Anonymous
02/12/2025 14:01
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Not true at our private for the top 5%….
Your example shows a scattered kid? Stem startup and humanities books? And patents? Sounds confused about what they’re interested in?
Hopefully this kid knew not to apply as a stem major???
CDS shows that 95%+ of admitted class at many of these are in the top 10% of their class. So a kid in the top 5% is fine. Sorry, I did not quite understand your point here.
The scattered part is what first came to my mind, but the parent had a very expensive counselor to help, so I would assume they probably had a very well put together application.
I wonder if it the app may have come across as ‘too produced’. Of course, don’t know any context but the list reads a bit like there may have been fingerprints from parents and counselor. Private school, connections, etc.
Anonymous
02/12/2025 13:42
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
Depends on what high school DC is coming out of. At TJ, absent SATs of 1550+ and a wGPA of 4.4 you not getting in a top 25. Focusing on "test optional" schools is the best bet and pursuing a non-traditional major (e.g., stay away from Comp. Sci.)
Sounds like a humanities major in the description.
Stay away from Econ then.
Anonymous
02/12/2025 11:25
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
Depends on what high school DC is coming out of. At TJ, absent SATs of 1550+ and a wGPA of 4.4 you not getting in a top 25. Focusing on "test optional" schools is the best bet and pursuing a non-traditional major (e.g., stay away from Comp. Sci.)
Sounds like a humanities major in the description.
Anonymous
02/12/2025 09:37
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
Depends on what high school DC is coming out of. At TJ, absent SATs of 1550+ and a wGPA of 4.4 you not getting in a top 25. Focusing on "test optional" schools is the best bet and pursuing a non-traditional major (e.g., stay away from Comp. Sci.)
Anonymous
02/12/2025 09:21
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Not true at our private for the top 5%….
Your example shows a scattered kid? Stem startup and humanities books? And patents? Sounds confused about what they’re interested in?
Hopefully this kid knew not to apply as a stem major???
CDS shows that 95%+ of admitted class at many of these are in the top 10% of their class. So a kid in the top 5% is fine. Sorry, I did not quite understand your point here.
The scattered part is what first came to my mind, but the parent had a very expensive counselor to help, so I would assume they probably had a very well put together application.
oh - you are talking about public school kids. gotcha.
private schools don't rank. the CDS just says 95% of the admitted class THAT SUBMITTED A RANK, were in the top 10%. But none of the private hs rank.
you might find the thread on "levels" from this weekend helpful.
Thank you for the link.
I thought colleges would be able to guess at least from their own experience with that particular high school.
Depends on the “reputation” of the HS. Some non-DMV private high schools, 50% of class is admitted to T25.
Anonymous
02/12/2025 07:30
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Not true at our private for the top 5%….
Your example shows a scattered kid? Stem startup and humanities books? And patents? Sounds confused about what they’re interested in?
Hopefully this kid knew not to apply as a stem major???
CDS shows that 95%+ of admitted class at many of these are in the top 10% of their class. So a kid in the top 5% is fine. Sorry, I did not quite understand your point here.
The scattered part is what first came to my mind, but the parent had a very expensive counselor to help, so I would assume they probably had a very well put together application.
oh - you are talking about public school kids. gotcha.
private schools don't rank. the CDS just says 95% of the admitted class THAT SUBMITTED A RANK, were in the top 10%. But none of the private hs rank.
you might find the thread on "levels" from this weekend helpful.
Thank you for the link.
I thought colleges would be able to guess at least from their own experience with that particular high school.
Anonymous
02/11/2025 21:46
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous
02/11/2025 21:43
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Not true at our private for the top 5%….
Your example shows a scattered kid? Stem startup and humanities books? And patents? Sounds confused about what they’re interested in?
Hopefully this kid knew not to apply as a stem major???
CDS shows that 95%+ of admitted class at many of these are in the top 10% of their class. So a kid in the top 5% is fine. Sorry, I did not quite understand your point here.
The scattered part is what first came to my mind, but the parent had a very expensive counselor to help, so I would assume they probably had a very well put together application.
oh - you are talking about public school kids. gotcha.
private schools don't rank. the CDS just says 95% of the admitted class THAT SUBMITTED A RANK, were in the top 10%. But none of the private hs rank.
you might find the thread on "levels" from this weekend helpful.
