Anonymous
04/16/2025 09:36
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
Same for us.
non-DMV private.
Yes we've seen it was bad for white and asian boys and girls in STEM. Top stats and top ECs and shut out of Ivies. I think its bad ED choices (why unhooked ppl REA to HYPS I don't ever understand).
But surprisingly, a lot of options in RD for T11-25. Especially for humanities. Those kids KILLED it in RD.
Northwestern in particular seemed to admit a lot more than normal. Same for Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown. And Vanderbilt and WashU.
Duke was extraordinarily hard this year.
Very bad RD here for T11-25 for anyone outside the top 10 kids in the class.
DMV private ("Big3"). Vanderbilt, Northwestern require HYP level stats which is a 3.9+ so as a result there have been next to no admits except for kids top5 in the class and no matriculations in 5 years. Brown also wants a 3.9+. Duke just takes hooked kids. I'm not sure off the top of my head about the other schools listed.
It was a rough year for anyone not hooked who did not ED and for those who were deferred to a top15 ED---a number of top20% kids shut out of the top25.
Why would T20 percent be enough for T25? When 80+% are in the top10%?
Huh? What does this mean?
Anonymous
04/16/2025 03:52
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
Same for us.
non-DMV private.
Yes we've seen it was bad for white and asian boys and girls in STEM. Top stats and top ECs and shut out of Ivies. I think its bad ED choices (why unhooked ppl REA to HYPS I don't ever understand).
But surprisingly, a lot of options in RD for T11-25. Especially for humanities. Those kids KILLED it in RD.
Northwestern in particular seemed to admit a lot more than normal. Same for Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown. And Vanderbilt and WashU.
Duke was extraordinarily hard this year.
Very bad RD here for T11-25 for anyone outside the top 10 kids in the class.
DMV private ("Big3"). Vanderbilt, Northwestern require HYP level stats which is a 3.9+ so as a result there have been next to no admits except for kids top5 in the class and no matriculations in 5 years. Brown also wants a 3.9+. Duke just takes hooked kids. I'm not sure off the top of my head about the other schools listed.
It was a rough year for anyone not hooked who did not ED and for those who were deferred to a top15 ED---a number of top20% kids shut out of the top25.
Why would T20 percent be enough for T25? When 80+% are in the top10%?
Anonymous
04/13/2025 17:53
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
At our private, STEM (including CS, math, engineering) and business had a very tough time in RD.
it’s possible that is true every year, but it seemed even more true this year
it’s possible that is true every year, but it seemed even more true this year
Anonymous
04/13/2025 17:46
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
Same for us.
non-DMV private.
Yes we've seen it was bad for white and asian boys and girls in STEM. Top stats and top ECs and shut out of Ivies. I think its bad ED choices (why unhooked ppl REA to HYPS I don't ever understand).
But surprisingly, a lot of options in RD for T11-25. Especially for humanities. Those kids KILLED it in RD.
Northwestern in particular seemed to admit a lot more than normal. Same for Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown. And Vanderbilt and WashU.
Duke was extraordinarily hard this year.
Very bad RD here for T11-25 for anyone outside the top 10 kids in the class.
DMV private ("Big3"). Vanderbilt, Northwestern require HYP level stats which is a 3.9+ so as a result there have been next to no admits except for kids top5 in the class and no matriculations in 5 years. Brown also wants a 3.9+. Duke just takes hooked kids. I'm not sure off the top of my head about the other schools listed.
It was a rough year for anyone not hooked who did not ED and for those who were deferred to a top15 ED---a number of top20% kids shut out of the top25.
Could it be major related?
Were most of those kids STEM, business, engineering, CS?
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:26
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
Same for us.
non-DMV private.
Yes we've seen it was bad for white and asian boys and girls in STEM. Top stats and top ECs and shut out of Ivies. I think its bad ED choices (why unhooked ppl REA to HYPS I don't ever understand).
But surprisingly, a lot of options in RD for T11-25. Especially for humanities. Those kids KILLED it in RD.
Northwestern in particular seemed to admit a lot more than normal. Same for Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown. And Vanderbilt and WashU.
Duke was extraordinarily hard this year.
Very bad RD here for T11-25 for anyone outside the top 10 kids in the class.
DMV private ("Big3"). Vanderbilt, Northwestern require HYP level stats which is a 3.9+ so as a result there have been next to no admits except for kids top5 in the class and no matriculations in 5 years. Brown also wants a 3.9+. Duke just takes hooked kids. I'm not sure off the top of my head about the other schools listed.
It was a rough year for anyone not hooked who did not ED and for those who were deferred to a top15 ED---a number of top20% kids shut out of the top25.
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:25
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Define “mid stats”?
I’m seeing a lot of kids with 1500+ SATs and almost perfect grades headed for Emory/Wash U/Tufts…
+1
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:21
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Level one: HYPSM, Berkeley, UVA, etc.
Level two: BC, Tufts, Tulane, etc.
Level three: GMU, VT, JMU, etc.
No one's going to say anything about this?
Ignore.
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:20
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Level one: HYPSM, Berkeley, UVA, etc.
Level two: BC, Tufts, Tulane, etc.
