Anonymous wrote:OP: thank you for your post (and thanks to the many PPs who offered helpful answers.). You have described my DD and our approach exactly. Glad there are others out there. And we are HYP parents - but prioritizing happiness and mental health for this particular child. You are not alone.

+1. OP here. Thank you, PPs, for your posts. Very helpful. Good luck, everyone, on your journeys.

Anonymous wrote:The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.

Or they didn't apply to those schools and went for good schools (without regard for rank) that paid them to go there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "middle of the pack" kids at my son's Big3 are now at schools like NYU, Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, Colgate, Tulane, Bates, Wisconsin, Texas and Richmond. Pushing more sports won't have an impact unless that would make her a recruitable athlete. Some SAT prep is probably a good idea--no need to start early and it doesn't have to be super-intensive, but getting that test score up does help. ED and full pay can also be very helpful at schools below the Ivy tier.

Not sure when your son graduated from high school, but in the 2022 post covid reality, middle of the back isn't touching NYU or Tufts. These are single digit admit rates now. Tulane, only if ED,a dn BC and Wisconsin are at best, somewhere between a target and a reach, particularly BC.

+1. A middle of the pack kid might get a yes at one of these schools ED, but they aren't going to be getting multiple acceptances with the ability to choose.

There may be more people applying over all, but the same kind of applicant is getting accepted at many of these schools as in year's past. Just because 5000 more people apply that don't have a real chance of getting in doesn't necessarily mean your child will have a harder time getting admitted as they would have 8 years ago if the school is still looking for the same kind of student(same gpa,sat numbers as minimums in AD office in many cases and the same number of ACTUAL competitive applicants) more people just get put in the slush pile. This is the huge downside to the common app.