Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Why for girls? Yes they are the majority at most colleges but it's not that they are taking spaces that a "boy" would want.

Girl applications are generally stronger. And there are more of them. They all somehow look very similar to each other. Harder for them to stand out in a crowded pile. Once you become an admissions reader and you start seeing it, it’s hard to unsee it.

The key for girls is doing different things (not the same things Everybody else is doing). Going their own way. There’s so many of them. At some schools 2 or 3x the number of boys, it is easier for boy applicants.

There are a couple of good podcasts about the phenomena. Check out from a lot of feeder, private high schools and count the number of boys versus girls committed to T20 privates. Girls often end up at the top public flagship options after RD.

What do these everyone-looks-the-same girl profiles look like?

The two common ones I’ve seen a lot are: pre-med and poli sci/pub policy. Journalism/writing as well.

Premed:
CNA/EMT
Health club at school - founder or officer
Red Cross club/volunteer
Summer program
Research
Feminine hygiene drives/women’s public health awareness
Women’s mental health EC

Poli Sci/Pub Pol:
Stuco Pres
Model UN/Debate (and awards)
Political internship
Canvassing for local issues/grassroots
School board liaison or similar
Summer program
Women’s political issues
Voter access drives or similar
Teen incarceration or wrongful incarceration types of ECs/research

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't listen to your private school counselor's advice. That's the biggest lesson I have learned this year. Do your own research.

Mine is a little different — don’t assume your private school counsel gives a crap about helping your kid get into more than one “good enough” school. They don’t. They want the easy path (hence the ED push) and are not invested in your kid.

Anonymous wrote:Women are competing with women candidates. Men are competing with other men.

At our private non-DMV, the women are doing really well but they are extremely motivated, organized and prepped for this since grade 9. The boys seem to be a year or more behind developmentally.

ED/REA applications have been successful for girls so far at DC's small private at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Northwestern, Dartmouth, Penn, Wellesley, Barnard, Michigan etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Why for girls? Yes they are the majority at most colleges but it's not that they are taking spaces that a "boy" would want.

Girl applications are generally stronger. And there are more of them. They all somehow look very similar to each other. Harder for them to stand out in a crowded pile. Once you become an admissions reader and you start seeing it, it’s hard to unsee it.

The key for girls is doing different things (not the same things Everybody else is doing). Going their own way. There’s so many of them. At some schools 2 or 3x the number of boys, it is easier for boy applicants.

There are a couple of good podcasts about the phenomena. Check out from a lot of feeder, private high schools and count the number of boys versus girls committed to T20 privates. Girls often end up at the top public flagship options after RD.

What do these everyone-looks-the-same girl profiles look like?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Not universally true. Some colleges have more guys than girls. When we toured Georgia Tech and CMU, we saw 50% asian boys, 20% asian girls, and 30% non-asians but mostly boys. I bet black, white and brown girls get a bump at these tech schools but most girls I know don't want to spend 4 years on these campuses where it's all intense work and little play (unless you count D&D with a bunch of nerdy boys as "play")

CMU is 50/50, however, it's a strange school in that it is well known for both STEM and theatre/arts. STEM is heavily male, while the arts are heavily female. It has a strong business program which is also close to 50/50.

My guess is you were looking at CMU for STEM and only focused on what you saw in the STEM buildings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Not universally true. Some colleges have more guys than girls. When we toured Georgia Tech and CMU, we saw 50% asian boys, 20% asian girls, and 30% non-asians but mostly boys. I bet black, white and brown girls get a bump at these tech schools but most girls I know don't want to spend 4 years on these campuses where it's all intense work and little play (unless you count D&D with a bunch of nerdy boys as "play")

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Why for girls? Yes they are the majority at most colleges but it's not that they are taking spaces that a "boy" would want.

Girl applications are generally stronger. And there are more of them. They all somehow look very similar to each other. Harder for them to stand out in a crowded pile. Once you become an admissions reader and you start seeing it, it’s hard to unsee it.

The key for girls is doing different things (not the same things Everybody else is doing). Going their own way. There’s so many of them. At some schools 2 or 3x the number of boys, it is easier for boy applicants.

There are a couple of good podcasts about the phenomena. Check out from a lot of feeder, private high schools and count the number of boys versus girls committed to T20 privates. Girls often end up at the top public flagship options after RD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Not universally true. Some colleges have more guys than girls. When we toured Georgia Tech and CMU, we saw 50% asian boys, 20% asian girls, and 30% non-asians but mostly boys. I bet black, white and brown girls get a bump at these tech schools but most girls I know don't want to spend 4 years on these campuses where it's all intense work and little play (unless you count D&D with a bunch of nerdy boys as "play")

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Why for girls? Yes they are the majority at most colleges but it's not that they are taking spaces that a "boy" would want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?

It appears to be an extremely difficult year for girls. Unless you have a ton of unusual or uncommon awards in an uncommon major.

Without something extremely uncommon / unusual or an early decision application from a feeder private school, being test optional is a kiss of death (even at Vandy).

Beware and be strategic with early decision for girls.

Anonymous wrote:Any new wisdom you gathered in the last few weeks?