Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most legacies nowadays are also top students-so you can’t write their admit off just because they are legacy.

lol. No. There are too many legacies for them all to be top students.

I should say, the legacies successful in the early round are also the top students. At our school, anyhow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sad to see average students not get into top schools.

They are average in a pool of exceptional kids, not average for our country. In the long run most of them will do extremely well.

All kids getting into top schools are exceptional kids. All might not have perfect SATs, but they are likely exceptionally wealthy, exceptionally smart, exceptional athletes, exceptional writers, have exceptional stories, participated in exceptional ECs making an exceptional impact or have overcome exceptional life challenges. The idea that just because a kid is smart and received top grades at a challenging private should grant them access to their college of choice is irrational.

The kids that are admitted generally deserve to be admitted. Many of the kids that are denied deserve to be admitted also. There are more qualified applicants than there is space. Even if you eliminated legacy preferences a lot of students getting denied still would get denied.

Anonymous wrote:Most legacies nowadays are also top students-so you can’t write their admit off just because they are legacy.

lol. No. There are too many legacies for them all to be top students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most legacies nowadays are also top students-so you can’t write their admit off just because they are legacy.

yes, agreed. It usually takes both.
At our school, out of the top 15 students, half got into Ivies as legacies. Those who were not legacies did not get into Ivies.

I have kids in middle school so I’m not paying much attention yet but I went to an Ivy League school and barely donate or participate in alumni stuff. Does this actually help my kid at all? Hard to tell.

This should be linked to the current thread asking how admissions decisions are made at privates. Start with where the kid is a college legacy, esp for the lifers.

Anonymous wrote:So sad to see average students not get into top schools.

They are average in a pool of exceptional kids, not average for our country. In the long run most of them will do extremely well.

Anonymous wrote:Most legacies nowadays are also top students-so you can’t write their admit off just because they are legacy.

yes, agreed. It usually takes both.
At our school, out of the top 15 students, half got into Ivies as legacies. Those who were not legacies did not get into Ivies.

Most legacies nowadays are also top students-so you can’t write their admit off just because they are legacy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and what I've been hearing is that the kids getting in are the top kids 3.95+ and the kids aiming outright for less competitive schools (say, Syracuse, South Carolina, Colorado, second tier liberal arts colleges etc).
The instagrams look great but what you're seeing are the athletic recruits, 3.95+ kids, and some legacies (mostly VIP legacies).
It's the middle (say 3.6 to 3.9) that are just getting deferred or denied. This is worrisome because this is a big part of each class.

Lots of deferrals from 3.75-3.9
That in previous years would have been admits.

5-10 years ago, yes. last 3 years, no.

If you had a pulse in 2022, you got into your school of choice. Your kids spent junior year online and most schools were test optional totally different in 2024.

You are off by a year. Class of '22 was not on line for junior year, and it was a tough admissions year because all the college kids who had deferred for 20 (so that was a boom year for kids getting off of WL at reaches) and 21 were back, yields were crazy high for the '21s, so lots of schools cut the size of the freshman class for 2022 grads. They just didn't have space.

The pandemic started in the spring of 20. The class of 22 graduated in May 2022. May of 2021 would be the end of their Junior year? The schools were closed down in the DMV most of 2021.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope this is what we have seen so far. The schools that have done well for non legacy or donor or athletes so far have been the less recognized privates. I think those schools have a different attitude for admissions because they have always had to market their kids and their school.

You know the legacy and donor status for kids at all these schools? Amazing talent.

I'm not the PP - but kids talk and so do parents. I learned far more about the make up our our DC's Big3 class between Dec-June of Senior year than I did between 9th grade and Fall of 12th. I am not one to care about who is a VIP or a legacy etc. But when admissions start to come out - it becomes very clear.

Yep. 95% of the senior kids know each other very well and they figure these things out when admissions start cranking out. Maybe 5% of the class rides under the radar and it's less clear but in general these aren't the kids going to top schools anyway (because the kids going to top schools are usually the ones who do a lot of activities at school.) Remember, these classes are small--at some schools they're 70 kids and many have been in class together since they were 4 years old!
My son is only a junior but goes to school sports practice every day for 2 hours. He knows who is going where next year and why they got admitted--because the seniors on his team all chat while working out. My son knows who is considered to be super smart, who is legacy, etc. He's not even on social media and isn't even friends with these kids but it swirls around him daily.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope this is what we have seen so far. The schools that have done well for non legacy or donor or athletes so far have been the less recognized privates. I think those schools have a different attitude for admissions because they have always had to market their kids and their school.

You know the legacy and donor status for kids at all these schools? Amazing talent.

I'm not the PP - but kids talk and so do parents. I learned far more about the make up our our DC's Big3 class between Dec-June of Senior year than I did between 9th grade and Fall of 12th. I am not one to care about who is a VIP or a legacy etc. But when admissions start to come out - it becomes very clear.

Anonymous wrote:All the private Big3 parents whine and complain bitterly after the ED round and then things magically turn around in the spring when everyone gets in RD or ED2. Come back in April with an update!

Not true at our Big3 in '23

Anonymous wrote:Nope this is what we have seen so far. The schools that have done well for non legacy or donor or athletes so far have been the less recognized privates. I think those schools have a different attitude for admissions because they have always had to market their kids and their school.

You know the legacy and donor status for kids at all these schools? Amazing talent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That really stinks. Sorry to hear that. They are being punished for being wealthy. But the education they received will make it ok in the long run. Plus they can still get into a prestigious graduate school

I agree. The private school kids in this area have very high SAT and ACT scores and colleges are not even taking that into account. I think there will be backlash when they start to see a difference in the kind of work the kids they are admitting are tuning in. There is a distinct difference in writing and other skills.

Top colleges already realizing this fact…listen to podcast with Yale and Dartmouth admissions deans on this very subject. The exams do add value!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7fHETLND5IlCqWHp2rt3Kj?go=1&sp_cid=d96c9c10c1cd7f32d6e1e3827ba7a024&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=0bf2430e98e34d3b

This is why MIT went back to test required/

And why several southern state school systems require -- TN, FL, GA.

Auburn is "test preferred."

So the tide is turning.

Just look at the common data set for schools and see the low rate of test scores submitted. A joke. And not all these students have "test anxiety" or other impairment factors. It is a scam and the schools enable it and make it impossible for a student to submit because of the artificially high test range.

1900+ test optional institutions.
80+ test free institutions.

Tell me more about this tide turning?

So sad to see average students not get into top schools.