Anonymous wrote:OP here. I had a child graduate in 2022 - here are my takeaways.
1) I believe these numbers are accurate. I know at least for my child’s school seniors were required to update all the acceptances etc. in Naviance to include the school they are attending before some other milestone was permitted (can’t remember if it was picking up cap and gown, graduation tickets, or yearbook but they had to do it).
2) I am not surprised by low acceptances to schools that people think “everyone” should be accepted at, like Radford or Old Dominion or whatever. I’m pretty sure the top students in the class didn’t apply to Radford - it was probably students for whom Radford was actually a reach.
3) The very low numbers accepted to Ivies and top schools seem to track with the overall impossible admission to these schools. They are all a crapshoot at this point with so many kids applying for so few spots and all with similar credentials. I think the smart kids honestly are looking elsewhere and not wasting their time.
4) The acceptance rates to UVA, Virginia Tech, and William & Mary seem to track to the expected rates of admission. I think people need to accept that the process is fair and that the right kids are being admitted. I do not think your chances improve living in a small town/remote state. I think admissions offices for these schools are familiar with our schools and our kids and they get as close a look, if not closer, than people from areas that are less known.
5) I am also very surprised more kids don’t apply to Georgetown but the barrier of not being on the Common App is real - you have to really want it. Also it is very expensive. But I don’t buy the “too close to home” argument - I’ve spent time on the campus taking classes and it feels like another world.
6) I find it amusing that people think this list is “depressing” and that the outcomes don’t seem very good or match people’s expectations. Sounds like words spoken by parents whose kids were aiming for Carnegie Mellon but ended up at Virginia Tech, or were aiming for Virginia Tech and ended up at George Mason. Expectation (and/or entitlement) will kick you in the butt every time.
On a personal note, my child and their peers all were accepted at schools that seem right on point. Nobody had any wildly unexpected acceptances, and nobody got shut out from all of the schools that matched their qualifications. All the kids we know ended up with good options seemed to land in the right place. Best of luck to students and parents applying for Fall 2023!
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Kinda dispels the myth about NOVA schools sending "dozens" to UVA doesn't it? Yes they might technically have dozens ut they are huge schools of 500+ kids in the senior class. People accused me of lying when I said my kids school only had about 10 accepted, but we have a population of less than 400.
Washington Liberty for instance according to the school profile has 577 seniors and had 47 accepted, that's 8%, which again means you have to be well under the 10% threshold alot of folks bandy about on this website. Yorktown also only 8% of the population got in.
Yes, only 5 out of 23 at Arlington Tech. Only two got in from my son's VA private - both accepted to UVA. I also noted that GMU and JMU have become much more difficult to get into - depending upon the school, less than 20% of the applicants, up to may be half on average. Certainly not what it was a few years ago.
Agsin, NOT TRUE. GMU has become EASIER to get into over the last few years. There's NO WAY the GMU admissions "data" reported in thos article are correct. A 3.0 gets you in.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The numbers are, at best, mildly cringe inducing.
I think the schools failed to get complete decision data. There's no way the "accepted" numbers are right. I suspect that magazine will publish a note saying some of the "accepted" numbers were incomplete due to students not reporting outcomes.
The schools know how many transcripts they sent to each college for applications. They don't know the outcomes unless the school is sending a final transcript because the student is attending that college. These data are not right.
Come on now! Every year the numbers are terrible and every year we got the same excuse from Arlington parents.
But why do you think the numbers are terrible? If you are expecting APS to have the same college admissions environment as an exclusive private school or a magnet school, then your expectations are completely out of whack. Given the low acceptance rates to elite schools I would expect just a handful of students to be getting into those and that's pretty much the case.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Kinda dispels the myth about NOVA schools sending "dozens" to UVA doesn't it? Yes they might technically have dozens ut they are huge schools of 500+ kids in the senior class. People accused me of lying when I said my kids school only had about 10 accepted, but we have a population of less than 400.
Washington Liberty for instance according to the school profile has 577 seniors and had 47 accepted, that's 8%, which again means you have to be well under the 10% threshold alot of folks bandy about on this website. Yorktown also only 8% of the population got in.
Yes, only 5 out of 23 at Arlington Tech. Only two got in from my son's VA private - both accepted to UVA. I also noted that GMU and JMU have become much more difficult to get into - depending upon the school, less than 20% of the applicants, up to may be half on average. Certainly not what it was a few years ago.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As someone whose kid is a year away from starting the college application process, this is depressing as hell.
Why did so few kids apply to Georgetown compared to other area schools?
Because if they can get into Georgetown they are highly likely to get into UVA, which is half the price and just as good if not better and isn’t in their back yard. It’s a no brainer.
Unless UVA practices yield protection, like most schools.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As someone whose kid is a year away from starting the college application process, this is depressing as hell.
Why did so few kids apply to Georgetown compared to other area schools?
Because if they can get into Georgetown they are highly likely to get into UVA, which is half the price and just as good if not better and isn’t in their back yard. It’s a no brainer.
Unless UVA practices yield protection, like most schools.
Anonymous wrote:Kinda dispels the myth about NOVA schools sending "dozens" to UVA doesn't it? Yes they might technically have dozens ut they are huge schools of 500+ kids in the senior class. People accused me of lying when I said my kids school only had about 10 accepted, but we have a population of less than 400.
Washington Liberty for instance according to the school profile has 577 seniors and had 47 accepted, that's 8%, which again means you have to be well under the 10% threshold alot of folks bandy about on this website. Yorktown also only 8% of the population got in.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Wow. Too depressing to even say underwhelming. Speechless.
There is no way that some of these numbers are even close to being accurate. A a few weeks ago at a preparing for college night for the parents of seniors at our FCPS high school, the counseling division handed out a sheet with the number of applications and admissions to many colleges for last year's graduating class. Those numbers are far different, even though our high school likely isn't that different demographically than Yorktown High School. For example, the linked article shows that only 10 of 19 Yorktown applicants got into Longwood, while 31 of 32 of our high school's applicants did. Similarly, the linked article states that only 56 of 103 Yorktown applicants got into VCU, whereas 111 of 116 applicants from our high school did. I could cite plenty more examples of big differences.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As someone whose kid is a year away from starting the college application process, this is depressing as hell.
Why did so few kids apply to Georgetown compared to other area schools?
Because if they can get into Georgetown they are highly likely to get into UVA, which is half the price and just as good if not better and isn’t in their back yard. It’s a no brainer.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:As someone whose kid is a year away from starting the college application process, this is depressing as hell.
Why did so few kids apply to Georgetown compared to other area schools?
Because if they can get into Georgetown they are highly likely to get into UVA, which is half the price and just as good if not better and isn’t in their back yard. It’s a no brainer.
Anonymous wrote:Do you really think that HALF the kids from Yorktown HS who applied to Christopher Newport Univ. were rejected?
Do you really think that only one of three got into Bowie State?
Only 1/3 to 1/2 got into Longwood?
Only Half the kids from Yorktown (or other HSs) who applied to Marymount got in? REALLY?
Only a third of applicants got into Radford?
Only half got into Sweet Briar?
These numbers cannot be accurate.