Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:32     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I've had 4 kids between two different Big3 schools. On average, 50% of Ivy admits from
the schools have been legacies. 20% are athletes. 30% are in on brains alone.


What % fit some other institutional priority (theater; music) not relevant to “brains alone”?



Like a true music recruit? Like one every other year maybe.


I’m seeing a lot of music double majors listed for RD Ivy/Ivy+ admits from various east coast private and boarding schools.

Duke’s newspaper had an article about how they’re looking for more music majors. Don’t think they are just looking for “talent recruits”….at some schools they need someone to fill the music classes too.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:26     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:While there are certainly some students with strong connections, the whole "hooked" obsession strikes me as being the copium that a lot of independent school parents use to explain why their kids didn't get into the preferred schools. You'll see the same arguments on the private school boards, rationalizing why their "unhooked" kids didn't get into GDS, SFS, NCS, STA, Maret and Potomac.

When you dig deeper, you'll start seeing that people stretch the "hooked" definition. To some, this includes wealthy alumni children, wealthy non-alumni children, non-wealthy alumni children, athletes, people of color, financially disadvantaged kids, first generation kids and pretty much everyone but their child.


Agree
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:25     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I've had 4 kids between two different Big3 schools. On average, 50% of Ivy admits from
the schools have been legacies. 20% are athletes. 30% are in on brains alone.


What % fit some other institutional priority (theater; music) not relevant to “brains alone”?



Like a true music recruit? Like one every other year maybe.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:25     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:I've had 4 kids between two different Big3 schools. On average, 50% of Ivy admits from
the schools have been legacies. 20% are athletes. 30% are in on brains alone.


What % fit some other institutional priority (theater; music) not relevant to “brains alone”?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:22     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:While there are certainly some students with strong connections, the whole "hooked" obsession strikes me as being the copium that a lot of independent school parents use to explain why their kids didn't get into the preferred schools. You'll see the same arguments on the private school boards, rationalizing why their "unhooked" kids didn't get into GDS, SFS, NCS, STA, Maret and Potomac.

When you dig deeper, you'll start seeing that people stretch the "hooked" definition. To some, this includes wealthy alumni children, wealthy non-alumni children, non-wealthy alumni children, athletes, people of color, financially disadvantaged kids, first generation kids and pretty much everyone but their child.


“ wealthy alumni children, wealthy non-alumni children, non-wealthy alumni children, athletes, people of color, financially disadvantaged kids, first generation kid” these are all hooks or potential hooks
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:21     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
I've had 4 kids between two different Big3 schools. On average, 50% of Ivy admits from
the schools have been legacies. 20% are athletes. 30% are in on brains alone.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:05     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Smart, connected and willing/able to pay $95k/year. 99% of college applicants and families couldn't fathom that bill. We're in a bubble.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 13:00     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While there are certainly some students with strong connections, the whole "hooked" obsession strikes me as being the copium that a lot of independent school parents use to explain why their kids didn't get into the preferred schools. You'll see the same arguments on the private school boards, rationalizing why their "unhooked" kids didn't get into GDS, SFS, NCS, STA, Maret and Potomac.

When you dig deeper, you'll start seeing that people stretch the "hooked" definition. To some, this includes wealthy alumni children, wealthy non-alumni children, non-wealthy alumni children, athletes, people of color, financially disadvantaged kids, first generation kids and pretty much everyone but their child.


For most people on this site it means whatever the kid who got in did or had that my kid did not do or have


Isn’t that the practical meaning of “hooked” anyway? “Sure, this kid looks exactly like yours on Naviance/Scior, but your kid will not have the same results.”
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:55     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Most early admits at our Big3 are legacies. Ignore the “non-DMV private” PP they are unhelpful and irrelevant to this discussion of the Big3


What about RD?


Here’s my estimate:

Early admits: 70% hooked 30% unhooked (unhooked are typically very spiky and competitive)
Regular admits: 95% unhooked with a few hooked that got unlucky in early rounds

Hook being used in the typical way (determinants you are born with)
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:55     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:While there are certainly some students with strong connections, the whole "hooked" obsession strikes me as being the copium that a lot of independent school parents use to explain why their kids didn't get into the preferred schools. You'll see the same arguments on the private school boards, rationalizing why their "unhooked" kids didn't get into GDS, SFS, NCS, STA, Maret and Potomac.

When you dig deeper, you'll start seeing that people stretch the "hooked" definition. To some, this includes wealthy alumni children, wealthy non-alumni children, non-wealthy alumni children, athletes, people of color, financially disadvantaged kids, first generation kids and pretty much everyone but their child.


For most people on this site it means whatever the kid who got in did or had that my kid did not do or have
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:52     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
While there are certainly some students with strong connections, the whole "hooked" obsession strikes me as being the copium that a lot of independent school parents use to explain why their kids didn't get into the preferred schools. You'll see the same arguments on the private school boards, rationalizing why their "unhooked" kids didn't get into GDS, SFS, NCS, STA, Maret and Potomac.

When you dig deeper, you'll start seeing that people stretch the "hooked" definition. To some, this includes wealthy alumni children, wealthy non-alumni children, non-wealthy alumni children, athletes, people of color, financially disadvantaged kids, first generation kids and pretty much everyone but their child.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:46     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:Most early admits at our Big3 are legacies. Ignore the “non-DMV private” PP they are unhelpful and irrelevant to this discussion of the Big3


What about RD?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:39     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Most early admits at our Big3 are legacies. Ignore the “non-DMV private” PP they are unhelpful and irrelevant to this discussion of the Big3
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:00     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.


The legacy connection at privates is overblown by critics. It’s likely less than 20% of the admits.

The rest is based on connection of the feeder schools to the colleges (including pipelining), strength of curriculum/grade deflation, better/strategic college counseling, better essay coaching, and LOR that affirm personal qualities. At our non-DMV private, we’re seeing more RD successes this cycle as well. From what we can see it’s a particularly good year for strong privates.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:45     Subject: % of hooked students from top private schools
The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.