Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

+100

Go Hokies ! My peers and neighbors are all Ivy alums.

We have two million+ homes in NW and no debt and came from MC and lower MC backgrounds.

VT isn’t a third tier school. Try Frostburg State, UDC, or Virginia State.

People are so disingenuous when they say “school doesn’t matter” when what they really mean is “it doesn’t matter what top 100 school you go to.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selectivity ≠ quality

How many kids whose dream school is Michigan really will hit the academic (or social or whatever) ceiling at Kansas (admit rate >90%)? 1%? 5%? Surely not 10%. Same is true for Williams rejects at St. Lawrence (admit rate almost 50%) or Whitman (admit rate >50%). Or Vandy rejects at Miami of Ohio (admit rate >90%). Or Carleton rejects at Wooster (admit rate >60%). Etc., etc., etc.

Kids (and especially their parents!) just need to recognize that they can be admitted to a school that will fit them and offer a great education--and get over that it might not appear on the first page of some ridiculous "ranking" list.

This post really should be a header on DCUM.

There are very smart and driven kids at every single institution. My husband and I went to third tier schools. We had MANY very smart and driven peers. Some went on to top graduate/medical schools, some did not and entered the workforce out of undergrad.
If you look at them on paper now, they are indistinguishable from our peers/friends who went to top20 schools. My husband and I (with our third tier degrees) are sitting here this morning in upper NW DC, in a multi-million dollar home with kids at a top DC private.
You can't tell the difference between us and our Ivy league neighbors, friends, fellow school parents and colleagues.

+100

Go Hokies ! My peers and neighbors are all Ivy alums.

We have two million+ homes in NW and no debt and came from MC and lower MC backgrounds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading about some of the rejections and it’s intense. Mind you Ivy League was never the goal in our household but kids are getting rejected left and right from state schools. Is all this craziness worth it? I want my DC to have a good high school experience. Reading these threads I’m like…well they can either find the cure for cancer and get in to decent schools OR they can just be normal kids and settle somewhere else. What are the strategies for parents with kids applying in the next 5 years? I’m thinking at the very least save more money in case in states are out and we need to go less well known privates?

The only moms who post stats here are the moms of academic superstars. And there are 3-4 “normal” kids for each superstar, and they’re all going to UMD/VT. Your child will be fine.

Sorry, but lots of them do not get into UMCP.

They could do automatic admission from Mont co cc if they really wanted to attend UMCP (yes they’ll finish an AA in a timely manner from there if they’re a good student with few real financial worries). But whine instead I suppose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading about some of the rejections and it’s intense. Mind you Ivy League was never the goal in our household but kids are getting rejected left and right from state schools. Is all this craziness worth it? I want my DC to have a good high school experience. Reading these threads I’m like…well they can either find the cure for cancer and get in to decent schools OR they can just be normal kids and settle somewhere else. What are the strategies for parents with kids applying in the next 5 years? I’m thinking at the very least save more money in case in states are out and we need to go less well known privates?

The only moms who post stats here are the moms of academic superstars. And there are 3-4 “normal” kids for each superstar, and they’re all going to UMD/VT. Your child will be fine.

Sorry, but lots of them do not get into UMCP.

I think that some of you should seek therapy, honestly, to put this all in perspective.

Either you get therapy now or you are assigning your kids to a future of cheating/poor sleep/feeling inadequate. Consider that when you calculate "return on investment."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

You need to expand your definition of “top schools”. Start by ignoring the USNWR list.

+1 Stop wanting specific schools. What you should want is to do YOUR best taking the most challenging courses YOU are capable of handling while getting enough sleep and not stressing out so much that it feels like hell. Some who do this will get into the big name colleges, some will not. They'll all be fine.

+1,000

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

Do you people not care about mental health at all???

Kids already have really high levels of anxiety and depression.

It is so sad that many parents around here care about the wrong things.

No other wealthy nation does this to its young people.

