Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

Oh please. Colleges are tired of sob stories and overcoming obstacles. They are so common they are almost all meaningless.

I hope so, but apparently colleges still love those sob stories. I heard that rich families in China are sending their kids to McLean/Great Falls (and you can repeat that for Palo Alto—or any wealthy zip code in the country) and create sob stories and get into Harvard (or any Ivy+). They can hide their assets and they can even claim they are first gen college—which college AO is ever going to verify their parents’ income and education in China? Our admission system is totally broken.

DP.. like I stated, kids are lying on their apps. It's become a game.

DP here. Sadly, I agree. And other PP is correct. Easy to hide money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

Oh please. Colleges are tired of sob stories and overcoming obstacles. They are so common they are almost all meaningless.

I hope so, but apparently colleges still love those sob stories. I heard that rich families in China are sending their kids to McLean/Great Falls (and you can repeat that for Palo Alto—or any wealthy zip code in the country) and create sob stories and get into Harvard (or any Ivy+). They can hide their assets and they can even claim they are first gen college—which college AO is ever going to verify their parents’ income and education in China? Our admission system is totally broken.

DP.. like I stated, kids are lying on their apps. It's become a game.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sheer volume of lies you people tell yourselves to explain away your kid getting rejected is breathtaking. It’s good to see PP knows more about gaming college admissions than Harvard. Is this what you moved to after gaining your infectious disease expertise?

She never said that. And she's correct about Harvard. I'm an alum. Why so angry?

Thanks! To the second post.

As to the first post, I didn’t even care to respond. Getting rejected? Haha? Why would DD ever apply to Harvard for engineering?

Anonymous wrote:The sheer volume of lies you people tell yourselves to explain away your kid getting rejected is breathtaking. It’s good to see PP knows more about gaming college admissions than Harvard. Is this what you moved to after gaining your infectious disease expertise?

She never said that. And she's correct about Harvard. I'm an alum. Why so angry?

Anonymous wrote:And waiting listed for VT.....

Trolltastic!

My 4.0 DS from a Western PWC HS got in !! So excited - Go Hoos !

The sheer volume of lies you people tell yourselves to explain away your kid getting rejected is breathtaking. It’s good to see PP knows more about gaming college admissions than Harvard. Is this what you moved to after gaining your infectious disease expertise?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

Oh please. Colleges are tired of sob stories and overcoming obstacles. They are so common they are almost all meaningless.

I hope so, but apparently colleges still love those sob stories. I heard that rich families in China are sending their kids to McLean/Great Falls (and you can repeat that for Palo Alto—or any wealthy zip code in the country) and create sob stories and get into Harvard (or any Ivy+). They can hide their assets and they can even claim they are first gen college—which college AO is ever going to verify their parents’ income and education in China? Our admission system is totally broken.

Not only that, foreign students from China and India are sent to our boarding schools for a "fifth year" to be fashioned by the private school's college counselors. It's a huge moneymaker for the boarding school

A lot of them do that too!

Also, all of you probably heard that Harvard admitted record % of Asians. Harvard also said that this year a much higher % of admitted Asians were from low income or first gen families. American college AOs are so naive. Many of the “low income” and “first gen” probably have $$$ millions stashed overseas. Also FYI, in the last 20 years or so many rich Chinese families enrolled their kids at international schools over there (if they couldn’t move to McLean/Langley/Palo Alto😁). Heard of BASIS? Their intl schools in China pay teachers over $100k per year, in a country with average income 1/4 of the US. People who know the education system there told me. There are 2 systems: one for the locals and the other (intl schools) for the rich. Probably you also heard that their domestic education is hypercompetitive. I saw a sample math problem for elementary to middle school promotion—it involves a good amount of complicated trigonometry and algebra—to solve the trajectory problem of an artillery shell—you know they absolutely love military stuff😁. Attending intl schools such as BASIS is actually a huge relief for rich kids. Just remember this: some of the rich kids who game the system and get into Ivys and top universities here probably wouldn’t even qualify as Apple’s assembly line workers over there. And they are taking precious spots away from American kids (including Americans of Asian descent).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

Oh please. Colleges are tired of sob stories and overcoming obstacles. They are so common they are almost all meaningless.

I hope so, but apparently colleges still love those sob stories. I heard that rich families in China are sending their kids to McLean/Great Falls (and you can repeat that for Palo Alto—or any wealthy zip code in the country) and create sob stories and get into Harvard (or any Ivy+). They can hide their assets and they can even claim they are first gen college—which college AO is ever going to verify their parents’ income and education in China? Our admission system is totally broken.

Not only that, foreign students from China and India are sent to our boarding schools for a "fifth year" to be fashioned by the private school's college counselors. It's a huge moneymaker for the boarding school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

Oh please. Colleges are tired of sob stories and overcoming obstacles. They are so common they are almost all meaningless.

''

Please provide a cite for this because I think you are wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

Oh please. Colleges are tired of sob stories and overcoming obstacles. They are so common they are almost all meaningless.

I hope so, but apparently colleges still love those sob stories. I heard that rich families in China are sending their kids to McLean/Great Falls (and you can repeat that for Palo Alto—or any wealthy zip code in the country) and create sob stories and get into Harvard (or any Ivy+). They can hide their assets and they can even claim they are first gen college—which college AO is ever going to verify their parents’ income and education in China? Our admission system is totally broken.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

+1 I absolutely HATE this. It's like kids are making sh*t up to appear as a victim who has overcome. It's pathetic.

