Anonymous wrote:Nobody can really predict how it will go with the reaches. You need solid safeties and targets. At my kid’s school a few kids with this profile got into reaches and many more dud not. Make sure the list covers all bases.

This.

Anonymous wrote:It's not about numbers people!

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NOVA 2023, 3.98/4.5, 1560, NMSF, CS major
Rejected: Penn, Harvard
Waitlist: NEU, UVA
Accepted w/merit: UMD (attending), BU, Lehigh, CWRU, Ohio St., Minnesota
Accepted no merit: WM, Pitt

This is because of the major though. They would have had more merit at Pitt if not a CS major.

Congrats on UMD! That is a very hard program to get into.

Thank you. He really loves it there.

It's not about numbers people!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If folks stuck to the original question this forum could be useful. OP asked how your high stats + high rigor kids fared. It was very useful in correcting the expectations while people were posting where their kids were denied, waitlisted, accepted and admitted. Over analyzing of what AOs may or may look for is useless. Don’t suck up the oxygen and just let people provide their data!

The purpose of this thread is for parents to vent. We all know what matters the most is the high school. The correct expectation should be established based on your own high school data, not on random online posts from random high schools. No one will correct the expectations based on these posts.

+1

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Anonymous wrote:Kid had 1580 SAT/36 ACT.
Salutatorian. Private HS in Texas. Basically maxed out GPA with 10 APs at 5.

Great ECs.

Denied at H,P,S
Accepted Vandy, Duke and Oxford.

This is crazy. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford is such a crap shoot even with these stats….so frustrating.
Where is you kid going between Vandy, Duke and Oxford?

None of this is crazy. This person could’ve gotten rejected more than a decade ago. Just having a good score isn’t unique- a lot of people have good scores with course rigor.

+1 Parents don't grasp this until their kid experiences it themselves. These schools are rejecting 95 out of every 100 applicants (it is actually probably more like rejecting 97/98 out 100 if you take out the spots that are essentially reserved for athletes, kids of donors/legacy and questbridge). Your outstanding kid is competing with literally thousands of other equally qualified students for a couple of spots.

Im the parent of the kid denied at H,P and S and accepted to Vandy, Duke and Oxford.
The frustrating part for him is that little sister just got in Stanford, same major, worst stats. 1550/35 top 3% but not salutatorian and quite frankly, worse ECs than her brother.

DS was rejected from all of the Ivy plus schools and ended up at Georgetown. His younger sister had a worse GPA and SAT score but got into Princeton. That's why this admissions game is a crapshoot at the very elite schools. Your DS had some great choices - which one did he pick of the three?

DP. Everyone laments how weak boys are these days, but at the top levels they are extremely good. But they do tend to congregate in a handful of majors - mostly STEM and business. But all of the selective schools strive for a 50-50 balance. So it's hyper-competitive for boys looking at engineering at Princeton, Stanford, Rice, MIT, Georgia Tech. And it's also hyper-competitive for business - Penn-Wharton, NYU-Stern, Cornell-Dyson, Michigan-Ross, Berkeley-Hass.

Girls have a definite advantage in these fields in these schools. Most of the smart boys go into these fields and it's a Mad Max world for them. But there aren't as many smart girls choosing engineering or business. And with everyone striving for a 50-50 balance - as they should - it's a different space for male or female applicants.

This is no longer true at the very top "interdisciplinary" mid-size ivy-level schools: when we toured as well as after ours picked their ivy, they question of balance was asked at almost every info session. Almost all said a variation of the same: the number of BME and Environmental engineering females in the applicant pool far outnumbered males, CS applicants were 45/55 female to male, and so were half of the rest of the stem majors. Bio, chem have been majority female interests in the applicant pool for many years, as most are premeds and premeds have been female-dominated for a while.
Math, physics and EE/ECE are still predominantly male interests among applicants. The ivies, Duke, Stanford admit by school not major but they said to get 40-45% female overall engineers they do not have to have a significantly higher admit rate the past 3 cycles, engineering has become that popular with females. It does not matter to this type of school that almost all BE and Env are female and the ECE are almost all male, because students do not declare the E-major until sophomore year and the balance in deivisions is not tracked. They add professors and sections if one becomes more popular but they do not care about divisional sex balacnce: they just like the whole E-school to be about 40-45% female and now that is easy to do with the swing toward women in stem and girls who code that started with the elementary and middle schools push for the same around 2015. My kid is MechE and a male and over half his robotics team in HS was female and none wanted classic E-schools such as Michigan, Purdue, even GT--instead they all chased ivies or Duke because they wanted to be able to do music or arts and/or double major outside of Engineering.

