Anonymous wrote:Having had a girl and a boy go through the college admissions process at a private school, I will tell you the girls know a lot more about everyone’s scores, stats, and special hooks. Boys are just not as in the weeds on this stuff and frankly don’t care as much.

So if you are a girl mom and have good Intel, that counts for a lot

My boys go to an all-boys high school and they are told every score. It might go in one ear and out the other, but they know a lot. The boys aren't holding anything close to the chest. They even share essays looking for input. They don't really see the other guys as competition, thank god.

Anonymous wrote:It always amuses me when people presume to know so much about other kids. A very unassuming kid with no school involvement got into a T5 and I started to form an opinion, and then quickly realized I have no clue what this kid does so who am I to judge. I later saw a write-up on them for a merit scholarship and that was absolutely the case, doing very cool stuff no one would know about outside of school.

This is family and area dependent. A lot of us send kids to the high schools we attended, and even our parents and grandparents attended. This is more usual than not (maybe?). I've known 80% of these kids since they were born, and have been at their swim meets or robotic tournaments forever. I've donated to the fundraising when some kid got an opportunities for a competitive summer program or bought wrapping paper for their team's travel to regionals. I can tell you what street their grandparents live on and if their uncle was a good football player. I sometimes know sadder stories about the extended family than the kid has been told.

I think the DC area might be an area that people move to for work and they're going to new schools with new families. But some of us do know a lot so I wouldn't be too amused by that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DC’s private school, over the past couple of years:

Top 10 percent: Harvard, Yale, Duke, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Michigan, UVA, BC, etc.

Are you sure about the deciles or are you guessing because you assume the top students chose those schools?

“Guessing” is a generous term for what’s going on here.

Anonymous wrote:Having had a girl and a boy go through the college admissions process at a private school, I will tell you the girls know a lot more about everyone’s scores, stats, and special hooks. Boys are just not as in the weeds on this stuff and frankly don’t care as much.

So if you are a girl mom and have good Intel, that counts for a lot

Generalization, my son cared more than my daughter, but neither were asking their friends for their scores. I find your statement that boys don’t care as much wildly inaccurate. Some kids care, some don’t, some show it, some hold cards close to their chests absolutely nothing to do with gender.

if it’s a small enough private school where everybody knows everyone’s business maybe. But again it does depend on your school.

These quarttiles /divisions are meaningless outside of your school.

Having had a girl and a boy go through the college admissions process at a private school, I will tell you the girls know a lot more about everyone’s scores, stats, and special hooks. Boys are just not as in the weeds on this stuff and frankly don’t care as much.

So if you are a girl mom and have good Intel, that counts for a lot

It always amuses me when people presume to know so much about other kids. A very unassuming kid with no school involvement got into a T5 and I started to form an opinion, and then quickly realized I have no clue what this kid does so who am I to judge. I later saw a write-up on them for a merit scholarship and that was absolutely the case, doing very cool stuff no one would know about outside of school.

Anonymous wrote:At DC’s private school, over the past couple of years:

Top 10 percent: Harvard, Yale, Duke, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Chicago, etc.
Next decile: Michigan, UVA, BC, etc.

Are you sure about the deciles or are you guessing because you assume the top students chose those schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would probably be helpful to list location of private school. It makes a difference.

Midwest privates definitely get kids closer to top 40% of class into Michigan, WashU, Emory etc. This whole exercise is so school specific.

It's full of lies. 50% of Emory students went to private high schools, yet 85% are in the Top 10% so just so happens DMV private students make up the other 15% at Emory? Not low income urm students?

What does this mean? Why Emory?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO this is a very interesting post.

Shows that your high school's relationship with certain colleges is likely a very underrated part of the process.

And also, which goes hand in hand, that the kid's peers' perception of certain colleges matters as well.

So agree, the high school relationship is key, so it’s kind of annoying when people treat their own high school’s record as gospel for the whole.

That’s why 80% of the advice here is irrelevant.
Ask around in your school.
Follow the stats and admissions for years in your school.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Would probably be helpful to list location of private school. It makes a difference.

Midwest privates definitely get kids closer to top 40% of class into Michigan, WashU, Emory etc. This whole exercise is so school specific.

It's full of lies. 50% of Emory students went to private high schools, yet 85% are in the Top 10% so just so happens DMV private students make up the other 15% at Emory? Not low income urm students?

Anonymous wrote:Non-DMV selective private:

--Top 10% or high stats + hook: HYP+ Columbia + Penn (Wharton), Duke
--High stats, missing national level ECs or hook: Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Williams
—national ECs (stats irrelevant): Stanford; (and sometimes) Duke
--High stats + normal ECs OR some flaw on their record (like a bad grade or two) and hook - Cornell, Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Georgetown
--Mid stats + no hook - Michigan; UCLA; Cal; WashU; Emory

This is so gross. By the way, you need over a 4.0 to get into UCLA. Not Mid. Spending your time speculating on this? Nothing better to do? Loser.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DMV selective private:

--Top 10% or high stats + hook: HYP+ Columbia + Penn (Wharton), Duke
--High stats, missing national level ECs or hook: Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Williams
—national ECs (stats irrelevant): Stanford; (and sometimes) Duke
--High stats + normal ECs OR some flaw on their record (like a bad grade or two) and hook - Cornell, Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Georgetown
--Mid stats + no hook - Michigan; UCLA; Cal; WashU; Emory

Impressive for mid stats IMO!

I wouldn’t buy what OP is selling. At our magnet, top 10% are going to multiple "tiers" on this list. Kids, top 10% with national awards in at Brown, Northwestern and Dartmouth. These are not 2nd or 3rd "tier. " Such a weird waste of time.

Of course there are nuances. A couple years ago there was a kid at our school so desirable they could have gone anywhere (I can't give specifics, it would totally out them). Kid chose Brown for ED. We joked that the AO who saw the application probably cried with joy.

this is dumb. celebs with their choice of any school go to brown all the time. hermione from potter comes to mind

all this says that choosing brown over hyps is not unheard of where it is an ostensibly lower tier for undergrad student quality.

this isnt law school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO this is a very interesting post.

Shows that your high school's relationship with certain colleges is likely a very underrated part of the process.

And also, which goes hand in hand, that the kid's peers' perception of certain colleges matters as well.

the top 20 colleges know how kids from top 100 high school perform at their school.

If Suzie Smith from East Lake High goes to Harvard and becomes a Rhodes Scholar, that's very good for East Lake High.

If she is the ringleader for a hazing incident at Dartmouth that lands the college on national news, East Lake High is dead to them.

It's not really rational ..

What are the top 100 high schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DMV selective private:

--Top 10% or high stats + hook: HYP+ Columbia + Penn (Wharton), Duke
--High stats, missing national level ECs or hook: Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Williams
—national ECs (stats irrelevant): Stanford; (and sometimes) Duke
--High stats + normal ECs OR some flaw on their record (like a bad grade or two) and hook - Cornell, Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Georgetown
--Mid stats + no hook - Michigan; UCLA; Cal; WashU; Emory

Impressive for mid stats IMO!

I wouldn’t buy what OP is selling. At our magnet, top 10% are going to multiple "tiers" on this list. Kids, top 10% with national awards in at Brown, Northwestern and Dartmouth. These are not 2nd or 3rd "tier. " Such a weird waste of time.

Of course there are nuances. A couple years ago there was a kid at our school so desirable they could have gone anywhere (I can't give specifics, it would totally out them). Kid chose Brown for ED. We joked that the AO who saw the application probably cried with joy.

I agree with this. Plus the desirability of Harvard /Columbia has faded significantly the past few years.