Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 19:09     Subject: Re:Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:All of the information that people are looking for is available directly from Yale. The majority of students they admit are non-URM, non-athletic recruits who are not legacies. Something like 65-70% are not hooked. That is a fact. People just don't want to hear the message that they were denied on their own merits or due to a highly idiosyncratic process. Further, any attempt to project reasons or advantages onto a sample as small as 10 students is spurious. In other words, the is no information of any value derived from speculating about this group, especially without any knowledge of academic qualifications of the students.



No one is speculating about this group of students, beyond the initial factual observation that 10 admits from one class this size seems unusual. Parents have a legitimate interest in understanding this - parents at SFS, potential applicants, and parents of children in other schools. If 10 kids won an Intel price in one class that would be a fair question. If 10 kids dropped out senior year that would be a fair question. A further reasonable question was raised regarding the role of privates in locating qualified URM students in general. Your post is the only attack in this sequence.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 18:21     Subject: Re:Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:All of the information that people are looking for is available directly from Yale. The majority of students they admit are non-URM, non-athletic recruits who are not legacies. Something like 65-70% are not hooked. That is a fact. People just don't want to hear the message that they were denied on their own merits or due to a highly idiosyncratic process. Further, any attempt to project reasons or advantages onto a sample as small as 10 students is spurious. In other words, the is no information of any value derived from speculating about this group, especially without any knowledge of academic qualifications of the students.



PP, please give us a link to the place where we can find this information (i.e., your statement that "The majority of students they admit are non-URM, non-athletic recruits who are not legacies. Something like 65-70% are not hooked. That is a fact.") I've tried to find it and can't. Thanks very much.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 18:05     Subject: Re:Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
All of the information that people are looking for is available directly from Yale. The majority of students they admit are non-URM, non-athletic recruits who are not legacies. Something like 65-70% are not hooked. That is a fact. People just don't want to hear the message that they were denied on their own merits or due to a highly idiosyncratic process. Further, any attempt to project reasons or advantages onto a sample as small as 10 students is spurious. In other words, the is no information of any value derived from speculating about this group, especially without any knowledge of academic qualifications of the students.

Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 17:39     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Agree with most of the above. The last few posts were responding to my observation that 10 Yale admits seems extraordinarily unusual. I believe for last year there were 4 SFS admitted to Yale -- a very good showing itself. Not taking anything away from any of these students, but I have occasionally wondered what percentage of URM students at ivy league schools come from privates vs. publics. You would hope the percentage would be comparable to those of other students, but I suspect it may be higher if colleges rely more upon private schools to find strong URM candidates given the publicity about under-applications from certain groups to ivies among the general population.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 17:37     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't get the desire to discount students' successes. Do you think their college admissions success somehow doesn't count if you can classify them as legacies, athletes, minorities, or children of important parents? There are plenty of kids in each of those categories throughout DC who were not admitted to top colleges. I think it's kind of low to diminish these kids' accomplishment by suggesting they did not earn it.


No one is suggesting that these ten exceptional students did not earn their admissions. They obviously did earn their admissions, but an important part of admissions is an evaluation of what a particular student can contribute to a university's community.

Obviously, not everyone admitted to a top university brings a 2350-2400 SAT/36 ACT, and eight or more AP exams with a score of 5, and four SAT subject tests in the 740-800 range. There are certainly enough of those "perfect" academic students that all of the top universities could fill their classes with just that sort of paper-perfect student, but that is not the only thing that these colleges want. Moreover, I would venture to guess that that is not the only thing that all of the ten admitted students provide.

All must be very strong students, yes, but "perfect" students - some yes, and some no. What admitted students may bring, which also contributes greatly to the make-up of the class, is a talent in the creative or performing arts; an athletic talent that contributes to the university's teams; a recognized commitment to something outside themselves; regional or national accomplishments in their area of interest; some strong and meaningful family history with the particular college; a family or personal story and perspective which is unique; a background which is otherwise underrepresented in the higher educational environment; or an interesting connection that - if part of the university's family - will undoubtedly make that community a richer place.


