Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think EA is a waste of time for Ivy's. Tons of legacies, athletes, and prodigies. You rarely hear of a deferred acceptance. I think the cdeferred are rarely looked at but for a few. Make your child stand out in RD. Especially awesome senior grades.

Worked out for my DC in the RD round, but in hindsight, wish DC applied ED.

Why? Could have been the opposite. Rejected or Deferred/Rejected.

Anonymous wrote:I think EA is a waste of time for Ivy's. Tons of legacies, athletes, and prodigies. You rarely hear of a deferred acceptance. I think the cdeferred are rarely looked at but for a few. Make your child stand out in RD. Especially awesome senior grades.

Worked out for my DC in the RD round, but in hindsight, wish DC applied ED.

I think EA is a waste of time for Ivy's. Tons of legacies, athletes, and prodigies. You rarely hear of a deferred acceptance. I think the cdeferred are rarely looked at but for a few. Make your child stand out in RD. Especially awesome senior grades.

Anonymous wrote:Why not focus on the school with the best fit rather than the most prestigious school? Your thinking is flawed.

As is 99% of DCUM

If he is in the top 10% with >1500 sats and outstanding ecs at a top private apply SCEA To hYPS. If not, apply ED to Ivy/Ivy+ schools that he likes most. If deferred, apply ED II to schools like UChicago.

Actually I think the PP was right on target and shared info that the OP might need to consider. Brown is well-known to be legacy heavy and Brown parents are very happy about that. I know no one who has legacy standing who pretends it doesn't matter. The first time parents with high stats kids, who aren't clued in to hooks and buy the lottery line, are in poor position to be good sounding boards through the process. The fact that our niece got into Yale RD is irreverent to the question of how to approach the early application decision.

Anonymous wrote:My kid was deferred ED1 from Brown after a significantly lower-ranked legacy at her school was admitted but was accepted to Pomona ED2. My advice - find an ED2 school that you like just as much.

This sort of thinking isn't helpful at all. Be happy for the other student that was admitted.....you don't have any idea why she got in over your child yet you're assuming it is 100% due to her legacy status. My niece was a double legacy at Brown and was denied ED but was admitted to Yale RD. Admissions is such a crap shoot that you should give up on the idea of assuming you know anything at all about why one child got in over another....it's petty and unkind.

My kid was deferred ED1 from Brown after a significantly lower-ranked legacy at her school was admitted but was accepted to Pomona ED2. My advice - find an ED2 school that you like just as much.

I've been reading this forum a while, and what I've noticed is that the "season" starts with questions like the one posted by the OP eg something along the lines of "Harvard or Yale?" As the year progresses and the deferrals come in, it has morphed into "What does your kid do if they don't get in anywhere?"

One of the most interesting articles I read was about how UPenn reads its applications, looking at all apps from a particular high school side by side. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2017/06/12/some-colleges-adopt-new-committee-based-system-doing-first-review That means your son will be compared with all his classmates who might have URM status, or be a nationally ranked water polo player, or be a science fair super star, or has a relative who is a major donor/VIP, or who writes better essays than your kid or is a double legacy or is a prodigy......

What my suggestion would be is to apply where he wants regarding elite schools, but at the same time apply early action to other match public universities/international universities that will get back to him BEFORE the end of December regular decision deadlines. That way, hopefully he has an acceptance before the end of December, letting him know he is going somewhere. Note, that UVA didn't send out EA acceptances until later in January.

If you go onto College Confidential, you can get a reality check by reading the amazing stats of the kids who were rejected or deferred by IVy leageue schools.

Why not focus on the school with the best fit rather than the most prestigious school? Your thinking is flawed.

Anonymous wrote:How can I gauge if DS is competitive enough that he can shoot for his top HYPS choice early or whether he should play it safer and apply to the ED ivy/ivy-equivalent he prefers most? What is a rough cutoff in terms of grades, stats, accomplishments that would determine which strategy makes more sense? I know it is a kind of abstract question but I m confused as to which is the best way to go. He is a very competitive student near the top of his class but he is not a prodigy or anything. He is white, upper-middle class and goes to an ivy feeder prep school.

OP my D went through a similar decision making process. With how difficult it is to get into HYPS with their single digit admission rates, its a real world exercise in game theory. Do you apply SCEA to somewhere you have less than 10% chance (after you account for athletic, legacy and hook admits) or apply to somewhere your child would be happy at but have a 30% chance ED? My D chose early action at HYPS rather than ED as a legacy at another top school and got deferred and then rejected from her top RD choices. She is now happy at UVA so it worked out for her in the end but I wonder if she had it to do over again whether she'd make the same choice.

By picking the school he likes the best. This is not hard.

You ask his college counselor.

Do you not trust the guidance of his elite prep school?

How can I gauge if DS is competitive enough that he can shoot for his top HYPS choice early or whether he should play it safer and apply to the ED ivy/ivy-equivalent he prefers most? What is a rough cutoff in terms of grades, stats, accomplishments that would determine which strategy makes more sense? I know it is a kind of abstract question but I m confused as to which is the best way to go. He is a very competitive student near the top of his class but he is not a prodigy or anything. He is white, upper-middle class and goes to an ivy feeder prep school.