My DC applied to a reach RD, was accepted, and is a freshman there now. It doesn't hurt to apply to one or two just to see if you can afford the fees and can reasonably afford the tuition if you don't get any or much merit aid offered.

Anonymous wrote:I have heard that the SCEA/REA (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford) applicant pool is stronger than RD applicant pool and its harder to get in early to HYPS if non-hooked. Anyone else heard this?

On Yale's admissions podcast a year or two ago, they mentioned that the applicant pool for SCEA, as a group, has a stronger applications than the RD pool. I've heard this elsewhere. I don't think that necessarily means that one's chances of admission decrease by applying SCEA though. On the other hand, I have heard that Williams ED is actually a disadvantage, but that's just a rumor.

I have heard that the SCEA/REA (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford) applicant pool is stronger than RD applicant pool and its harder to get in early to HYPS if non-hooked. Anyone else heard this?

Anonymous wrote:We had terrible ED and EA results coming from a Big 3 private. My kid got very solid RD acceptances. Most of the schools they were interested in did not have EA. They also tweaked essays before RD round.

This.
Most RD applications are stronger than the ED/EA applications. All that writing and rewriting helps refine a narrative.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

RD is when my son was accepted to Ivies and T10s last year. No hooks.

He didn't ED anywhere.

And yet my kid applied to 4 Ivies RD and was waitlisted at all. Not one if his friends got into their RD picks

So. How would they know if they didn't try? If we heeded that advice, my kid never would have known how successful he would be RD.

You can buy the lottery ticket if you have stats in range for the school---or you can decide not to. If you don't want to wonder 'what if' and you really would attend one of these schools if admitted, then I think it's worth the cost of the ticket.

The stats are one thing - just the price of entry - but it seems like it's much more of a waste of time if your kid just has "standard strong" ECs rather than the insane ones I keep hearing about.

Incorrect. This 'standard strong' stuff is such bullsh*t. Good recs and good essays with typical activities and 4.0uw (or very close 3.9); minimum 35 ACT is enough for many.

Very much agree with this. While I do not doubt that these schools have a high population of extremely exceptional kids, I also think that the majority of kids are just typical American kids living pretty average American lives.

My child was home for dinner most nights (unless they were out with friends or traveling for sports) and had summers free for recreation (no jobs, no research, no internships). The first job they ever had was the summer before freshman year of college- needed to earn college money. My child lived an average American life. There was nothing exceptional about their life except for their intellect and that their personality was pretty magnetic. But none of that could be put on a resume so it was probably the essays and LOR's that conveyed that.

OK, but schools with a 5% acceptance rate, that means they pick one kid from a pool of 20 and reject the other 19. If you take a self-selected group of 20 kids who think they are "good enough for an Ivy", the chances are excellent that at least one of those kids will have crazy over-the-top ECs. If they don't choose that kid, for some reason, it's hard for an outsider to understand why.

For sure. But what I am saying is that while one should not expect to be accepted to a school with a 5% acceptance rate from an applicant pool of very intelligent students, one should also not count themselves out of the running and not ever apply because they think they are too "ordinary".

We had terrible ED and EA results coming from a Big 3 private. My kid got very solid RD acceptances. Most of the schools they were interested in did not have EA. They also tweaked essays before RD round.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

RD is when my son was accepted to Ivies and T10s last year. No hooks.

He didn't ED anywhere.

And yet my kid applied to 4 Ivies RD and was waitlisted at all. Not one if his friends got into their RD picks

So. How would they know if they didn't try? If we heeded that advice, my kid never would have known how successful he would be RD.

You can buy the lottery ticket if you have stats in range for the school---or you can decide not to. If you don't want to wonder 'what if' and you really would attend one of these schools if admitted, then I think it's worth the cost of the ticket.

The stats are one thing - just the price of entry - but it seems like it's much more of a waste of time if your kid just has "standard strong" ECs rather than the insane ones I keep hearing about.

Incorrect. This 'standard strong' stuff is such bullsh*t. Good recs and good essays with typical activities and 4.0uw (or very close 3.9); minimum 35 ACT is enough for many.

Very much agree with this. While I do not doubt that these schools have a high population of extremely exceptional kids, I also think that the majority of kids are just typical American kids living pretty average American lives.

My child was home for dinner most nights (unless they were out with friends or traveling for sports) and had summers free for recreation (no jobs, no research, no internships). The first job they ever had was the summer before freshman year of college- needed to earn college money. My child lived an average American life. There was nothing exceptional about their life except for their intellect and that their personality was pretty magnetic. But none of that could be put on a resume so it was probably the essays and LOR's that conveyed that.

OK, but schools with a 5% acceptance rate, that means they pick one kid from a pool of 20 and reject the other 19. If you take a self-selected group of 20 kids who think they are "good enough for an Ivy", the chances are excellent that at least one of those kids will have crazy over-the-top ECs. If they don't choose that kid, for some reason, it's hard for an outsider to understand why.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like other posters have said there is no reason not to apply to the reaches for RD. You lose 100% of the shots you don’t take.

If application fees are an issue you probably can’t afford those schools anyway (and if you’re very poor you can generally get application fees waived).

If energy is an issue then your kid probably won’t do well at those schools anyway since they will have to work particularly hard there to keep up with all the kids who are both talented and hardworking. (Talent is important but when surrounded by talented kids, hard work becomes equally important to do well).

It's not about the application fee. It's more that it might present a serious dilemma if accepted at target AND at a more prestigious, much more expensive out of state school. I am not sure we want that dilemma. So thinking about it this way, it makes sense to find out about target (mid december) and then decide..The in state reach tells very late even for EA. If she gets in, she will definitely go there.

