Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional

True. But so is Stanford, Duke, Princeton, Columbia, Penn and most of the other top 20 schools. Among the schools that went to test mandatory, it only bumped up the acceptance rate by a point or two. Whether an acceptance rate is 4 percent or 6 percent doesn't make much difference. It's still a ridiculously low acceptance rate.

Stanford wasn't test optional this year. Neither was Penn.

Penn was TO this yr. Tests are required starting next yr.

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread reeks of cope. Vanderbilt is a top ten school in this country, and it looks like many on this thread will be living in the past.

It’s quite literally not. They love the applications as everyone has said so they can look extra exclusive. They get the added ding that they actually admit a lot of TO.

All of that is fine, it’s a great school, but acting like it’s an Ivy with their qualifications is false. It offers strong academics, warm weather, sports, fun location. It makes a lot of sense for a lot of kids.

Anonymous wrote:Test optional. As other elites pivoted to test required it drive up the number to schools that were still test optional. Most kids can’t hit the scores required at the top schools.

This. At this point it is a clear marketing strategy. These schools will still attract the prime candidates that they want, but they LOVE being able to compete for the bragging rights of the lowest possible acceptance rate, and the only way they can keep competing for that bragging right is to keep the insane number of applications coming in. So as their peer schools, like the Ivies, start to drop TO and go back to requiring test scores, the kids who want to keep trying for those top schools will all rush send their applications to whatever top schools still offer TO to test their chances.

I am thrilled that my 11th graders #1 choice dropped TO as I am hoping that it will help calm this craze.

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt has ED 1 and ED2. Not as bad as chicago with EA and ED0,1,2 [/b]but not at all comparable to any other T20 with a single ED round or no ED at all. [b]

Yep. And the bolded require test scores- unlike Vanderbilt where over 50% are admitted without them. Those aren’t serious people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional

True. But so is Stanford, Duke, Princeton, Columbia, Penn and most of the other top 20 schools. Among the schools that went to test mandatory, it only bumped up the acceptance rate by a point or two. Whether an acceptance rate is 4 percent or 6 percent doesn't make much difference. It's still a ridiculously low acceptance rate.

Stanford wasn't test optional this year. Neither was Penn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt is the best in the south DS picked it over Duke. He loves the work hard play hard mentality and going to Broadway and the libraries. His only qualm is that it is too conservative for his liking.

Can you give examples, please?

DC is interested in both Duke and Vandy and sees them as quite similar, but hasn’t yet visited Vandy. (Duke did not seem conservative, BTW. But maybe we missed it?)

He is in GL, and many of the others in his and other frats and sororities he said claim to be liberal, showing support for causes, but beyond that surface level support harbor conservative beliefs and mindset.

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread reeks of cope. Vanderbilt is a top ten school in this country, and it looks like many on this thread will be living in the past.

Vandy is NOT top 10 come off it. It will never be ivy or Duke or even Northwestern level. It is barely T15.

Vanderbilt has ED 1 and ED2. Not as bad as chicago with EA and ED0,1,2 but not at all comparable to any other T20 with a single ED round or no ED at all.

Anonymous wrote:It’s the sweet spot intersection of rigor and fun in a mid-size package. Nashville is a blast in a way that Atlanta or Providence is not. It kind of exists for fun and entertainment.

Then you go back to class Monday in a really great academic environment in a warm climate

Plus SEC sports. Vandy is usually outmatched, but it’s fun, and they had some great upsets in both football and basketball this year.

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt is the best in the south DS picked it over Duke. He loves the work hard play hard mentality and going to Broadway and the libraries. His only qualm is that it is too conservative for his liking.

Can you give examples, please?

DC is interested in both Duke and Vandy and sees them as quite similar, but hasn’t yet visited Vandy. (Duke did not seem conservative, BTW. But maybe we missed it?)

This whole thread reeks of cope. Vanderbilt is a top ten school in this country, and it looks like many on this thread will be living in the past.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional. As other elites pivoted to test required it drive up the number to schools that were still test optional. Most kids can’t hit the scores required at the top schools.

Vanderbilt rejected my NMF/36 kid (and several of his also high scoring score friends). I actually think they prefer TO kids.

Vanderbilt admissions are just weird. They routinely take middle of the pack kids and reject the most interesting or accomplished ones.
The college counselors at our private high school say that they are by far the least predictable top20 school.

Yield?

💯
They know who will come.
It’s not a NMF/36….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vandy is 50% TO.
Duke is only 5%
Emory and Rice also have a lot more submitted than Vandy.

Duke is close to 30%. Their AO went on the record last year and indicated as such.

DUke is 30% TO and never changing.

Not true. I'm not guaranteeing they will change, but I would not say they will never change either. Guttentag said he wants to see a few TO classes go all the way through then evaluate. I also think he will be gone soon and might leave it up to his replacement to decide.

Studies over a few years were already done at other top schools and the TO kids were doing much worse than the rest-the ones most likely to need remedial help—hence bringing tests back.

Don't disagree with you. I guess Duke wants its own data. Hopefully they will get the same answers and scrap TO. Trust your admissions people to be able to pick out the kids with lower scores who are capable of more. This might bring down average test scores a little bit but it is worth it. Especially at the very top schools who don't need to worry about the US News rat race.

Vanderbilt has 67% yield, and 39% of admitted students are TO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vandy is 50% TO.
Duke is only 5%
Emory and Rice also have a lot more submitted than Vandy.

Duke is close to 30%. Their AO went on the record last year and indicated as such.

DUke is 30% TO and never changing.

Not true. I'm not guaranteeing they will change, but I would not say they will never change either. Guttentag said he wants to see a few TO classes go all the way through then evaluate. I also think he will be gone soon and might leave it up to his replacement to decide.

Studies over a few years were already done at other top schools and the TO kids were doing much worse than the rest-the ones most likely to need remedial help—hence bringing tests back.