A few decades ago is a millennium in college admissions for top schools. I went to a top 20 university. My kid, who was a way better hs student than I was and state ranked in music with a ISEF engineering award couldn’t get into any of his top 10 schools. Got waitlisted as a dual legacy from my university and ultimately settled for a top 35 school.
It was during COVID, when testing didn’t happen and schools had to rely on gut feel and high school reputation, so that may have played a role too.
He’s started his career now and wondering what to do with all his free time after eight years of living on six hours of sleep or less.
> Got waitlisted as a dual legacy from my university and ultimately settled for a top 35 school.
Oh how tragic!
Went to a very average school - well below 35 - and a top grad school. Definitely benefited from not going to a top school for undergrad. Some details here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293077
(Been planning for years to write a much more detailed blog post about this. Maybe one day...)
It was during COVID, when testing didn’t happen and schools had to rely on gut feel and high school reputation, so that may have played a role too.
He’s started his career now and wondering what to do with all his free time after eight years of living on six hours of sleep or less.