Reply to Can you remind me why my DC will not get into the same schools I did?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’ll help you OP. It’s a freaking arms race of affluent parents making sure their kids are getting the BEST enrichments, tutoring, mentoring, internships, etc. I occasionally interview for my alma mater and times have CHANGED!

I participated in an engineering program at a local college for girls interested in STEM where we built balsa bridges and went on a tour of the water treatment plant. I have interviewed kids who placed at the Westinghouse science competition or have patents. Patents! 
I worked at k-mart and Subway. I babysat. These kids intern at companies in the field they are pursuing. 
I was president of the French club and 1st chair trumpet in concert band. These kids are establishing their own charity or leading the advocacy for some pet issue with their city/county/state government.

I was smart and hard working. I was the Tracy Flick of my HS - all the APs, all As, all the sports and clubs. Kids “these days” are accomplishing things at 15-17 that upperclassmen at my selective university were not doing when I was there. If kindergarten is the new 1st grade, I’d wager that 16 is the new 21. I always come away from interviews wondering - how the heck did I ever get in, how the heck will my kids ever have a chance. [/quote]

This post unfortunately highlights many of the "tricks" that kids (for the most part wealthy) can employ to amp their application.

Honestly, getting a patent is easier than you might think...especially if you are getting a business process patent or other patent that takes no real discovery.  The hardest part is just knowing to do it in the first place and having the money to smooth the process for you.

The "fake" charity is another great trick.  The kid barely does anything as the adults set up the charity for them, and no surprise...the charity disappears once the kid goes to college.  Not sure if AO's see through these things or not.

For the record...you are dating yourself.  The Westinghouse competition has gone through 3 different hands and is now known as the Regeneron contest.  A relatively small number of kids enter Regeneron (I think only like 2,000) each year, with the numbers drastically skewed towards the STEM magnet HSs.  As an example, TJ probably has 20 kids enter each year (and Blair has large numbers as well).  My kid looked into it and Regeneron actually imposes a number of administrative burdens to enter which makes it difficult to enter if your HS is not willing to assist in creating the various school committees they require.  The Magnet schools have the entire institutional framework established, and connections with mentors.  This definitely makes it easier.

Other kids set up their own companies (you can do that in less than 10 minutes) and the internships are usually through personal connections.  The list goes on.[/quote]

The PP may not have mentioned your observations, but it didn't read as if they were unaware.[/quote]

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