You are making an argument not to apply to the OOS school. You want us to tell you it's OK, so I'll tell you it's OK. If the kid will be happy with any in-state option and they are already in at one, then don't bother having them apply to a school you wouldn't let them attend anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like other posters have said there is no reason not to apply to the reaches for RD. You lose 100% of the shots you don’t take.

If application fees are an issue you probably can’t afford those schools anyway (and if you’re very poor you can generally get application fees waived).

If energy is an issue then your kid probably won’t do well at those schools anyway since they will have to work particularly hard there to keep up with all the kids who are both talented and hardworking. (Talent is important but when surrounded by talented kids, hard work becomes equally important to do well).

It's not about the application fee. It's more that it might present a serious dilemma if accepted at target AND at a more prestigious, much more expensive out of state school. I am not sure we want that dilemma. So thinking about it this way, it makes sense to find out about target (mid december) and then decide..The in state reach tells very late even for EA. If she gets in, she will definitely go there.

Yeah but only apply to "expensive but worth it" reaches, obviously. And run the NPC so you know exactly how much pain you're going to experience.

Anonymous wrote:All of my kid's teachers offered EA and that's how she applied. The only school to which she applied RD (a target) did not offer EA.

Reaches, not teachers, stupid autocorrect

All of my kid's teachers offered EA and that's how she applied. The only school to which she applied RD (a target) did not offer EA.

Anonymous wrote:Like other posters have said there is no reason not to apply to the reaches for RD. You lose 100% of the shots you don’t take.

If application fees are an issue you probably can’t afford those schools anyway (and if you’re very poor you can generally get application fees waived).

If energy is an issue then your kid probably won’t do well at those schools anyway since they will have to work particularly hard there to keep up with all the kids who are both talented and hardworking. (Talent is important but when surrounded by talented kids, hard work becomes equally important to do well).

It's not about the application fee. It's more that it might present a serious dilemma if accepted at target AND at a more prestigious, much more expensive out of state school. I am not sure we want that dilemma. So thinking about it this way, it makes sense to find out about target (mid december) and then decide..The in state reach tells very late even for EA. If she gets in, she will definitely go there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

RD is when my son was accepted to Ivies and T10s last year. No hooks.

He didn't ED anywhere.

And yet my kid applied to 4 Ivies RD and was waitlisted at all. Not one if his friends got into their RD picks

So. How would they know if they didn't try? If we heeded that advice, my kid never would have known how successful he would be RD.

You can buy the lottery ticket if you have stats in range for the school---or you can decide not to. If you don't want to wonder 'what if' and you really would attend one of these schools if admitted, then I think it's worth the cost of the ticket.

The stats are one thing - just the price of entry - but it seems like it's much more of a waste of time if your kid just has "standard strong" ECs rather than the insane ones I keep hearing about.

Incorrect. This 'standard strong' stuff is such bullsh*t. Good recs and good essays with typical activities and 4.0uw (or very close 3.9); minimum 35 ACT is enough for many.

Very much agree with this. While I do not doubt that these schools have a high population of extremely exceptional kids, I also think that the majority of kids are just typical American kids living pretty average American lives.

My child was home for dinner most nights (unless they were out with friends or traveling for sports) and had summers free for recreation (no jobs, no research, no internships). The first job they ever had was the summer before freshman year of college- needed to earn college money. My child lived an average American life. There was nothing exceptional about their life except for their intellect and that their personality was pretty magnetic. But none of that could be put on a resume so it was probably the essays and LOR's that conveyed that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

RD is when my son was accepted to Ivies and T10s last year. No hooks.

He didn't ED anywhere.

And yet my kid applied to 4 Ivies RD and was waitlisted at all. Not one if his friends got into their RD picks

So. How would they know if they didn't try? If we heeded that advice, my kid never would have known how successful he would be RD.

You can buy the lottery ticket if you have stats in range for the school---or you can decide not to. If you don't want to wonder 'what if' and you really would attend one of these schools if admitted, then I think it's worth the cost of the ticket.

The stats are one thing - just the price of entry - but it seems like it's much more of a waste of time if your kid just has "standard strong" ECs rather than the insane ones I keep hearing about.

Incorrect. This 'standard strong' stuff is such bullsh*t. Good recs and good essays with typical activities and 4.0uw (or very close 3.9); minimum 35 ACT is enough for many.

I've found it extremely difficult to measure and/or compare most people's ECs. I understand that people are looking for objective, quantifiable criteria (which is why everyone over-emphasizes test scores, which are one of many considerations), but I think it's often what the kids do with their ECs that's most important. For example, it wouldn't surprise me if a school valued (a) the overweight kid who grits through four years of cross-country with constant improvement or (b) the kid who worked 15 hours/week at Starbucks for three years and was promoted to a supervisory role as much as (c) the kid who did really well in a regional Olympiad. In other words, it's not always about the objective impressiveness of the EC but it can also be about the EC says about the kid's character.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

RD is when my son was accepted to Ivies and T10s last year. No hooks.

He didn't ED anywhere.

same for DD

Can posters whose kids get into Ivies/T10 in RD with no hooks please share stats, kind of HS and whether ECs are tops or normal? TIA

Public HS, 4.0 GPA/35ACT, EC's are normal -volunteer, music, sports though not necessarily high performing in their sport.

Very Similar. 4.0uw Catholic HS. 35ACT/5s all APs (7 APs). community service, academic club, club sports, job. Sports featured as primary activity--but not recruited.