Anonymous
11/30/2022 08:25
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:It’s clear on one college admissions thread after another than Big 3 parents are truly unhinged. You know what else was “just talk?” That there was a pizza parlor in NW that was a cover for a pedophile ring. That the election was stolen. Etc.
Chitter chatter among your privileged children that then arrives to you is a very unreliable source as to who is applying where to college, who is applying ED, and who has what grades, test scores and legacy status. You all need to chill out and worry about your own kid.
The simple fact is this: multiple kids from the same high school often apply to the same colleges, and you’re never going to know how many and what their numbers are. Many colleges fill up a large proportion of their entering classes with ED admits. If your kid is well within the zone for a particular college with their stats, and you are full pay, you have as good as chance as any applicant at getting in ED regardless of whether somebody else in your kid’s class has better numbers. They’ll get in, too.
Seriously, Big 3 posters, doesn’t all of your constant competing exhaust you? What are you going to do to fill your time when the kids are gone?
Wow, this is a lot of accusation to place someone you never met with the pizza gate folks. Please be careful, I knew people at a comet that evening.
I am OP, whose kid attends a “big 3” (object to that term, for the record) and my original post was how my kid was staying in their lane and wondered if others would do so too… and I read this thread that most do, within reason. I also appreciated other perspectives like the Yale/Swarthmore poster who reminded me that other kids may have preferences and experiences which lead them to do things differently.
My take on message boards is you can’t categorize a group of people on a few anecdotes, and each post is a few sentences removed from real life. I try to give posters the benefit of the doubt, including you, who I am hoping is trying to provide perspective to others.
(I also want to add, as for competing, my kid helped others applying to same school with their common applications. Kids also routinely proof each other’s essays. So please don’t assume they all have some competitive mindset.)
Anonymous
11/30/2022 08:20
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think this should absolutely play a role in where you ED. If there are 10 other kids from your school applying there, and 3 are legacies and 2 are recruited athletes, move on. You're highly unlikely to get in!
At small privates, kids should ask counselor how many others in class are applying. Beyond that, kids talk. This isn't hard to figure out, especially the recruited athlete part. I'm sure big schools are different.
I’ve seen this argument many times - that is, that things are different at “small privates” because of their size, so these things are more easily and readily known. What’s left out of the argument is that it’s not the size of the school per se, but the mindset of the school student/parent population that makes the difference.
Our kids attended good public high schools in the DMV. They were pretty serious students, as were most of their friends, and ultimately they attended highly ranked colleges. There was never any discussion in our household on where their friends were applying to school, what their friends’ grades and test scores were, etc., and nothing that any of their classmates may have been doing had any bearing on their own college application decisions. The most we’d ever hear was “Suzie wants to go to UVA but doesn’t think she’ll get in.” Stuff like that. That’s it.
It sounds like some of you are/were almost to the point of having charts and graphs on your kids and their classmates.
Anonymous
11/30/2022 08:06
Subject: ED strategy
It’s clear on one college admissions thread after another than Big 3 parents are truly unhinged. You know what else was “just talk?” That there was a pizza parlor in NW that was a cover for a pedophile ring. That the election was stolen. Etc.
Chitter chatter among your privileged children that then arrives to you is a very unreliable source as to who is applying where to college, who is applying ED, and who has what grades, test scores and legacy status. You all need to chill out and worry about your own kid.
The simple fact is this: multiple kids from the same high school often apply to the same colleges, and you’re never going to know how many and what their numbers are. Many colleges fill up a large proportion of their entering classes with ED admits. If your kid is well within the zone for a particular college with their stats, and you are full pay, you have as good as chance as any applicant at getting in ED regardless of whether somebody else in your kid’s class has better numbers. They’ll get in, too.
Seriously, Big 3 posters, doesn’t all of your constant competing exhaust you? What are you going to do to fill your time when the kids are gone?
Chitter chatter among your privileged children that then arrives to you is a very unreliable source as to who is applying where to college, who is applying ED, and who has what grades, test scores and legacy status. You all need to chill out and worry about your own kid.
The simple fact is this: multiple kids from the same high school often apply to the same colleges, and you’re never going to know how many and what their numbers are. Many colleges fill up a large proportion of their entering classes with ED admits. If your kid is well within the zone for a particular college with their stats, and you are full pay, you have as good as chance as any applicant at getting in ED regardless of whether somebody else in your kid’s class has better numbers. They’ll get in, too.
Seriously, Big 3 posters, doesn’t all of your constant competing exhaust you? What are you going to do to fill your time when the kids are gone?
Anonymous
11/30/2022 07:57
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think this should absolutely play a role in where you ED. If there are 10 other kids from your school applying there, and 3 are legacies and 2 are recruited athletes, move on. You're highly unlikely to get in!
At small privates, kids should ask counselor how many others in class are applying. Beyond that, kids talk. This isn't hard to figure out, especially the recruited athlete part. I'm sure big schools are different.
The counselors would never divulge this sort of information at Sidwell.
And to the question earlier about how parents know at Sidwell. I have no clue who is applying anywhere and don't know much about other kids at all. But that Brown incident last year was such drama (on many levels) that I have heard about it from multiple parents and and kids. (plus on DCUM).
No way are they divulging this at my DC’s school either (Cathedral school).
Anonymous
11/30/2022 00:00
Subject: Re:ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:What would be the point of strategizing to increase odds of going to school that wasn’t his first choice?
For most applicants there is a range of schools where the regional reps will suggest that if you want to be admitted, you need to apply ED. If you use your ED at a super reach school with lots of classmate competition, and you don't get in, you also are not getting into those other schools where ED would have been your ticket in (and not all schools have ED2). A kid can fall pretty far down the ladder of admissions to schools on his/her list after a swing and miss at ED.
