Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If he's so smart, hasn't he read all the professors' web pages and looked at what courses and clubs and research programs and summer programs, etc, are offered at each college, and figured out which is his first and second choice? He should know what he would write in his essay that would convey what he would contribute to the school's scholarship and community. DCUM cannot answer this for you.

I am genuinely puzzled by all these brilliant, rich, private schoool kids who don't bother to do their own research and figure out which colleges appeal to them and why.

Kindly, I don't expect that would you understand. Successful private school students that come from highly rigorous schools obviously have ideas about where they'd like to go to schools, but most of them are also working insane hours each day with school, sports, extracurricular, job, internship, etc. commitments. The parents that send their kids to these schools generally are more involved, or place a higher value on academics, therefore they will do their own research, too. A person who's child is lower energy and from a less demanding school would likely not understand these things. DP

NP. This doesn’t make any sense. What’s low energy about a kid actually doing their own research?

It does make me laugh, though, because two recent college tour guides wrapped up their tours by telling the group they chose the school because their mom told them to. Very impressive!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 3.8 compare with others at his school?

The reason I am asking is that at our school, we also see a similar pattern with Dartmouth: the highest stats/top of class kids don’t go there. The ones who are accepted have lower GPA than the top 10 percent and are not athletes or legacies either. (The school is small enough that one knows the kids).

You have it backwards. She said a 3.8 wasn’t good enough gpa for Dartmouth, they want higher. At our private not op) need to be in top 10 percent of class for Dartmouth (so within too dozen kids).

I was responding to OP’s statement that kids got into Dartmouth with 3.6 kids, and she assumed that they were athletes. My point was that at our school, that’s not the case.

Anonymous wrote:Its outcomes no horse in this race but Holy Cross produces a lot more successful alumni than Midd. Also 4 Years in northern Vermont-yikes.

Hmmm. Not seeing this from our private. Its definitely considered a step down from Midd. But I'm sure the alumni are great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My non-DMV 3.8uw private in niche non-stem got into multiple T20 in RD last year. Key was niche major. Is your kid’s major philosophy or classics or possibly English? With some ECs as evidence? If so, a lot is possible.

ED to 1st choice. Study what those schools are looking for.

NP this is my kid. can you square the advice to ED when your kid had multiple offers? I'm wondering because I'd rather not do ED and feeling pushed into it for my similar 3.8ish kid

You are responding to me. My kid did ED to T10 and was deferred. Already had a plan to apply widely in RD, so nothing much changed. Kid has a clear first choice at the time. Ended up in a better place in RD, with a "stronger" application in RD, than early. I'm convinced the application gets stronger over time - with more writing, thoughts on tightening narrative and reframing the ECs etc.

I would study your private's data carefully. And try not to apply to ALL the same schools as everyone else in RD. Yes, ofc there's some overlap. But if few are applying to Brown or Pomona or whatever, consider additional choices. Think outside the box for a major if humanities. Study ECs to see where the potential alignment is. Look at courses offered carefully to find natural affinity or alignment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Colgate or Holy Cross. Bowdoin and Midd are smaller. HC has powerhouse alumni network and only 1 hour into Boston.

what's wrong with the list the kid has?

No non-athletes apply ED to Williams anymore; it's too crowded.

ED isn't a bump at any of these schools except Midd. you can do RD for all.

ED also is a bump for Dartmouth (although not as big as it is for Midd). Agree that it's not a bump for WASP or Bowdoin.

Its outcomes no horse in this race but Holy Cross produces a lot more successful alumni than Midd. Also 4 Years in northern Vermont-yikes.

Anonymous wrote:Get info from you CCO on chances and if Dartmouth has any supporting data, figure out what a successful candidate looks like. Spend a month or two listening to Lee Coffin's podcast.

A lot of kids who like D from our private do:

ED1: Dartmouth
ED2: Middlebury

lol, how many times can she say Dartmouth is not going to work

(also, Lee Coffin is all about a kid's life story singing and then they admit white rich kids with high GPA and test scores. he's the worst)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Colgate or Holy Cross. Bowdoin and Midd are smaller. HC has powerhouse alumni network and only 1 hour into Boston.

what's wrong with the list the kid has?

No non-athletes apply ED to Williams anymore; it's too crowded.

ED isn't a bump at any of these schools except Midd. you can do RD for all.

Anonymous wrote:My non-DMV 3.8uw private in niche non-stem got into multiple T20 in RD last year. Key was niche major. Is your kid’s major philosophy or classics or possibly English? With some ECs as evidence? If so, a lot is possible.

ED to 1st choice. Study what those schools are looking for.

NP this is my kid. can you square the advice to ED when your kid had multiple offers? I'm wondering because I'd rather not do ED and feeling pushed into it for my similar 3.8ish kid

Get info from you CCO on chances and if Dartmouth has any supporting data, figure out what a successful candidate looks like. Spend a month or two listening to Lee Coffin's podcast.

A lot of kids who like D from our private do:

ED1: Dartmouth
ED2: Middlebury

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Colgate or Holy Cross. Bowdoin and Midd are smaller. HC has powerhouse alumni network and only 1 hour into Boston.

what's wrong with the list the kid has?

No non-athletes apply ED to Williams anymore; it's too crowded.

Anonymous wrote:How about Colgate or Holy Cross. Bowdoin and Midd are smaller. HC has powerhouse alumni network and only 1 hour into Boston.

Ummm. Do you know private schools? The kids that go to Colgate from ours are 3.7 or so at best. HC is much lower.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 3.8 compare with others at his school?

The reason I am asking is that at our school, we also see a similar pattern with Dartmouth: the highest stats/top of class kids don’t go there. The ones who are accepted have lower GPA than the top 10 percent and are not athletes or legacies either. (The school is small enough that one knows the kids).

You have it backwards. She said a 3.8 wasn’t good enough gpa for Dartmouth, they want higher. At our private not op) need to be in top 10 percent of class for Dartmouth (so within too dozen kids).

Within top dozen kids

Anonymous wrote:I’ll find a post from the research I did that showed which schools care most about extracurriculars and national level achievement. It’s not Dartmouth.

I think this was the list from T20:

Stanford
Vanderbilt
Princeton
Rice
Northwestern
Brown
Duke

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1218940.page

Anonymous wrote:How does 3.8 compare with others at his school?

The reason I am asking is that at our school, we also see a similar pattern with Dartmouth: the highest stats/top of class kids don’t go there. The ones who are accepted have lower GPA than the top 10 percent and are not athletes or legacies either. (The school is small enough that one knows the kids).

You have it backwards. She said a 3.8 wasn’t good enough gpa for Dartmouth, they want higher. At our private not op) need to be in top 10 percent of class for Dartmouth (so within too dozen kids).