<p>Demographics should play a huge part in admission- says the dad of a white middle class female-</p>
<p>I have two white middle class females- but they are also first gen.;)</p>
<p>I agree with Post #426, college was much easier than high school. My kid’s main EC is her social life and work, still have high enough GPA for medical school(just in case things don’t work out).</p>
<p>tom1944 - not sure I agree. Maybe to a point, but I think it’s kind of gotten out of hand and really became an issue in S’s admittances/rejections.</p>
<p>So Megan which demographic group faces the highest hurdle? I have to be honest I do not believe it is white middle class males</p>
<p>lake42ks - sounds like some of the assumptions about full pay being a hook at some schools running out of FA money as they admit students is true per this research.</p>
<p>Now we just have to name them.</p>
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<p>Similar story. Parent of one of D’s schoolmates told me his older D found her biology classes at Northwestern less challenging than her biology classes in high school.</p>
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<p>Did you leave out the bit about the high school being a super-elite high school?</p>
<p>Yes, but not the part of the original quote about advanced HS courses.</p>
<p>tom - in some instances it is. I’m not saying that others shouldn’t be accepted to ensure diversity, but it can make a difference what ethnic background you are, what sex you are, and where you are in the US. My S might have done better had he been a female from another ethnic background out in IA somewhere. That’s all I’m saying.</p>
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I think this is how it works. If you need financial aid, you will most likely be rejected(eventhough the school is need-blind). I’ve seen this with Northwestern, amazing candidates were rejected because they need aid and full pay students were admitted. But it does not work the other way, if you are full pay, you will get accepted easily.</p>
<p>Kids who went to a top tier high school, especially a school which has a strong focus in one area of study, could often find few courses in college to be easier, but it doesn’t mean ALL courses could be as easy. It is a mistake to generalize. It would be very hard for me to believe that NU’s general quality of education would be below any high school. Students could always find easy introductory courses, or they could also push themselves to find the level of courses. If you took differential equations in high school already, there is no point in taking it again in college.</p>
<p>megan that may be true. I am saying it is okay. Overall in life being a middle class white male has more upside than down side.</p>
<p>Wow. OP last posted two weeks ago.</p>
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<p>Have a D who is graduating from NU in a couple of months - I also suspect one of the hooks she had with the waitlist was she was a full-pay, and her scores were in line with other acceptees. </p>
<p>I don’t know about how rigorous the available courses were - chances are the student who wished to be pushed could get anything she wanted. But the thing is that many in the pre-med track are so obsessed about keeping their GPA up that they take ridiculous courses that the NU unfortunately makes available - I swear that the level of work she did in one of her courses was squarely in the middle school level. In that respect DS was more fortunate - he viewed BS as a terminal degree and focused on what he wanted to learn even if it meant he had multiple high-rigor courses where he wouldn’t get As.</p>
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Exactly the way DS went, and 180 degrees off the mindset of DD.</p>
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<p>You do not KNOW the reason any given candidate was rejected was “because they needed aid.” It is arrogant and presumptive when you are talking about schools with sub 20% acceptance rates to proclaim that you “know” that Student X “would have gotten in” or that the committee explicitly looked at Student X and said, boy, she sure qualifies and we’d love to have her, but look - she needs aid, so to the reject pile she goes.</p>
<p>The arrogance on CC in second-guessing adcom decisions is amazing. You weren’t in the room, you’re not trying to build a class. If you object sooooo much to the decisions that College A supposedly in who they let in - then it’s hypocritical to want to be part of College A. All the faux-handwringing – they let in too many URMs, too many athletes, too many kids who had lower SAT’s than my kid, too many kids from other countries, too many kids from Kansas and not enough from New Jersey – yet it’s not accompanied with the put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is. Decry the club at the same time you’re begging to be let in! It’s insane!</p>
<p>^^^
Some people consistently write that they want their child to be in a school where everyone is an academic or intellectual superstar. THen they complain that the schools they want to get into are accepting all sorts of substandard applicants. I honestly don’t see how both can be true.</p>
<p>Why not find out where all the superstar rejectees are going and attend there?</p>
<p>Post #456, of course nobody knows including you that is why I highlighted the think. I remember one CC member(je<em>ne</em>sais_quoi) who was also a legacy, her kids with perfect stats and great esays but needed aid and was rejected from NU.
There was an article from Insider Ed stating exactly this issue. It’s not arrogant at all.</p>
<p>I agree with PG. Unless you were in the room you don"t know why some people got in and some people didn’t, and I think it’s silly to wring your hands in worry or cry foul.</p>
<p>The college ds1 attends is upfront with its “mostly need-blind” process. They select 85% need blind and then consider need for the remaining 15%. And I’m sure glad they do because ds is on massive amounts of FA and wouldn’t be at his excellent school if it weren’t for those who can afford full freight. So while I wish we had the money to get the admissions bump that accompanies being a full-pay family at some schools I’m not going to stay awake nights thinking about how those families have some leg up that I don’t when it comes to ds2. We’ll play the hand we’ve been dealt/created.</p>
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<p>You’re absolutely right when you refer to a specific candidate. But if you look at a class of candidates, it’s naive to think that most schools would completely put aside such a vital consideration. Organizations have budgets, non-profits or otherwise, and it means admitting a full pay, such as one of my kids, gives them the flexibility of picking someone else to meet other goals.</p>