So I would like to think that previous posters are not trying to denigrate this accomplishment, after all, the proof not the pudding is in the eating. Rather, the posters are likely attempting to derive and ascertain helpful information from these cases about the other intangibles and attributes which go into college admissions, besides perfect grades and scores, which can one day perhaps help their own children achieve such success. I write this as a parent whose own child attends my legacy school, and who often got asked if my child was legacy when they were first admitted - "yes" they are. I always assumed the best, that people were asking me the question to gather more information on what helped their admissions.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 17:21     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:I don't get the desire to discount students' successes. Do you think their college admissions success somehow doesn't count if you can classify them as legacies, athletes, minorities, or children of important parents? There are plenty of kids in each of those categories throughout DC who were not admitted to top colleges. I think it's kind of low to diminish these kids' accomplishment by suggesting they did not earn it.


No one is suggesting that these ten exceptional students did not earn their admissions. They obviously did earn their admissions, but an important part of admissions is an evaluation of what a particular student can contribute to a university's community.

Obviously, not everyone admitted to a top university brings a 2350-2400 SAT/36 ACT, and eight or more AP exams with a score of 5, and four SAT subject tests in the 740-800 range. There are certainly enough of those "perfect" academic students that all of the top universities could fill their classes with just that sort of paper-perfect student, but that is not the only thing that these colleges want. Moreover, I would venture to guess that that is not the only thing that all of the ten admitted students provide.

All must be very strong students, yes, but "perfect" students - some yes, and some no. What admitted students may bring, which also contributes greatly to the make-up of the class, is a talent in the creative or performing arts; an athletic talent that contributes to the university's teams; a recognized commitment to something outside themselves; regional or national accomplishments in their area of interest; some strong and meaningful family history with the particular college; a family or personal story and perspective which is unique; a background which is otherwise underrepresented in the higher educational environment; or an interesting connection that - if part of the university's family - will undoubtedly make that community a richer place.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 16:47     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
I don't get the desire to discount students' successes. Do you think their college admissions success somehow doesn't count if you can classify them as legacies, athletes, minorities, or children of important parents? There are plenty of kids in each of those categories throughout DC who were not admitted to top colleges. I think it's kind of low to diminish these kids' accomplishment by suggesting they did not earn it.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 14:41     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:I believe 3 of the Yale admits were legacy, 4 were legacy, leaving 3 with neither connection


This is something that I always wonder about in admissions. Did any of the students have parents of some exceptional or notable professional stature, that could be seen to benefit a university's community? Perhaps a very accomplished government official, or a respected academic, or a well-known media figure?
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 13:24     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
^ I'm sorry i meant,
I believe 3 of the Yale admits were legacy, 4 were URM, leaving 3 with neither connection
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 13:23     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
I believe 3 of the Yale admits were legacy, 4 were legacy, leaving 3 with neither connection
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 11:17     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Previous posters stated 10 SFS students were accepted early at Yale. How many were recruited for sorts teams or other specific talents? Ten students seems like an unusually high number these days coming from any day school unless something else is at play (14 would be about one percent of the freshman class). Thanks.


None were athletic recruits. My child was one of the accepted, so I know from my child all the kids accepted. This senior class had 23 or 24 kids accepted at Ivies for just the early round, plus a few at Stanford, Chicago, Duke and other top schools. But I think this class is unusual. Certainly the parents all were shocked at the acceptance numbers from Yale and Penn. Wouldn't expect any regular decisions to those schools though. That's a lot for one school, and there are so many good schools just in this area. FWIW, no Penn accepted students were athletic recruits either.


