Is spike absolutely necessary for Stanford/Harvard/Ivys?

Rivet2000
Wed, 11 Dec 2024 22:28:12 +0000

momofboiler1:

IMO a dream school is a recipe for disaster and I’d encourage a change in language. Rejection can be disappointing but “heartbreak” should be reserved for major life events. Not getting into Harvard shouldn’t be on that list of heartbreaks.

I’ve always struggled with the “dream school” dilemma but I think in many cases its OK for a kid to have a “dream” school especially high stats kids. It shows they are vested and driven and opinionated on their future - all characteristics of most high stat kids.

The risk, for some is disappointment and if your student has never experienced disappointment this one could be a bitter pill. I think that many kids have experienced disappointment and are not as fragile as we assume.

Both may kids had “dream schools” (Stanford for one, Johns Hopkins for the other), and both were admitted, but they new the odds and prepared for plan b, c, d, e,… And, to their credit they both were used to disappointments - one from competitive chess the other from competitive soccer.

BTW, neither had any international awards.