Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC was accepted ED1 as a garden variety legacy-it can still happen with a strong GPA, max rigor and highest test scores. We aren’t huge donors.

Which Ivy has ED1?

Penn

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and what I've been hearing is that the kids getting in are the top kids 3.95+ and the kids aiming outright for less competitive schools (say, Syracuse, South Carolina, Colorado, second tier liberal arts colleges etc).
The instagrams look great but what you're seeing are the athletic recruits, 3.95+ kids, and some legacies (mostly VIP legacies).
It's the middle (say 3.6 to 3.9) that are just getting deferred or denied. This is worrisome because this is a big part of each class.

Lots of deferrals from 3.75-3.9
That in previous years would have been admits.

I believe last year, 2023 class, was the worst of the worst in terms of tough college admits or lack there of. This year appears, from the admits I have seen, to be little easier, but still hard. Overall, post covid meaning 2020-present has changed the college admissions landscape. Rumor has it 2026 has a birth number population drop so maybe things are beginning to normalize a bit?

Not at all. This year early admits are down (raw numbers) and applications are up significantly from last year.

Anonymous wrote:We have friends with kids at top publics, Whitman, Churchill, the Blair Magnet etc,. The same thing is happening to those kids-lots of kids with high test scores, grades, great ECs and getting deferred from their top choices. It's not just limited to private school kids.

+1 it’s a trend this cycle. It’s happening everywhere.

I’m not sure if it’s related to the FSAF being so delayed and/or a function of schools waiting for higher stat applicants as lower stats have to shoot their wad early to look desirable at their reaches.

Anonymous wrote:My DC was accepted ED1 as a garden variety legacy-it can still happen with a strong GPA, max rigor and highest test scores. We aren’t huge donors.

Which Ivy has ED1?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and what I've been hearing is that the kids getting in are the top kids 3.95+ and the kids aiming outright for less competitive schools (say, Syracuse, South Carolina, Colorado, second tier liberal arts colleges etc).
The instagrams look great but what you're seeing are the athletic recruits, 3.95+ kids, and some legacies (mostly VIP legacies).
It's the middle (say 3.6 to 3.9) that are just getting deferred or denied. This is worrisome because this is a big part of each class.

Lots of deferrals from 3.75-3.9
That in previous years would have been admits.

I believe last year, 2023 class, was the worst of the worst in terms of tough college admits or lack there of. This year appears, from the admits I have seen, to be little easier, but still hard. Overall, post covid meaning 2020-present has changed the college admissions landscape. Rumor has it 2026 has a birth number population drop so maybe things are beginning to normalize a bit?

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]^^^In looking at the Insta pages of all the “top” DMV schools that would be a false statement. Seems like at least 20% of most classes got in ED1. Granted, lots of athletes, URM and legacy but still…[/quote]

There really aren't "a lot of athletes" as most keep saying. Less than 10% of the IG admits are athletes.[/quote]

Unless you are talking about St. John’s and their Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT admits. All athletes and there are even more top schools. SJCHS is having an amazing year, but it’s primarily the athletes doing extraordinarily well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That really stinks. Sorry to hear that. They are being punished for being wealthy. But the education they received will make it ok in the long run. Plus they can still get into a prestigious graduate school

I agree. The private school kids in this area have very high SAT and ACT scores and colleges are not even taking that into account. I think there will be backlash when they start to see a difference in the kind of work the kids they are admitting are tuning in. There is a distinct difference in writing and other skills.

That backlash is already happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope this is what we have seen so far. The schools that have done well for non legacy or donor or athletes so far have been the less recognized privates. I think those schools have a different attitude for admissions because they have always had to market their kids and their school.

Agree 💯

Agree as well. It is the private schools that are not talked about as much that are getting their kids in.

My DC was accepted ED1 as a garden variety legacy-it can still happen with a strong GPA, max rigor and highest test scores. We aren’t huge donors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and what I've been hearing is that the kids getting in are the top kids 3.95+ and the kids aiming outright for less competitive schools (say, Syracuse, South Carolina, Colorado, second tier liberal arts colleges etc).
The instagrams look great but what you're seeing are the athletic recruits, 3.95+ kids, and some legacies (mostly VIP legacies).
It's the middle (say 3.6 to 3.9) that are just getting deferred or denied. This is worrisome because this is a big part of each class.

Lots of deferrals from 3.75-3.9
That in previous years would have been admits.

My kid was deferred with a 4.0UW, 35 ACT

What schools are you hoping for? Ivies?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks need to reevaluate what's considered a good university.

People need to focus on the education, not the name brand. The top cohort at nearly 200 colleges is essentially the same kind of kids.

Difficult to convince people who focussed on the brand for k-12 or even just HS. People think they are owed a spot.

We have friends with kids at top publics, Whitman, Churchill, the Blair Magnet etc,. The same thing is happening to those kids-lots of kids with high test scores, grades, great ECs and getting deferred from their top choices. It's not just limited to private school kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, admitted legacies don’t have to put as much on the scale as admitted non-legacies because their legacy status is that extra thumb. Non-legacies have to be better to overcome the legacy preference. That’s what preference means.

In our school it's the legacy VIP that get an extra thumb despite clearly lower credentials (yet - let's be clear - they will do just fine at the college).

The plain legacy who are accepted are typically among the strongest students - are they point for point as strong as their peers that get rejected - who knows? But within this high achiever group - that doesn't matter so much. But it is clear that the legacy pushed them ahead of their similarly qualified peers.

This is well said and it's the same at our school. In any given year you may have one VIP legacy admitted (often with slightly lower credentials than the top students), one very top student legacy, and then 5-10 legacies who are rejected. At these schools plain old legacy does not guarantee much because there are so many of them, when taking into account the fact that most kids have two parents. The odds that one parent went to an Ivy or Ivy+ are so high at these schools.

Anonymous wrote:Actually, admitted legacies don’t have to put as much on the scale as admitted non-legacies because their legacy status is that extra thumb. Non-legacies have to be better to overcome the legacy preference. That’s what preference means.

In our school it's the legacy VIP that get an extra thumb despite clearly lower credentials (yet - let's be clear - they will do just fine at the college).

The plain legacy who are accepted are typically among the strongest students - are they point for point as strong as their peers that get rejected - who knows? But within this high achiever group - that doesn't matter so much. But it is clear that the legacy pushed them ahead of their similarly qualified peers.

Anonymous wrote:Folks need to reevaluate what's considered a good university.

People need to focus on the education, not the name brand. The top cohort at nearly 200 colleges is essentially the same kind of kids.