Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

What kinds of HS is he from and is he unhooked except strong academics? Willing to share GPA and score ranges? Thx

Stem major, UW GPA 3.97, weighted 4.5 (brought down because took extra unweighted art classes beyond required years and 2 A-'s, none in Jr year), 1550 SAT, (not super scored but don't know that matters) and 5's on all APs at a private that makes kids take tests for all AP's.
My kid got lucky and I know that, the odds are not favorable regardless of stats. However, I have a theory which is that last year admissions were less holistic, and that there were applicants who were hard to reject because of threats of further litigation/this administration watching them. My guess at numbers is that there are 20k kids with 1550+ SAT scores and probably half of them are committed after ED, leaving say 10-12k in RD spread across the top schools so say 1,000 applicants at each school with that score? Of those how many also have all 5's on the AP's and never a B? I am sure a pretty good chunk but still a pool of competitors in the hundreds not the tens of thousands and that group has a higher percentage acceptance rate than those with lower stats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is why i want them to ed, we will be full pay no matter what, and due to this why not use to our advantage

There is also a clear full pay advantage on the waitlist(I understand the torture of having it go on even longer but I know a kid who was going to UCSD and ended up at Stanford off the WL this year) and possibly in RD as well.

I don't doubt that this happened, but it is extremely unlikely that someone gets off of the waitlist at places like Stanford - the yield rate is crazy high and there are many people on the WL. For each of these kids who win the lottery, there are thousands for whom the WL is just a soft rejection. In other words, the chances of this are low - even lower than getting in RD.

Don't count on any WL if you are female. Almost all of the WL movement we saw last year was male.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is why i want them to ed, we will be full pay no matter what, and due to this why not use to our advantage

There is also a clear full pay advantage on the waitlist(I understand the torture of having it go on even longer but I know a kid who was going to UCSD and ended up at Stanford off the WL this year) and possibly in RD as well.

I don't doubt that this happened, but it is extremely unlikely that someone gets off of the waitlist at places like Stanford - the yield rate is crazy high and there are many people on the WL. For each of these kids who win the lottery, there are thousands for whom the WL is just a soft rejection. In other words, the chances of this are low - even lower than getting in RD.

DD is ED'ing to UVA but it's totally her decision. We are in-state and the money saved there (vsk private or OOS) could be put towards the grad school that she is pretty sure she wants. She loved the campus. And she feels strongly that she wants the whole process over as soon as possible to "enjoy" the rest of senior year.

We have told her multiple times she can EA instead but she is insistent. She may feel differently if it doesn't work out in her favor, but that's where she is right now. Based on the scatter plot she has a very strong shot from her HS.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the high stats poster from a few posts down. I'd also like to know the answer to this question. Does ED matter for UVA or other in-state flagships when student is at the top of scattergram stats?

I can't prove it but I think it does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

What major?

found the PP results by searching here - pasted below. link at end.



First off good luck to you and your student-its tough, there just aren't enough spots and you have no way of knowing how many spots are really available (legacies+athletes+institutional priorities)

My son: Chem Major, 1540 SAT (1 take), 3.98/4.46 GPA, Max rigor 10 AP's (all 5's) and the rest honors/Advanced topic, StuCo all 4 years (inc ASB Pres), national awards for debate, volunteer math/science tutor for First Gen kids, theater (lead roles) and music (competition a cappella team) and research submitted for publication.

He didn't ED-really hated the idea of binding to a school and never knowing what his choices might have been.

Accepted: Cal, Columbia (he is attending), Rice, Williams, Amherst, UMich (EA), UVA (EA) Lehigh, UCSD
Waitlisted: Brown, UCLA, Tulane, CMU, UChicago
Denied: Harvard, Duke, Yale, Tufts

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/180/1286168.page#30551370
(this post is actually SUPER helpful. just found it.)

This kid has national awards, so fills a "bucket" when AO are looking for talent/ability (so the kid gets extra points there).....not similar to the OP.

Very helpful older post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is why i want them to ed, we will be full pay no matter what, and due to this why not use to our advantage

then you should. its a huge miss on your part.

RD is a bloodbath for oversubscribed majors at T20 (engineering, CS, business, and increasingly some majors like math/bio/pre-med).

+1
DC with similar stats and no hook ended up getting deferred or rejected by top schools at RD

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

What major?

found the PP results by searching here - pasted below. link at end.



First off good luck to you and your student-its tough, there just aren't enough spots and you have no way of knowing how many spots are really available (legacies+athletes+institutional priorities)

My son: Chem Major, 1540 SAT (1 take), 3.98/4.46 GPA, Max rigor 10 AP's (all 5's) and the rest honors/Advanced topic, StuCo all 4 years (inc ASB Pres), national awards for debate, volunteer math/science tutor for First Gen kids, theater (lead roles) and music (competition a cappella team) and research submitted for publication.

He didn't ED-really hated the idea of binding to a school and never knowing what his choices might have been.

Accepted: Cal, Columbia (he is attending), Rice, Williams, Amherst, UMich (EA), UVA (EA) Lehigh, UCSD
Waitlisted: Brown, UCLA, Tulane, CMU, UChicago
Denied: Harvard, Duke, Yale, Tufts

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/180/1286168.page#30551370
(this post is actually SUPER helpful. just found it.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

This is great for your kid but people should not expect this kind of result in RD. This would be a true unicorn situation.

yes the Rice/Williams/Amherst/public OOS flagship mom is a frequent poster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

This is great for your kid but people should not expect this kind of result in RD. This would be a true unicorn situation.

The PP posts a LOT about her kid....think it was a niche major? non-STEM?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

This is great for your kid but people should not expect this kind of result in RD. This would be a true unicorn situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

What major?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

What kinds of HS is he from and is he unhooked except strong academics? Willing to share GPA and score ranges? Thx

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.

thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was very similar unhooked high stats kid but with stronger EC's (leadership, couple of national awards). He did not want to ED, had a pretty allergic reaction to it. The discussions around this with him were the most interesting of the college process. Turns out my kid has a totally different risk profile (at least at this age) than his parents. He valued regret minimization (i.e. never knowing what could have been and feeling that he settled) over risk minimization of ED and getting in to say UChicago.
I think the kid has to make the final call but have a serious discussion with them using the negative outcomes of each path, i.e. you get in to your ED but then your friend with lower stats gets in RD to your real dream school or you don't ED and then everyone else gets in and is done, your spend 4 more months in limbo and end up at a school no better than where you probably could have gotten in ED?

spot on!--you are absolutely right regret vs maximization--where did he end up? ps kid is president of two stem clubs that are very active, but no national awards

He ended up at an Ivy, also got into to Rice, Williams, Amherst, Cal, UCLA, UMich Honors, UVA so he was super happy he didn't ED. However, Jan-March were pretty painful, especially the pressure to EDII. That was worse than the EDI decision frankly, the colleges nag them to convert to it, the school counselors pressure them and they have friends who are basically able to fully check out on 2nd semester senior year while they are still totally tortured by it.
Look hard at your schools data with him in thinking through this.