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 just talked to a 90s Yale grad whose child just graduated from Yale (kid is a asian, female, very high achieving but no spectacular standout stuff, no big money or connections).[/quote]

Well, it’s a lottery ticket basically.  (Although with legacy it’s probably a bit better than that.). I have nieces that are at an Ivy.  I don’t think they are particularly smarter than my kid but something about their application caught someone’s eye.  Maybe that they are from a small town.  Maybe they had a great teacher rec. Who knows.  I figure my equally smart and equally hard working kid has probably a 1/100 chance in getting into the same school.  It’s all sort of ridiculous now.  
I guess the consolation is that when we went, the only people going to these third tier schools were pretty bad students.  Now even great students are going to those schools so the educational experience at those schools is probably a lot better.[/quote]
Not sure what you mean by third tier schools, but many now “safety” schools for top students were actually harder to get into a generation ago; it is the top tier that has changed. Off the top of my head, some of these schools are Trinity, Conn College, Holy Cross, RPI, WPI, Rochester — and I could go on and on.

As for state flagships, both back then and today (admissions rates for many of these, by the way, were lower a generation ago), the “only people” going to these schools were never “pretty bad students.” You have 20-30 thousand undergrads, then and now, and you have a few thousand who are top students rivaling any top students, anywhere.

Keep in mind, also, that college was a little more regional back then, and many students were not as status-conscious in terms of national rankings. Top students were everywhere…
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