Anonymous wrote:It appears that it is harder to get into college than when we all applied. But what about for the very high stats kids?

Can some of you please share how it went for your child who went through the process if your kid was max rigor, 1550 plus, top grades, great but not national award winning extracurricular.

My child is having trouble finishing up their college lists and part of the reason is we really just have no idea how it will all go with the reach schools. We also don't know what school is "worth" taking your shot early. This child will be happiest with an intense, highly academic crowd.

My thought would be for 1550/top rigor might as well apply, it does work out for many.
Ours got accepted to three Top-10s plus two in the 11-20 range, no hooks, higher score than 1550, Val, and beyond the max rigor typically allowed. They picked one of the T10s which happens to be ivy and it has been challenging yet fantastic.
Beware targeting the top: they need to be able to handle an environment with majority of students former Val/sal /award-winner/top grade and score kids who continue to have palpable intensity and drive to do many things in addition to getting good grades.
Ours has a sky-high GPA in a very hard major, but to do it they and friends spend hours and hours every day on psets and studies. No one coasts and gets above 3.9 at this school nor any of the T10 their high school peers attend. Many work even harder than ours just to be average, around 3.6-3.7.
These schools are not for the meek. The school has many low cost or free opportunities they provide students. Honestly hard to believe it is real. Our other is at UVA. It is such a different experience. UVA is fantastic as well, do not misinterpret, but it is completely different culturally and academically.

Anonymous wrote:This is not super high stat.

Crack is wack.

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Anonymous wrote:Kid had 1580 SAT/36 ACT.
Salutatorian. Private HS in Texas. Basically maxed out GPA with 10 APs at 5.

Great ECs.

Denied at H,P,S
Accepted Vandy, Duke and Oxford.

This is crazy. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford is such a crap shoot even with these stats….so frustrating.
Where is you kid going between Vandy, Duke and Oxford?

None of this is crazy. This person could’ve gotten rejected more than a decade ago. Just having a good score isn’t unique- a lot of people have good scores with course rigor.

+1 Parents don't grasp this until their kid experiences it themselves. These schools are rejecting 95 out of every 100 applicants (it is actually probably more like rejecting 97/98 out 100 if you take out the spots that are essentially reserved for athletes, kids of donors/legacy and questbridge). Your outstanding kid is competing with literally thousands of other equally qualified students for a couple of spots.

Im the parent of the kid denied at H,P and S and accepted to Vandy, Duke and Oxford.
The frustrating part for him is that little sister just got in Stanford, same major, worst stats. 1550/35 top 3% but not salutatorian and quite frankly, worse ECs than her brother.

DS was rejected from all of the Ivy plus schools and ended up at Georgetown. His younger sister had a worse GPA and SAT score but got into Princeton. That's why this admissions game is a crapshoot at the very elite schools. Your DS had some great choices - which one did he pick of the three?

DP. Everyone laments how weak boys are these days, but at the top levels they are extremely good. But they do tend to congregate in a handful of majors - mostly STEM and business. But all of the selective schools strive for a 50-50 balance. So it's hyper-competitive for boys looking at engineering at Princeton, Stanford, Rice, MIT, Georgia Tech. And it's also hyper-competitive for business - Penn-Wharton, NYU-Stern, Cornell-Dyson, Michigan-Ross, Berkeley-Hass.

Girls have a definite advantage in these fields in these schools. Most of the smart boys go into these fields and it's a Mad Max world for them. But there aren't as many smart girls choosing engineering or business. And with everyone striving for a 50-50 balance - as they should - it's a different space for male or female applicants.

