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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid got locked out despite what looked like the whole package (stats / EC / class rigor).   Not sure if the essays or recommendations were off.  Kids getting in from the same school with less rigor and lower scores seem to generally have some hook (i.e. sports, URM, etc.).  My kid was truthful on their application and wrote all their own essays.  Will never know if something was off on the application or if just too many kids wth similar profile.  [/quote]
This is my kid, too, but my kid is from a magnet with super high stats. There aren't *that* many kids with the same stats and rigor.

It just seems like after a certain threshold, it becomes like a lottery.[/quote]
My kid also from a magnet.  Honestly, I have no idea what happened.    I think perhaps it was hard from their application to assess the rigor.  STEM kid so essays not a strong suit.  [/quote]

Essay quality is a big deal for top schools. I think most high starts kids get sunk because their profiles are too similar. These schools want artists and English majors too. So much stem, stem, stem around here. They’re all competing with each other.[/quote]

You need a sob story essay, most applicants do not realize that.  [/quote]

Yes overcoming hardship is a solid hook but usually not easy to plug into around here.[/quote]

They want a URM sob story.  [/quote]

That's not really true. It's much more nuanced. Just read the posts here. It was very common for the Sidwell and GDS parents to note that it was URMs getting into "top" schools. But those are not sob story kids. Kids at Anascotia and Eastern are not taking spots from anyone. But yes, there's a definite advantage this year for the privileged kids with a grandparent from Puerto Rico and Nigeria over the privileged kids with a grandparent from China or Sweden. Like or don't like. They're not bad kids. It used to be the Wasps. Then Jews for a while. Now it's something different. There will always be more applicants than spaces. And schools will prioritize different groups at different times. Consequently, it doesn't feel meritocratic to many people.

But it never was

You could have been the smartest Black, Asian or Latino woman on the planet in 1952 but you're still not getting into Harvard.

If your child doesn't have the right grandparent - but has all the necessary grades, APs, test scores, ECs, but no connections -  I wouldn't bother with top 10 schools. Go to the next level. Visit if you can. Do the calculator. Really get to know whatever school it is that your child has a passion for. Check the admit rates for your high school. Penn hates our school. Cornell really likes it. Duke is very temperamental. Tailor the application accordingly. And throw that ED card. Smartly. Sometimes it works out[/quote]

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