Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 08:03     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you are in Ivy or Ivy+ territory but everything else is on the table. It’s not all doom and gloom. Crafting a cohesive application with solid essays is key. What schools do they like? ED1 and ED2 if needed will be very helpful as well. You got this!!


Not true. If ED and with well defined/explained narrative, northwestern and Hopkins are possible.


Northwestern is looking for multiple spikes, not just top stats.

LOL
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 06:30     Subject: Re:Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
OP:

-Could you please confirm if you’re from VA?

-What’s the plans for the summer? It’s not too late to add some ECs this summer through the senior year.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 23:58     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:“ There is absolutely no need to ED if you are in state with these stats. Why do people keep saying this?”

You don’t “need” to but ED gets you an answer in December and if it’s admission then you’re done. EA doesn’t give you an answer until February and that is after the RD deadline for a lot of other schools so you have a lot of other applications you have to do “just in case”.


Obviously, but that locks you into UVA. Why not apply EA to UVA and then throw in a few applications to reaches in RD?
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 23:50     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
“ There is absolutely no need to ED if you are in state with these stats. Why do people keep saying this?”

You don’t “need” to but ED gets you an answer in December and if it’s admission then you’re done. EA doesn’t give you an answer until February and that is after the RD deadline for a lot of other schools so you have a lot of other applications you have to do “just in case”.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 17:59     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:DC goes to a good private in the DMV (not a "Big 5" according to DCUM , but probably one tier below). We recently started working with an independent counselor and were told his ECs are average - lesson learned too late- he's our eldest and being expats, we were not very familiar with the college application landscape in the US where it is increasingly common to hire such counselors at the beginning of freshman year.

DC is in the Top 15% of the class, max rigor in math, 4.0 unweighted GPA, 1550 SAT.

ECs: 2 somewhat competitive but pay-to-play pre college programs related to the intended major (done purely because they were interested in the subjects). School orchestra. School newspaper. Varsity sports, but not recruited athlete. Independent research (but not with a university professor). president of a school club related to their intended major. short unpaid internship in their intended major.

We initially thought these ECs were good, but the independent counselor said that ECs like that do not make DC stand out. Apparently, the research should have been done with a university professor, the internship should have been longer and had a bigger impact, the pay to pay programs scream privilege, presidents of a school club are a dime a dozen at competitive colleges, school orchestra does not carry much weight if the student wasn't part of their county or state youth orchestra, varsity sports don't carry weight if the student isn't a recruited athlete ...

Honestly, the outlook the IC gave us was depressing ... we thought DC was in a strong position. We aren't shooting for ivies but hoping for a T30. We'd be full pay.
If you had a kid with a similar profile, where did they end up?


PUBLIC W SCHOOL
Michigan
Stanford
Georgia Tech
MIT
UMD


Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 17:45     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:
ECs: 2 somewhat competitive but pay-to-play pre college programs related to the intended major (done purely because they were interested in the subjects). School orchestra. School newspaper. Varsity sports, but not recruited athlete. Independent research (but not with a university professor). president of a school club related to their intended major. short unpaid internship in their intended major.

The only T20 school that does not seem to care as much about ECs is Rice. Have you considered it?

Pay to play programs are a complete waste of time for competitive college admissions. Varsity sports, newspaper, orchestra, all of that has been discussed to death on dcum. Unless the kid is being recruited or has achieved something truly exceptional, those activities usually carry very little weight. Research also seems to be out of fashion unless with some publication.

Mid ECs may be fine for kids at truly top tier private schools. But at your private, severe grade inflation makes it hard for any student to stand out. I also doubt colleges view the rigor from a tier down school the same way they view rigor from the top privates.

Good luck.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 14:59     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you are in Ivy or Ivy+ territory but everything else is on the table. It’s not all doom and gloom. Crafting a cohesive application with solid essays is key. What schools do they like? ED1 and ED2 if needed will be very helpful as well. You got this!!


Not true. If ED and with well defined/explained narrative, northwestern and Hopkins are possible.


Northwestern is looking for multiple spikes, not just top stats.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 13:48     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you are in Ivy or Ivy+ territory but everything else is on the table. It’s not all doom and gloom. Crafting a cohesive application with solid essays is key. What schools do they like? ED1 and ED2 if needed will be very helpful as well. You got this!!


