Anonymous
05/17/2026 13:16
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
DCUM will have you believe a kid with a 3.9 unweighted and a 1550 has no shot at a T10 school, which is hogwash.
Anonymous
05/17/2026 13:15
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:GPA and rigor are high school dependent. Both matter. Rigor trumps small differences in GPA every single time. The A- or even occasional B+ in the hardest classes, at private schools that give B grades, beat the A in the easier AP or easier honors. Every time.
Are you saying a 3.85 in the most rigorous courses beat 3.95 in easier courses from the same private HS or a public from the same neighborhood? Asking because this is literally the opposite of what I've been reading here on DCUM.
My understanding is that "A-" mixed in with "A" are generally not a big deal but any sort of "B" stands out to highly selective colleges.
I have read on here that A- are not that great. Kids with 3.95 in easier course do much better than a mix of A- and A or around 3.85
Anonymous
05/17/2026 13:05
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Specific high school context matters more than conventional DCUM wisdom.
At our small high school, the unweighted 3.9-ish crowd with high rigor got into Harvard, Yale, Stanford but the surprise for us was that our DC's friend group (3.6-3.8) got into very good schools (so-called "new Ivies" like Northwestern, Georgetown, Tufts, WashU, so-called Ivy "plus" schools like UChicago). They also did very well at NYU and USC.
DCUM conventional wisdom would not have predicted that. But DCUM wisdom is not high school specific. For our school, it was not helpful at all to read comments.
+1
+2. So much info here are from public schools and average privates. For the schools that T15 colleges don't have a feeder relationship with, you really need to stand out. That's why parents here say you need national awards.
That isn’t misleading, most posters have kids at public schools or “average” privates.
Anonymous
05/17/2026 12:00
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:For D26, it was that going test optional wasn’t an automatic disqualifier, and she got into some fantastic LACs. Our older child had very high stats, but after being on this forum I truly didn’t know what to expect going TO- so I encouraged D26 to apply to a LOT of schools, ended up submitting 16 apps, accepted to 13, WL at 3. Zero rejections. I’m really proud of her, accepted to a handful of T20 LACs and had some great merit packages, as well.
Still can go TO at all lacs and most schools outside the Ivies, MIT, JHU.
Anonymous
05/17/2026 11:57
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:GPA and rigor are high school dependent. Both matter. Rigor trumps small differences in GPA every single time. The A- or even occasional B+ in the hardest classes, at private schools that give B grades, beat the A in the easier AP or easier honors. Every time.
Are you saying a 3.85 in the most rigorous courses beat 3.95 in easier courses from the same private HS or a public from the same neighborhood? Asking because this is literally the opposite of what I've been reading here on DCUM.
My understanding is that "A-" mixed in with "A" are generally not a big deal but any sort of "B" stands out to highly selective colleges.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 22:31
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
For D26, it was that going test optional wasn’t an automatic disqualifier, and she got into some fantastic LACs. Our older child had very high stats, but after being on this forum I truly didn’t know what to expect going TO- so I encouraged D26 to apply to a LOT of schools, ended up submitting 16 apps, accepted to 13, WL at 3. Zero rejections. I’m really proud of her, accepted to a handful of T20 LACs and had some great merit packages, as well.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 13:49
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think the most prolific posters are those whose kids had all the high stats, but still got rejected from their top choices. The parents of kids who did well on admissions may not post as much because they do not need to vent as much.
a.k.a. miserable middle class public school striver moms
I know right!
Why do these greasy little ladder climbers try so hard?
Forgot /s
Anonymous
05/15/2026 13:48
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I think the most prolific posters are those whose kids had all the high stats, but still got rejected from their top choices. The parents of kids who did well on admissions may not post as much because they do not need to vent as much.
a.k.a. miserable middle class public school striver moms
I know right!
Why do these greasy little ladder climbers try so hard?
Anonymous
05/15/2026 12:05
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Specific high school context matters more than conventional DCUM wisdom.
At our small high school, the unweighted 3.9-ish crowd with high rigor got into Harvard, Yale, Stanford but the surprise for us was that our DC's friend group (3.6-3.8) got into very good schools (so-called "new Ivies" like Northwestern, Georgetown, Tufts, WashU, so-called Ivy "plus" schools like UChicago). They also did very well at NYU and USC.
DCUM conventional wisdom would not have predicted that. But DCUM wisdom is not high school specific. For our school, it was not helpful at all to read comments.
+1
+2. So much info here are from public schools and average privates. For the schools that T15 colleges don't have a feeder relationship with, you really need to stand out. That's why parents here say you need national awards.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 12:02
Subject: Re:What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
As an immigrant working at an MDB, and the mom of super-high stats kids (magnet programs in public schools) - we did not look at getting into any college as a big deal.
We have lived in multiple countries with our kids. We did not aim for a school or college, we aimed for a career for them. We had pretty much figured out what career path our kids were leaning out and knew that if our kids wanted to get into CS, CS-adjacent, law or medical fields - the undergrad school did not matter.
We did not quite understand the stupid competition on DCUM amongst parents about college ranking. If your kid does not have academic chops, why does the prestige of the college matter? How does it help your child?
So, our expectation was always that our kids would be performing at the top of the classroom. That they would be globally competitive, that they would be very resilient in terms of job markets, AI, everything else the world is experiencing - through their education and experience, and their undergrad education would cost the least amount of education money so that they can invest and earn from the money we had saved for education.
And so - yay UMD!!!
We have lived in multiple countries with our kids. We did not aim for a school or college, we aimed for a career for them. We had pretty much figured out what career path our kids were leaning out and knew that if our kids wanted to get into CS, CS-adjacent, law or medical fields - the undergrad school did not matter.
We did not quite understand the stupid competition on DCUM amongst parents about college ranking. If your kid does not have academic chops, why does the prestige of the college matter? How does it help your child?
So, our expectation was always that our kids would be performing at the top of the classroom. That they would be globally competitive, that they would be very resilient in terms of job markets, AI, everything else the world is experiencing - through their education and experience, and their undergrad education would cost the least amount of education money so that they can invest and earn from the money we had saved for education.
And so - yay UMD!!!
Anonymous
05/15/2026 12:00
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
In RD to Northwestern, Cornell, and Wake.
Unhooked. Public school. Near perfect stats with 12 APs (including BC, Physics C, and both AP English classes).
Not DC area but also not rural or underrepresented area.
Unhooked. Public school. Near perfect stats with 12 APs (including BC, Physics C, and both AP English classes).
Not DC area but also not rural or underrepresented area.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 11:57
Subject: What was the major difference between your IRL admissions results and what others shared here on DCUM?
Anonymous wrote:GPA and rigor are high school dependent. Both matter. Rigor trumps small differences in GPA every single time. The A- or even occasional B+ in the hardest classes, at private schools that give B grades, beat the A in the easier AP or easier honors. Every time.
Are you saying a 3.85 in the most rigorous courses beat 3.95 in easier courses from the same private HS or a public from the same neighborhood? Asking because this is literally the opposite of what I've been reading here on DCUM.