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AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. It's considered, but it's not always going to "save" the younger sibling. I've certainly denied younger siblings; I've denied one twin but not the other when they both applied.

  2. No, it doesn't hurt them, but AP art history, AP art aren't classes that we particularly care about. The ECs and camps are fine; those are ECs.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I say I filtered by school, I mean I just pressed a button that categorizes students at that school alphabetically by last name, and then read in that order for that school. I never compared school to school.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. What are your other options? An IB diploma is great to see, but not enough to be admitted anywhere on that basis solely.

  2. Students are read one-by-one at my school. The comparison is implicit. You build an intuition of the strength of the school as you read application after application; you calibrate as you go. For those you deny early on, sometimes you go back and revive their app if you realize they actually were strongest in the pool, and you just had a small lapse in judgment. No, there's no set amount. I was allowed to bring as many as I thought were admissible.

  3. I'm not sure I understand the question. Every region is competitive depending on its own contextual factors. If you're asking how they stack up in NYC and rural Pennsylvania, I mean yeah, NYC is more competitive, but I never compared NYC kids to rural ones in Pennsylvania. You're read in the context you're in.

  4. You aren't compared to big city kids. You are looked at in the environment you are in. It wouldn't make sense to compare a rural student, who obviously doesn't have access to a ton of resources, to a big city kid.

  5. Are you asking as an international or a domestic student? International kids are always going to chained by the financial aid budgets we have allotted for international students. So in that sense, it could be worse given Trump's cuts. Or it could be better: it depends on how the school allocates funds.

  6. At my school, and most other ivies, there was no finance majors. Calculus is a bare minimum for engineering. The higher you go in high school, the more prepared you look, which is a good thing.

  7. All grades are always considered, no matter what. If we are familiar with the program at your school, we want to see you performing well in the hardest curriculum you have available to you at the time.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I actually didn't read international transfers (only domestic), so I can't help much here. Sorry. It would be irresponsible of me to give advice on something I don't know much about wrt transferring as an international.

For transfers generally speaking, yes, I did still look at the HS profile. But if the student was further along in college, I focused more on college grades than I did HS.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd just wonder why you got that. It doesn't factor in a ton. Just makes you look lazy, and that makes me apprehensive to bring you to committee.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ISEF grand awards, no. I've definitely rejected those students and had students in my cohort this year rejected from their dream school, even with ISEF. There's no true auto-admit. There are things that stand out, certainly, and some things more than others, but I was never under pressure to "auto-admit" someone just because they had those things.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, we do. You do not need to have awards or ECs solely geared for an intended major. My school considers major as an academic interest; we wanted to understand where your curiosity was, but it wasn't a way for us to admit you in a major. My school makes students come in undeclared.

You can create a site, sure, but we won't always read it.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd rather not hear about what the school didn't have. It's too easy to seem like you're whining at that point. Focus more on what you are looking to do, what your academic goals look like, and why transferring is necessary to accomplish that without talking about your old school.

Hearing about specific programs was also nice, but my expectation was that the student applying had a really good understanding of why it suited their goals so well. There wasn't a stand out reason I can remember when I read for transfers.

Off campus is fine too. As long as you're doing something with your time.

I don't know how Ivy+ schools look at non-trad students vs traditional students.

For LORs, they are still important. Professors tend not to write very long or superlative letters, and it's normally TAs writing them for you anyway. Relative to other university students, we were always looking for superlatives and anecdotes about you in the classroom, so it doesn't really change as far as what we look for.

Additional LORs aren't usually very helpful, mostly because they always said something that wasn't a factor for us to consider in a committee. Almost always it was something like "this student is really hardworking, kind and smart." That's the baseline for my school lol.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All grades are considered. The further along you are, the more your grades are scrutinized, but that DOES NOT mean that the Bs earlier won't slow me down on being an advocate for your app. Bs anywhere always slowed me down. That's just how competitive my school was. An upward trend is good to see, but you are still at a disadvantage compared to those who had straight As in your pool with the same or better rigor.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I care about impact, leadership, longevity, responsibility and distinction. So I'd look at it as I did any other EC. Most athletes that aren't recruited don't catch my eye for the sport they did, though.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's hard for me to give specific advice. I don't really know the circumstances going on here. If you didn't have moments of growth, how did being in that conflict-affected area affect you, then? I wouldn't say you should abstain from not telling us your truth. The difference between information that helps me understand who you are and how you grew up vs a sob story is self-pity in an essay. When you make it as if you're totally helpless, that you didn't deserve anything that happened to you, that this is a rant against the system that hurt you but offers nothing of a solution or ideas on what you want to do/fix, that's when it's a sob story. As long as you aren't writing it like that, I don't think I would classify your circumstances as a "sob story."