You just can't be 'normal'. When did 'normal' become toxic and a liability? And, I'm waiting for the rant to this post about what is 'normal' blah, blah, blah, yada yada....in this context--I mean your average kid with just regular life issues that don't have to be made into a mini-novella. Everyone by the time they are applying to college has likely faced meanness, exclusion, toxicity, rejection (sports, elections), injury, death of a grandparent, etc. Just 'normal' things based on their age. But--they have to make these things so 'life-definining' and beating all odds kind of crap.

IT's strange and weird. You hear of kids lying about their gender identification or race or some sob story just to have an angle.

Top colleges have long been for the exceptional—exceptionally rich; exceptionally talented, including showing amazing ability to overcome; or better yet, both. Your middle class kid who did no-cut XC, took some AP tests & got a 1480 on the SAT is a dime a dozen, sorry.

Ha. The sad matter is not anymore. Kids 'presenting' this way, i.e., normal, are the oddity nowadays. People are hiring consultants to cultivate their kids into versions completely different from their actual selves. And they are paying for experiences and other things to make their kid 'stand out'.

Please tell me what time period you’re waxing nostalgic about.

Until roughly 20 years ago, top schools would take huge % of their classes from top prep schools. See the NYC privates thread. Until fairly recently those schools were sending half their classes to Harvard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

+1 I absolutely HATE this. It's like kids are making sh*t up to appear as a victim who has overcome. It's pathetic.

You just can't be 'normal'. When did 'normal' become toxic and a liability? And, I'm waiting for the rant to this post about what is 'normal' blah, blah, blah, yada yada....in this context--I mean your average kid with just regular life issues that don't have to be made into a mini-novella. Everyone by the time they are applying to college has likely faced meanness, exclusion, toxicity, rejection (sports, elections), injury, death of a grandparent, etc. Just 'normal' things based on their age. But--they have to make these things so 'life-definining' and beating all odds kind of crap.

IT's strange and weird. You hear of kids lying about their gender identification or race or some sob story just to have an angle.

Because some kids have had to overcome a lot more than your kid, and it IS more impressive when they manage to achieve.

Does anyone really know what is going on in any kid's life? Nobody knows anything about what challenges any kid is facing, and dysfunction and abuse crosses all SES levels. The chip on the shoulder that one person's sob story is 'better' or more glorious than another persons is sick.

Selecting solely for those stories is what is sick. Yes- kid's circumstances should be taken into consideration. A kid holding down 2 jobs and school because his family is in poverty so does not have time or resources for extracurriculars and sports should matter. I am talking about the faux trauma victim sob story in essays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

+1 I absolutely HATE this. It's like kids are making sh*t up to appear as a victim who has overcome. It's pathetic.

You just can't be 'normal'. When did 'normal' become toxic and a liability? And, I'm waiting for the rant to this post about what is 'normal' blah, blah, blah, yada yada....in this context--I mean your average kid with just regular life issues that don't have to be made into a mini-novella. Everyone by the time they are applying to college has likely faced meanness, exclusion, toxicity, rejection (sports, elections), injury, death of a grandparent, etc. Just 'normal' things based on their age. But--they have to make these things so 'life-definining' and beating all odds kind of crap.

IT's strange and weird. You hear of kids lying about their gender identification or race or some sob story just to have an angle.

Top colleges have long been for the exceptional—exceptionally rich; exceptionally talented, including showing amazing ability to overcome; or better yet, both. Your middle class kid who did no-cut XC, took some AP tests & got a 1480 on the SAT is a dime a dozen, sorry.

Ha. The sad matter is not anymore. Kids 'presenting' this way, i.e., normal, are the oddity nowadays. People are hiring consultants to cultivate their kids into versions completely different from their actual selves. And they are paying for experiences and other things to make their kid 'stand out'.

Those hiring consultants would fall into the “exceptionally rich” category.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Context: To get a 4.6 at that school, kid likely had to take 16 AP courses and get a full "A" in every one of them through first semester of senior year. (And probably use some GPA-related tricks that Tiger parents daydream about from the time their kids are in diapers.) Only a handful of students in the entire school system can compete with that, and few would even be interested in trying. Anyway, I assume a troll started this thread.

My kid was like this and did not get into UVa or VT. Also sports and lots of extracurriculars The system is broken. People don't want to hear it, but it's true.

And my four white, UMC kids had those kinds of stats and ECs applied to UVA and three were admitted and of the three who applied to VT, two were admitted. The system is not broken; it is just crazy competitive and thus unpredictable.

+1
Same results for my white, UMC kids. Lots and lots of sour grapes on this forum.

What would the results have been for black kids?

The trick to UVA is applying ED, and having a sob story essay involving "diversity" (no injury topics). You are welcome.

Sad, but true.

It’s true of all schools. Every student has to have a sob story or a story about how they overcame an obstacle in life. It’s all very weird. We sent DS to a British school which is a meritocracy so we don’t have to deal with a broken system

+1 I absolutely HATE this. It's like kids are making sh*t up to appear as a victim who has overcome. It's pathetic.

You just can't be 'normal'. When did 'normal' become toxic and a liability? And, I'm waiting for the rant to this post about what is 'normal' blah, blah, blah, yada yada....in this context--I mean your average kid with just regular life issues that don't have to be made into a mini-novella. Everyone by the time they are applying to college has likely faced meanness, exclusion, toxicity, rejection (sports, elections), injury, death of a grandparent, etc. Just 'normal' things based on their age. But--they have to make these things so 'life-definining' and beating all odds kind of crap.

IT's strange and weird. You hear of kids lying about their gender identification or race or some sob story just to have an angle.

Because some kids have had to overcome a lot more than your kid, and it IS more impressive when they manage to achieve.

Does anyone really know what is going on in any kid's life? Nobody knows anything about what challenges any kid is facing, and dysfunction and abuse crosses all SES levels. The chip on the shoulder that one person's sob story is 'better' or more glorious than another persons is sick.