You really don’t know what other candidates’ applications look like. They could have great scores or ECs you don’t know. Northeastern isn’t looking for superstars even if it is very selective. They want kids who want to go there!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We know several kids who were not super strong students who got into Tulane ED if the accepted a first semester abroad, start in NO in Feb.

I believe the top SLACs give a boost to private school grades because they want more of those families who have a tradition of giving in their alumni. I went to a top 10 slac from public school, all the boarding school kids got to skip the 101 classes - but public schools w/ AP credit did not, by sophmore year, the public school kids who had had higher GPA and SATs did way better than the weighted up boarding school group.

This is Tulane's trick to having higher reported stats, the CDS reports Freshman Fall first time admission stats only.

Northeastern does the exact same thing. At my DD’s (not big 3 equivalent-we live outside DMV) private, some very shaky applicants got in, provided they go to Oakland first. She was shocked by who got in. Not sour grapes as she did not apply. She visited and did not like it.

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. I went to a crappy public and then Ivy League for college. Got a few bad grades early in first trimester and then adjusted. Tutored many a kid from big national privates (Andover, Choate, St. Albans). They were terrible writers. Decent communicators but needed serious help organizing their thoughts in writing. I Graduated summa and went to Ivy law school. No private high school required.

+1. I went to public and did very well in college (not an Ivy). But felt I was more than adequately prepared.

Here’s where I see the biggest predictor of future success: making your kids get a d*** job. Too many private kids sit at home in the summer “studying” while their public counterparts have to hustle with 3 jobs. Teaches work ethic, multitasking, money management, self-motivation. College admissions people aren’t dumb, and they know who is set up well to succeed.

Anonymous wrote:DS is an OK student at a Big-3 (Sidwell/GDS/StA)--B average, with a good number of AP/honors/"upper level" courses. SATs average for the school (1400s). Let's assume no hook, or small hook. Full pay (no FA or scholarship needed.) Will probably write a strong essay, but not astonishingly good. What are typical target schools for this kind of student? Thank you!

Any Top 10-30 SLAC.

Tulane ED.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We know several kids who were not super strong students who got into Tulane ED if the accepted a first semester abroad, start in NO in Feb.

I believe the top SLACs give a boost to private school grades because they want more of those families who have a tradition of giving in their alumni. I went to a top 10 slac from public school, all the boarding school kids got to skip the 101 classes - but public schools w/ AP credit did not, by sophmore year, the public school kids who had had higher GPA and SATs did way better than the weighted up boarding school group.

This is Tulane's trick to having higher reported stats, the CDS reports Freshman Fall first time admission stats only.

Northeastern does the exact same thing. At my DD’s (not big 3 equivalent-we live outside DMV) private, some very shaky applicants got in, provided they go to Oakland first. She was shocked by who got in. Not sour grapes as she did not apply. She visited and did not like it.

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. I went to a crappy public and then Ivy League for college. Got a few bad grades early in first trimester and then adjusted. Tutored many a kid from big national privates (Andover, Choate, St. Albans). They were terrible writers. Decent communicators but needed serious help organizing their thoughts in writing. I Graduated summa and went to Ivy law school. No private high school required.

You went to Dartmouth- let’s not pretend that a real Ivy. You were probably tutoring the hockey recruits.

my older kid is a junior at a top SLAC - was a recruited athlete from a large public where he was top 10%. He feels his preparation and study habits are far superior to many of the “prep school kids” that account for about half his current class. His take is yeah kids fall thru the cracks easier at the publics, but the kids in that top 10% - and the quality of the AP or IB instruction at his public was at least as good or superior to prep kids who had more coddling. He said his public school AP econ teacher prepared him for that major extremely well. So these blanket statements about privates preparing kids better, better study habits, creating a life of learning, blah blah - are not always accurate. One thing I will give the privates - they keep the lower tier from “falling thru the cracks” as my kid said

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. I went to a crappy public and then Ivy League for college. Got a few bad grades early in first trimester and then adjusted. Tutored many a kid from big national privates (Andover, Choate, St. Albans). They were terrible writers. Decent communicators but needed serious help organizing their thoughts in writing. I Graduated summa and went to Ivy law school. No private high school required.

Well, go you! (Applauding)

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. I went to a crappy public and then Ivy League for college. Got a few bad grades early in first trimester and then adjusted. Tutored many a kid from big national privates (Andover, Choate, St. Albans). They were terrible writers. Decent communicators but needed serious help organizing their thoughts in writing. I Graduated summa and went to Ivy law school. No private high school required.

