a story about qualified Big 3 kids and Northwestern this year. [/quote]

Yup -- college admissions have become much more competitive.  Starting in the late '80s, the applicant pool swelled as US students increasingly applied to schools beyond their home regions and international schools were added to the mix.  The advent of the US News rankings and the web created even more admissions hype.  The rising tide lifted all boats, so schools we thought of as B list back in the day are all tougher to get into now.  And some schools have become much hotter -- Stanford, NW and Chicago are prime examples.  These schools have become stronger, offering students much more than they did 30-40 years ago, and they've become better at marketing themselves as well.  As a result, parents and kids realize that the Ivies aren't the only game in town.

And to think that when I graduated from a top California public high school in the '80s, we felt sorry for the kids who had to go to Stanford.  My God -- they didn't even get into Cal, much less an East Coast school!  Of course, they had the last laugh.  [/quote]

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