Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:32
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Kids tend to know more about the process than you think. My son, who isn't close to the top of the class, knows what's impressive and what is not. Last year we had a Standford and Princeton admit. He is more impressed with the CMU engineering admits than those two who applied to a random humanities major.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:30
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Kid only shared with 1 friend who he thought could be trusted. Did not post on social media at all. We were shocked on quickly word got around.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Surprised when my child received an REA offer from HYPSM that many kids reacted negatively.
Why was your kid sharing this information beyond their closest friends? Please tell me they didn’t post this on social media. If so, they sort of deserve the negative reaction.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:24
Subject: Re:What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
for CS and engineering?Anonymous wrote:Admission is much easier for boys then girls even when major is accounted for.
My girl boy twins have seen this play out with them and their friends.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:14
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
That it's the most I have helped my kids since maybe early middle school. It has felt regressive and complex and annoying and exhausting. And it's not over! Too many things to juggle. I have twins so everything is amplified, but I have hated it.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:12
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Your high school defines you destiny (for 95% of kids).
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
I am not sure this is true. Our oldest goes to a public high school that barely lost their title 1 designation. She had great results so far. In at state flagship, Harvard deferred, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown interviews.
For our younger daughter we just toured the top private school in our area. Took the ssat and got in but frankly their college acceptances are not very impressive. So all this money for socializing, and great athletic opportunities.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:12
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Your high school defines you destiny (for 95% of kids).
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
It is true. My niece whose Dad and Mom are college educated well off and not URM of any type. He is Irish, she is German both third generation American sent their kid to a 99 percent low income minority school. My niece got offers everywhere. She was first in years to apply to t25 school out of that HS. Which is in paper more for drug dealing and shooting. I think 50 percent of HS drops out before graduation.
If she was in TJ or a W school those grades she be at Towson or JMU
And on the flip side. Going to a private HS where 40% of kids are admitted to a T25, means your 3.8uw goes to an Ivy.
There is a good old LONG thread on here about how it works - both at the top-end high schools and those on the very bottom (like your niece).
And often the former is not prepared for the rigors of the T25/Ivy. It’s a toss up if you go to a very low performing HS —if you aren’t being supplemented like crazy at home.
We picked a place our kids would be prepared for the rigor. They succeeded at a competitive private (but not stress basket cases) and easily excelled at their top universities.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 12:05
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Surprised when my child received an REA offer from HYPSM that many kids reacted negatively.
Unfortunately, too many entitled kids and parents around. Congratulations to your kid.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 09:34
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Your high school defines you destiny (for 95% of kids).
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
It is true. My niece whose Dad and Mom are college educated well off and not URM of any type. He is Irish, she is German both third generation American sent their kid to a 99 percent low income minority school. My niece got offers everywhere. She was first in years to apply to t25 school out of that HS. Which is in paper more for drug dealing and shooting. I think 50 percent of HS drops out before graduation.
If she was in TJ or a W school those grades she be at Towson or JMU
And on the flip side. Going to a private HS where 40% of kids are admitted to a T25, means your 3.8uw goes to an Ivy.
There is a good old LONG thread on here about how it works - both at the top-end high schools and those on the very bottom (like your niece).
Anonymous
03/17/2025 09:28
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Your high school defines you destiny (for 95% of kids).
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
It is true. My niece whose Dad and Mom are college educated well off and not URM of any type. He is Irish, she is German both third generation American sent their kid to a 99 percent low income minority school. My niece got offers everywhere. She was first in years to apply to t25 school out of that HS. Which is in paper more for drug dealing and shooting. I think 50 percent of HS drops out before graduation.
If she was in TJ or a W school those grades she be at Towson or JMU
Anonymous
03/17/2025 09:20
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Your high school defines you destiny (for 95% of kids).
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
100% agree with this.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 08:36
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:For those with disappointing early results, can you state the major?
Our CCO has basically told the juniors that if you apply for CS or Eng or Business (or Math - apparently that is growing huge), that you need to look for targets that are most other people's safeties. Meaning go down a level (or two), that these majors have very few real targets. So it's only safety and reach.
If you aren't happy with that strategy, look at your transcript, EC list, awards, and who is writing your LOR for other "evidence for a major" in the college or arts & sciences or an adjacent college.
If you do not listen to this advice, you will regret it. And junior year is too late to build up evidence of a major to make any difference. Your transcript probably already outs you as a STEM or business/Econ type anyway.
You can still apply to a target (not a reach that you think is a target) if you apply ED1. Keep in mind that top 20 universities and top 10 SLACs are reaches for everyone.
This seems ridiculous to me. Just because I took a lot of STEM classes in HS doesn’t mean I want to do that in college?
It's not about you; it's about applicants in general and a correlation between, say, 5 years of science and a potential switcheroo into STEM. If a kid is also taking multivariate, AP CS and/or AP Econ, the AOs need to play the odds. It would be incompetent for them not to.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 08:24
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The athletes get jobs from other athletes. They are top traders and hedge fund managers on Wall Street. The game clock and training give them an edge in high pressure situations
Athletes are not traders at hedgefunds. I work at one and athletes are hired for sales jobs. We want strong math and CS skills at our fund.
The exception not the rule.
Our head trader was a D1 athlete. He is also wicked smart and good at math. One does not preclude the other. HF with over $10bn of AUM, so there is a data point for you.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 08:23
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Anonymous wrote:
The dirty secret is that the college admission process is so much harder for top students than good ones. The good students aren’t generally applying to schools with single digit acceptance rates. They are applying to schools that admit a much higher portion of the student body IE A 1400 SAT with 3.9 unweighted and 6 APs. They are likely to get into their choices and less likely to face judgement.
The excellent/top kid with no hook is likely to be rejected at some schools they applied to. Go to a high performing school and outcomes are worse. However instead of empathy these kids are told things like perhaps they didn’t do a good job on their essays or admissions doesn’t think they will add to the community etc.
I hope the poster is a student. Don't worry what others think. It will all work out.
Anonymous
03/17/2025 08:22
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Your high school defines you destiny (for 95% of kids).
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
Some high schools limit how high you can reach
Some limit how fall you can fall.
High school name is the most important data on the application
Anonymous
03/17/2025 08:18
Subject: What has surprised you - as your kid comes to the end of this process
Kids can be more open-minded and realistic than their parents about the range/type of colleges they can get into.