Anonymous
05/15/2026 17:04
Subject: Re:Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yes. And I think it's because the tide is finally turning a bit, in favor of students. The jig is up, so to speak, in many of these schools' admissions policies.
Very different environment from when my older two went through this process 3 and 5 years ago.
I have never seen so many kids get off waitlists, for example, and have schools continue to contact them with additional merit money, after the May 1 supposed deadline.
Let’s be honest about whats happening - it’s all about the money and who is willing to pay what. Many top students choose to follow the money and can be found at many different levels of schools these days - status seekers with deep pockets may not be the brightest, but they will take up spots the really talented kids on a budget turn down. I saw this first hand at our HS. …
Disagree with this, the very best schools offer fantastic, no-loan aid, and want to fill 20 percent of the class with first gen and 20 percent low income.
The kids who are “following the money” are not poor kids but high-stats kids whose parents are upper middle class or even upper class according to Pew, but who unfortunately make and/or saved just a little too much to get any aid at the very best schools. Such families can easily save a quarter to half the price of college by going in-state or even, in many cases, to an OOS public school.
Didn't see a lot of this. The private colleges seem to be going for the clearly full pay, and lower/middle income with AID. I imagine a lot of families who arent' eligible for aid, and don't want to or can't afford full pay at a private college don't bother applying.
You mean you “don’t see it” in your “imagination”? Kids on the bubble of getting financial aid often apply RD to see what kind of package they’ll get. But you don’t have any way to see their application, or whether they were accepted. All you can see is the waitlists moving, moving, moving, as the expensive colleges work through May to fill their classes.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:48
Subject: Re:Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yes. And I think it's because the tide is finally turning a bit, in favor of students. The jig is up, so to speak, in many of these schools' admissions policies.
Very different environment from when my older two went through this process 3 and 5 years ago.
I have never seen so many kids get off waitlists, for example, and have schools continue to contact them with additional merit money, after the May 1 supposed deadline.
Let’s be honest about whats happening - it’s all about the money and who is willing to pay what. Many top students choose to follow the money and can be found at many different levels of schools these days - status seekers with deep pockets may not be the brightest, but they will take up spots the really talented kids on a budget turn down. I saw this first hand at our HS. …
Disagree with this, the very best schools offer fantastic, no-loan aid, and want to fill 20 percent of the class with first gen and 20 percent low income.
The kids who are “following the money” are not poor kids but high-stats kids whose parents are upper middle class or even upper class according to Pew, but who unfortunately make and/or saved just a little too much to get any aid at the very best schools. Such families can easily save a quarter to half the price of college by going in-state or even, in many cases, to an OOS public school.
+1 Yes, this exactly
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:25
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
It does seem like private schools are doing well again. This was the first year our class size expanded from 100 to 150, so parents were a little nervous about whether the school could still hold on to its usual numbers, about 30 percent to T20 and 50 percent to T25. Looks like they did.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:20
Subject: Re:Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yes. And I think it's because the tide is finally turning a bit, in favor of students. The jig is up, so to speak, in many of these schools' admissions policies.
Very different environment from when my older two went through this process 3 and 5 years ago.
I have never seen so many kids get off waitlists, for example, and have schools continue to contact them with additional merit money, after the May 1 supposed deadline.
Let’s be honest about whats happening - it’s all about the money and who is willing to pay what. Many top students choose to follow the money and can be found at many different levels of schools these days - status seekers with deep pockets may not be the brightest, but they will take up spots the really talented kids on a budget turn down. I saw this first hand at our HS. …
Disagree with this, the very best schools offer fantastic, no-loan aid, and want to fill 20 percent of the class with first gen and 20 percent low income.
The kids who are “following the money” are not poor kids but high-stats kids whose parents are upper middle class or even upper class according to Pew, but who unfortunately make and/or saved just a little too much to get any aid at the very best schools. Such families can easily save a quarter to half the price of college by going in-state or even, in many cases, to an OOS public school.
Didn't see a lot of this. The private colleges seem to be going for the clearly full pay, and lower/middle income with AID. I imagine a lot of families who arent' eligible for aid, and don't want to or can't afford full pay at a private college don't bother applying.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:18
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The private schools in our area had banner years with the Ivies and private colleges in the T25. It seems, at least with respect to full pay admits, in the age of rampant grade inflation, they want to get back to schools they are familiar with. In our area, with respect to public schools, they are passing over (not entirely, but accepting less kids) from the wealthier suburban high schools in favor of rural or lower income public schools.
I am confused. Are wealth suburb schools the schools they are familiar with?
In my city, almost all the H/Y/P admits were from the private schools, many of which have traditionally done well with the Ivies but had a dip in the first year or two after covid, with very few from the wealthier public schools. The lower income and rural public schools did better than in past years, as did the schools with a lot of first gen Americans.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:14
Subject: Re:Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yes. And I think it's because the tide is finally turning a bit, in favor of students. The jig is up, so to speak, in many of these schools' admissions policies.
Very different environment from when my older two went through this process 3 and 5 years ago.
