Ivy Admissions-Plano West vs Plano East (Dallas, Flower Mound: loans, home, private schools)

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

If they did (go 100% merit based) i think the demographics of most of the Ivy League and top schools and especially science-based programs would skew very heavily Asian which would ruffle more than a few feathers.

This is already true at Caltech. There are no racial quotas: none against Asians, and none in favor of Hispanic and black students. However, it also makes sense that in a purely science oriented school, you wouldn't consider anything other than pure academics. Harvard, and many similarly situated liberal arts schools, needs its class to be filled with a lot of incredibly smart kids, but it also needs its school to be filled with the very smart children of people who are also very well connected and wealthy. And then it needs some kids who truly are unqualified to handle the workload, for a host of reasons that it considers institutionally important. If you disagree, then I'd suggest you don't really understand what Harvard is producing in a graduating class. This produces its own set of problems, because you can't give a kid at Harvard below a B or they will risk exposing the kids who have no business being there academically, but it is for sure a choice the school has already made.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

This is already true at Caltech. There are no racial quotas: none against Asians, and none in favor of Hispanic and black students. However, it also makes sense that in a purely science oriented school, you wouldn't consider anything other than pure academics. Harvard, and many similarly situated liberal arts schools, needs its class to be filled with a lot of incredibly smart kids, but it also needs its school to be filled with the very smart children of people who are also very well connected and wealthy. And then it needs some kids who truly are unqualified to handle the workload, for a host of reasons that it considers institutionally important. If you disagree, then I'd suggest you don't really understand what Harvard is producing in a graduating class. This produces its own set of problems, because you can't give a kid at Harvard below a B or they will risk exposing the kids who have no business being there academically, but it is for sure a choice the school has already made.

I don't disagree. I just think its factual that if all the Ivy and top schools decided to admit were academic super students, they would admit Asian kids disproportionately because that's who tends (and aims) to be that.

I believe that they know that; but it is also for educational benefit that they diversify their student body. It seems that elite schools try to (publicly) shed that 'stepford' image as well as diversify the programs they are best known for.

To that end, they cannot merely admit the 'book smart' kids. They admit a critical mass of them and the future donor kids, yes, but they also need artistic kids, humanitarian kids, poor kids, token kids( you know, the ones with an amazing life story... that beat the odds, survived a war, were child actors etc) and of course the athletes. To do that accurately, they need quotas. I think it works for them (not so much for the rejected students) but they almost trip over themselves trying to explain.

The majority of Ivy kids tend to be exceptional in some way, if not financially or academically. The end result is the Ivy league ( and top schools) become known not just for the usual top Scientists, Laureates and Politicians, but top actors/musicians, activists, artists, and athletes.

They are known for producing the best of all kinds. Which does wonders for their reputation as a whole and for alumni and donor pools.(And their application and acceptance rates... and tuition hikes)

[MIT-Reedy Dad]

My son was in the first graduation class at Frisco Reedy last year, and he was admitted to and is currently a freshman at MIT – and he was not one of the top 10 seniors at Reedy.

The statement that “Being a top 1% in Reedy is much easier than being a top 5% at West,” is arrogant BS. The Texas School Accountability Dashboard "Compare Campuses" web page shows Frisco Reedy has higher test scores than Plano West. And Niche shows Reedy having SAT’s scores comparable to, if not slightly higher than, Plano West.

By the way, Frisco Reedy (5A with 450 students per grade) beat Plano West (6A with over 1400 students per grade) in football last season 24-13 - just sayin’.

[tcualum]

You were replying to a 2-year-old post and even registered a handle referring to the thread's topic. Let it go.

[Peter5457]

Yea, Ready rules Plano dogs. Northside, Mudda lovers

[Taub201]

Independence > Reedy but Reedy is quite good.
Reedy football will drop off now that the first class has graduated.


Congrats on your son getting into MIT. From my experience, I see people needing to be top athletes or very good at music/leadership in addition to top academics to get into an Ivy or MIT caliber school.

[MIT-Reedy Dad]

Having researched numerous websites and videos on college admissions, here is my take on the process:

It is said that the admission committees at elite colleges find that over 50% of the applicants have the academic records to be accepted at and succeed at their colleges. But only about 10% or less will get accepted. Great academics is not enough. Valedictorians with perfect standardized test scores have been known to be rejected.

Admission at these schools is a 2-step process: Once students are determined to have acceptable academics, then the admission committee tries to identify the students who either offer something special for the school - or show the drive and knack to be very successful after graduation so those students will donate a lot of money as alumni or in their wills. College is a business, and if you think colleges are concerned only with a student’s academics (except for maybe Cal Tech) you are naïve. And it takes more to being financially very successful after graduation from college than just great high school academics. (I’ll bet we all have personal observations of this.) Colleges look for bright students who have challenged themselves or have met challenges overcoming adversities.

To whittle down the application pool, the admission committees look at the other parts of the applications. This is the “holistic approach.” For example, an admission officer at MIT has said that 10% of the applicants get rejected based on their letters of reference. Certainly, the better the academics an applicant has, the less important other factors are.

High standardized test scores are still important. This is in part because a large number of colleges are known to now be slaves to the US News & World Report rankings of colleges, and one of the factors they consider is the value of SAT and ACT scores.

[jiping]

Top 1% in Reedy gets NMSF while it's 5% in West Plano.

I thinks that's where the statement comes from.

[jiping]

Harvard, Princeton, and MIT matriculation data
College Class: 2015-2017

ST MARK'S SCHOOL OF TEXAS
Harvard 4 Princeton 8 MIT 3 Total 15

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL
Harvard 6 Princeton 5 MIT 0 Total 11

PLANO WEST SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 6 Princeton 3 MIT 1 Total 10

TEXAS ACADEMY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
Harvard 3 Princeton 0 MIT 7 Total 10

PLANO EAST SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 2 Princeton 1 MIT 5 Total 8

CISTERCIAN PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Harvard 4 Princeton 3 MIT 0 Total 7

HIGHLAND PARK HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 2 Princeton 3 MIT 0 Total 5

PLANO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 3 Princeton 2 MIT 0 Total 5

COPPELL HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 0 Princeton 2 MIT 2 Total 4

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Harvard 0 Princeton 0 MIT 4 Total 4

CARROLL SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 3 Princeton 0 MIT 0 Total 3

EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF DALLAS PK-12
Harvard 3 Princeton 0 MIT 0 Total 3

FLOWER MOUND HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 1 Princeton 0 MIT 2 Total 3

GREENHILL SCHOOL
Harvard 2 Princeton 1 MIT 0 Total 3

HEBRON HIGH SCHOOL
Harvard 1 Princeton 0 MIT 2 Total 3

SCHOOL FOR THE TALENTED AND GIFTED
Harvard 2 Princeton 0 MIT 1 Total 3

Reedy seems to be 0.

[MIT-Reedy Dad]

Reedy didn't graduate anyone until 2018!