Not true. If ED and with well defined/explained narrative, northwestern and Hopkins are possible.


1550 is barely enough (literally mid) for JHU for an unhooked kid. If only math is top rigor and science course are not (a few PPs pointed out that wasn't clear), then this applicant's stats are not high enough for JHU for an unhooked/non-feeder school kid.



A 1550 scorer will be in the minority at Johns Hopkins. But still, your point remains that OP sounds like their child might be hovering around the top 10% of a second tier private with a 1550 and 4.0 uw max rigor. But with deficient EC's they're looking at UVA as a reach with VaTech as a target.


OPs kid does not have deficient ECs for UVA ED.

They are exactly the sort of ECs that most UVA ED admits have. UVA is a target not a reach for OPs DC assuming the kid is in Virginia and gets the UVA Virginia preference.


My private school DC was admitted to UVA in EA with similar stats (35 ACT) and so were many classmates. I would say they are all roughly in the top 10% of class. There is absolutely no need to ED if you are in state with these stats. Why do people keep saying this?



Is OP in VA?
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 12:55     Subject: Re:Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
If OP is from VA, then UVA is indeed a target (I agree there’s no need to ED). UVA is already T30, so you can take risk in applying early to a T10-20.

If they’re from MD, then UMD is a high safety. But it’s not T30.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 12:46     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Many kids with these stats at Carleton
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 12:43     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
OP should at least disclose how many kids go to T20 each year from their school. The results are mostly dependent on the school.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 12:39     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you are in Ivy or Ivy+ territory but everything else is on the table. It’s not all doom and gloom. Crafting a cohesive application with solid essays is key. What schools do they like? ED1 and ED2 if needed will be very helpful as well. You got this!!


Not true. If ED and with well defined/explained narrative, northwestern and Hopkins are possible.


1550 is barely enough (literally mid) for JHU for an unhooked kid. If only math is top rigor and science course are not (a few PPs pointed out that wasn't clear), then this applicant's stats are not high enough for JHU for an unhooked/non-feeder school kid.



A 1550 scorer will be in the minority at Johns Hopkins. But still, your point remains that OP sounds like their child might be hovering around the top 10% of a second tier private with a 1550 and 4.0 uw max rigor. But with deficient EC's they're looking at UVA as a reach with VaTech as a target.


OPs kid does not have deficient ECs for UVA ED.

They are exactly the sort of ECs that most UVA ED admits have. UVA is a target not a reach for OPs DC assuming the kid is in Virginia and gets the UVA Virginia preference.


My private school DC was admitted to UVA in EA with similar stats (35 ACT) and so were many classmates. I would say they are all roughly in the top 10% of class. There is absolutely no need to ED if you are in state with these stats. Why do people keep saying this?

Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 12:29     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you are in Ivy or Ivy+ territory but everything else is on the table. It’s not all doom and gloom. Crafting a cohesive application with solid essays is key. What schools do they like? ED1 and ED2 if needed will be very helpful as well. You got this!!


Not true. If ED and with well defined/explained narrative, northwestern and Hopkins are possible.


1550 is barely enough (literally mid) for JHU for an unhooked kid. If only math is top rigor and science course are not (a few PPs pointed out that wasn't clear), then this applicant's stats are not high enough for JHU for an unhooked/non-feeder school kid.



A 1550 scorer will be in the minority at Johns Hopkins. But still, your point remains that OP sounds like their child might be hovering around the top 10% of a second tier private with a 1550 and 4.0 uw max rigor. But with deficient EC's they're looking at UVA as a reach with VaTech as a target.


OPs kid does not have deficient ECs for UVA ED.

They are exactly the sort of ECs that most UVA ED admits have. UVA is a target not a reach for OPs DC assuming the kid is in Virginia and gets the UVA Virginia preference.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 11:19     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Anonymous wrote:There hasn’t been any worthwhile advice in this thread since page 5. Too many posters with no experience with private school matriculation.


Some of us literally have had kids applying to colleges from private high schools and witnessed the outcomes of their classmates.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2026 11:17     Subject: Where did your high stats/ max rigor but OK ECs student end up?
Look at the data from your high school. Your independent counselor should have told you that. Sit down with the counselor employed by the school and figure out where similar kids (class rank) from last year went.

Isn't this an ED Chicago kid? Wash U?