Anonymous wrote:Excuse my ignorance but has the SATs gotten significantly easier since the late 90s, early 2000? I looked at average scores at various colleges today and they all seem so high! No way back when I took it could that many people get scores in mid-high 1400s. Are we talking about the same test? My kids are nowhere near college age so I haven't paid attention to how the test has changed.

Yes, actual scores up about 100 points and then superscoring allows kids to use best scores on each section. Makes a tremendous difference.

Anonymous wrote:https://irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

Based on this data, a bit less than half of students are submitting test scores, and so that 25-70 range is ridiculously inflated. OP, your kid's score is not really at the bottom of the middle range.

NP, that's the way its been for the past 4 years. Almost half is pretty good. I've seen some 2nd and 3rd tier publics (for my child #2) where only 25% submitted scores.

https://irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

Based on this data, a bit less than half of students are submitting test scores, and so that 25-70 range is ridiculously inflated. OP, your kid's score is not really at the bottom of the middle range.

Anonymous wrote:https://irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

+1 UMD is full of magnet school kids whose parents can't afford or don't see an impressive ROI on attending pricey private colleges.

Anonymous wrote:I think the TO actually hurts competitive students.

+1

I agree, especially for high schools where many kids are applying. If there are multiple students with 3.95 UW, who are they going to accept? The 1450 over the test optional. Because for all they know, the test optional could be 1250 with MoCo grade inflation. At some point it makes sense to go TO, but that’s probably at the 25th percentile, where acceptance is already a crapshoot.

If your kid is at a top ten Maryland public school- (W schools, magnets, Poolesville, HOCo Centennial, River Hill)- it is a tough admit. only the top 1/3 are admitted....

My daughter stated that her counselor informed her that 25% of the seniors at her school, one of the Ws, is attending UMD next year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne Arundel HS kid stats

4.1W (3.7 UW) (all honors with the exception of some electives)
top 10-15% in class (can't remember exact rank - probably top 12%ish)
9 AP/IB/DE courses
TO
Varsity sport (captain)
NHS
3 years working

Undecided major

Rejected

wow.. I wonder if it was the TO, or if it was because they selected undecided major.

I don't know. TO because his scores weren't great (ADHD and not a great test taker..) Not sure about the undecided part. He got into the rest of the schools as being undecided...

But 4 of his closest friends with similar stats/activities didn't get in either.

Where did this kid get in, out of curiosity?

That is my kid. Got into:

Temple
Pitt
Penn
Delaware
Towson
Mason
Salisbury
St Marys
UMBC

Going to Towson (Honors college) due to cost

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has a 44% acceptance rate for fall 2024. Not selective at all. Yield also at 23% last year. Top students dont want to go and use it as a backup for just about any mid tier and above private

That's actually a pretty low acceptance rate for US higher education, and not a bad yield rate, either. And your last sentence has no data to back it up.

It just seems like acceptance rate from MoCo and HoCo are far lower. And then even lower than that within certain high schools. Wish we had access to that data.

From publicly available data (i.e., Bethesda Magazine) and Naviance, the average acceptance rate for MoCo public schools is approximately 45%, which is less than the instate acceptance rate of 54%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has a 44% acceptance rate for fall 2024. Not selective at all. Yield also at 23% last year. Top students dont want to go and use it as a backup for just about any mid tier and above private

That's actually a pretty low acceptance rate for US higher education, and not a bad yield rate, either. And your last sentence has no data to back it up.

It just seems like acceptance rate from MoCo and HoCo are far lower. And then even lower than that within certain high schools. Wish we had access to that data.

It is available for instate and OOS/INTL via CDS. https://www.irpa.umd.edu/InstitutionalData/cds.html

Class of 2027
In state
Applied-15,802
Admitted-8,518 (54%)
Enrolled-4,225 (50%)
OOS/INTL
Applied-43,567
Accepted-18,105 (42%)
Enrolled-1,972 (11%)

Yes, but that doesn’t show the breakdown for Montgomery County and Howard County.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has a 44% acceptance rate for fall 2024. Not selective at all. Yield also at 23% last year. Top students dont want to go and use it as a backup for just about any mid tier and above private

That's actually a pretty low acceptance rate for US higher education, and not a bad yield rate, either. And your last sentence has no data to back it up.

It just seems like acceptance rate from MoCo and HoCo are far lower. And then even lower than that within certain high schools. Wish we had access to that data.

It is available for instate and OOS/INTL via CDS. https://www.irpa.umd.edu/InstitutionalData/cds.html

Class of 2027
In state
Applied-15,802
Admitted-8,518 (54%)
Enrolled-4,225 (50%)
OOS/INTL
Applied-43,567
Accepted-18,105 (42%)
Enrolled-1,972 (11%)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has a 44% acceptance rate for fall 2024. Not selective at all. Yield also at 23% last year. Top students dont want to go and use it as a backup for just about any mid tier and above private

That's actually a pretty low acceptance rate for US higher education, and not a bad yield rate, either. And your last sentence has no data to back it up.

It just seems like acceptance rate from MoCo and HoCo are far lower. And then even lower than that within certain high schools. Wish we had access to that data.

I think the TO actually hurts competitive students.

Anonymous wrote:I really think private school hurt him. My youngest plans to attend public high school based on how this cycle went for his brother. He’s in middle now

Hurt how?

Did you not notice at any time during the 4 years that the private school education was lacking?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anne Arundel HS kid stats

4.1W (3.7 UW) (all honors with the exception of some electives)
top 10-15% in class (can't remember exact rank - probably top 12%ish)
9 AP/IB/DE courses
TO
Varsity sport (captain)
NHS
3 years working

Undecided major

Rejected

wow.. I wonder if it was the TO, or if it was because they selected undecided major.

I don't know. TO because his scores weren't great (ADHD and not a great test taker..) Not sure about the undecided part. He got into the rest of the schools as being undecided...

But 4 of his closest friends with similar stats/activities didn't get in either.

Where did this kid get in, out of curiousity?