The failure to master the rules of capitalization and spacing makes all of this suspect.

Hmm. I went to a crappy public and then Ivy League for college. Got a few bad grades early in first trimester and then adjusted. Tutored many a kid from big national privates (Andover, Choate, St. Albans). They were terrible writers. Decent communicators but needed serious help organizing their thoughts in writing. I Graduated summa and went to Ivy law school. No private high school required.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, my 3.2 gpa "big 3" DD just outright rejected from CU Boulder. I am flabbergasted. This is the most messed up college admissions cycle we have experienced yet. What a mess.

I'm so sorry. This must be stressful. Did DD submit SAT or ACT scores? I do wonder if at these large schools it's harder for Big-3 students to complete bc of the lack of grade inflation, and so students need to submit standardized test scores. Did DD apply to any schools early?

She did submit. It was not a high ACT, but was above the 50th% range, so counselor said definitely submit. It's all about GPA now that TO is the norm. With so much grade inflation everywhere else, anything lower than a 3.7, no matter the school, is automatically out at large universities. I wish my kids had never attended the school they did. Not just because of college acceptances, but because they never felt anything other than like they were the stupid kids and end their senior year feeling ilke failures because the majority of their classmates are attending top 30 colleges and universities. I wish they had just had normal childhoods, surrounded by normal people who don't judge based on college matriculation.

yikes - $160k on hs to come out feeling like the stupid kid - empathize with you and totally agree that it was a mistake - hard pass on the private route for me.

NP here. My DC went to a big3 and always felt stupid as well (3.4 GPA and 32 ACT for reference). DC is now several years into attending a top 50 college. My DC finally feels smart. Getting amazing grades and opportunities. Her friends even refer to her as a “genius” because she gets very high grades, which we laugh about after her experience in high school. Her success in college is actually because of her high school experiences: she is regimented in her daily studying schedules, she routinely goes to office hours, meets with professors for feedback on papers early on in the process and writes really, really well thanks to her brutal Big3 english classes. She wishes she went somewhere else for high school, but I can see that it shaped her into a great student.

Some perspective from the other side: I went to a crappy public and was always at the top of my class without even trying. I got into a good college, but quickly failed out because I never learned how to study and I had never challenged myself. THAT did a number on my self-esteem, and it took me =years to recover.

Right with ya +1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, my 3.2 gpa "big 3" DD just outright rejected from CU Boulder. I am flabbergasted. This is the most messed up college admissions cycle we have experienced yet. What a mess.

I'm so sorry. This must be stressful. Did DD submit SAT or ACT scores? I do wonder if at these large schools it's harder for Big-3 students to complete bc of the lack of grade inflation, and so students need to submit standardized test scores. Did DD apply to any schools early?

She did submit. It was not a high ACT, but was above the 50th% range, so counselor said definitely submit. It's all about GPA now that TO is the norm. With so much grade inflation everywhere else, anything lower than a 3.7, no matter the school, is automatically out at large universities. I wish my kids had never attended the school they did. Not just because of college acceptances, but because they never felt anything other than like they were the stupid kids and end their senior year feeling ilke failures because the majority of their classmates are attending top 30 colleges and universities. I wish they had just had normal childhoods, surrounded by normal people who don't judge based on college matriculation.

yikes - $160k on hs to come out feeling like the stupid kid - empathize with you and totally agree that it was a mistake - hard pass on the private route for me.

NP here. My DC went to a big3 and always felt stupid as well (3.4 GPA and 32 ACT for reference). DC is now several years into attending a top 50 college. My DC finally feels smart. Getting amazing grades and opportunities. Her friends even refer to her as a “genius” because she gets very high grades, which we laugh about after her experience in high school. Her success in college is actually because of her high school experiences: she is regimented in her daily studying schedules, she routinely goes to office hours, meets with professors for feedback on papers early on in the process and writes really, really well thanks to her brutal Big3 english classes. She wishes she went somewhere else for high school, but I can see that it shaped her into a great student.

Yes! They do an amazing job teaching the habits that make a student successful. All schools should learn from them. I love how they weave the skills across the curriculum.

I went to a crappy public school (but got straight As!) and also did very poorly in college for a year. It permanently derailed my medical school goals.