I have never seen so many kids get off waitlists, for example, and have schools continue to contact them with additional merit money, after the May 1 supposed deadline.
Let’s be honest about whats happening - it’s all about the money and who is willing to pay what. Many top students choose to follow the money and can be found at many different levels of schools these days - status seekers with deep pockets may not be the brightest, but they will take up spots the really talented kids on a budget turn down. I saw this first hand at our HS. …
Disagree with this, the very best schools offer fantastic, no-loan aid, and want to fill 20 percent of the class with first gen and 20 percent low income.
The kids who are “following the money” are not poor kids but high-stats kids whose parents are upper middle class or even upper class according to Pew, but who unfortunately make and/or saved just a little too much to get any aid at the very best schools. Such families can easily save a quarter to half the price of college by going in-state or even, in many cases, to an OOS public school.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:11
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:The private schools in our area had banner years with the Ivies and private colleges in the T25. It seems, at least with respect to full pay admits, in the age of rampant grade inflation, they want to get back to schools they are familiar with. In our area, with respect to public schools, they are passing over (not entirely, but accepting less kids) from the wealthier suburban high schools in favor of rural or lower income public schools.
I am confused. Are wealth suburb schools the schools they are familiar with?
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:06
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
The private schools in our area had banner years with the Ivies and private colleges in the T25. It seems, at least with respect to full pay admits, in the age of rampant grade inflation, they want to get back to schools they are familiar with. In our area, with respect to public schools, they are passing over (not entirely, but accepting less kids) from the wealthier suburban high schools in favor of rural or lower income public schools.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 16:00
Subject: Re:Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yes. And I think it's because the tide is finally turning a bit, in favor of students. The jig is up, so to speak, in many of these schools' admissions policies.
Very different environment from when my older two went through this process 3 and 5 years ago.
I have never seen so many kids get off waitlists, for example, and have schools continue to contact them with additional merit money, after the May 1 supposed deadline.
Let’s be honest about whats happening - it’s all about the money and who is willing to pay what. Many top students choose to follow the money and can be found at many different levels of schools these days - status seekers with deep pockets may not be the brightest, but they will take up spots the really talented kids on a budget turn down. I saw this first hand at our HS. …
Disagree with this, the very best schools offer fantastic, no-loan aid, and want to fill 20 percent of the class with first gen and 20 percent low income.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 15:57
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I was super nervous about UVA b/c DC had a 1440 and a 4.3 from a competitive high school with a ton of applicants but DC was admitted. Maybe I've spent too much time here on DCUM.
ED, EA, or RD?
RD
Anonymous
05/15/2026 15:57
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Northwestern and UChicago are T10.Anonymous wrote:Our private high school had more kids than usual get into T30s and fewer get into T10s
So the insta page looks great with Notre Dame and Northwestern and UChicago, but you dont know how those kids were all hoping for HYPSM etc. Where our HS usually sends a couple to each each year.
Not to the public, only to usnews
Chicago is almost definitely T10. Northwestern is a matter of opinion but if you take ivy-dartmouth-cornell+duke+chicago+stanford+MIT you have 10 schools that are generally considered more attractive than northwestern.
I think many kids would put Northwestern ahead of Cornell and maybe Dartmouth. My senior's classmates don't really consider Cornell, fairly or unfairly, the equivalent of the other Ivies. It's a much easier admit.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 15:55
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These humble brag threads are the worst. “I totally didn’t expect it because my kid only had a 1580 and only got runner up in their highly selective nations ecs, but they got into every T20…much to my surprise!!!”
One thing I don’t see this year is the sweeping T20 applicants. It seems even the strong students are getting some rejections.
Agree with this. It actually has been pretty hard to sweep unless first gen or URM for several years now. And the unhooked kids with the strongest resumes often stop if they get their first choice in ED/SCEA/REA.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 15:50
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:These humble brag threads are the worst. “I totally didn’t expect it because my kid only had a 1580 and only got runner up in their highly selective nations ecs, but they got into every T20…much to my surprise!!!”
One thing I don’t see this year is the sweeping T20 applicants. It seems even the strong students are getting some rejections.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 13:19
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
College counselors are like the 5 blind men and the elephant. They each see their little corner of the applicant pool moving and try to read the tea leaves.
With the focus on FGLI this year the private college counselors have low visibility on the landscape.
With the focus on FGLI this year the private college counselors have low visibility on the landscape.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 13:12
Subject: Did anyone else underestimate their DC this application cycle?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our private high school had more kids than usual get into T30s and fewer get into T10s
So the insta page looks great with Notre Dame and Northwestern and UChicago, but you dont know how those kids were all hoping for HYPSM etc. Where our HS usually sends a couple to each each year.
Northwestern and UChicago are T10.
Not to the public, only to usnews
Chicago is almost definitely T10. Northwestern is a matter of opinion but if you take ivy-dartmouth-cornell+duke+chicago+stanford+MIT you have 10 schools that are generally considered more attractive than northwestern.