Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a crapshoot for all at the top schools, but you should be right in the mix for many of the top 40 schools from a top private. Worse case scenario would be something like a Wake Forest/Bucknell/BC/Middlebury placement.

Bucknell is not in same as BC and Middlebury.

Middlebury is top 20 liberal arts and should be an easy in for your student.


BC is tough tough to get into. Very tough admit.

This is not the outcome at our school. BC much easier to get into than Middlebury.

um, my sister is a counselor and there is some maneuvering for good school stats. don't think for a moment they are not considering each kid's chance and making suggestions based on that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

You are blathering on with confidence about schools that are not one of the following: STA, NCS, Sidwell. GDS.

Someone in the top 20% of STA or Sidwell (which doesn’t do class rank btw) is not going to Tufts. Or BU.

Talk to the unhooked kids from 2 admissions cycles ago at NCS... I know it was a weird year but...

The kids at these schools that at not the very top and are not alum, URM or recruited athletes have a hard go at the T40 schools, and that is even if they are full pay.

Focus on the present.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

You are blathering on with confidence about schools that are not one of the following: STA, NCS, Sidwell. GDS.

Someone in the top 20% of STA or Sidwell (which doesn’t do class rank btw) is not going to Tufts. Or BU.

Talk to the unhooked kids from 2 admissions cycles ago at NCS... I know it was a weird year but...

The kids at these schools that at not the very top and are not alum, URM or recruited athletes have a hard go at the T40 schools, and that is even if they are full pay.

Last year's NCS class placed very well.

yes they did for sure. 2/3 of the class went to top 20 universities or slacs rest went to good schools as well

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

You are blathering on with confidence about schools that are not one of the following: STA, NCS, Sidwell. GDS.

Someone in the top 20% of STA or Sidwell (which doesn’t do class rank btw) is not going to Tufts. Or BU.

Talk to the unhooked kids from 2 admissions cycles ago at NCS... I know it was a weird year but...

The kids at these schools that at not the very top and are not alum, URM or recruited athletes have a hard go at the T40 schools, and that is even if they are full pay.

I know this class and I don't think the college outcomes were terrible for the unhooked outside the top 10%. If anything this past year was much worse for that same demographic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

You are blathering on with confidence about schools that are not one of the following: STA, NCS, Sidwell. GDS.

Someone in the top 20% of STA or Sidwell (which doesn’t do class rank btw) is not going to Tufts. Or BU.

Talk to the unhooked kids from 2 admissions cycles ago at NCS... I know it was a weird year but...

The kids at these schools that at not the very top and are not alum, URM or recruited athletes have a hard go at the T40 schools, and that is even if they are full pay.

Last year's NCS class placed very well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

You are blathering on with confidence about schools that are not one of the following: STA, NCS, Sidwell. GDS.

Someone in the top 20% of STA or Sidwell (which doesn’t do class rank btw) is not going to Tufts. Or BU.

Talk to the unhooked kids from 2 admissions cycles ago at NCS... I know it was a weird year but...

The kids at these schools that at not the very top and are not alum, URM or recruited athletes have a hard go at the T40 schools, and that is even if they are full pay.

Anonymous wrote:Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

You are blathering on with confidence about schools that are not one of the following: STA, NCS, Sidwell. GDS.

Someone in the top 20% of STA or Sidwell (which doesn’t do class rank btw) is not going to Tufts. Or BU.

Anonymous wrote:Unless your Big3 DC is in the top 10%, coming from the Big3 is actually a disadvantage when applying to T20', because T20's consider the Big3 bottom 90% to be spoon fed brats who, despite all the advantages in the world, couldn't hack it.

I am sorry that your life choices do not allow you the option of easily paying $50k+ per kid per year for tuition. It’s pretty great to have this option!

We chose it, and our son is enjoying Northwestern. Somehow.

You didn't specify the race of your student.

There are scholarships available depending on your demographics that can help you get in -- this was our case and we are very happy we looked into it!

Top 20% sure, top 10% not really. Top 20% of kids should ED to places like BC/BU/Tufts, get in, and not stress for the rest of their senior year. What I have seen happen is that the top 20% of kids waste their ED on UChicago, Michigan, etc., and get deferred and then do not get into those schools later on, and often are not getting into BC/BU/Tufts since those schools are yield protecting in EA/RD and other ED2 schools now are bum-rushed with kids of the same caliber who got deferred from the UChicagos and Michigan. Aim "low" if you're at the 20% of the "top 20%." And by low I mean around 50-30 ranked schools. Your kid is going to have the same outcomes for jobs and grad school coming from there anyway, find a good culture fit and let your child enjoy their life without an inferiority complex.

Will need at least a 3.9+ GPA with high rigor for Brown. Every single admit from my kid’s Big 3 had this over the last 3 years. Legacy is de facto over at Brown, too. Unhooked, very high stats kids are more likely to be admitted at Brown vs. still VERY legacy heavy HYP.

Anonymous wrote:Following this as I have a 10th grader in DC private (not Big3) - is this issue something that hiring an outside private college counselor could help with (we are debating getting one)? Also, why is Chicago considered more of a likely admit?

Chicago tends to accept a fairly high percentage of their class in the ED round. And they do seem to be partial to strong applicants from private schools like the Big 3. For otherwise unhooked top students, the ED choice matters a lot. There are some schools where an ED/SCEA application is generally a waste - HYPSM, Penn. And there are some schools where applying ED can make a big difference - Chicago, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Rice, Duke, Cornell, Columbia, Emory, and WashU. Vanderbilt, for example, has a RD acceptance rate of 3.7 percent. It's nearly impossible for everyone in the RD round. Similar with Chicago, Rice, Duke and so on. It can be carnage in the RD round. Which is why strong but unhooked applicants tend to pay attention to what's happening in the ED round with various schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless your Big3 DC is in the top 10%, coming from the Big3 is actually a disadvantage when applying to T20', because T20's consider the Big3 bottom 90% to be spoon fed brats who, despite all the advantages in the world, couldn't hack it.

That’s what you desperately want to believe. 50% to 60% of Big 3 grads consistently go to T25 universities/T25 SLACs. Even someone who is terrible at math knows that means a large percentage of the “Big 3 bottom 90%” is still attending a T20. And the vast majority of the rest of the Big 3 students attend T50 universities/SLACs.

This is true. Large percentage are attending Top 25 universities and SLACS. Big 3 plus a few others like Maret do quite well and have a much higher percentage than other schools.

OP not sure why you are getting so many negative comments. I get it it can be stressful. I think your kid has great stats and I am pretty certain based on what you are saying here that with that GPA (which yes coming from a Big 3 is a very good GPA) will get your child into a top 25-30 school. They should definitely submit their ED first choice and if they have several early action as you mentioned then they will most likely get into at least one of those.

Remember even if all else fails - MANY kids get into top school regular decision and several more get off waitlists. I know of several kids at Ivies that got off of the waitlists.

I would advise your kid to apply to their first choice. Good luck.

Other great ED options for kids outside the top 10% are WashU, Georgetown (EA), Michigan (EA), Rice, Cornell