Does this mean that DD (1570, 800 math, 4.0/4.5, top 5%, top math is Calc AB which is the highest math at the high school) has a chance at those business programs despite not having much in the way of business ECs?

What electives & ECs does she have? You’d be surprised - there’s usually a story/major lurking.

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Anonymous wrote:Kid had 1580 SAT/36 ACT.
Salutatorian. Private HS in Texas. Basically maxed out GPA with 10 APs at 5.

Great ECs.

Denied at H,P,S
Accepted Vandy, Duke and Oxford.

This is crazy. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford is such a crap shoot even with these stats….so frustrating.
Where is you kid going between Vandy, Duke and Oxford?

None of this is crazy. This person could’ve gotten rejected more than a decade ago. Just having a good score isn’t unique- a lot of people have good scores with course rigor.

+1 Parents don't grasp this until their kid experiences it themselves. These schools are rejecting 95 out of every 100 applicants (it is actually probably more like rejecting 97/98 out 100 if you take out the spots that are essentially reserved for athletes, kids of donors/legacy and questbridge). Your outstanding kid is competing with literally thousands of other equally qualified students for a couple of spots.

Im the parent of the kid denied at H,P and S and accepted to Vandy, Duke and Oxford.
The frustrating part for him is that little sister just got in Stanford, same major, worst stats. 1550/35 top 3% but not salutatorian and quite frankly, worse ECs than her brother.

DS was rejected from all of the Ivy plus schools and ended up at Georgetown. His younger sister had a worse GPA and SAT score but got into Princeton. That's why this admissions game is a crapshoot at the very elite schools. Your DS had some great choices - which one did he pick of the three?

DP. Everyone laments how weak boys are these days, but at the top levels they are extremely good. But they do tend to congregate in a handful of majors - mostly STEM and business. But all of the selective schools strive for a 50-50 balance. So it's hyper-competitive for boys looking at engineering at Princeton, Stanford, Rice, MIT, Georgia Tech. And it's also hyper-competitive for business - Penn-Wharton, NYU-Stern, Cornell-Dyson, Michigan-Ross, Berkeley-Hass.

Girls have a definite advantage in these fields in these schools. Most of the smart boys go into these fields and it's a Mad Max world for them. But there aren't as many smart girls choosing engineering or business. And with everyone striving for a 50-50 balance - as they should - it's a different space for male or female applicants.

Does this mean that DD (1570, 800 math, 4.0/4.5, top 5%, top math is Calc AB which is the highest math at the high school) has a chance at those business programs despite not having much in the way of business ECs?

You need some sort of businesss EC (working in parents business, internship, summer program, running your own depop vintage/reselling business) to make it possible. Otherwise, you just aren’t a viable candidate.

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Anonymous wrote:Kid had 1580 SAT/36 ACT.
Salutatorian. Private HS in Texas. Basically maxed out GPA with 10 APs at 5.

Great ECs.

Denied at H,P,S
Accepted Vandy, Duke and Oxford.

This is crazy. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford is such a crap shoot even with these stats….so frustrating.
Where is you kid going between Vandy, Duke and Oxford?

None of this is crazy. This person could’ve gotten rejected more than a decade ago. Just having a good score isn’t unique- a lot of people have good scores with course rigor.

+1 Parents don't grasp this until their kid experiences it themselves. These schools are rejecting 95 out of every 100 applicants (it is actually probably more like rejecting 97/98 out 100 if you take out the spots that are essentially reserved for athletes, kids of donors/legacy and questbridge). Your outstanding kid is competing with literally thousands of other equally qualified students for a couple of spots.

Im the parent of the kid denied at H,P and S and accepted to Vandy, Duke and Oxford.
The frustrating part for him is that little sister just got in Stanford, same major, worst stats. 1550/35 top 3% but not salutatorian and quite frankly, worse ECs than her brother.

DS was rejected from all of the Ivy plus schools and ended up at Georgetown. His younger sister had a worse GPA and SAT score but got into Princeton. That's why this admissions game is a crapshoot at the very elite schools. Your DS had some great choices - which one did he pick of the three?

