Anonymous wrote:Try being an applicant from a "big 3" private where the schools grade deflate, don't have APs, don't rank the class, and don't have traditional "weighted" GPAs. These schools have relied the notion that colleges know who they are and respect their rigor. No longer. Result: plenty of high achievers who are getting sub-par results.

Anonymous wrote:Try being an applicant from a "big 3" private where the schools grade deflate, don't have APs, don't rank the class, and don't have traditional "weighted" GPAs. These schools have relied the notion that colleges know who they are and respect their rigor. No longer. Result: plenty of high achievers who are getting sub-par results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. My son has also hit way more walls than expected with a single attempt 1570 SAT, 4.4 GPA, 11 APs, super hard classes and tons of very significant ECs. He is loved by his teachers so we assume the LORs were good and were told the essay was "spectacular" when he took it to a writing workshop given by AOs.

Rejected at several "mid reach" schools like UVA while kids we know with lower scores who mostly sit around and play video games all day were accepted. Other friends are getting in with imaginary heritages and fake first time college attender attestations. But who is checking any of this? The bottom line is, there are not clear rules about kids who get in and the fact of the matter is, many of the best and brightest are getting shut out - which is anti American in my view. What happened to cause and effect? Work and rewards? It's a black box of admissions and people are lying and there is no accountability. Colleges are making what seem to be bizarre choices in many cases.

Yeah you can get a good education in many places but the reality is the outcomes differ - its in the data. So it is a real impact to a kid who knocked it out of the park and saw lessor effort end up winning the prize.

Are these kids lying about their parents' occupation, zip code and income on their applications, CSS Profile and/or FAFSA? I can believe some kids are lying about race/heritage but first gen requires a lot more work across several inputs/forms during the admissions process.

My guess is that some people wildly make these charges w/o realizing how difficult it is to do or it really is true and they simply had no idea that the successful parents were not college grads.

Anonymous wrote:Try being an applicant from a "big 3" private where the schools grade deflate, don't have APs, don't rank the class, and don't have traditional "weighted" GPAs. These schools have relied the notion that colleges know who they are and respect their rigor. No longer. Result: plenty of high achievers who are getting sub-par results.

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. My son has also hit way more walls than expected with a single attempt 1570 SAT, 4.4 GPA, 11 APs, super hard classes and tons of very significant ECs. He is loved by his teachers so we assume the LORs were good and were told the essay was "spectacular" when he took it to a writing workshop given by AOs.

Rejected at several "mid reach" schools like UVA while kids we know with lower scores who mostly sit around and play video games all day were accepted. Other friends are getting in with imaginary heritages and fake first time college attender attestations. But who is checking any of this? The bottom line is, there are not clear rules about kids who get in and the fact of the matter is, many of the best and brightest are getting shut out - which is anti American in my view. What happened to cause and effect? Work and rewards? It's a black box of admissions and people are lying and there is no accountability. Colleges are making what seem to be bizarre choices in many cases.

Yeah you can get a good education in many places but the reality is the outcomes differ - its in the data. So it is a real impact to a kid who knocked it out of the park and saw lessor effort end up winning the prize.

Anonymous wrote:Is a 4.5 weighted GPA really only the 90th percentile?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. My son has also hit way more walls than expected with a single attempt 1570 SAT, 4.4 GPA, 11 APs, super hard classes and tons of very significant ECs. He is loved by his teachers so we assume the LORs were good and were told the essay was "spectacular" when he took it to a writing workshop given by AOs.

Rejected at several "mid reach" schools like UVA while kids we know with lower scores who mostly sit around and play video games all day were accepted. Other friends are getting in with imaginary heritages and fake first time college attender attestations. But who is checking any of this? The bottom line is, there are not clear rules about kids who get in and the fact of the matter is, many of the best and brightest are getting shut out - which is anti American in my view. What happened to cause and effect? Work and rewards? It's a black box of admissions and people are lying and there is no accountability. Colleges are making what seem to be bizarre choices in many cases.