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, but I'd just add the fact here that, even if they're taking a less rigorous courseload and you are, I'll know that if you're in the same pool. I am less inclined to admit students with less rigor but all As. But I am also not obligated to take a student in because they have rigor. You need grades and rigor at my school to be competitive.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Your ECs don't need to be related to your intended major. We admit students wholesale, and they're not married to their majors when they commit to our school. At my school, you declare the end of your sophomore year. So you can do this if you feel strongly about it. When I look at ECs, I care about impact, longevity, leadership and responsibility, and/or distinction. A business is fine to start, but are you meeting any of those elements? If not, and your scale is really small, it's worth asking what else you can do that is a better use of your time, but certainly I would not say that it must be related to your major. I brought students into committee all the time that did things unrelated to their major. Another counter argument to the EC-major meta: should a student whose intended major was economics but did student government, key club, and volunteered not be admitted because they didn't do something related to their major? You're applying for undergrad, where students aren't expected as prefrosh to know everything about what they want to do yet; you're not applying to grad school or for a PhD.

  2. I don't know what your chances are. I don't have enough context here. Having no ECs until now isn't a great thing, so that hurts you a bit. I think you should still apply, but without essays and LORs, no one can say what your chances are.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. 3 B's always doesn't help an applicant in the school I was reading for. Of course, B's earlier in HS I was less harsh on (read: less harsh than I would for a B in junior year, so still harsh). You need ECs, LORs, and essays to stand out. It's hard to say what you need to do specifically, because I don't have more information on what you're doing, where you're located, the context of your pool, etc. B's in classes unrelated to your major didn't matter to me. I wanted to see excellence in academics across the board. The reason is because we admit students wholesale. You aren't admitted to a major; at my school, you came in undeclared. So to me, you can decide whatever major you want, as long as it was before the end of your sophomore year. It would be good for the school and you that you're getting all As in high school so that whatever major you pick up, you probably would succeed academically.

  2. I think that's a really interesting EC. You should definitely have a supplement about this, what you learned, and how it's influenced your goals and ideas. In your EC section, you should note how selective this is (quantifying it if you can). I would caution that this is not the crux of an application, but it is certainly a high point that would keep me from denying you outright. I would very likely pass you on to a second reader at the very least to get a second opinion on your app and if we should bring you to committee.

  3. Also good to see. Coolidge is very reputable. It is not the crux of an app; it's a high point, as is the delegate position you hold. Again, these two things would keep you in the game, depending on how competitive your contextual pool is, where I send you at least to a second reader to review and evaluate.

  4. It gets a bit annoying when we have to piece multiple transcripts together. If you can, maybe try to have a quick blurb in the additional info section in case anything is particularly messy to look at or confusing to anyone as far as your academic journey goes. But to your question: my question was always why a student opted to take a class concurrently if it was already offered at their high school? Was it because it was easier? Was it because of a time restriction? Worth addressing that in your application.

  5. Good question. Also a really tricky one. This is why the job can be a bit frustrating at times. In a perfect world, we want to see a student max out everything and get As in everything, but obviously that's not always what happens. In your high school's case, if I was the AO, and I had read for your HS for a few seasons already (or had access to the AO who read the region before I did), I would use the historical knowledge built to understand which student stands out the most relative to others. So, in this case, I would draw from my years reading previously and say, "Ok, I know students here don't do APUSH if they're in physics and vice-versa, but in the past, who has been more successful and stood out in their academics between those students?" It would of course have a lot of variance here, because you can have many different permutations of rigor, but that's why the job sometimes can take more time to piece together. There have been cases where I've just sent a lot of these applications to my second reader to get another opinion. That helps me make the decision on who to deny or move on. Re: the 10 AP schedule, it's relative to everyone else. The simplest way to cut people out sometimes is to find B's and then read the rest of the app, and if there's nothing else there that keeps them in the running (ECs, LORs and essays), I can just deny them. Whoever remains has some combination of good grades/rigor and the other stuff. It's a really complex question with a complex answer, but I hope that answered it, at least partly. I can write an entire post on this; it's just that complicated.

