Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 16:45     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


Somewhat similar for DD's BFF: 4.0 u/w GPA in most rigorous classes, 1580 SAT, 2 800 SAT subject tests. No APs offered at school (see sundry threads on why rigorous independents do not offer APs). Good ECs, HS athlete/captain. Great writer. Full pay.

WLed @ Cornell, Duke, Harvard. Rejected @ Brown, Northwestern, Penn and Tufts. Most likely UVA or WashU.

Love this kid. Also hard to see when a couple kids in @ a few of the schools are enrolled in less rigorous classes, but do have connections.


Bet these kids wished they actually had fun in high school


I'm the one with the DS. He actually enjoyed high school quite a bit. Fun to him is solving complicated equations, running his software development business, attending tech seminars, hanging with friends and franking learning things. He had a very promising future as an athlete due to some inherent physical gifts but he gave it up mid high school to focus on robotics and math because that was more fun for him. He likely would have made it to every school if he stayed in his sport but his heart is in technology. He is 18 going on 40 and always has been. So, no, we didn't push him to be who he was and he knows no other way to do things other than to his best. To me, a natural intellectual is the very best student to have; colleges did not agree in his case, but it wasn't because he manufactured any part of his life in at the expense of fun. I always tell him, you will never work a day in your life because you love to do what people pay lots of money to have done.




My child enjoyed school and is a kid who learns because he loves learning. Kid had serious sports injuries that prevented them from playing their recruitable sport. Kids they played with were recruited. Not having the athletic hook likely hurt a bit in admissions but in the end they’ll be fine. A kid who learns because they want to learn is more often than not going to do better than a kid who needs someone to give them an incentive to learn. The happy, successful adults I know are like your son. Doing what they love because they want to not because they have to. I wish that for all the kids. I think it helps make for a happy life.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 16:39     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
I’d be interested to know from poster at 14:01 what SLAC your child chose? And others they applied to. I think this is our DC’s plan as well.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 16:17     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:I’m in tech. I keep hearing about kids starting tech businesses. I’ve never interacted with any company with people below 22 involved, and I’ve never heard of anyone buying any software from a company with high school kids involved.

A bright, precocious kid writing software would be a nightmare from a security and design perspective.


Lots of ways to define a tech business. Mine does app development for companies (and has own subscription based apps) and also does extensive IT services and repairs. Can fix ANYTHING electronic, recover data, build new computers per specs, repair iphone screens or laptop screens that stop displaying, etc. You'd be surprised at how many people want this stuff done. You might also be surprised at how much these kids know about software security and coding standards. My son won the championship at northrop cyber week long patriot event for reverse engineering vulnerabilities - and he had no formal training. He's not writing enterprise software at this point but it's still a tech business.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 15:01     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
I’m in tech. I keep hearing about kids starting tech businesses. I’ve never interacted with any company with people below 22 involved, and I’ve never heard of anyone buying any software from a company with high school kids involved.

A bright, precocious kid writing software would be a nightmare from a security and design perspective.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 14:58     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


Somewhat similar for DD's BFF: 4.0 u/w GPA in most rigorous classes, 1580 SAT, 2 800 SAT subject tests. No APs offered at school (see sundry threads on why rigorous independents do not offer APs). Good ECs, HS athlete/captain. Great writer. Full pay.

WLed @ Cornell, Duke, Harvard. Rejected @ Brown, Northwestern, Penn and Tufts. Most likely UVA or WashU.

Love this kid. Also hard to see when a couple kids in @ a few of the schools are enrolled in less rigorous classes, but do have connections.


Bet these kids wished they actually had fun in high school


I'm the one with the DS. He actually enjoyed high school quite a bit. Fun to him is solving complicated equations, running his software development business, attending tech seminars, hanging with friends and franking learning things. He had a very promising future as an athlete due to some inherent physical gifts but he gave it up mid high school to focus on robotics and math because that was more fun for him. He likely would have made it to every school if he stayed in his sport but his heart is in technology. He is 18 going on 40 and always has been. So, no, we didn't push him to be who he was and he knows no other way to do things other than to his best. To me, a natural intellectual is the very best student to have; colleges did not agree in his case, but it wasn't because he manufactured any part of his life in at the expense of fun. I always tell him, you will never work a day in your life because you love to do what people pay lots of money to have done.




Thanks OP. Needed a laugh.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 14:29     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


Your son had a 14th choice?


Did he really apply to all ivies? I didn’t even realize Yale had a CS program. Hopefully he is going to study CS at a higher ranked school for that major.


Yale has CS ranked at 20th by USNews, Harvard at #16. Not bad at all, given the overall prestige of the schools, if you can get in.
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 14:01     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:I just read Harvard had a 3% acceptance rate in 65000 applications. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/4/1/admissions-class-of-2026/

At some point the odds will get so long that applicants will drop back down. I’m not encouraging my DS to even aim for them. He’s got another year and is likely in the ballpark on GPA (3.9UW) and test scores (1520/35) but if he’s going to apply to say, 10, schools, none of them should have <5% admit rate. Even <10% seems like a wasted app. Do people really think these schools offer magical experiences that can’t be equaled at schools with more reasonable odds? Because I’m not one of them.


