Anonymous wrote:OP here. I had no idea this would be such a controversial topic. To be clear, my son does have an answer to college (and gpa) questions which is breezy and vague. The frustration is that most of the parents who ask this question aren't satisfied with the lack of specificity and keep pushing. It's not like this is ruining his day or anything (but thanks to those posters who made the snowflake and big boy pants comments), but it's been an education in how to handle rudeness. So maybe he should be grateful?

Anyway, I still think there are lots of other ways for families to make conversation with tour guides that would provide better information about the high school the prospective families are considering. How about focusing on the high school experience your kid is going to have for the next four years?

Yes, college is important, but things are changing so quickly that the experience of a class of 24 grad may not have much bearing on your class of 28 grad. More importantly, where one student out of 100+ is applying - especially when you know nothing about legacy status, intended major, extracurricular activities, leadership positions, athletic recruiting status, rec letters, and other myriad things that go into admissions decisions - is not relevant.

Asking about how the college guidance office functions - when you get assigned a counselor, if there is a cap on the number of applications you can submit, if the counselors steer students towards or away from particular schools, etc. - is imo much more useful.

But, if you want to be THOSE parents, who everyone laughs about after you leave, go for it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Why is that useless? It is far more useful than knowing where one random kid applied. Statistically, having a broader group of acceptances or matriculations is more useful than just a handful from one year. Not all kids apply to the same schools, and certainly not every year. Each kid is choosing 5-12 schools from a list of hundreds to apply to.

Also, I get the feeling that some people seem to think that if a student chooses school number 39, that they applied to and were rejected from schools 1-38. That's now how this works. And even after all the acceptances come in, kids are far more thoughtful about their choice than just picking the one that happens to be ranked highest that year.

How is it useful to know that 1 kid from Sidwell was accepted to Harvard or the University of Alabama over the last 4 years? Certainly, everyone expects at least one kid to get accepted to a top school when aggregated over 4 years.

At least Bullis tells you how many kids are attending each school from just last year's graduating class. That has some utility, so if they handed out that sheet...that is great, useful information that all schools should provide.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

It's their way of helping you self select out. You don't sound like the type of person or family they are looking for.

Anonymous wrote:Look, the best thing to do is to get connected to a parent of a current senior at the school, or best situation, the kid just graduated and they no longer have kids at the school.

If you have any professional network, you can make this happen.

Ask those parents these questions. We all wish the school admin would give you straight answers…but they won’t.

We have found these parents to be honest and provide insights that are nearly impossible to ascertain otherwise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Why is that useless? It is far more useful than knowing where one random kid applied. Statistically, having a broader group of acceptances or matriculations is more useful than just a handful from one year. Not all kids apply to the same schools, and certainly not every year. Each kid is choosing 5-12 schools from a list of hundreds to apply to.

Also, I get the feeling that some people seem to think that if a student chooses school number 39, that they applied to and were rejected from schools 1-38. That's now how this works. And even after all the acceptances come in, kids are far more thoughtful about their choice than just picking the one that happens to be ranked highest that year.

How is it useful to know that 1 kid from Sidwell was accepted to Harvard or the University of Alabama over the last 4 years? Certainly, everyone expects at least one kid to get accepted to a top school when aggregated over 4 years.

At least Bullis tells you how many kids are attending each school from just last year's graduating class. That has some utility, so if they handed out that sheet...that is great, useful information that all schools should provide.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

It's their way of helping you self select out. You don't sound like the type of person or family they are looking for.

Except they are accepting plenty of families who are doing far more obtrusive things than that. Nice try.

That still doesn't mean they want your rude and annoying type. They may be looking for those who are still annoying, but in another way that better fit into the community.

Got it…so as long as you are the “right kind of rude and annoying”. That’s a new one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

It's their way of helping you self select out. You don't sound like the type of person or family they are looking for.

Except they are accepting plenty of families who are doing far more obtrusive things than that. Nice try.

That still doesn't mean they want your rude and annoying type. They may be looking for those who are still annoying, but in another way that better fit into the community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

It's their way of helping you self select out. You don't sound like the type of person or family they are looking for.

Except they are accepting plenty of families who are doing far more obtrusive things than that. Nice try.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

It's their way of helping you self select out. You don't sound like the type of person or family they are looking for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

They literally won’t give it to you…if only it was that easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Generally kids here at XYZHS apply to a wide range of schools. There is actually a list of matriculations in your welcome packet."

Done.

Except there isn’t a list of matriculations in your welcome packet. There is a list of schools where at least one kid matriculated over the last 4 years (and I am not sure it is in the welcome packet) which is essentially useless information.

Then ask the Admissions office for more information

Anonymous wrote:How is this an irrelevant question? If parents are spending a ridiculous amount on tuition, they want an idea of some possible results. I wouldn’t be willing to pay $35k a year if most of the kids ended up at Towson. Not sorry.