Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High stat DC also swimming in rejections.

High sats are not unique. Grade inflation, test prep, tutoring etc. have made it so parents and kids think they are smarter and more special than they actually are.

The % of really smart kids hasn’t changed in the last 30 years. The number of parents and kids who think they fall into that bucket has increased astronomically.

+1
I would say AAP kids/parents (FCPS) especially, are convinced that their kids will get into any college they want. AAP is such a crock of BS, it's too bad these parents don't realize that it means nothing at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

It’s quite the phenomenon where your kid’s success somehow makes you the expert.

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If s/he doesn't like where s/he ends up this year, consider a transfer application to U. St Andrews (Scotland). They actually have a very good, if smallish, School of Computer Science. Their curriculum is very sound, teaching is solid, and both StA and CS @ StA score highly in the UK newspaper "Good University Guide" analyses each year. They are particularly strong in systems/networking.

If one gets a good set of grades from CS @ StA, one can either go for an MS or PhD there, or apply to a different top US/UK/CA graduate school for an MS or PhD.

FYI: In the job market of today, a BSCS will get one a good initial software job, but there is glass ceiling to promotions after a while -- unless one either is truly stellar or has an MSCS/MSCompE/MSEE. It is simplest to go straight through to at least a MSCS (although if a school has a non-thesis MS degree then that is good enough).

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Anonymous wrote:I suggest all the downtrodden UMC white males out there stage a revolution

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High stat DC also swimming in rejections.

High sats are not unique. Grade inflation, test prep, tutoring etc. have made it so parents and kids think they are smarter and more special than they actually are.

The % of really smart kids hasn’t changed in the last 30 years. The number of parents and kids who think they fall into that bucket has increased astronomically.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In this generation

The College standard will become the new high school standard going forward.

As many elementary and middle school students historically carry “straight As”; so too, is this tendency creeping into our high schools. I’m afraid grade inflated high school grade point averages and moronic worshipping of SAT/ACT scores ( middle school academic standard for the 21st century) as some measure of high, university academic/ educational/ intellectual achievement will relegate college and undergraduate education to the new high school standard in this century.

Yup, the money you are paying for at Harvard or Yale College is not necessarily for a better education (this and better can be had at scores of other institutions) but for a social network assuming you belong and are accepted by that network when your undergraduate years are long over![/quote]

But if the rich, legacy kids are not getting in who are you networking with? Other high GPA middle class kids whose parents are not CEOs, lawmakers, old money. Etc.

The rich kids are getting in in droves.