Yeah you can get a good education in many places but the reality is the outcomes differ - its in the data. So it is a real impact to a kid who knocked it out of the park and saw lessor effort end up winning the prize.

I get it, that's upsetting and disappointing. Take the time to process it and support your child. The good news is that your kid will take his work ethic and intellect to whichever wonderful college he decides to attend. Maybe this unfortunate experience will help to fuel his fire, so that he's not afraid of rejection and continues to seek new and interesting opportunities. It's true that your kid might have an easier time at an Ivy, but the data shows that the kids who apply but don't go do just fine. Best of luck!

- a 2020 and 2021 Mom who's kids received similar news

Anonymous wrote:Or Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Or many others outside of PA (I just happen to love there).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. My son has also hit way more walls than expected with a single attempt 1570 SAT, 4.4 GPA, 11 APs, super hard classes and tons of very significant ECs. He is loved by his teachers so we assume the LORs were good and were told the essay was "spectacular" when he took it to a writing workshop given by AOs.

Rejected at several "mid reach" schools like UVA while kids we know with lower scores who mostly sit around and play video games all day were accepted. Other friends are getting in with imaginary heritages and fake first time college attender attestations. But who is checking any of this? The bottom line is, there are not clear rules about kids who get in and the fact of the matter is, many of the best and brightest are getting shut out - which is anti American in my view. What happened to cause and effect? Work and rewards? It's a black box of admissions and people are lying and there is no accountability. Colleges are making what seem to be bizarre choices in many cases.

Yeah you can get a good education in many places but the reality is the outcomes differ - its in the data. So it is a real impact to a kid who knocked it out of the park and saw lessor effort end up winning the prize.

I get it, that's upsetting and disappointing. Take the time to process it and support your child. The good news is that your kid will take his work ethic and intellect to whichever wonderful college he decides to attend. Maybe this unfortunate experience will help to fuel his fire, so that he's not afraid of rejection and continues to seek new and interesting opportunities. It's true that your kid might have an easier time at an Ivy, but the data shows that the kids who apply but don't go do just fine. Best of luck!

- a 2020 and 2021 Mom who's kids received similar news

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. My son has also hit way more walls than expected with a single attempt 1570 SAT, 4.4 GPA, 11 APs, super hard classes and tons of very significant ECs. He is loved by his teachers so we assume the LORs were good and were told the essay was "spectacular" when he took it to a writing workshop given by AOs.

Rejected at several "mid reach" schools like UVA while kids we know with lower scores who mostly sit around and play video games all day were accepted. Other friends are getting in with imaginary heritages and fake first time college attender attestations. But who is checking any of this? The bottom line is, there are not clear rules about kids who get in and the fact of the matter is, many of the best and brightest are getting shut out - which is anti American in my view. What happened to cause and effect? Work and rewards? It's a black box of admissions and people are lying and there is no accountability. Colleges are making what seem to be bizarre choices in many cases.

Yeah you can get a good education in many places but the reality is the outcomes differ - its in the data. So it is a real impact to a kid who knocked it out of the park and saw lessor effort end up winning the prize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC high stats from magnet, SAT 1600, GPA 4.0 UW, 4.78 W, 7 AP's with all 5's and one 4, school club leader, founder of a national non profit rejected from Princeton and top public schools, accepted into UMD honors.
What is wrong with this profile? Got deferred from a couple other top public schools. So far UMD is the only one in hand.

It could be that the essays or recommendations weren’t compelling.

It could also be that everyone in the industry has clued into the "founder of a national nonprofit" move at this point.

Half of my kid's class at Sidwell/NCS/GDS has "founded a nonprofit," and "national" just means they have a website with links to relevant things outside of your state.

Colleges know what you're doing here. think harder.

Plus, if you are founding a new nonprofit serving the same needs as existing one, you are diluting the pool when you should just be volunteering. It's a negative.

Great profile. I would say check the recs were strong. Also possible that essays were not well written or there could be something in there that upset AO's. A kid with such good stats should not be rejected by Princeton, more so not even deferred or rejected by top state schools