Anonymous wrote:How about Colgate or Holy Cross. Bowdoin and Midd are smaller. HC has powerhouse alumni network and only 1 hour into Boston.

what's wrong with the list the kid has?

Anonymous wrote:I’ll find a post from the research I did that showed which schools care most about extracurriculars and national level achievement. It’s not Dartmouth.

Sorry, meant "Leave the non-Midd top SLACs to RD, and think about other options."

Anonymous wrote:How does 3.8 compare with others at his school?

The reason I am asking is that at our school, we also see a similar pattern with Dartmouth: the highest stats/top of class kids don’t go there. The ones who are accepted have lower GPA than the top 10 percent and are not athletes or legacies either. (The school is small enough that one knows the kids).

OP the naviance from our school on Dartmouth is very clear: they want kids with a 3.9-3.95. there are zero green checks below 3.9. the yield numbers are terrible - probably bcs a lot of the kids with a 3.9-3.95 have offers from HYPSM. we do send a couple athletes there from time to time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people who LOL at things like this are the same people who have zero idea what private feeders in places like nyc deliver for their students.

This - OP did you see the “levels” post from February? It was good

Here is that thread.
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1255948.page

Anonymous wrote:full pay male, humanities, 1530 SAT

hoping for WASP, Midd, Dartmouth, Bowdoin

Our Naviance is not very telling, except for Dartmouth. They seem to really lean on GPA so that's out.

I can discount obvious outliers (mostly athletes), but does anyone know which of the above SLACs will care more about great LOR and compelling essays over ECs? He has really strong in-school ECs but not much out of school. But school leadership, for sure.

There are the typical humanities -- English, history, and philosophy -- and there are the others where more of a bump can be expected. Which type are we talking about? I think SLACs have been a little slower to get on the humanities bump bandwagon than universities and you will probably have better luck outside the SLAC world.

Yes, you can ED to Midd with a good chance of acceptance, but an ED1 to WAS or Bowdoin is probably a waste -- an ED to Dartmouth is still probably more desirable than those, meaning if you think Dartmouth is undesirable, all of these are.

Leave the non-Midd top SLACs to ED, and think about other options.

Such as: apply Midd ED2 or ED2, incorporate some mid-size unis into the process, apply both ED1 and ED2 somewhere, and if still around during RD time maybe WAS or Bowdoin will take you.

I’ll find a post from the research I did that showed which schools care most about extracurriculars and national level achievement. It’s not Dartmouth.

How about Colgate or Holy Cross. Bowdoin and Midd are smaller. HC has powerhouse alumni network and only 1 hour into Boston.

Anonymous wrote:She doesn't know where her school feeds. The only data she has is for Dartmouth, and it's not encouraging. She needs to do her homework in her CCO, not on this board.

OP That's not what I said. I can see the data. And for Dartmouth, they clearly admit by GPA from our school. At the WASP schools, they take accept and deny 3.8 kids at basically the same rate. Same with 3.9. (3..95 gets you in everywhere, but we have 1-2 students a year with that GPA). 3.7something sometimes works, usually not.

So, my question was: Does anyone know which is the schools cares more about ECs and which care more about essays and LORs. My kid has had full summers - NSLI one summer and working paid jobs others - but not especially compelling for his major. The in-school stuff plus LOR will help with that a lot.

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If he's so smart, hasn't he read all the professors' web pages and looked at what courses and clubs and research programs and summer programs, etc, are offered at each college, and figured out which is his first and second choice? He should know what he would write in his essay that would convey what he would contribute to the school's scholarship and community. DCUM cannot answer this for you.

I am genuinely puzzled by all these brilliant, rich, private schoool kids who don't bother to do their own research and figure out which colleges appeal to them and why.

Kindly, I don't expect that would you understand. Successful private school students that come from highly rigorous schools obviously have ideas about where they'd like to go to schools, but most of them are also working insane hours each day with school, sports, extracurricular, job, internship, etc. commitments. The parents that send their kids to these schools generally are more involved, or place a higher value on academics, therefore they will do their own research, too. A person who's child is lower energy and from a less demanding school would likely not understand these things. DP

How does 3.8 compare with others at his school?

The reason I am asking is that at our school, we also see a similar pattern with Dartmouth: the highest stats/top of class kids don’t go there. The ones who are accepted have lower GPA than the top 10 percent and are not athletes or legacies either. (The school is small enough that one knows the kids).

Anonymous wrote:people who LOL at things like this are the same people who have zero idea what private feeders in places like nyc deliver for their students.

This - OP did you see the “levels” post from February? It was good

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If he's so smart, hasn't he read all the professors' web pages and looked at what courses and clubs and research programs and summer programs, etc, are offered at each college, and figured out which is his first and second choice? He should know what he would write in his essay that would convey what he would contribute to the school's scholarship and community. DCUM cannot answer this for you.

I am genuinely puzzled by all these brilliant, rich, private schoool kids who don't bother to do their own research and figure out which colleges appeal to them and why.

He knows what appeals to him: highly ranked and small. You mean there's more to it than that?

My non-DMV 3.8uw private in niche non-stem got into multiple T20 in RD last year. Key was niche major. Is your kid’s major philosophy or classics or possibly English? With some ECs as evidence? If so, a lot is possible.

ED to 1st choice. Study what those schools are looking for.

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If he's so smart, hasn't he read all the professors' web pages and looked at what courses and clubs and research programs and summer programs, etc, are offered at each college, and figured out which is his first and second choice? He should know what he would write in his essay that would convey what he would contribute to the school's scholarship and community. DCUM cannot answer this for you.

I am genuinely puzzled by all these brilliant, rich, private schoool kids who don't bother to do their own research and figure out which colleges appeal to them and why.

wrong thread?

She doesn't know where her school feeds. The only data she has is for Dartmouth, and it's not encouraging. She needs to do her homework in her CCO, not on this board.