Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regarding the 3.9 at the top private, it matters whether or not that included the top math track and top science track. That is a fairly big differentiator. At a place like Sidwell, for example, that would matter a lot. Several kids in Sidwell 22 class were in the top math and science tracks, and had GPAs > 3.95 with 2 having 4.0 and these folks did end up at Ivies/Stanford, all not necessarily in SCEA/ED but by RD it generally happened. I believe all had SATs > 1560 and ACTs of 36. Not trying to be a jerk, but it was a super competitive year. Having said that, Colgate is an amazing school with extremely strong students, especially those now in class of 2026.

I agree with this and feel the same about gpa differentiation at publics, especially mcps where all honors and AP gets a bump. it makes a big difference if a student’s 3.9-4.0 is achieved with calc bc, mv, ap chem, etc versus with ap stat, apes, ap psychology.

If you look at the chart with estimated weekly study hours provided by our hs, Apes and AP psych require much more work than bc, MV or stats. That doesn’t mean they’re more difficult but they typically require many more hours of studying.

That may just mean that math rewuires less HW than subjects that are heavier in reading, and have nothing to do with difficulty. Compare the difficulty of
of ap stats vs ap calc bc, and ap chem vs ap es. I have never heard anyone say that bc calc and ap chem are not significantly more challenging than apes and stat!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

The 3.6 is likely the problem. Colgate has gotten super competitive. Last year overall acceptance was 12% (11.6%). DC is a current freshman and the ‘26 class is outstanding- heard about it ad nauseum at Family Weekend. Applied RD from top private in DMV - 3.9, 1500, great academic and athletic ECs incld 4 sport varsity athlete and captain but no true hook. Essay received praise from admissions so that helped. If that was last year this year bound to be tougher. I have no clue what weighed GPAs actually are but 4.2 sounds low. DC has hasamet other freshman at Colgate from most of the top DMV privates and one from BCC but no other area publics.

Wouldn't a 3.9 from a top private have put your kid in the top 5 students in that class and made him/her Ivy material?

It sounds like that’s what happened: a bunch of DMV private school kids who were classic Ivy material applied SCEA/ED to Ivies, got rejected because the Ivies are all experimenting with TO, and applied RD to Colgate, which scooped up as many as it could and is now bragging ad nauseam about its unusually strong freshman class.

Ding ding ding. PP here and this exactly. And not just with Class of ‘26 at Colgate. TO has changed everything and a 1500(750V/750M) is mediocre because only kids with 1450+ submit now. Thankfully DC is happy but it was a crap fall/winter last year in our house. These private school kids are told if they earn top grades in hardest classes and spend their free time on worthy endeavors they are Ivy material. No longer true - it’s a pure crap shoot w/TO unless you are hooked. My DC wanted NE only and not too big (no Cornell or Penn) but not under 2,000 so limited T20 options outside Ivies and no to most of NESCAC. Colgate was a last minute application, the final one, at my suggestion. Alum network is famously strong and it has great grad/med/law school placement. I was worried Colgate would be too small but DC loves the size rn. We shall see what happens down the road but thanking the stars at this point.

As for those discussing grade inflation at public v private - of course some privates do. The cited Study doesn’t differentiate and a private in Louisville or Baton Rouge is very different from one in DC or NYC. Heck the ones in our area run the gamut from seriously intense to super chill. MCPS, FCPS and other publics definitely do, the availability of retesting is infamous. The best privates do not, you get what you earn. You can argue and refer to all the studies you want but the college AOs know what’s what re grade inflation and specific schools. And I’m not suggesting privates give kids a leg up anywhere. I’m sure it hurts in many cases. But lots of top colleges have higher percentage of students from privates than the percentage in general college population. Doubt it’s all about ability to pay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

is private school really a hook for Colgate? that’s what’s implied here. And Colgate is need blind - all this talk about a full pay benefit existing at any elite school is a fallacy

Our counselor said Colgate is need aware -- is that not true?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regarding the 3.9 at the top private, it matters whether or not that included the top math track and top science track. That is a fairly big differentiator. At a place like Sidwell, for example, that would matter a lot. Several kids in Sidwell 22 class were in the top math and science tracks, and had GPAs > 3.95 with 2 having 4.0 and these folks did end up at Ivies/Stanford, all not necessarily in SCEA/ED but by RD it generally happened. I believe all had SATs > 1560 and ACTs of 36. Not trying to be a jerk, but it was a super competitive year. Having said that, Colgate is an amazing school with extremely strong students, especially those now in class of 2026.

I agree with this and feel the same about gpa differentiation at publics, especially mcps where all honors and AP gets a bump. it makes a big difference if a student’s 3.9-4.0 is achieved with calc bc, mv, ap chem, etc versus with ap stat, apes, ap psychology.

If you look at the chart with estimated weekly study hours provided by our hs, Apes and AP psych require much more work than bc, MV or stats. That doesn’t mean they’re more difficult but they typically require many more hours of studying.

Anonymous wrote:Regarding the 3.9 at the top private, it matters whether or not that included the top math track and top science track. That is a fairly big differentiator. At a place like Sidwell, for example, that would matter a lot. Several kids in Sidwell 22 class were in the top math and science tracks, and had GPAs > 3.95 with 2 having 4.0 and these folks did end up at Ivies/Stanford, all not necessarily in SCEA/ED but by RD it generally happened. I believe all had SATs > 1560 and ACTs of 36. Not trying to be a jerk, but it was a super competitive year. Having said that, Colgate is an amazing school with extremely strong students, especially those now in class of 2026.