Anonymous
11/29/2022 23:58
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think this should absolutely play a role in where you ED. If there are 10 other kids from your school applying there, and 3 are legacies and 2 are recruited athletes, move on. You're highly unlikely to get in!
At small privates, kids should ask counselor how many others in class are applying. Beyond that, kids talk. This isn't hard to figure out, especially the recruited athlete part. I'm sure big schools are different.
The counselors would never divulge this sort of information at Sidwell.
And to the question earlier about how parents know at Sidwell. I have no clue who is applying anywhere and don't know much about other kids at all. But that Brown incident last year was such drama (on many levels) that I have heard about it from multiple parents and and kids. (plus on DCUM).
Anonymous
11/29/2022 23:13
Subject: Re:ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What would be the point of strategizing to increase odds of going to school that wasn’t his first choice?
It could be smart depending on a kid’s preferences. If a kid’s top 3 colleges are Yale, Swarthmore, and Northwestern, and then a sharp cliff after those 3, a kid might logically decide to ED to Swarthmore. The logic here would be the kid would much rather go to Swarthmore than a school not in his top 3. He might think his ED card is wasted at Yale, so he’d play it at Swarthmore. Just because he would choose Yale over Swarthmore doesn’t mean that he would never ED to Swarthmore or Northwestern. Depends on all of his preference… not just his preference for #1 vs #2.
This is correct. It is also really rudimentary logic. If you just love Yale and think it's "worth a shot" go ahead and waste that ED card. But some people prefer to approach these scenarios like adults.
Anonymous
11/28/2022 19:09
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Do they pay for their journey?
In our case, no. But they have and will have, jobs.
My point was that regarding "ED strategy" - it's up to them to decide.
Anonymous
11/28/2022 19:08
Subject: ED strategy
Do they pay for their journey?
Anonymous
11/28/2022 19:02
Subject: Re:ED strategy
When kids are empowered to make choices, like where to apply ED, given parental advice on reality checks, it is an important step towards independence. Your child might use their ED card on a lottery school, or on a target, or on a safety. Or they might not ED at all. I've really seen the effect on mine of knowing they are in charge of that decision. It's nerve wracking to watch and wait, but I try to keep that to myself because it's their journey.
Anonymous
11/28/2022 18:54
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:I think this should absolutely play a role in where you ED. If there are 10 other kids from your school applying there, and 3 are legacies and 2 are recruited athletes, move on. You're highly unlikely to get in!
At small privates, kids should ask counselor how many others in class are applying. Beyond that, kids talk. This isn't hard to figure out, especially the recruited athlete part. I'm sure big schools are different.
Anonymous
11/28/2022 18:36
Subject: Re:ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What would be the point of strategizing to increase odds of going to school that wasn’t his first choice?
It could be smart depending on a kid’s preferences. If a kid’s top 3 colleges are Yale, Swarthmore, and Northwestern, and then a sharp cliff after those 3, a kid might logically decide to ED to Swarthmore. The logic here would be the kid would much rather go to Swarthmore than a school not in his top 3. He might think his ED card is wasted at Yale, so he’d play it at Swarthmore. Just because he would choose Yale over Swarthmore doesn’t mean that he would never ED to Swarthmore or Northwestern. Depends on all of his preference… not just his preference for #1 vs #2.
This is a really good point and very good analysis of 3 schools where that type of strategy makes a ton of sense
Anonymous
11/28/2022 18:28
Subject: Re:ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:What would be the point of strategizing to increase odds of going to school that wasn’t his first choice?
It could be smart depending on a kid’s preferences. If a kid’s top 3 colleges are Yale, Swarthmore, and Northwestern, and then a sharp cliff after those 3, a kid might logically decide to ED to Swarthmore. The logic here would be the kid would much rather go to Swarthmore than a school not in his top 3. He might think his ED card is wasted at Yale, so he’d play it at Swarthmore. Just because he would choose Yale over Swarthmore doesn’t mean that he would never ED to Swarthmore or Northwestern. Depends on all of his preference… not just his preference for #1 vs #2.
Anonymous
11/28/2022 18:04
Subject: Re:ED strategy
"Strategy" should play no part here.
ED is for a school you love (and can afford, hopefully). Period.
DC applied last month to an ED school that is a major reach (no hooks), but fits the above categories. They know other people who also ED'd there from their HS, but we still thought it was worth a shot. It's a lottery school, but if you don't play, you can't win. We discussed this beforehand, and it was DC's choice nevertheless, even though expectations are clear (and low!).
If you try to overanalyze, you will make yourself crazy (as does much of DCUM).
-- seasoned parent with other kids in college who has BTDT
ED is for a school you love (and can afford, hopefully). Period.
DC applied last month to an ED school that is a major reach (no hooks), but fits the above categories. They know other people who also ED'd there from their HS, but we still thought it was worth a shot. It's a lottery school, but if you don't play, you can't win. We discussed this beforehand, and it was DC's choice nevertheless, even though expectations are clear (and low!).
If you try to overanalyze, you will make yourself crazy (as does much of DCUM).
-- seasoned parent with other kids in college who has BTDT
Anonymous
11/28/2022 17:58
Subject: ED strategy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Some college needs to offer a course based on game theory of college admissions. (A paper probably exists somewhere, but I don’t have time to find it).
- Applying ED gives a huge bump in changes to the applicant, especially at need aware schools
.
need aware does not exist anymore at elite colleges - last holdouts were tufts and washu, now both need blind..