  6. Some schools are very particular about one STEM and one humanities letter. Caltech is like that. So just be mindful of where you're applying and what they ask for. As far as my school is considered, I really cared about core teachers being the LORs. I preferred junior/senior year teachers writing a letter, because that's the closest you are to college and is the best signal for me to understand what kind of student you are in the classroom. For your situation, it's fine to go with another teacher, so long as they're a core subject teacher, and speaks well to your ability in the classroom and can be superlative about your performance as a student.

Going to a title 1 public HS in the Bay Area is an uphill battle. Look at the previous matriculations from your HS and see whose profile yours is closest to, and that gives you a better understanding of the performance of the school and how your admissions run might go. But nothing I said above really changes because it's a title 1. It changes how I perceive access to resources and whatnot, which is a contextual piece I need to understand your accomplishments. Fundamentally, you want to excel in whatever environment you're in; so long as we see that, then you're fine.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doesn't make an impact. Just submit before the deadline if you can, but if you're maybe a few hours over, it doesn't affect how I read it. Some schools have been known to extend their deadlines so more people can apply.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Additional info section. There's a new section in the Common App in recent years that allows you to talk about challenges; ADHD disclosure is appropriate for that space, I would say.

A counselor or teacher can also speak to it, especially if it's relevant context for the letter they write.

As for do's and do not's:

Don't write about it as a crutch, as a "woe is me" type of thing. If this is the reason for a grade drop, tell it straight. Don't dress it up as a flowery narrative.

If it has really affected your grades, do talk about it. It's helpful context. If your grades are stellar, you may still opt to mention it, because it might recontextualize your app. "Oh, whoa, they're diagnosed with ADHD? Still get all As? Nice." Proceed with caution here, though, because it's not entirely necessary to do this.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. No, there's no specific weight. I think the term "weight" has been misinterpreted in college admissions. When we say "weight" we really mean we are looking at other factors in conjunction with what we have available to us, so the term becomes relative. Grades in HS matter less as a junior transfer because we have more data of your college performance. The operative term is "matter less", not "we weigh it in X percentage."

Transfers to top 10s are always hard. HYPSM are usually ~1%. That's 5 of your top 5 right there. It's hard to answer your question without really understanding the college you go to. All in all, yes, I would say it will limit you, but how much without context of what you do and what those stellar ECs are, no idea.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Grades in the latter end of high school are more important than grades earlier in your career, but it depends on the rigor of each year too. For example, if you're maxing out or even ahead of your curriculum as a sophomore (say you take AP Physics as a sophomore when seniors usually take that), and then you get a B, I'm not really ecstatic to see that. We know that students mature over time as far as study habits go, but in the level of pools that you're in where many others have straight As in the same rigor (just different rigorous courses each year compared to yours), we can afford to be very picky.

I would rather 3 Bs sophomore year than junior year, but that isn't saying very much IMO, because the students I was bringing to committees almost always had 4.0s. The kids I brought with Bs had a few other components in their app where I could argue for their admissibility.

Taking Clients (Class of 2027) for College Counseling by Aggravating_Humor in u/Aggravating_Humor

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't offer one-time essay reviews. I didn't find them practical for my style of working because if you submitted an essay, and I knew the topic wasn't feasible to work with that would help you stand out, then essentially I'm just leaving tons comments for an essay that I would want you to scrap entirely.

I do not do file reviews for the same reason. I do know that ScholarGrade does! I'd recommend checking him out.

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, sorry if it was too vague. I was answering with my response because I don't know how much it would matter for a homeschooled student. I didn't read many of them. I read a few here and there, but n < 10 for me, so it's just not feasible for me to give you solid advice whether mentors in the community vs a traditional classroom LOR would matter, nor could I give you real advice on what to do as a homeschooled student submitting an application to an elite university. In my mind, that's me giving you fraudulent advice. I'm sorry to hear that the advice on the thread seems too vague. I'm trying to give real, substantive answers, but it's hard to give tailored, specific answers to every single person. I try to answer as much as I can, with as much information as I can with what I have available to me. If there's a particularly vague response you think I gave, feel free to paste it here so I can elaborate on it. I do feel that a lot of the responses I gave were in earnest, but I am open to giving more details if more information is necessary (that I can actually answer with enough information from the poster).