I agree with this and feel the same about gpa differentiation at publics, especially mcps where all honors and AP gets a bump. it makes a big difference if a student’s 3.9-4.0 is achieved with calc bc, mv, ap chem, etc versus with ap stat, apes, ap psychology.

Anonymous wrote:If anyone can share stats of public school kids that got into Colgate during this year's ED, that would be great.

My kids are at a large W school and we’ve had very few kids apply ED. A lot of RD applications. But I never see many ED applications (beyond just Colgate) like you do at the private schools. I assume money is a large factor but probably also less robust college counseling where kids aren’t EDing to a more reasonable hard target or low reach. Or both factors, where parents are more likely to feel if kid doesn’t get into T20, UMD is the better value.

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

is private school really a hook for Colgate? that’s what’s implied here. And Colgate is need blind - all this talk about a full pay benefit existing at any elite school is a fallacy

Regarding the 3.9 at the top private, it matters whether or not that included the top math track and top science track. That is a fairly big differentiator. At a place like Sidwell, for example, that would matter a lot. Several kids in Sidwell 22 class were in the top math and science tracks, and had GPAs > 3.95 with 2 having 4.0 and these folks did end up at Ivies/Stanford, all not necessarily in SCEA/ED but by RD it generally happened. I believe all had SATs > 1560 and ACTs of 36. Not trying to be a jerk, but it was a super competitive year. Having said that, Colgate is an amazing school with extremely strong students, especially those now in class of 2026.

If anyone can share stats of public school kids that got into Colgate during this year's ED, that would be great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

The 3.6 is likely the problem. Colgate has gotten super competitive. Last year overall acceptance was 12% (11.6%). DC is a current freshman and the ‘26 class is outstanding- heard about it ad nauseum at Family Weekend. Applied RD from top private in DMV - 3.9, 1500, great academic and athletic ECs incld 4 sport varsity athlete and captain but no true hook. Essay received praise from admissions so that helped. If that was last year this year bound to be tougher. I have no clue what weighed GPAs actually are but 4.2 sounds low. DC has hasamet other freshman at Colgate from most of the top DMV privates and one from BCC but no other area publics.

Wouldn't a 3.9 from a top private have put your kid in the top 5 students in that class and made him/her Ivy material?

A 3.9 at a top DC private could be the very top student in the class (I don't think my kid's Big3 even graduated a 3.9 last year). An a minimum within the top 5 students. Is this kid really attending Colgate?
It's great but something is missing here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

The 3.6 is likely the problem. Colgate has gotten super competitive. Last year overall acceptance was 12% (11.6%). DC is a current freshman and the ‘26 class is outstanding- heard about it ad nauseum at Family Weekend. Applied RD from top private in DMV - 3.9, 1500, great academic and athletic ECs incld 4 sport varsity athlete and captain but no true hook. Essay received praise from admissions so that helped. If that was last year this year bound to be tougher. I have no clue what weighed GPAs actually are but 4.2 sounds low. DC has hasamet other freshman at Colgate from most of the top DMV privates and one from BCC but no other area publics.

Wouldn't a 3.9 from a top private have put your kid in the top 5 students in that class and made him/her Ivy material?

It sounds like that’s what happened: a bunch of DMV private school kids who were classic Ivy material applied SCEA/ED to Ivies, got rejected because the Ivies are all experimenting with TO, and applied RD to Colgate, which scooped up as many as it could and is now bragging ad nauseam about its unusually strong freshman class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

The 3.6 is likely the problem. Colgate has gotten super competitive. Last year overall acceptance was 12% (11.6%). DC is a current freshman and the ‘26 class is outstanding- heard about it ad nauseum at Family Weekend. Applied RD from top private in DMV - 3.9, 1500, great academic and athletic ECs incld 4 sport varsity athlete and captain but no true hook. Essay received praise from admissions so that helped. If that was last year this year bound to be tougher. I have no clue what weighed GPAs actually are but 4.2 sounds low. DC has hasamet other freshman at Colgate from most of the top DMV privates and one from BCC but no other area publics.

Wouldn't a 3.9 from a top private have put your kid in the top 5 students in that class and made him/her Ivy material?

Anonymous wrote:A 3.6 from a private and full pay not getting into Colgate is very surprising. I think it will be very difficult for my MoCo senior with a 4.2 weighted and 33 ACT to get in ED2 (we are full pay also). Any thoughts from people? Any stats people can share for the public school kids who may have gotten in last night?

The 3.6 is likely the problem. Colgate has gotten super competitive. Last year overall acceptance was 12% (11.6%). DC is a current freshman and the ‘26 class is outstanding- heard about it ad nauseum at Family Weekend. Applied RD from top private in DMV - 3.9, 1500, great academic and athletic ECs incld 4 sport varsity athlete and captain but no true hook. Essay received praise from admissions so that helped. If that was last year this year bound to be tougher. I have no clue what weighed GPAs actually are but 4.2 sounds low. DC has has met other freshman at Colgate from most of the top DMV privates and one from BCC but no other area publics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Union as good as Colgate?

Academics do seem to be comparable and Union has stronger stem. But because Union doesn’t have as much name recognition outside the northeast, it’s easier to get into and caliber of students might be slightly less. Both are great schools though.

This is just wrong. Colgate is a much better school with far better curriculum, professors, name recognition, alum network and more. They are not comparable at all. I am very familiar with both schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD's portal page went from "received and processed" to blank today. Perhaps tonight?

DD was rejected. 1450 SAT; 3.6uw GPA with rigorous courses (this is likely the issue); varsity sport captain, youth sport coach and three consistent community service activities. Wonder if a legacy with similar credentials would have made the cut?

Sorry to hear. Admissions are much harder for girls at Colgate and other SLACs because so many more girls apply.