Anonymous
09/14/2025 15:48
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:Some of these are on my kid’s list. Hopefully they don’t get a surge in applicants this year from this book! (His criteria is schools that have high acceptance rates, good music programs, and where he could get some merit if it’s a private school).
SUNY Potsdam
SUNY Fredonia
That is all that he needs to know.
Anonymous
09/14/2025 15:09
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:Book is great so far ... I'm 75% through it.
He makes the case for prioritizing value and fit (over prestige/rankings) and incorporates lots of data and student anecdotes.
How in the world is a place like Ithaca college a good value?
Anonymous
09/14/2025 14:13
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:People here are horrible. I'm a Harvard grad, my husband is U Penn. While my son is a great kid, he is not going to make either of those schools - he's a likely or target at somewhere like UIUC, which is discussed in the book and would be a potential good fit for him. Does that mean he's worthless as a person, by DCUM?
Not to flagship grads like me. My grandpa was a UIUC PhD with a distinguished engineering career in defense and health care R&D. He met my grandma there. She was the daughter of a Hopkins grad who moved to Urbana to be a medical professor at UIUC. Flagships are full of talent. I went to flagships and my oldest is at my grad alma mater flagship. Just for laughs....
https://www.reddit.com/r/Harvard/comments/1g7jz5k/the_michigan_of_the_east/
Anonymous
09/14/2025 14:01
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This just looks like a list of well known, reputable schools kids attend from our local APS high school after shooting their shot ag a bunch of the highest ranked schools and not getting in.
Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? The book strikes me as a crash course on what people from high-performing areas who have been following admissions closely for the past several years already know. But isn’t that useful? Many of us have spouses, parents, or even school counselors who are out of the loop on these developments. The book is a much more efficient way to convey that information than reading college confidential, Reddit, and/or the DCUM college board for several cycles.
Agreed. So many parents and kids are not following any clued-in sources.
In my area, anyone with a 3.5 can get into our local school on that list. So people go in droves. But sometimes I wonder if their parents could do a better job of helping their kids think critically about majors and about having a few options vs. just one.
Anonymous
09/14/2025 13:57
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This just looks like a list of well known, reputable schools kids attend from our local APS high school after shooting their shot ag a bunch of the highest ranked schools and not getting in.
Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? The book strikes me as a crash course on what people from high-performing areas who have been following admissions closely for the past several years already know. But isn’t that useful? Many of us have spouses, parents, or even school counselors who are out of the loop on these developments. The book is a much more efficient way to convey that information than reading college confidential, Reddit, and/or the DCUM college board for several cycles.
I am sure the author uses DCUM. He should do a AMA here.
Anonymous
09/14/2025 10:18
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:This just looks like a list of well known, reputable schools kids attend from our local APS high school after shooting their shot ag a bunch of the highest ranked schools and not getting in.
Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? The book strikes me as a crash course on what people from high-performing areas who have been following admissions closely for the past several years already know. But isn’t that useful? Many of us have spouses, parents, or even school counselors who are out of the loop on these developments. The book is a much more efficient way to convey that information than reading college confidential, Reddit, and/or the DCUM college board for several cycles.
Anonymous
09/14/2025 10:15
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:How is UCSD on this list? It is ranked #29 in US News — ahead of NYU, U Florida, Georgia Tech, UT Austin, Boston College.
Probably for the same reason NYU, Florida, GA Tech, UT and Boston College aren't on this list.
Anonymous
09/14/2025 10:07
Subject: New "Dream Schools" from Selingo's new book ...
Anonymous wrote:How is UCSD on this list? It is ranked #29 in US News — ahead of NYU, U Florida, Georgia Tech, UT Austin, Boston College.
My oldest goes there and the year she was admitted they had a 32% acceptance rate from out of state. So easier to get into than the other places you mention. The list is based in part on higher acceptance rates then the campuses we talk about here all the time.