Anonymous
02/13/2026 13:59
Subject: College placements
This is highly college-dependent - Cornell e.g. will happily admit 30 kids from the same class, Harvard is normally very very tight-fisted though you do occasionally see them randomly admit 6 or 8 one year.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 13:33
Subject: Re:College placements
Anonymous wrote:These comments are insane. The vast majority of posters here and their children would never get into any of the colleges listed, including UChicago. MIT wouldn’t even waste their time reading thru the entire app.
The one sensible takeaway from this thread is that there’s a cap on how many kids from each high school a college will take. I know one kid who transferred from Dalton to Poly Prep and another one who transferred from HM to Friends, each for their senior year, to sidestep the Duke cap from their original schools.
not true. as since you love MIT, I'll use them as an example. MIT took 12 (1!) from HSMSE about 4 or 5 years ago. And that's a very small class.
FWIW, MIT is a much easier admit than HYPS if you're a girl.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:31
Subject: College placements
I agree. Having driven kids around is definitely a positive effect. Also, yes, they say kids who enter in 7th grade are much more competitive than those from k class
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:21
Subject: College placements
Anonymous wrote:The thing about Hunter is that even the people who go there and like it tend to say that it's a pretty normal school teaching-wise - with the same mix of good/bad teachers as any public school - and just happens to have a lot of incredibly bright kids.
Are those bad teachers in core subjects, like math or English? I find that a bit surprising given how accomplished a lot of Hunter kids are in those.
Even if that’s the case, having those bright kids concentrated in one educational space must have a positive effect — the peer pressure being about excelling intellectually rather than status, etc.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:02
Subject: College placements
The thing about Hunter is that even the people who go there and like it tend to say that it's a pretty normal school teaching-wise - with the same mix of good/bad teachers as any public school - and just happens to have a lot of incredibly bright kids.
So while 8 Harvard kids is certainly impressive (and maybe suggests that Harvard's per-school caps are not quite so rigid as we sometimes think, at least not for testing high schools) it's again hard to know whether that actually had anything to do with Hunter.
So while 8 Harvard kids is certainly impressive (and maybe suggests that Harvard's per-school caps are not quite so rigid as we sometimes think, at least not for testing high schools) it's again hard to know whether that actually had anything to do with Hunter.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 10:55
Subject: Re:College placements
Anonymous wrote:Hunter matriculations from last year look pretty good, 8 to Harvard, 4 to Princeton, lots of other great schools. It's only slightly larger than HM and I am assuming far fewer legacies.
https://www.instagram.com/hawkscommit25/
I wonder if most of these kids with these kinds of exmissions are the ones that enter at 7th grade
Anonymous
02/12/2026 21:47
Subject: College placements
Impressive about Hunter
Anonymous
02/12/2026 21:44
Subject: Re:College placements
I think Hunter had 9 to Harvard last year. IG has less people post.
Anonymous
02/12/2026 21:36
Subject: Re:College placements
Hunter matriculations from last year look pretty good, 8 to Harvard, 4 to Princeton, lots of other great schools. It's only slightly larger than HM and I am assuming far fewer legacies.
https://www.instagram.com/hawkscommit25/
https://www.instagram.com/hawkscommit25/
Anonymous
02/12/2026 20:48
Subject: College placements
Spence girls are varsity team recruits usually for MIT
Anonymous
02/12/2026 20:35
Subject: College placements
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Brearley having another banger year.
How are the completely unconnected kids doing
Right. One reason why MIT matriculation seems salient is that they do not consider legacy in admissions. So 25 girls to Harvard over 5 years is difficult to read in terms of the unconnected success indication, whereas only one (1) MIT matriculation (and also only 1 to Caltech, another legacy blind, though much smaller, school) gives you pause, at least if you have a STEM-oriented kid -- which we do.
I can’t speak for students at these schools as I’ve never attended. But if a student loves the liberal arts focused curriculum at a place like Brearley, Trinity or Collegiate, a place like MIT would not be as appealing. Saying this as an alum of MIT.
I agree with this, and I made this point further up thread and on another thread where someone else brought up the lack of MIT at NYC TT private schools. My DD is at one of these SS girls schools, and I’ve never heard her or her friends and classmates even mention MIT. For whatever reason, it’s not on their radar as far as schools they’d like to attend.
Spence had 4 girls going to MIT over 5 years . It is still a small number but it is 4 times higher than Brearley (1 over 5 years)
Anonymous
02/12/2026 20:17
Subject: Re:College placements
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The one sensible takeaway from this thread is that there’s a cap on how many kids from each high school a college will take. I know one kid who transferred from Dalton to Poly Prep and another one who transferred from HM to Friends, each for their senior year, to sidestep the Duke cap from their original schools.
Public-school-wise, if you're wondering why someone would rank Brooklyn Latin or High School for American Studies over one of the big three... this is why.
If my only goal were getting into one of the better Ivy schools, I’d rather be in the top 10% at a 2T high school than being in the middle of the pack at Brearley or Horace Mann. No questions asked.
Anonymous
02/12/2026 20:05
Subject: Re:College placements
Anonymous wrote:The one sensible takeaway from this thread is that there’s a cap on how many kids from each high school a college will take. I know one kid who transferred from Dalton to Poly Prep and another one who transferred from HM to Friends, each for their senior year, to sidestep the Duke cap from their original schools.
Public-school-wise, if you're wondering why someone would rank Brooklyn Latin or High School for American Studies over one of the big three... this is why.
Anonymous
02/12/2026 19:41
Subject: Re:College placements
These comments are insane. The vast majority of posters here and their children would never get into any of the colleges listed, including UChicago. MIT wouldn’t even waste their time reading thru the entire app.
The one sensible takeaway from this thread is that there’s a cap on how many kids from each high school a college will take. I know one kid who transferred from Dalton to Poly Prep and another one who transferred from HM to Friends, each for their senior year, to sidestep the Duke cap from their original schools.
The one sensible takeaway from this thread is that there’s a cap on how many kids from each high school a college will take. I know one kid who transferred from Dalton to Poly Prep and another one who transferred from HM to Friends, each for their senior year, to sidestep the Duke cap from their original schools.
Anonymous
02/12/2026 17:37
Subject: College placements
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:A lot of schools are dropping or de-emphasizing legacy admissions, it's not just MIT; I suspect that explains some - but not all - of the recent decline in fortunes at HM for example, which is positively riddled with Ivy parents.
I think it’s legacy + $$$ that helps. Horace Mann may have legacy but fewer big development cases. I know Spence has a lot of big money, at least one person posted is the grandchild of a notable billionaire.
Same at Chapin. Two big billionaires grandchildren going to Harvard. very well known families.