DP. Everyone laments how weak boys are these days, but at the top levels they are extremely good. But they do tend to congregate in a handful of majors - mostly STEM and business. But all of the selective schools strive for a 50-50 balance. So it's hyper-competitive for boys looking at engineering at Princeton, Stanford, Rice, MIT, Georgia Tech. And it's also hyper-competitive for business - Penn-Wharton, NYU-Stern, Cornell-Dyson, Michigan-Ross, Berkeley-Hass.

Girls have a definite advantage in these fields in these schools. Most of the smart boys go into these fields and it's a Mad Max world for them. But there aren't as many smart girls choosing engineering or business. And with everyone striving for a 50-50 balance - as they should - it's a different space for male or female applicants.

Does this mean that DD (1570, 800 math, 4.0/4.5, top 5%, top math is Calc AB which is the highest math at the high school) has a chance at those business programs despite not having much in the way of business ECs?

Anonymous wrote:MCPS 2023, 4.0,4.8, 1590, NMSF, CS and Math major
Rejected - MIT, CMU,
Waitlisted - UIUC
Accepted with merit - UMD (attending), UVA, UMBC
Accepted no merit - UMich, GTech

Chinese

Anonymous wrote:NOVA 2023, 3.98/4.5, 1560, NMSF, CS major
Rejected: Penn, Harvard
Waitlist: NEU, UVA
Accepted w/merit: UMD (attending), BU, Lehigh, CWRU, Ohio St., Minnesota
Accepted no merit: WM, Pitt

This is because of the major though. They would have had more merit at Pitt if not a CS major.

Congrats on UMD! That is a very hard program to get into.

My DS is going to Virginia Tech to study engineering. Applied to 17 schools, rejected from all except safeties and a few targets. This was his best admit.

Stats: 1540 SAT (800 math), 10 APs (including most difficult calculus/chem/physics). As in all STEM, History, Language (everything but english where he had a mix of As and Bs).

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Anonymous wrote:Kid had 1580 SAT/36 ACT.
Salutatorian. Private HS in Texas. Basically maxed out GPA with 10 APs at 5.

Great ECs.

Denied at H,P,S
Accepted Vandy, Duke and Oxford.

This is crazy. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford is such a crap shoot even with these stats….so frustrating.
Where is you kid going between Vandy, Duke and Oxford?

None of this is crazy. This person could’ve gotten rejected more than a decade ago. Just having a good score isn’t unique- a lot of people have good scores with course rigor.

+1 Parents don't grasp this until their kid experiences it themselves. These schools are rejecting 95 out of every 100 applicants (it is actually probably more like rejecting 97/98 out 100 if you take out the spots that are essentially reserved for athletes, kids of donors/legacy and questbridge). Your outstanding kid is competing with literally thousands of other equally qualified students for a couple of spots.

Im the parent of the kid denied at H,P and S and accepted to Vandy, Duke and Oxford.
The frustrating part for him is that little sister just got in Stanford, same major, worst stats. 1550/35 top 3% but not salutatorian and quite frankly, worse ECs than her brother.

DS was rejected from all of the Ivy plus schools and ended up at Georgetown. His younger sister had a worse GPA and SAT score but got into Princeton. That's why this admissions game is a crapshoot at the very elite schools. Your DS had some great choices - which one did he pick of the three?

DP. Everyone laments how weak boys are these days, but at the top levels they are extremely good. But they do tend to congregate in a handful of majors - mostly STEM and business. But all of the selective schools strive for a 50-50 balance. So it's hyper-competitive for boys looking at engineering at Princeton, Stanford, Rice, MIT, Georgia Tech. And it's also hyper-competitive for business - Penn-Wharton, NYU-Stern, Cornell-Dyson, Michigan-Ross, Berkeley-Hass.

Girls have a definite advantage in these fields in these schools. Most of the smart boys go into these fields and it's a Mad Max world for them. But there aren't as many smart girls choosing engineering or business. And with everyone striving for a 50-50 balance - as they should - it's a different space for male or female applicants.