Level three: GMU, VT, JMU, etc.
No one's going to say anything about this?
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:20
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
Same for us.
non-DMV private.
Yes we've seen it was bad for white and asian boys and girls in STEM. Top stats and top ECs and shut out of Ivies. I think its bad ED choices (why unhooked ppl REA to HYPS I don't ever understand).
But surprisingly, a lot of options in RD for T11-25. Especially for humanities. Those kids KILLED it in RD.
Northwestern in particular seemed to admit a lot more than normal. Same for Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown. And Vanderbilt and WashU.
Duke was extraordinarily hard this year.
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:08
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
I saw top kids at my kid’s non-DMV private making similar compromises with their ED school and ED’ing to lower-ranked schools. They were definitely T-10 material, but were not going to risk RD.
Anonymous
04/13/2025 14:03
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Level one: HYPSM, Berkeley, UVA, etc.
Level two: BC, Tufts, Tulane, etc.
Level three: GMU, VT, JMU, etc.
Level two: BC, Tufts, Tulane, etc.
Level three: GMU, VT, JMU, etc.
Anonymous
04/13/2025 13:52
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Hoping people come back and find their post and tell us outcomes or results?
NYC mom, are you here?
NYC mom! Things played out very similarly to my original post, but overall it was a hard year. I don't know full numbers yet but Ivy accepts seem to be down by a third overall, and it was particularly brutal for boys in STEM.
The bright spot was in the T20 non-Ivies, with more high-stats kids who might have tried for Ivies in years past committing ED to Chicago, Emory, Tufts, NU, WASP, etc. It's such a hard and awful compromise to make but for unhooked kids who held out for Ivy REA/RD, the ratio of surprises on the upside vs downside was probably 1:9 - and many of those kids also got straight rejected from what they thought were T50 targets. In other words, statistically these kids DC were far better off taking the non-Ivy ED - except you/they have to live with the "what if."
Anonymous
04/13/2025 11:48
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This thread is a shockingly vivid reminder of how corrupt the entire college admissions process is. Top 10% of a private-school graduating class go to top 5 schools, next 10% go to the next 5... so the top *half* all go to T50 schools?
At my kid's public school, no one goes to any T50 school, not even the top 1% of a graduating class -- kids with perfect grades, 1580-1600 SATs, and course rigor generated in part by dual-enrolling at a local research university and out-performing the actual college students there.
I don't think your kids are smarter or working harder, but *half* of the kids at your kid's school are going to schools that *none* of the kids at my kid's school can even dream of attending. Good work buying your kid's success at the expense, in part, of my kid's success!
Of course, I already knew this was true, but seeing it exemplified so vividly in this discussion is nonetheless shocking.
That’s why it’s important to see your school’s data. It doesn’t matter how good your kid is. They were never going to get to begin with because the schools aren’t looking for kids from that high school.
My kids attend one of these “feeder” privates not in the DMV.
Top 50% generally gets into T25/30. But it’s important to not aim too high if you are close to 35-50%. A WashU/Emory ED strategy is best there.
Whole class absolutely gets into T50.
Agree what previous posters note on ranking. Nothing in counselor report indicates rank which is how these full pay kids get in “below” top 10%. That’s just a silly gimmick anyway.
A good private college counselor with a national presence who has served as an admissions officer can figure a lot of this out for you too with your school’s historic data.
For all the junior parents, read this thread and realize that your HS is the largest determining factor in outcomes.
Anonymous
04/13/2025 11:40
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I don't believe this post for a minute. OP is either a troll or has bad data. Schools are even less likely to take very good but not amazing applicants from the NYC area (it is more competitive than DC comparatively). The hooks are even more important. They do have a similar trend of high stats rich kids without hooks heading to UChicago over the last several years.
Right? I think this is BS too. The assumption that mediocre private school students are just waltzing into Vanderbilt, Rice, Cornell, Berkeley, UCLA, Amherst, Michigan, Georgetown, Emory, and Stanford (!) is not borne out by reality. In fact, I'd say mediocre private school students are at a distinct disadvantage these days. The full pay gets them a boost at T50-100 schools, but does nothing for the highly selective universities.
You clearly don’t go to a private school.
Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory and Michigan do not take the top of our private’s HS class. Even Cornell. It’s more like top 50%….
Anonymous
04/13/2025 11:34
Subject: Which level kid goes to which schools
Anonymous wrote:Non-DMV selective private:
--Top 10% or high stats + hook: HYP+ Columbia + Penn (Wharton), Duke
--High stats, missing national level ECs or hook: Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Williams
—national ECs (stats irrelevant): Stanford; (and sometimes) Duke
--High stats + normal ECs OR some flaw on their record (like a bad grade or two) and hook - Cornell, Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Georgetown
--Mid stats + no hook - Michigan; UCLA; Cal; WashU; Emory
I think this one is mine. Sounds right.
Midwest selective private.
Accurate(ish) for my kid.
High GPA, national level ECs/hook (tier 1 EC), top LOR (best of my career) for primary subject but test optional/niche humanities major:
- admitted to a school in the 2nd row,
- WL in the third row,
- admitted to one school in the fourth row/WL at another, and
- admitted to two schools in the last row.