Reply to Sidwell College Admissions This Year

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Sidwell College Admissions This Year"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is a hard message to deliver and I apologize in advance.  A 3.7 just isn’t all that compelling and neither is a 34 ACT relatively speaking for top 15 universities even coming from a great school like Sidwell.   If your kid isn’t a NMF and/or Presidential Scholar candidate and done some [b]substantive internships or academic research outside of school, [/b]and hit &gt; 3.9 overall GPA having taken the Math I — Math IV sequence plus all the accelerated 1A sciences plus four years of language, plus a &gt;1560 SAT or 35/36 ACT, you really don’t get on the radar screen of the top 15 schools.  Exception is the hooked kids — namely athletes, legacies and URM, but a couple of those hooked kids have the former qualifications, too, making them spectacularly attractive applicants.  These schools really know Sidwell and for example understand that a solid A from Math III is a pretty powerful academic signal.  I just cannot sit by and continue to watch the Sidwell CCO get trashed the way it is by some folks on this forum. In the aggregate, they are doing a good job in a very challenging and competitive environment.  The reality is, putting aside the “branding” element, the top 30 - 50 schools offer a great education.  Sidwell parent of senior.[/quote]

This is a bizarre expectation of any high school student, regardless of what high school they attend. My college student hasn’t had either of those yet, and not for lack of trying. [/quote]

It is very hard for a regular kid to get those opportunities. But you have a contingent of kids whose parents are academics, doctors, researchers or C suite in Universities, who are able to access these ECs and stand out in college applications.[/quote]

Ok, so I am a researcher at NIH and my boss calls and says there is a high school kid who wants an internship. What responsiblities am I seriously giving this kid, other than to clean test tubes and MAYBE prep some slides? It is ridiculous to think that I am putting my grant research or academic standing on the line for this.[/quote]

Still loads better than the zero opportunities my kid has as an unconnected kid. [b]My kid who is great on paper and in person, couldn’t even get a job at the mall.[/b] [/quote]

Then he didn't try very hard. Sorry, but I don't believe this.[/quote]

There are kids in science research programs that have reached out to a hundred scientists to find a mentor.  They just need one yes to create some kind of project.   The ones don't actually get to do so something on a lab have done statistical surveys, retrospective projects using existing data, etc.  Where there is a will, there is a way.[/quote]

Please don't encourage this as the norm! This is unsustainable for scientists and professors!  I have never gotten more emails from high school students.  There are research protections/institutional review boards that do not make this a viable approach.  Have your kid find a data set--there are public ones available and do the science themselves.  We have more college, graduate, post-doc, and early career people to mentor.  [/quote]

The professionals that gave advice to my young scientists had a very different outlook.   One at an ivy and one at a state university.  They were amazing and had a tremendous impact on these young students.   My students and myself are forever grateful.[/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