20% of the class accepted at Ivies for Early Decision is good, but not unheard of for this area (there are several other schools that not infrequently will hit the 20% mark for Ivy ED). The fact that 10 students are going to Yale is pretty amazing, though. Congrats to the kids, Sidwell has a long and excellent history at Yale and it's obviously continuing.


Agreed on this...but, please note that there are indeed a few legacies in those numbers...believe the point or not...legacies still do matter...


I don't doubt it at all. Earlier in the thread somebody made a good point about Yale still standing out for humanities; a lot of humanities types becoming lawyers; and a lot of lawyers living in DC (and sending their kids to DC private schools like Sidwell). If you read the "Chronicle of Higher Education," it is clear that there is still a legacy advantage. I think it is somewhat hard to quantify because so many of the legacies are probably objectively in the top group on the numbers alone, but something to act as a tie-breaker against the other kid with top grades and top scores is worth a lot. With that said, 10 is still a lot! (But people booking their 2026 hotel rooms in New Haven in May for graduation need to recognize that numbers fluctuate significantly every year -- maybe next year 5 kids get into Yale from Sidwell, or whatever. Plus, if 25% of Sidwell's class goes Ivy/Stanford/MIT, that still means 75% of the class doesn't (and there's nothing wrong with that, this country has the best colleges/universities in the world, and lots of them).

In other words, enjoy the journey and don't just fixate on the destination.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2015 11:07     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Previous posters stated 10 SFS students were accepted early at Yale. How many were recruited for sorts teams or other specific talents? Ten students seems like an unusually high number these days coming from any day school unless something else is at play (14 would be about one percent of the freshman class). Thanks.


None were athletic recruits. My child was one of the accepted, so I know from my child all the kids accepted. This senior class had 23 or 24 kids accepted at Ivies for just the early round, plus a few at Stanford, Chicago, Duke and other top schools. But I think this class is unusual. Certainly the parents all were shocked at the acceptance numbers from Yale and Penn. Wouldn't expect any regular decisions to those schools though. That's a lot for one school, and there are so many good schools just in this area. FWIW, no Penn accepted students were athletic recruits either.


20% of the class accepted at Ivies for Early Decision is good, but not unheard of for this area (there are several other schools that not infrequently will hit the 20% mark for Ivy ED). The fact that 10 students are going to Yale is pretty amazing, though. Congrats to the kids, Sidwell has a long and excellent history at Yale and it's obviously continuing.


Agreed on this...but, please note that there are indeed a few legacies in those numbers...believe the point or not...legacies still do matter...
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2015 23:23     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would be lying if I didn't say I am really hoping my DD gets into SFS now for 7th grade!

Same here!


If you keep your focus on helping your child be a strong, well-adjusted, happy, and involved student, then they will do well at any high school they decide to attend.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2015 18:53     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Previous posters stated 10 SFS students were accepted early at Yale. How many were recruited for sorts teams or other specific talents? Ten students seems like an unusually high number these days coming from any day school unless something else is at play (14 would be about one percent of the freshman class). Thanks.


None were athletic recruits. My child was one of the accepted, so I know from my child all the kids accepted. This senior class had 23 or 24 kids accepted at Ivies for just the early round, plus a few at Stanford, Chicago, Duke and other top schools. But I think this class is unusual. Certainly the parents all were shocked at the acceptance numbers from Yale and Penn. Wouldn't expect any regular decisions to those schools though. That's a lot for one school, and there are so many good schools just in this area. FWIW, no Penn accepted students were athletic recruits either.


20% of the class accepted at Ivies for Early Decision is good, but not unheard of for this area (there are several other schools that not infrequently will hit the 20% mark for Ivy ED). The fact that 10 students are going to Yale is pretty amazing, though. Congrats to the kids, Sidwell has a long and excellent history at Yale and it's obviously continuing.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2015 17:40     Subject: Early Decision Results at DS or DD school
Anonymous wrote:I would be lying if I didn't say I am really hoping my DD gets into SFS now for 7th grade!

Same here!