Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised by some of the acceptances. For example, for Blair, there was a high acceptance rate to Oberlin but 0 (out of 12) for Wesleyan.

Wesleyan's admit rate is 15%. Oberlin is 28% -- and was under-enrolled for SY 17-18. Not surprising they would admit more students.

It was just striking that almost all of the Blair kids got into Oberlin and none got into Wesleyan. I know Wesleyan is more selective and prestigious but was still surprised at how many kids were accepted to Oberlin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the Arlington list - https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/college-admissions-a-snapshot/

The Arlington numbers are demonstrably wrong. See http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90/753301.page

The blame there lies squarely with APS. The magazine didn’t fabricate the numbers.

The magazine can easily confirm what they publish by contacting parents with kids in APS and looking at Naviance. A quick look at Naviance shows these numbers to be wrong. It's the journalist responsibility to confirm their sources.

In-state North Carolina students are on an artificially high GPA scale of 10 points. An average OOS GPA of 3.55 is usually the figure given as a comparable since in-state students have artificially high GPAs. https://myfox8.com/2015/01/09/nc-adopts-new-grading-scale-for-high-school-students/. That explains why only 78% of the total student body hails from top ten percent of their classes whereas it is much higher for UVA and other schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is on the same level as Georgetown, Wash U, and Cornell in Maryland. Pretty prestigious.

No, it takes higher GPAs and test scores to now get into UVA. The average incoming high school GPA at Georgetown is a 4.03; at Wash .Univ, a 4.11; at Cornell, a 4.04. The median (half higher, half lower) of the top 25% of UVA's entering class of 2017 was a 4.44, median was a 4.29 and bottom 25% at 4.14. Average ACT 33-35.

No. You cannot compare GPAs across different geographies and demographics (which are in play with these schools). For instance, the average weighted GPA at UNC Chapel Hill is 4.66, which is significantly higher than UVA, but also many Ivy League schools. It is also higher than UC Berkeley, but Berkeley has about 99% reported in the top 10%. There is no standard whatsoever for grading across high schools. (And most, particularly the better ones, do not report class rank.) This is why standardized tests still should matter (as they are the only thing that is standardized), but some schools are moving away from them for different reasons.

And that's why most schools also offer the number of students who were in the top 10% of their high school class. For UVA it is 94.6% - 96%. For UNC it is only 78%. You are wrong about reporting class rank. Every high school sends a class profile to college institutions with a breakdown of the rising senior class as to GPA. The first thing any college admissions reviewer does is check to see where the applicant falls across that year's class profile. So it the top student is a 4.03, then a 4.00 weighted might be a relatively strong student whereas a 4.4 student in a class with a top of 4.6 might not be as strong. This is why every college institution tells you the percentage of students that were in the top ten percent of their high school class. And an interesting twist is that the students at UVA who are not in the top ten percent of their high school class are the TJ students, who, because they are already cream of the crop, do just fine at UVA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UPenn alum who interviews- I haven’t met a single kid from Churchill who ever sent a thank you note. These kids take it as a given that they’ll get in and then surprise, they don’t. They all have the same magnificent extra curriculars which are clearly done just to get into college. It’s much harder to get in now than when I went there in the 90s.

I'll bet you enjoy doing the interviewing and thinking you're superior. You realize that the interview means nothing to the admissions committee and that it's just a big ego feed, right?

You totally missed my point. The interview means nothing. I’m saying that it’s hard to stand out and when it is between two kids with comparable applications, you never know what one little thing is going to push them over into the yes pile. It’s a shame, cause if they were applying from somewhere with less local competition they’d probably get in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the Arlington list - https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/college-admissions-a-snapshot/

The Arlington numbers are demonstrably wrong. See http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90/753301.page

The blame there lies squarely with APS. The magazine didn’t fabricate the numbers.

Weirdo. Both APS and the magazine make clear that the numbers might not be accurate, so it's not APS's fault. The point is simply that the numbers aren't accurate by a long shot, and there's no reason to think Bethesda's are either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the Arlington list - https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/college-admissions-a-snapshot/

The Arlington numbers are demonstrably wrong. See http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90/753301.page

The blame there lies squarely with APS. The magazine didn’t fabricate the numbers.

Anonymous wrote:Demonstrated interest is huge if you are applying to U of M. That is why I've already signed up DC2 for a tour over Thanksgiving break.

Huge? I don't think so.

Anonymous wrote:UPenn alum who interviews- I haven’t met a single kid from Churchill who ever sent a thank you note. These kids take it as a given that they’ll get in and then surprise, they don’t. They all have the same magnificent extra curriculars which are clearly done just to get into college. It’s much harder to get in now than when I went there in the 90s.

I'll bet you enjoy doing the interviewing and thinking you're superior. You realize that the interview means nothing to the admissions committee and that it's just a big ego feed, right?

Anonymous wrote:Here's the Arlington list - https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/college-admissions-a-snapshot/

The Arlington numbers are demonstrably wrong. See http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90/753301.page

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there are stats like this available for FCPS?

I would love to see this, even if it’s not complete

FCPS did not make the info available to the magazine because the numbers are clearly inaccurate and not worth the paper they're written on. A poster on the Arlington thread compared the numbers reported by the magazine to what's on SCHEV (the official numbers reported directed by VA colleges to the state gov't) and there are HUGE discrepencies.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90/753301.page

Yes, in my experience a high-stats student was deferred EA yet his neighbor with lower stats was admitted EA. The neighbor had done a couple of trips to A2 for tours and was on the radar.

Lots of OOS tuition dollars at stake so U of M naturally wants to protect that yield.

Anonymous wrote:I knew Michigan had gotten competitive but had no idea it was so tough to get in from MoCo. Looks like 1 out of every 6.3 applicants from the listed high schools got in. It's DC's top choice but odds are not looking good. DC likes Wisconsin/Madison also and those odds seem much better.

Tips from anyone on what Michigan looks for in a student (besides good grades and scores of course)?

My DC applied early action, which is pretty much required these days to show interest but don't be surprised to be deferred.

I do think interest matters for OOS kids. My DC didn't visit before applying but very much customized the Why Michigan question (or whatever it was) on the supplement - researched and made references to the specific department DC was interested in majoring in.

Scores and GPA matter - DC was high on both, but not so high on scores that it looked like UM might be a safety. They definitely seem to have increased deferrals of very high score OOS kids until after ED decisions are known.

But yes, bottom line the admit rate for OOS kids is between 15-19% so not easy. I also noticed that for DCs school nearly all the kids admitted to UM actually attended (based on what was reported in the school paper in addition to Bethesda Magazine) so their yield is high.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:South Carolina looks pretty popular. Merit money?

Yes, big time. They've joined Univ. of Alabama and maybe a few other southern schools in going hard after bright northeastern kids.

They’re going hard after bright kids, but why do you assume they’re going after northeastern kids?

At one of the UVA board meetings, the presenter commented that more good students are being lost than previously to out of state public schools that are pushing merit and honors colleges. There is a lot of competition for good students.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there are stats like this available for FCPS?

I would love to see this, even if it’s not complete