Anonymous wrote:
As someone with a high-stats/topmathtrack/unhooked kid who will be facing this soon, this is precisely what I want. One would assume that it is in the school's and the counselors' interest to place as many students as highly as possible; what might be affected by the various hooks and ladders people bring to the process is which schools a kid like mine would have the best shot at. "Penn is going to be hard to ED this year, maybe place your bet on X or Y" and so on is all one can ask for. I mean, what benefit would they derive from not passing that info along? My assumption is that the parents are likely to be the stubborn ones in these scenarios, insisting on EDing a particular school despite the odds being clearly laid out by a counselor?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Do you think this is primarily a consequence of the school not providing colleges with information on how hard comparatively those classes are (thus, explaining the unweighted grades), or colleges not caring? Asking for a friend.

It's probably because the ones getting in are the legacy applicants and they are not necessarily the ones in the most advanced classes. So the top student (in top math track, etc) who applies to Penn ED from Sidwell is not getting in when 12 other kids have applied and 6 of them are legacy. Penn is going
to take the very good but not superstar legacy kid every.single.time. That's how the world works at these schools.

That’s what counselors are for, they should be able to recognize when a student fits what a university is looking for and help the kid get into the best spot.

yeah, but parents don't want to hear the reality---the reality being that their kid may be the TOP academic kid but won't be getting into the Ivys because of who else is applying.

What you're suggesting is Sidwell telling a kid: "Hey, I know James has a 4.0 and has taken Math 1-4 but there are 15 legacies applying ED to Princeton and 4 are URM. The chance of him getting into Princeton are slim-to-none. Duke is also full this year (with legacies and URM). We suggest he ED to Georgia Tech instead.
Do you really think parents want to hear this or it's the school's responsibility to tell them this?

There are so many false premises in this hypothetical that it’s just ridiculous to even try to respond. Do you have a Sidwell senior with a 4.0 who went through Math 1-4? If not, you should just stop. At Sidwell, kids like that are unicorns.

Your converse premises about legacies and URM taking all the slots are also false.

Good Lord, you're getting hung up on the particulars of the hypothetical example that I pulled out of the air and missing the point. Legacies do get in over more qualified kids at Sidwell (and at NCS and STA and GDS and all across the MontCo high schools).

So say rockstar kid has a 3.7 and took advanced Math class XYZ (or whatever GPA or classes would mark a top academic student at Sidwel). Do parents really want to hear that that kid is going to be passed over in ED for legacy or URM kids and advised to apply elsewhere?

I'm the parent who isn't upset by the ED/EA outcomes people are claiming to top math/science kids had this year. But as a parent whose child will go through this in the future and whose child (and family) is not Ivy or bust focused (so far, child may not want to apply to any Ivies).... I definitely would appreciate it if during admissions a counselor tipped us off that based on what they were observing. I'm all for letting family/child determine their own choice (and risk) ultimately but it is definitely useful information to hear " I see your top ED choice is to X and that might be a big challenge, but I see you also really like Y and your ED chances may be better there". This is valuable....assuming, of course. that as the counselors still genuinely put same effort into each child's ultimate choice and are not playing favorites or trying to block students from competing when they genuinely want to take a shot.

As someone with a high-stats/topmathtrack/unhooked kid who will be facing this soon, this is precisely what I want. One would assume that it is in the school's and the counselors' interest to place as many students as highly as possible; what might be affected by the various hooks and ladders people bring to the process is which schools a kid like mine would have the best shot at. "Penn is going to be hard to ED this year, maybe place your bet on X or Y" and so on is all one can ask for. I mean, what benefit would they derive from not passing that info along? My assumption is that the parents are likely to be the stubborn ones in these scenarios, insisting on EDing a particular school despite the odds being clearly laid out by a counselor?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Do you think this is primarily a consequence of the school not providing colleges with information on how hard comparatively those classes are (thus, explaining the unweighted grades), or colleges not caring? Asking for a friend.

It's probably because the ones getting in are the legacy applicants and they are not necessarily the ones in the most advanced classes. So the top student (in top math track, etc) who applies to Penn ED from Sidwell is not getting in when 12 other kids have applied and 6 of them are legacy. Penn is going
to take the very good but not superstar legacy kid every.single.time. That's how the world works at these schools.

That’s what counselors are for, they should be able to recognize when a student fits what a university is looking for and help the kid get into the best spot.

yeah, but parents don't want to hear the reality---the reality being that their kid may be the TOP academic kid but won't be getting into the Ivys because of who else is applying.

