We were in a similar situation a couple of years ago-even the SC deferral-that one is straight up yielding management-they defer a lot of kids.

My kid applied to 11 reaches-, rejected 8, waitlisted at 2 and accepted at one. She’s there now. It’s a long game and requires patience and faith-keep calm for your kid, don’t get him riled up. January sucks for a lot of seniors.

He got into Pitt which is a great school, so why the stress? He has one option he will for sure be happy with.

Ivy is always a long shot. USC and Michigan deferred everyone. It’s going to work out! He’ll have great choices in April. This part is the worst but it’s going to be all good.

Everyone was deferred from USC. He will get in there.

Pitt is a great school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid from a good private - top 30% of class with 1550 SAT and all 5's on APs. Solid EC's with leadership and community service, but no hook other than private school. Applied humanities - rejected ED to Ivy, deferred Santa Clara, USC and UMich. In at Pitt with merit and honors college. Waiting on a bunch more but feeling rather hopeless right now. Essays were excellent. Any thoughts?

Going to private school is not a hook but a flex that you have money.

GPA and weighted GPA? How many APs? In all 5 core subject areas?

Going to certain private schools is a hook.

11 APs including senior year. Upwards trajectory (straight A’s junior and first semester senior year), Couple of Bs in freshman and sophomore year hence class ranking. GPA 4.3

Anonymous wrote:Kid from a good private - top 30% of class with 1550 SAT and all 5's on APs. Solid EC's with leadership and community service, but no hook other than private school. Applied humanities - rejected ED to Ivy, deferred Santa Clara, USC and UMich. In at Pitt with merit and honors college. Waiting on a bunch more but feeling rather hopeless right now. Essays were excellent. Any thoughts?

Going to private school is not a hook but a flex that you have money.

GPA and weighted GPA? How many APs? In all 5 core subject areas?

Colleges only take so many kids from each school and your kid looks like all the other kids from their elite private....

The waiting game is hard. Extremely taxing emotionally.

Assuming you have another 10 reaches left, hitting 1/10 is highly likely. There must be at least one reach that is a near perfect fit for your DC.

Plus USC defers everyone EA, Mich likely converts in RD.

Your DC just need one at the end. It will work out. I am sure.

This is one of my kids, and he keeps saying he should have switched to public for 11th & 12th. His friends from club sports who go to public do a fraction of the work he does, have straight As or A pluses (which our school doesn’t even give), lower SATs and are getting in to much better schools. I do think it matters who he’s competing vs at his school, and they can only take so mah from these smaller privates.

I hope neither you nor your kid are taking it personally. No one can do much more than guess or speculate about things such as the overall applicant pool and institutional priorities. I had similar worries when my kid was deferred at 2 EA schools….your kid will land somewhere great. I would focus on the acceptances they have in hand and let everything else get sorted out in the RD round.

They are being compared to other students in their high school who may have also applied. They sound like a "standard strong" student. It's hard to say why they didn't get in. I'm so sorry. Assuming they have likelies and targets on their list and took their time writing the supplementals, they will likely have some acceptances soon. Hang tight. It's all so stressful!

Presumably waiting for April admissions?

It may be you didn't play your hands carefully enough. If full pay and coming from an excellent private, I'd have targeted the better LACs along with Chicago for early admission. Ivies are one in a thousand shot without a hook. USC is a different beast. Michigan is competitive out of state.

Kid from a good private - top 30% of class with 1550 SAT and all 5's on APs. Solid EC's with leadership and community service, but no hook other than private school. Applied humanities - rejected ED to Ivy, deferred Santa Clara, USC and UMich. In at Pitt with merit and honors college. Waiting on a bunch more but feeling rather hopeless right now. Essays were excellent. Any thoughts?