We send our kids to a top DC private (high school only) because I have a lot of baggage from my own crappy high school experience. I know they may get into inferior colleges coming from private but I was determined to give them a very strong academic background. We all have our issues (or things we feel strongly about) as parents and this is definitely mine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, my 3.2 gpa "big 3" DD just outright rejected from CU Boulder. I am flabbergasted. This is the most messed up college admissions cycle we have experienced yet. What a mess.

I'm so sorry. This must be stressful. Did DD submit SAT or ACT scores? I do wonder if at these large schools it's harder for Big-3 students to complete bc of the lack of grade inflation, and so students need to submit standardized test scores. Did DD apply to any schools early?

She did submit. It was not a high ACT, but was above the 50th% range, so counselor said definitely submit. It's all about GPA now that TO is the norm. With so much grade inflation everywhere else, anything lower than a 3.7, no matter the school, is automatically out at large universities. I wish my kids had never attended the school they did. Not just because of college acceptances, but because they never felt anything other than like they were the stupid kids and end their senior year feeling ilke failures because the majority of their classmates are attending top 30 colleges and universities. I wish they had just had normal childhoods, surrounded by normal people who don't judge based on college matriculation.

yikes - $160k on hs to come out feeling like the stupid kid - empathize with you and totally agree that it was a mistake - hard pass on the private route for me.

NP here. My DC went to a big3 and always felt stupid as well (3.4 GPA and 32 ACT for reference). DC is now several years into attending a top 50 college. My DC finally feels smart. Getting amazing grades and opportunities. Her friends even refer to her as a “genius” because she gets very high grades, which we laugh about after her experience in high school. Her success in college is actually because of her high school experiences: she is regimented in her daily studying schedules, she routinely goes to office hours, meets with professors for feedback on papers early on in the process and writes really, really well thanks to her brutal Big3 english classes. She wishes she went somewhere else for high school, but I can see that it shaped her into a great student.

Some perspective from the other side: I went to a crappy public and was always at the top of my class without even trying. I got into a good college, but quickly failed out because I never learned how to study and I had never challenged myself. THAT did a number on my self-esteem, and it took me =years to recover.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, my 3.2 gpa "big 3" DD just outright rejected from CU Boulder. I am flabbergasted. This is the most messed up college admissions cycle we have experienced yet. What a mess.

I'm so sorry. This must be stressful. Did DD submit SAT or ACT scores? I do wonder if at these large schools it's harder for Big-3 students to complete bc of the lack of grade inflation, and so students need to submit standardized test scores. Did DD apply to any schools early?

She did submit. It was not a high ACT, but was above the 50th% range, so counselor said definitely submit. It's all about GPA now that TO is the norm. With so much grade inflation everywhere else, anything lower than a 3.7, no matter the school, is automatically out at large universities. I wish my kids had never attended the school they did. Not just because of college acceptances, but because they never felt anything other than like they were the stupid kids and end their senior year feeling ilke failures because the majority of their classmates are attending top 30 colleges and universities. I wish they had just had normal childhoods, surrounded by normal people who don't judge based on college matriculation.

yikes - $160k on hs to come out feeling like the stupid kid - empathize with you and totally agree that it was a mistake - hard pass on the private route for me.

NP here. My DC went to a big3 and always felt stupid as well (3.4 GPA and 32 ACT for reference). DC is now several years into attending a top 50 college. My DC finally feels smart. Getting amazing grades and opportunities. Her friends even refer to her as a “genius” because she gets very high grades, which we laugh about after her experience in high school. Her success in college is actually because of her high school experiences: she is regimented in her daily studying schedules, she routinely goes to office hours, meets with professors for feedback on papers early on in the process and writes really, really well thanks to her brutal Big3 english classes. She wishes she went somewhere else for high school, but I can see that it shaped her into a great student.

Anonymous wrote:it’s funny we stressed big time over public vs private decision w our DC, ultimately chose the public path. She’s a good (not great) student and probably would’ve been around the middle of a private school class. She breezed through the virtual years at her public (where As were the norm for most) and is just at cusp of top 5% of class with a 3.9 UW. Bombed the standardized tests (imo because of poor insx at public) and applied TO ED to her T15 reach, and was admitted back in December. Definitely think she wouldn’t have gotten in had she gone the private path. Now I am fretting that she’s not prepared for what’s coming academically

College was a shock for my kid coming from MCPS where grades are ridiculously inflated. The good news is that after the initial shock most kids learn that they need to study and how to study. My kids grades have gone from a 2.9 in the first semester to a 3.9 first semester sophomore year.