@417WHB
Very interesting perspective. I think maybe I know more kids applying to schools that are academically too much for them than you do?? I know multiple kids - maybe it comes from the parents (I’m not really sure). They got “good grades” in some classes in middle school/highschool but have literally no idea what it takes to survive academically at a top BS - and I do mean survive in regular level classes at BS. I know kids who were “top level” students in one subject and get to BS and cannot get placed in honors in that subject. And these are kids coming from good public school districts.
Pretty much all the parents I know in these cases do not have a good handle on what an actually exceptional, even just strong, student looks like or what their work looks like. I spend a lot, really a lot, of time listening to parents tell me how good their kid is in x subject and I’ve seen the work, parents just don’t understand what good work really is when all they’ve seen is their own kids’.