Anonymous
02/11/2025 21:33
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Not true at our private for the top 5%….
Your example shows a scattered kid? Stem startup and humanities books? And patents? Sounds confused about what they’re interested in?
Hopefully this kid knew not to apply as a stem major???
CDS shows that 95%+ of admitted class at many of these are in the top 10% of their class. So a kid in the top 5% is fine. Sorry, I did not quite understand your point here.
The scattered part is what first came to my mind, but the parent had a very expensive counselor to help, so I would assume they probably had a very well put together application.
Anonymous
02/11/2025 21:13
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Not true at our private for the top 5%….
Your example shows a scattered kid? Stem startup and humanities books? And patents? Sounds confused about what they’re interested in?
Hopefully this kid knew not to apply as a stem major???
Anonymous
02/11/2025 21:05
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Which T25 selective colleges are most highly focused on EC achievement - impact, depth, national recognition?
Kid has tremendous (non-Stem) achievement in one humanities area + congressional internship + co-founder of school club + leadership in student govt + national level awards in a non-recruitable sport. And one more impact-driven local humanitarian activity w/news coverage (dont want to reveal too much).
Along with unique volunteer work for underprivileged population, aligned w/sport.
And another internship.
Which schools score highly for ECs in the review process?
Stanford, I think?
Anyone else?
The main cutoff is being in the top 5% in terms of academics. Not just GPA, but taking the most demanding courses possible.
Last year a kid with patents, two published "best selling books" in humanities, venture capital funded startup in STEM, 1570 SAT, volunteer work and a ridiculous amount of other stuff shut out of T20. The parent surmised it is likely because they are not in the top 10% of the class although it is close. Private school and they were very confident of recommendation letters.
Anonymous
02/11/2025 20:34
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The numbers have to be there first - GPA, rigor, test scores, comparative class rank. But if they cross that threshold, the schools that seem to really value ECs from what I've seen:
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Princeton
Rice
Northwestern
Brown
Duke
I have kids at two of the above. And it was definitely the ECs that helped the most.
Was it true for these schools this year?
In my REA DC’s case, I think so.
Anonymous
02/11/2025 18:18
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:None of that will make up for a weak transcript (or scores for schools that now require test scores).
At least start there to see if you at least make it pay the first “cut”.
Unless you are Olympic caliber, I don’t know why any school cares about a non college sport. Doesn’t sound like that is the case for your kid or I assume you say that.
Yes, to rigor/grades.
Rigorous private high school.
Test scores are still work in process - 1500
My understanding is that schools like the discipline, grit, & ambition associated with national awards in sports, even if not recruited? Most schools don’t have this sport (though it may be a club sport at some T25 schools).
What is the sport? I think your reading too much into the value of that sport…but the other ECs seem impressive.
If the sport comes with a national level ranking or national award, it is very important. If there are no national awards, it’s irrelevant.
What’s an example that colleges don’t offer Varsity but have a club level? Rugby? Even Ultimate Frisbee is a D1 sport these days.
So many at Stanford:
https://stanfordclubsports.com/
Archery!
Badminton!
Figure Skating!
Horse Polo!
What exactly is Dragon Boat?
Sort of similar to crew except the movement is different (they paddle, not row) and they have much larger teams. Started in China and now growing in popularity in the USA as a competitive sport. It is worth mentioning that really good dragon boaters with the right build can become elite rowers for a college crew team , so crew coaches might also be interested in them.
Anonymous
02/11/2025 18:10
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:The numbers have to be there first - GPA, rigor, test scores, comparative class rank. But if they cross that threshold, the schools that seem to really value ECs from what I've seen:
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Princeton
Rice
Northwestern
Brown
Duke
I have kids at two of the above. And it was definitely the ECs that helped the most.
Was it true for these schools this year?
Anonymous
02/11/2025 14:21
Subject: T25 colleges focused heavily on EC rating?
Anonymous wrote:If you are thinking about REA/ED strategy, some schools do use certain ECs to balance a class, but that comes into play more in RD.
Is this true? Why more in RD?