No, that's an incorrect and ill-informed statement (don't try to repurpose stale talking points about US health care or maternity leave - they're not applicable here). Actually, the university admissions process has historically been more competitive and draining (and unforgiving) in other wealthy countries than in the US. To the extent that there's "transparency" there it's mostly because admission there is based on a test score that wealthier students have the resources to prepare for, both through tutoring and their schoolwork (since unlike less prosperous students they haven't been tracked into trade schools at age 14). Compared to that, give me US universities' efforts to shape a more representative sampling of America's future leaders any day.

Of course, there are some wealthy countries that don't really have elite universities, where competitive admissions aren't as much of issue. But we have the same in the US -- there are a number of highly ranked US universities that accept over three quarters of their applicants. If you find the process and pressure involved in getting into an Ivy League/"T20" school intolerable, then aim for one of the fine state flagships that accepts the vast majority of applicants -- Indiana, Colorado, Michigan State, Arizona, Iowa (which tend to "rank" among the top 100 or 250 universities in the world). But sounds a bit hypocritical to seek admission to an elite school that by definition rejects more applicants than it accepts, and then express outrage that the school has the nerve to select its student body in a way that your kid can't game.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

Then choose from the schools your kids get into. It’s not that serious. Ironically, while it’s supposedly harder to get into college, job opportunities are expanding exponentially. Your kid is going to be just fine.

As others have said when you look across successful people in their careers they really do come from a wide range of schools.

+1,000 I know elite schools have tons of rare and amazing opportunities. Seriously. But childhood is important too.

-Radford grad

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

Nope. The high school of class 2020 doesn’t count, they had it so great. So many students got into their dream schools b/c of COVID-19, with US students’ families taking a huge financial and hit internationals staying home. That book is irrelevant now.

I think you meant high class of 2021.

No. International students were allowed to return in Fall 2021, not to mention they had to deal with all of the deferrals and hold-outs from 2020. Those that graduated in 2020 for Fall 2020 matriculation had the best chance of getting into their dream school

I'm the PP you responded to. I see what you're saying now. So US students in Spring 2020 got into their dream schools either through RD or through a waitlist because international students suddenly couldn't attend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

Then choose from the schools your kids get into. It’s not that serious. Ironically, while it’s supposedly harder to get into college, job opportunities are expanding exponentially. Your kid is going to be just fine.

As others have said when you look across successful people in their careers they really do come from a wide range of schools.

NP. Agree. But, one possible angle to consider re job opportunities: college class of 2025 is large or overenrolled at many schools. It'll be a while before we know whether that has any effect on entry level jobs straight out of college (though additional factors include the state of the economy in 2025 and the industry).

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

Four years of highs school hell are not worth it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a formula. People say it’s random, and that’s true on the margins. But there is a way to play it if you know the formula. The absolute best thing you can do for your 8-10the grader now is to buy Who Gets In and Why. I read it 2 years ago and was able glean a logic to it. Wish it weren’t the case, but given that I can’t change it, we played the game. We broke out the admissions criteria into 4 parts, and focused on each of those in turn. That worked a charm for DD. She’s into a top 10 college, no hooks other than good luck and knowing the game.

Nope. The high school of class 2020 doesn’t count, they had it so great. So many students got into their dream schools b/c of COVID-19, with US students’ families taking a huge financial and hit internationals staying home. That book is irrelevant now.

I think you meant high class of 2021.

No. International students were allowed to return in Fall 2021, not to mention they had to deal with all of the deferrals and hold-outs from 2020. Those that graduated in 2020 for Fall 2020 matriculation had the best chance of getting into their dream school

This exactly.

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, I believe that the trend is to achieve perfection in every way. Pandemic year affected my DC’s grades and so far, the admission results show that one blemish is enough to get you rejected despite national level competitions and officers of major clubs and athletes. You have to be perfect. It will be four years of high school hell if you want top schools.

Then choose from the schools your kids get into. It’s not that serious. Ironically, while it’s supposedly harder to get into college, job opportunities are expanding exponentially. Your kid is going to be just fine.

As others have said when you look across successful people in their careers they really do come from a wide range of schools.