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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There’s roughly 400 kids graduating from DCs school this year.  The top kids have been in the same classes all 4 years and know each other’s ranking and test scores.  The top 2% of graduating class (8 kids) all had 4.0 uw and 1500+ SATs.  This is how acceptances went for them:

1. Carnegie Mellon (shut out of Ivies)
2. UMD (shut out of Ivies and top SLACs)
3. UMD (shut out of Ivies)
4. Johns Hopkins (recruited athlete)
5. Yale (first gen)
6. UMD
7. Penn (first gen)
8. Princeton (URM)

All great, hard working, top scores, excellent EC kids, but like PP said there just isn’t enough room for all high achievers at the tippy top.[/quote]

Thank you for posting this.

Interesting enough my DD was in a similar position when she graduated - top 2% - 1550 - etc.

Was similarly shut out and elected to attend our State Flagship.

I remember move in day - she was in the honors cohort - and the other students were similarly academically credentialed.

My own observations regarding college admissions have been:

student athletes punch way above their weight. On the performance scale - academics vs athletics - ie both 99 percentile - the athlete has a much better shot at a top tier admit.

students from elite privates (Dalton, etc) - very strong placement.

Students whose parents are well placed in business and full pay - very strong placement.

I think there is a reality to admissions that we have to acknowledge.

If you are wealthy and/or influential your DC is going to have an advantage.

If you are full pay your DC will have an advantage.

I am ok with the above  - but then perhaps colleges should not be not-for-profit and they should be paying their fair share in taxes on their RE holdings and endowments. If Harvard is the bastion of the ultra wealthy then it really shouldn't be non profit.

I will admit the upper tier rejections were hard on my DD and while my DD had very nice offers from the tier below it was hard to say no to the offer from our state flagship. It basically worked out that DD was paying for room and board. Not a bad deal these days.

And I tell her - sometimes it takes a little longer - but cream rises.  
 [/quote]

Excuse my ignorance as my kids are still young and I was not an athlete.

When everyone refers to athletes, you are referring to athletes who are recruited and play on the college team, correct?

I have a son who is an excellent tennis player. He is not yet in high school but I am sure he will be a starter. He does well in tennis tournaments for his age group. I am not sure if he will be good enough to be a tennis recruit but will still be a top tennis player at his school.[/quote]

Possibly D3 but unless he’s playing national matches in high school, no chance of D1.  Most D1 recruits are international now with a sprinkling of high ranked US kids.  You would easily spend $40,000+ a year on coaching, camps, and competition to prepare for college tennis. And that assumes he has the talent and will, too. It’s a really hard path to scholarships now. Major money and lots of travel. [/quote]

I don’t expect him to be a D1 athlete. I just wanted to confirm that when everyone refers to athletes when discussing college admissions, it means the kid was recruited to play on the college team.

My son would not be considered an athlete for college even though he plays tennis.[/quote]

Be aware that not every kid who plays on the college team was given a recruiting spot for admissions. There are very few of those for most sports. The rest of the team are walk ons.[/quote]

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