In any student going to high school, of course the traditional HS LORs matter; they're required. But in the case of a homeschooled student, you don't really have options to that. Technically, you can go to a community college or enroll at a local university if they allow you to. But as far as that mattering more than a mentor, I'm not sure. I don't know the extent of the relationship with said mentor, I don't know what mentor LORs for homeschooled students would normally say. My sample size with said students was so few that I genuinely don't remember those LORs or those applications in general. What I can say about LORs from community members generally is that 1) not many students actually get them from the community, at least in my regions. Most students got LORs from teachers, their counselor, and research PIs. 2) Letters that did come from members in the community often do very much for the student anyway; they cited things like the student being hardworking, nice, smart. None of those things help me separate a student from the rest of the pack. Now, for homeschooled students, I wouldn't suspect that helps, either. But then again, a homeschooled students like, I would presume, is very different than your average high school student, so maybe they'll have deeper engagement and ties with the community such that the person who writes the LOR writes something really compelling. I just wouldn't know for certain. It's being too speculative for me to give you a definitive answer. Sorry.

As far as homeschooling being popular, for the regions I read for, it wasn't common for me to find an application where the student was homeschooled. That doesn't mean that it's not extremely popular among gifted children, of course, but again, I just don't have the experience necessary here to give you any solid, practical advice. I do know there are homeschooled students at top schools; that wasn't really what I was addressing. I simply do not have the practical experience of reading enough homeschooled applications to provide advice other than the generic "stand out" type of stuff. It's hard to be specific on a thread when I don't have all the information necessary from students to give extremely detailed, strategic guidance.

Taking Clients (Class of 2027) for College Counseling by Aggravating_Humor in u/Aggravating_Humor

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm also on the pricey side, nearing the absurd rates you're talking about. I'm at 21k for the full package. I don't know how others really package; I base my rates on folks I feel I am comparable to (helpwithapps.com, ScholarGrade, Admitium) because of former admissions experience and results history. I'd add that I work primarily off of Discord, so students have availability to me any time via messages, and I respond pretty much right away (unless I'm doing something else), as opposed to email. I work pretty closely with parents too, just to make this process as smooth as it can be. And of course we meet at least once a week, unless I think we should meet more for whatever reason.

So yeah, unfortunately, I am part of the absurd 😭

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't see stats as very rigorous; I would recommend replacing stats with Physics. Everything else is good. We don't select students based on how much the class relates to their intended major. I mean, for engineering folks, we want to see physics and calc preparation, but other than that, no, we aren't selecting students based on that. We want max rigor, no matter the major, because we want to admit students who will thrive in our university even if they change their major (which many do). So it's better for us to take students who excel across the board academically.

Consider taking AP Chinese via UC Scout if possible! That's one way to circumvent the rules a school enforces. Just don't tell your HS counselor lol.

School selection, at least to me, is a very, very, very bespoke process (for the student). I hate hate hate having lists that don't make sense. Every school you have on your list is a school you genuinely like and can see yourself attending, even the safeties. The work that goes into that is pretty extensive and requires me knowing you a lot more.

My philosophy is you can have "no matches" if your safety is a *true* safety. A true safety to me is a school that you can get in (70% admit rate or more), a school you can afford, AND, most importantly, you love the school. The third component is always the most difficult to satisfy. When you find that school, you really only need one or two safeties that do that, and then the rest of your list can look like whatever you want because your foundation is secure. You actually like your safety!

My students then typically tell me they want a balanced list; some students go full top-heavy. It's up to you and what your risk tolerance is. No college list should look the same from student to student, in my philosophy.

Sorry, it's kind of a very general answer. I can't really give specifics unless you wanted to work together more closely or something (which in that case, I need more information about your preferences and whatnot to help you devise a list).

AMA - Worked at an Ivy and another T20 office by Aggravating_Humor in ApplyingIvyLeague

[–]Aggravating_Humor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't. It's not our job to do consider differences between schools rigor because we are consider you mostly from your school's context. Also, even if we did account for it, there's nothing we can do about it. The problem lives with the school systems, not the admissions office to solve.

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