Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 11:53     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:I've seen a parent on this website complain on several threads that they were told here not to apply ED to Williams because they weren't hooked. Their kid did and was admitted and the conclusion was that DCUM was wrong.

I always find this amusing because the Williams admissions office tells applicants not to apply ED if they aren't hooked as part of the info session. Odds are actually better in RD at Williams if unhooked. One person getting in early unhooked changes none of this.


So often when someone says "we had no idea our DC could get into HYPS/T10/WASP" and faint surprise, they omitted telling your they are FGLI or grandparent were alums who have been donating for 50 years.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 11:45     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Yeah, trust the naviance data. Admissions is so school specific. Most of the advice here comes from parents in large public schools with grade inflation and creates an impression that only an unweighted 4.0 is viable anywhere when that is not the case for other schools.


Trust the naviance data that you can see with your own eyes. Don't trust naviance to label a school as a safety.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 11:39     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:DCUM - don’t ED to WASP unless hooked
Reality - unhooked and got in ED

Kid was exactly what school was looking for; not at all surprised DC was admitted.


It depends on which WASP. The acronym is cute but these schools are not as similar as you'd think in terms of campus culture and also with ED. Williams is nearly impossible as they take 150+ kids who are athletes, legacies, Questbridge when they only have 200 spots total for ED. If they happen to have more boys for Questbridge and legacies that year, there could literally be only 10 ED spots left for unhooked boys and at that point, you bet they are only accepting highly spiked ED applicants like a refugee from Ukraine who is also a concert pianist and speaks 4 languages. You are essentially throwing your only ED chip away. Slightly easier (emphasize "slightly") at Swarthmore and Pomona due to lower level of athletic recruits
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 11:22     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
The other thing this board gets wrong is that schools feel a lot different in practice than the advice you get on here. E.g., Dartmouth is not all frat guys, Miami is not all rich influencer-wannabes, SMU is not all coke-heads, Brown is not all blue haired LGBT types, etc. the schools have their individuals feels when you visit or attend, but they are often quite different than the outmoded stereotypes on here. In general, the advice towards state schools has also swung way too hard. Many of the state schools are great options, but people discount what the more expensive schools offer (if you can afford it).
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 11:13     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Yeah, trust the naviance data. Admissions is so school specific. Most of the advice here comes from parents in large public schools with grade inflation and creates an impression that only an unweighted 4.0 is viable anywhere when that is not the case for other schools.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:59     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Have more faith in your own kids than random strangers online.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:47     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Not sure yet as kid is a junior and hasn't applied yet, but I've noticed that Naviance shows him as a likely or at least plausible admit at some schools that DCUM members seem to think are out of range for someone with his stats. That leads me to think that school context matters a lot.


Right. And its why the advice here is often wrong. I wouldn't ever ask for advice here.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:44     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:I've seen a parent on this website complain on several threads that they were told here not to apply ED to Williams because they weren't hooked. Their kid did and was admitted and the conclusion was that DCUM was wrong.

I always find this amusing because the Williams admissions office tells applicants not to apply ED if they aren't hooked as part of the info session. Odds are actually better in RD at Williams if unhooked. One person getting in early unhooked changes none of this.

+1
Agree
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:25     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?

Now that the application cycle is over, I can see a lot of differences between IRL and DCUM.

GPA: When I first came here a year ago, I was severely depressed seeing so many 4.0 uw. IRL a 4.0 is not necessary for students from our high school to get into top colleges, not even 3.9 or 3.8. Once the GPA is within range per Naviance, it matters much less. Some 4.0s were rejected, while some lower GPAs were accepted. For some T20 even a T10 colleges, the accepted GPA range can be quite a bit lower than what DCUM would make you believe. This is for unhooked applicants.

Rigor: Rigor matters a ton at our school. Our school does not offer AP classes, but the advanced courses are definitely not easy, even just to earn a B+. Colleges recognized that during application review (signaling).

National awards: No. Definitely not necessary.


I agree with PP here but the issue is you don’t know which lower GPA on Naviance belongs to an athlete or legacy so you can’t be sure what is “within range” for your own unhooked kid.


Our school only has classes between 300-350 and very few athletic recruits. So, NAVIANCE is pretty accurate. We have two boys, a 25 and a 26. The class of 26 crushed it. Much better results than the class of 25 at the top.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:07     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Not sure yet as kid is a junior and hasn't applied yet, but I've noticed that Naviance shows him as a likely or at least plausible admit at some schools that DCUM members seem to think are out of range for someone with his stats. That leads me to think that school context matters a lot.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 09:39     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
I've seen a parent on this website complain on several threads that they were told here not to apply ED to Williams because they weren't hooked. Their kid did and was admitted and the conclusion was that DCUM was wrong.

I always find this amusing because the Williams admissions office tells applicants not to apply ED if they aren't hooked as part of the info session. Odds are actually better in RD at Williams if unhooked. One person getting in early unhooked changes none of this.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 08:25     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:DCUM - don’t ED to WASP unless hooked
Reality - unhooked and got in ED

Kid was exactly what school was looking for; not at all surprised DC was admitted.


What do you mean by this?
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 07:33     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
What I learned IRL: Strong, well-rounded, but not perfect kids CAN get into top schools, both ED and RD. Have safeties, ofc, but the majority of kids at top schools are in fact not outliers. They're regular really bright kids.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 06:17     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
DCUM - don’t ED to WASP unless hooked
Reality - unhooked and got in ED

Kid was exactly what school was looking for; not at all surprised DC was admitted.
Anonymous
Post 05/14/2026 23:30     Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Specific high school context matters more than conventional DCUM wisdom.

At our small high school, the unweighted 3.9-ish crowd with high rigor got into Harvard, Yale, Stanford but the surprise for us was that our DC's friend group (3.6-3.8) got into very good schools (so-called "new Ivies" like Northwestern, Georgetown, Tufts, WashU, so-called Ivy "plus" schools like UChicago). They also did very well at NYU and USC.

DCUM conventional wisdom would not have predicted that. But DCUM wisdom is not high school specific. For our school, it was not helpful at all to read comments.



Which high school is this?