What you're suggesting is Sidwell telling a kid: "Hey, I know James has a 4.0 and has taken Math 1-4 but there are 15 legacies applying ED to Princeton and 4 are URM. The chance of him getting into Princeton are slim-to-none. Duke is also full this year (with legacies and URM). We suggest he ED to Georgia Tech instead.
Do you really think parents want to hear this or it's the school's responsibility to tell them this?

There are so many false premises in this hypothetical that it’s just ridiculous to even try to respond. Do you have a Sidwell senior with a 4.0 who went through Math 1-4? If not, you should just stop. At Sidwell, kids like that are unicorns.

Your converse premises about legacies and URM taking all the slots are also false.

Good Lord, you're getting hung up on the particulars of the hypothetical example that I pulled out of the air and missing the point. Legacies do get in over more qualified kids at Sidwell (and at NCS and STA and GDS and all across the MontCo high schools).

So say rockstar kid has a 3.7 and took advanced Math class XYZ (or whatever GPA or classes would mark a top academic student at Sidwel). Do parents really want to hear that that kid is going to be passed over in ED for legacy or URM kids and advised to apply elsewhere?

I'm the parent who isn't upset by the ED/EA outcomes people are claiming to top math/science kids had this year. But as a parent whose child will go through this in the future and whose child (and family) is not Ivy or bust focused (so far, child may not want to apply to any Ivies).... I definitely would appreciate it if during admissions a counselor tipped us off that based on what they were observing. I'm all for letting family/child determine their own choice (and risk) ultimately but it is definitely useful information to hear " I see your top ED choice is to X and that might be a big challenge, but I see you also really like Y and your ED chances may be better there". This is valuable....assuming, of course. that as the counselors still genuinely put same effort into each child's ultimate choice and are not playing favorites or trying to block students from competing when they genuinely want to take a shot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Well, the kids I know who are in these classes are also excelling in English/Language/History ...so I am talking about the ones who are academically they are the top of the class.

“The kids I know...”

These kids are in high school. If you really know as much as you claim to know about them, you’re a frightening busybody. And even then, there’s still no way you know enough about the entire class to proclaim a small group as “the cream of the school.”

Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder to me....

Yeah, I don’t like mothers who arrogantly claim to know everything about a group of 120 kids and ignorantly proclaim some of them as “the best.” I try to be a bit more humble than that and embrace the SPICES. Some chip...

Step back - I'm not saying they are the best of the school - there are clearly many dimensions colleges are looking for and Sidwell does the same in it's admissions. What I'm saying these are the academic high-fliers at the school whose goal will more likely to be to get into one of the Uber competitive schools. There are other Sidwell kids who have this goal too but the % of these top math/top science track kids with this goal is likely higher than the % who have this goal among other kids at Sidwell. I suspect other students at Sidwell (not all) may have a more broad approach to admissions - and while they could also be Ivy material - they are happy to choose an SLAC instead.

Therefore if these top math/science track kids are predominantly applying Restricted Early to one of the HYPSM schools, there's a much higher chance that these kids are shut out in the ED cycle than other kids at Sidwell. That's it. No judging them to be better....but given their choice in courses and getting high grades across all disciplines, they are the top academic kids in the school. But that won't guarantee them Dec admission to HYPSM or other uber competitive programs.

But you keep referring to them as the top academic kids in the school. You have no way to know about that, and I think you're both wrong and exceedingly arrogant to say that.

Are you dense? The top math/science kids know who the top math/science kids are because they've been in small classes with them since 9th grade. Let's say the highest math level is honors algebra 2 in 9th grade. At my kid's school this is a cohort of 10 kids. They will go on to take honors pre-calc together in 10th grade. It's not like there is a stealth 9th grader who is taking honors algebra 2 in his own private section in 9th grade an no-one knows about him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Do you think this is primarily a consequence of the school not providing colleges with information on how hard comparatively those classes are (thus, explaining the unweighted grades), or colleges not caring? Asking for a friend.

It's probably because the ones getting in are the legacy applicants and they are not necessarily the ones in the most advanced classes. So the top student (in top math track, etc) who applies to Penn ED from Sidwell is not getting in when 12 other kids have applied and 6 of them are legacy. Penn is going
to take the very good but not superstar legacy kid every.single.time. That's how the world works at these schools.

That’s what counselors are for, they should be able to recognize when a student fits what a university is looking for and help the kid get into the best spot.

yeah, but parents don't want to hear the reality---the reality being that their kid may be the TOP academic kid but won't be getting into the Ivys because of who else is applying.

What you're suggesting is Sidwell telling a kid: "Hey, I know James has a 4.0 and has taken Math 1-4 but there are 15 legacies applying ED to Princeton and 4 are URM. The chance of him getting into Princeton are slim-to-none. Duke is also full this year (with legacies and URM). We suggest he ED to Georgia Tech instead.
Do you really think parents want to hear this or it's the school's responsibility to tell them this?

