Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is udub?

Washington

Just say UW.

Wisconsin is UW-Madison.

Anonymous wrote:I would be mortified if I were a kid and parents of my classmates were this invested in my college results.

+1. It is creepy. I also cringe whenever I hear another mother say "we applied". No. Your child applied, you're just the walking credit card paying the application fee. Let your child breathe. Let your child have his or her own moment without making it all about you and your unbecoming sense of competitiveness as the parent.

THIS is why you want to apply to a lot of colleges: because there's a lot of "noise" in the admissions process, such that students who are rejected at less selective colleges get accepted to more selective schools. When admissions are more like a lottery and less based on objective standards (GPA, SAT, etc), then it pays to have more tickets.

This isn't to say that SAT/GPA should be the only factors. Nor is it to say that colleges don't have their own specific needs.

But due to grade inflation, SAT/GPA provide colleges with much less usable information than they used to. Which means they're selecting more on subjective factors. That's not necessarily wrong, but to the applicant it's not predictable. You don't know if they need a flute player; you don't know whether your AO, out of all others, will like or dislike your essay. When it's not predictable, it pays to apply to more colleges.

Anonymous wrote:Cornell is a lot more difficult. STA sends only about 9 to Cornell in 5 years, but 35 to Chicago. Cornell is a lot bigger than Chicago.

+1000
Cornell is considered a MUCH bigger step up than Chicago in terms of selectivity. Obviously, this is HS-specific.

Cornell is a lot more difficult. STA sends only about 9 to Cornell in 5 years, but 35 to Chicago. Cornell is a lot bigger than Chicago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those results are not surprising. Why do they surprise you?

Because UChicago's RD acceptance rate is maybe 1% (or less) while Vanderbilt's acceptance rate for ED is a lot higher than that. Same with UMich/UW (should have said OOS) - the acceptance rates are wildly different with UMich is a lot harder than UW.

Ha. Says the numbers. If you come from the right private school in a metropolitan area or large suburb, Chicago's acceptance rate is much higher. Like 50%.

Not for RD. For ED maybe, but same thing could be said for Cornell, Northwestern, etc.

I can’t speak for Cornell, but this is absolutely not the case with Northwestern. NU’s ED admit rate is slightly better (20%), but not comparable to Chicago.

Cornell has shrunk ED in recent years….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those results are not surprising. Why do they surprise you?

Because UChicago's RD acceptance rate is maybe 1% (or less) while Vanderbilt's acceptance rate for ED is a lot higher than that. Same with UMich/UW (should have said OOS) - the acceptance rates are wildly different with UMich is a lot harder than UW.

Ha. Says the numbers. If you come from the right private school in a metropolitan area or large suburb, Chicago's acceptance rate is much higher. Like 50%.

Not for RD. For ED maybe, but same thing could be said for Cornell, Northwestern, etc.

I can’t speak for Cornell, but this is absolutely not the case with Northwestern. NU’s ED admit rate is slightly better (20%), but not comparable to Chicago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those results are not surprising. Why do they surprise you?

Because UChicago's RD acceptance rate is maybe 1% (or less) while Vanderbilt's acceptance rate for ED is a lot higher than that. Same with UMich/UW (should have said OOS) - the acceptance rates are wildly different with UMich is a lot harder than UW.

Ha. Says the numbers. If you come from the right private school in a metropolitan area or large suburb, Chicago's acceptance rate is much higher. Like 50%.

Not for RD. For ED maybe, but same thing could be said for Cornell, Northwestern, etc.

Chicago often asked you converting to ED2, or an informal binding arrangement through private school counselor (making sure the kid withdraw other applications).

Exactly. Making it probably closer to a 60% acceptance rate from the right high school. As long as they are sure they'll get the cash.

Major matters at all PUBLIC FLAGSHIPS - including Washington.

Same for Michigan, Wisconsin btw. When people have trouble explaining results, but forget to ask about the major it's clear they are newbies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You missing the part about fit and institutional priorities

And straight up randomness.

Once a kid passes all the hurdles at a highly selective school, they join a pool of possible admits that includes 3-5 times the number of kids that school can accept.

At that point, different schools use different criteria to choose kids: some known to us, some unknown; some consistent year-to-year, some not; some grounded in analytics, some seemingly random.

When you’re talking about schools like the ones OP listed, the odds are very low and there’s very little predictability.

To be, it always feels like a happy surprise when kids get in … and sadly, not at all a surprise when they don’t.

OP - You should listen to Admissions Beat today (Dartmouth podcast). It will help explain "surprising" results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those results are not surprising. Why do they surprise you?

Because UChicago's RD acceptance rate is maybe 1% (or less) while Vanderbilt's acceptance rate for ED is a lot higher than that. Same with UMich/UW (should have said OOS) - the acceptance rates are wildly different with UMich is a lot harder than UW.

Ha. Says the numbers. If you come from the right private school in a metropolitan area or large suburb, Chicago's acceptance rate is much higher. Like 50%.

Not for RD. For ED maybe, but same thing could be said for Cornell, Northwestern, etc.

Chicago often asked you converting to ED2, or an informal binding arrangement through private school counselor (making sure the kid withdraw other applications).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those results are not surprising. Why do they surprise you?

Because UChicago's RD acceptance rate is maybe 1% (or less) while Vanderbilt's acceptance rate for ED is a lot higher than that. Same with UMich/UW (should have said OOS) - the acceptance rates are wildly different with UMich is a lot harder than UW.

Ha. Says the numbers. If you come from the right private school in a metropolitan area or large suburb, Chicago's acceptance rate is much higher. Like 50%.

Not for RD. For ED maybe, but same thing could be said for Cornell, Northwestern, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is udub?

Washington

Aha. Thx. If for CS, Washington very highly ranked

Anonymous wrote:What is udub?

Washington

Anonymous wrote:U Dub is an excellent school and a really, really hard admit OOS.

It’s a safety at our school as well.