Anonymous wrote:I am feeling this too. The only solution is that we collectively start pushing back and just stop with it. It’s absurd. We can’t “have it all” and need to learn to be happy with less. Greed is causing division and ruining the planet.

It is possible to have a nice life without doing any of the stuff in the OP.
After all, if there are enough good, smart kids not getting into the types of schools OP mentions, those kids still have to go somewhere, and they will do well even if they never got to play JV sports or join a frat.

In the end, it’s all just vapor anyway.

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

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Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

No, it’s every suburban area with wealth.

I live in the Midwest in a reasonably sized city, and there are a substantial number of opt-out families. Our kids don’t do sports (no interest). There are some families doing the whole travel sport thing but they are a minority and our kids are just as likely to be admitted because travel sports are a snooze fest to admissions officers.

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need to engage in the competitiveness. I didn’t. There are thought colleges out there and the majority of them do not have competitive admissions. Pick one.

Anonymous wrote:It’s all in your mindset. Stop trying to keep up with everyone else.
To the poster who said you can’t even do rec soccer anymore it has to be travel, no it doesn’t. My rising 7th grader does rec soccer because she still wants to play basketball in the winter and try flag football this fall. Some kids went to travel, we did not. You gotta change your perspective.
If your kids are happy and go to college and get into a field they want to be in, that’s enough. If your kids are happy and don’t go to college but still do something that fulfills them, that’s enough too.
It’s hard living in this area if you’re competitive but that’s in your head and something you can change.

Anonymous wrote:It was always competitive, OP. Many countries have had ultra competitive college admissions for generations. Here in America you just didn't realize it because you were part of the privileged. As PP said, in your generation many of the US poor or the US non-whites didn't make it to college. Now it's opened up a lot more, and you're feeling the heat.

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Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

No, it’s every suburban area with wealth.

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Anonymous wrote:As a father of a young boy, I think about this all the time. Things are so different from when I was a kid which wasn't even that long ago. You can't do rec league soccer and more it has to be travel league, summer camp signup started before the New Year, high school kids are doing charity trips to third world countries... This list just goes on and on...

You can do rec soccer. It is a choice. Most kids who do travel soccer will eventually quit and it serves very little purpose.

It’s really hard to find a rec soccer team after 6th grade.

I’m feeling this stress because my kid had a bad freshman year and even he got straight As the rest of HS, he probably won’t get into UMd or anything like a top 100 school. He had basically one bad month that ranked his second semester grades and it feels like there’s no recovery from it.

Michigan State is ranked #60 and has an 89% acceptance rate...there are a number of Top 100 schools with high acceptance rates.

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

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For all of us who belong in one or more categories - non-White, non-Christian, different national origin - life and world has always been competitive and hard.

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Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who makes it look easy. He always makes the team and excels academically. He is hoping for an ivy.

I have another kid who is borderline good at everything and a third kid who is too young to tell. Not everyone will go to a T20 college and that is ok. My middle kid will probably go to a school like BU or Penn State. Your kid can go there too.

One of the problems is that your references to “BU and Penn State” are still top 60 colleges out of 3000…BU has a 14.4% acceptance rate…so no, most kids can’t “go there too”.

Everyone’s frame of reference is completely skewed. So, when you say not everyone will go to a top 20, you turn around and still only think top 50ish schools are worthwhile.

Agree with this! LOL. This lady feels like BU is slumming it but it's crazy hard to get into. Frankly almost as hard as several of the Ivies.
This area (DC) is so insane.

Pp here. My oldest is in high school. My middle kid is only in middle school. I have been looking at acceptance rates and my oldest is looking at all colleges with sub 10% acceptance rates and I’m confident he will get in.

My 7th grader has a lot of time. From our high school, it looks like BU is around 25-30% acceptance and Penn state is higher than 50%. BU is my oldest kid’s safety.

Seems like you are completely missing the point of the thread...or I gather you are fine with the competitive nature of the DMV.

I was feeling nervous from reading these threads about high stat kids getting rejected. In actuality, a lot of kids get into good schools. I mean if your kid has a 3.0, no but if your kid has almost straight As with rigor, 1500+ SAT and good extracurricular activities (not just sports), your kid should get into a T50.