There are so many false premises in this hypothetical that it’s just ridiculous to even try to respond. Do you have a Sidwell senior with a 4.0 who went through Math 1-4? If not, you should just stop. At Sidwell, kids like that are unicorns.

Your converse premises about legacies and URM taking all the slots are also false.

Good Lord, you're getting hung up on the particulars of the hypothetical example that I pulled out of the air and missing the point. Legacies do get in over more qualified kids at Sidwell (and at NCS and STA and GDS and all across the MontCo high schools).

So say rockstar kid has a 3.7 and took advanced Math class XYZ (or whatever GPA or classes would mark a top academic student at Sidwel). Do parents really want to hear that that kid is going to be passed over in ED for legacy or URM kids and advised to apply elsewhere?

Completely agree on the ED front. DC probably would not have gotten in RD - pretty certain. College counselor was even nervous because he estimated the ED1 was a low reach and wasn't sure DC's ED2 would pan out if DC didn't go for it in ED1. Part of this is that DC had been pretty clear they wanted to be done in ED1 if at all possible, so perhaps more risk averse than others. (DC had a high and a medium reach on list and decided to go for low reach and apply to the other two in RD if it came to that.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Well, the kids I know who are in these classes are also excelling in English/Language/History ...so I am talking about the ones who are academically they are the top of the class.

“The kids I know...”

These kids are in high school. If you really know as much as you claim to know about them, you’re a frightening busybody. And even then, there’s still no way you know enough about the entire class to proclaim a small group as “the cream of the school.”

Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder to me....

Yeah, I don’t like mothers who arrogantly claim to know everything about a group of 120 kids and ignorantly proclaim some of them as “the best.” I try to be a bit more humble than that and embrace the SPICES. Some chip...

Step back - I'm not saying they are the best of the school - there are clearly many dimensions colleges are looking for and Sidwell does the same in it's admissions. What I'm saying these are the academic high-fliers at the school whose goal will more likely to be to get into one of the Uber competitive schools. There are other Sidwell kids who have this goal too but the % of these top math/top science track kids with this goal is likely higher than the % who have this goal among other kids at Sidwell. I suspect other students at Sidwell (not all) may have a more broad approach to admissions - and while they could also be Ivy material - they are happy to choose an SLAC instead.

Therefore if these top math/science track kids are predominantly applying Restricted Early to one of the HYPSM schools, there's a much higher chance that these kids are shut out in the ED cycle than other kids at Sidwell. That's it. No judging them to be better....but given their choice in courses and getting high grades across all disciplines, they are the top academic kids in the school. But that won't guarantee them Dec admission to HYPSM or other uber competitive programs.

But you keep referring to them as the top academic kids in the school. You have no way to know about that, and I think you're both wrong and exceedingly arrogant to say that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Well, the kids I know who are in these classes are also excelling in English/Language/History ...so I am talking about the ones who are academically they are the top of the class.

“The kids I know...”

These kids are in high school. If you really know as much as you claim to know about them, you’re a frightening busybody. And even then, there’s still no way you know enough about the entire class to proclaim a small group as “the cream of the school.”

Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder to me....

Yeah, I don’t like mothers who arrogantly claim to know everything about a group of 120 kids and ignorantly proclaim some of them as “the best.” I try to be a bit more humble than that and embrace the SPICES. Some chip...

Step back - I'm not saying they are the best of the school - there are clearly many dimensions colleges are looking for and Sidwell does the same in it's admissions. What I'm saying these are the academic high-fliers at the school whose goal will more likely to be to get into one of the Uber competitive schools. There are other Sidwell kids who have this goal too but the % of these top math/top science track kids with this goal is likely higher than the % who have this goal among other kids at Sidwell. I suspect other students at Sidwell (not all) may have a more broad approach to admissions - and while they could also be Ivy material - they are happy to choose an SLAC instead.

Therefore if these top math/science track kids are predominantly applying Restricted Early to one of the HYPSM schools, there's a much higher chance that these kids are shut out in the ED cycle than other kids at Sidwell. That's it. No judging them to be better....but given their choice in courses and getting high grades across all disciplines, they are the top academic kids in the school. But that won't guarantee them Dec admission to HYPSM or other uber competitive programs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Well, the kids I know who are in these classes are also excelling in English/Language/History ...so I am talking about the ones who are academically they are the top of the class.

“The kids I know...”

These kids are in high school. If you really know as much as you claim to know about them, you’re a frightening busybody. And even then, there’s still no way you know enough about the entire class to proclaim a small group as “the cream of the school.”

Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder to me....

