Anonymous wrote:The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Just finished the process with DC at big 3. I would focus on SAT prep and bringing up GPA. Don’t worry about the sport because unless it’s played at a high level and you can be recruited, it just doesn’t matter. DC had similar grades and was able to get into several NESCAC schools and other SLACS but not the very top. More like the next tier down. DC had several ECs and some awards on a national level and higher SAT scores from tutoring. And received merit at a few SLACS too.
How does that possibly fit with the narrative that private school isn't a huge advantage in the admissions process? NESACs (even the ones that are a "tier down") aren't accessible at all to public school kids with similar stats.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.
You mean daughter.
Huh?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.
You mean daughter.
Anonymous wrote:Do SAT prep now. It really paid off for us. Son recruited to HYP + was told what score range he would need. He did Princeton Review.
Anonymous wrote:Just finished the process with DC at big 3. I would focus on SAT prep and bringing up GPA. Don’t worry about the sport because unless it’s played at a high level and you can be recruited, it just doesn’t matter. DC had similar grades and was able to get into several NESCAC schools and other SLACS but not the very top. More like the next tier down. DC had several ECs and some awards on a national level and higher SAT scores from tutoring. And received merit at a few SLACS too.
Anonymous wrote:Please tell me about your Big-3 non-high stats kid's college application experiences.
DD is a sophomore at a Big-3. Her grades are mostly Bs, a few As, one C. She plays one sport and is decent, but not outstanding. She enjoys creative writing, and writes for the student newspaper. She is very kind and has fortunately not suffered from much friendship drama. I would be surprised if she scored above 1350 on the SATs. What kinds of colleges do students like DD end up at from Big-3s? I don't want to push her too hard because she seems happy and content, which is so important. On the other hand, I wonder if she'll have more options if we enrolled her in SAT tutoring, pushed the sports a bit more, etc. We are full pay, but not wealthy enough to be noticeable donors.
Thank you in advance. She is our oldest and our first foray into the college admissions process. I am a bit alarmed by the posts I am reading about how competitive college admissions have become.