You aren't alone. We approached the college search process in the same way. My DS: ranked 7/365, 3.96UW, 13 APs, 36 ACT, magnet program, multi-sport athlete, captain of one, worked one of those crappy jobs (for three years) that college admissions officers love to see, committed volunteer activity. He didn't apply to a single Ivy. His college advisor put a few on his list but didn't push them and neither did we. He knew he was one of many out there with the same profile and he didn't want to roll those dice. Plus, he wanted a smaller school - even smaller than Dartmouth. He found several great SLACs and smaller universities that he truly loved. In the end he ED'ed to a SLAC that had an admit rate in the low teens (low but double the Ivy's) but that almost no one around our area has ever heard of and he loves it. There is life outside the Ivy League. I congratulate all the kids who did get in to their dream Ivy - I hope it is what they always thought it would be.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 13:35     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:DS in at Brown. Also in at UMich, UVA, Case Western, Middlebury.

WL at UNC and Vandy


What are they leaning towards?
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 13:33     Subject: Re:Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:In at Harvard. Still in shock.


OMG!
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 13:24     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


Somewhat similar for DD's BFF: 4.0 u/w GPA in most rigorous classes, 1580 SAT, 2 800 SAT subject tests. No APs offered at school (see sundry threads on why rigorous independents do not offer APs). Good ECs, HS athlete/captain. Great writer. Full pay.

WLed @ Cornell, Duke, Harvard. Rejected @ Brown, Northwestern, Penn and Tufts. Most likely UVA or WashU.

Love this kid. Also hard to see when a couple kids in @ a few of the schools are enrolled in less rigorous classes, but do have connections.


Bet these kids wished they actually had fun in high school


So is being an asshole working out well for you?
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 12:58     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


The cream always rises to the top. He will be fantastic wherever he goes. It is the college's loss, not his.


Hugs. Wishing DS happiness. There really is no rhyme or reason to some of the acceptances. He can’t take it personally. These admissions processes are such a crap shot. DS was admitted to Cornell today but WL for Purdue. Go figure that one out. Cornell admit rate 4-5%; Purdue ~17.2% (last years stats).


Thank you for this


Definitely the college's losses. So many applications across all the tiers - Cal Poly Pomona received nearly 50,000 more applications this year - https://www.sbsun.com/2022/03/29/cal-poly-pomona-sees-record-increase-in-fall-2022-applicants/ - it's a popular Cal State but that is a lot of applications for a Cal State school.
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 12:31     Subject: Re:Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:In at Harvard. Still in shock.


Congratulations! Please share stats, hook, why you are in shock?
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 12:26     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


The cream always rises to the top. He will be fantastic wherever he goes. It is the college's loss, not his.


Hugs. Wishing DS happiness. There really is no rhyme or reason to some of the acceptances. He can’t take it personally. These admissions processes are such a crap shot. DS was admitted to Cornell today but WL for Purdue. Go figure that one out. Cornell admit rate 4-5%; Purdue ~17.2% (last years stats).


Thank you for this
Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 12:23     Subject: Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rejected for all ivy's for CS. Par for the course. 4.4 GPA (3.9UW), 1550 SAT single sitting. 12 APs- all 4s and 5s. College math through Calc 3 taken with As. Tons of incredible ECs in CS and athletics. Teachers and counselors said they raved. White male. Full pay.

Looks like he will be attending his 14th choice of college. He never felt he "deserved" anything- he is a gentle soul- but having been at the top of the class his entire life and working so hard and spending months on these applications, he is very quiet today, processing it.


Somewhat similar for DD's BFF: 4.0 u/w GPA in most rigorous classes, 1580 SAT, 2 800 SAT subject tests. No APs offered at school (see sundry threads on why rigorous independents do not offer APs). Good ECs, HS athlete/captain. Great writer. Full pay.

WLed @ Cornell, Duke, Harvard. Rejected @ Brown, Northwestern, Penn and Tufts. Most likely UVA or WashU.

Love this kid. Also hard to see when a couple kids in @ a few of the schools are enrolled in less rigorous classes, but do have connections.


Bet these kids wished they actually had fun in high school


I'm the one with the DS. He actually enjoyed high school quite a bit. Fun to him is solving complicated equations, running his software development business, attending tech seminars, hanging with friends and franking learning things. He had a very promising future as an athlete due to some inherent physical gifts but he gave it up mid high school to focus on robotics and math because that was more fun for him. He likely would have made it to every school if he stayed in his sport but his heart is in technology. He is 18 going on 40 and always has been. So, no, we didn't push him to be who he was and he knows no other way to do things other than to his best. To me, a natural intellectual is the very best student to have; colleges did not agree in his case, but it wasn't because he manufactured any part of his life in at the expense of fun. I always tell him, you will never work a day in your life because you love to do what people pay lots of money to have done.


Anonymous
Post 04/01/2022 12:09     Subject: Re:Good luck for Ivy Day!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I never hear of anyone getting into Princeton. Not here or real life. Who goes to Princeton?


I had an intern from Princeton.

The funny thing was, he was a great intern but nothing extraordinary. He told me his ‘Princeton thing’ was that he played the Oboe or something.

Sometimes, it really is just luck of the draw. Honestly.



Funny, we know one kid at Princeton also in our neighborhood and he wasn't really known as huge intellectual or anything. He also played some weird instrument which apparently Princeton needed.