Yeah, I don’t like mothers who arrogantly claim to know everything about a group of 120 kids and ignorantly proclaim some of them as “the best.” I try to be a bit more humble than that and embrace the SPICES. Some chip...

Anonymous wrote:What happened before 2020 is very different than what is happening now with respect to college admissions (which is all very different than the 1980's and 1990's when most people reading this went through the process) - as such, the current college guidance staffs are all adjusting themselves to this new paradigm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

what schools did they unsuccessfully apply to for EA/ED

It’s incredible that they would pretend to know which schools all of 60 kids have applied to and which they have been accepted to.

huh?
-It's all posted on social media by kids as soon as the results are out. Then they update their instagram heading: "Duke '26" or whatever. My kid in in 9th grade at a different Big3 and she and all her friends talk about where the seniors they know (and don't know) got in and where they didn't.
Granted, this is a bit nuts for a 9th grader to be thinking about but that is another conversation.
-also it sounds like the kids this poster is referring to is a group of about 15 in the highest math/science track and not a school-wide group of 60. Those 15 definitely know who got in and who did not get in.

Not everyone posts on social media like this at Sidwell. There was an Instagram with about 1/2 of that grade's college destination a few years ago - that wasn't until the end of the school year and I have never seen one since (but I may just not know what they named it). I know my kid wouldn't be posting all over social media for an EA/ED outcome and my kid would definitely not report it to us (parents) where others were applying/accepted/rejected. It's considered in poor taste in that friend group. (and in life!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Do you think this is primarily a consequence of the school not providing colleges with information on how hard comparatively those classes are (thus, explaining the unweighted grades), or colleges not caring? Asking for a friend.

It's probably because the ones getting in are the legacy applicants and they are not necessarily the ones in the most advanced classes. So the top student (in top math track, etc) who applies to Penn ED from Sidwell is not getting in when 12 other kids have applied and 6 of them are legacy. Penn is going
to take the very good but not superstar legacy kid every.single.time. That's how the world works at these schools.

That’s what counselors are for, they should be able to recognize when a student fits what a university is looking for and help the kid get into the best spot.

yeah, but parents don't want to hear the reality---the reality being that their kid may be the TOP academic kid but won't be getting into the Ivys because of who else is applying.

What you're suggesting is Sidwell telling a kid: "Hey, I know James has a 4.0 and has taken Math 1-4 but there are 15 legacies applying ED to Princeton and 4 are URM. The chance of him getting into Princeton are slim-to-none. Duke is also full this year (with legacies and URM). We suggest he ED to Georgia Tech instead.
Do you really think parents want to hear this or it's the school's responsibility to tell them this?

There are so many false premises in this hypothetical that it’s just ridiculous to even try to respond. Do you have a Sidwell senior with a 4.0 who went through Math 1-4? If not, you should just stop. At Sidwell, kids like that are unicorns.

Your converse premises about legacies and URM taking all the slots are also false.

Good Lord, you're getting hung up on the particulars of the hypothetical example that I pulled out of the air and missing the point. Legacies do get in over more qualified kids at Sidwell (and at NCS and STA and GDS and all across the MontCo high schools).

So say rockstar kid has a 3.7 and took advanced Math class XYZ (or whatever GPA or classes would mark a top academic student at Sidwel). Do parents really want to hear that that kid is going to be passed over in ED for legacy or URM kids and advised to apply elsewhere?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

Why? I don’t get why this group would not do well at ED vs the other kids?

Because as the cream of the school, they are reaching for the stars and applying ED a single school with insanely low admit rates if you aren't legacy, URM, athlete. My guess is they will do fine in RD when they apply to several of such schools....one will bite.

They’re not “the cream of the school.” They’re kids who are very strong in science and math and who enjoy those subjects. There are other kids who are very strong students in other areas.

Well, the kids I know who are in these classes are also excelling in English/Language/History ...so I am talking about the ones who are academically they are the top of the class.

“The kids I know...”

These kids are in high school. If you really know as much as you claim to know about them, you’re a frightening busybody. And even then, there’s still no way you know enough about the entire class to proclaim a small group as “the cream of the school.”

Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder to me....

Anonymous wrote:As somebody who went to a good but very large public school and who now has a kid in a Big 3, I have mixed feelings reading this thread. I don't think it is right/fair/what-have-you for private school college counselors to be contacting colleges to advocate for applicants; public school kids don't have that, and I'm perfectly fine with colleges not taking those calls. (And, really, someone at a HYP admissions office doesn't have time for thousands of calls.) But the big changes in public from when I attended are all these weighted grades and the arms race to have the most challenging courses and the highest GPA. I certainly do expect our school to do a bang-up job explaining to colleges what grades at the school really mean, and if that has to be in writing along with the transcript, it ought to be done there.