2 best friends and tale of two cities.

Status
Not open for further replies.

irvinehomeshopper

Well-known member
2 strategies with very different results: the unicorn theory that Irvine has superior schools and students have a better chance at the top tier colleges due to high academic preparation is false. 2 best Asian friends started at Myford on the same day and attended Pioneer Middle school. Before moving on to High School my daughter's best friend Holly's dad stopped renting in Irvine and moved to Villa Park so his daughter may have a better chance at the Ivies.  Holly was devastated for leaving all her friends behind to attend Villa Park High. I had other options between Troy, OCHSA, Oxford and Beckman to send my daughter to.  Family logistic and convenience factor made Beckman the top choice. Both kids had the same scholastic drive and ability. Both families sent their kids to SAT boot camps since the 7th grade and yearly of weekly tutorings on weaker academic subjects to keeping up with the school academic peer pressure.

MY daughter has a higher SAT score and similar GPAs but Holly's class ranking is #1 while my daughter just missed the top 10. Holly got accepted to all of Ivies except for Harvard. She will be attending Yale this fall and congratulation to Holly and her family for a well thought out strategy. My daughter was not accepted to any Ivy but did get accepted to other schools of her choice. She will be attending an UC this fall.

For those of you putting a big emphasis on the best high schools and high API score don't be a fool if you think that will prepare your children for the top colleges. The academic competition is fierce. If you don't have the wealth to groom your children and just scraping by to pay the HOA and MR. I don't recommend making the financial sacrifice to live in a subpar property if top colleges are your priority. I can guarantee your smart children will not be enough and will just be average compared to other college applicants from Irvine. The resume of the peers had been groomed to to perfection. High school students with financial resources traveled globally to enrich their life experiences. A team of college admission coaches polishes the college essays to making admission officers weep.

A following up on the kids who cheated in AP Physics.  They were accepted to John Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Cornell, U Penn, and University of Chicago. The rich parents hired top attorneys to sue the school. Rather than teaching kids of good morals they threatened and intimated Beckman to drop the academic dishonesty charges.

 
Anecdotes aside, I think IHS' daughter would do better in an Ivy than Holly due to her more competitive school environment.

But it's not about the schools right? :)
 
Let's keep this to ourselves.  Think of what would happen to Irvine housing prices if the FCBs found out and they all moved to Santa Ana, Villa Park, Garden Grove, etc.  :p

On a serious note, I'm sure Mr. IHS' daughter will excel at whichever school is fortunate enough to land her commitment.  At the very least the Irvine school experience should prepare our top students to excel wherever they may go for college.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Anecdotes aside, I think IHS' daughter would do better in an Ivy than Holly due to her more competitive school environment.

But it's not about the schools right? :)

Well the competitive school environment doesn't really matter much if it can't get you in to the ivy does it.
 
High School ranking is extremely important as a part of the selection process. AP classes are factored in to the students rankings. Top tier colleges request from the high schools all of the AP courses being offered and what percentage was completed by the applicants and the score from the National AP exams. Students could avoid AP classes and get better grades but having a low AP percentage hurts the students resume. On the other hand students could take all AP classes and risk getting lower grades and ranking. Irvine schools offer a lot of AP courses and that is a bad thing for students. Few could accomplish all with a perfect GPA. Some schools with a limited AP courses offered is a good thing for students to realistically accomplish all courses and still gets perfect grades. Enrolling in one or two additional community college courses during summer would impress college admission and also ease the pressure during the senior academic year when a student is distracted with senior social events, college applications and endless college essays. let my mistake be your gain.

 
irvinehomeshopper said:
let my mistake be your gain.

IHS, the bright side is at least you did not overpay by today's exorbitant prices. No California public school is worth an extra $250,000.
 
Sounds somewhat similar to the ordeal my two friends are going through.

One friend lives in Irvine and the other friend lives in CDM.  Both families are Ivy leaguers and are pretty much tiger parents.  Both kids are Juniors in high school and have pretty much all the same academic advantages (private tutors, etc) as each other.

I believe the CDM one's class ranking is currently first or second and have gotten verbal offers from Yale, Colombia, Brown. The Irvine kid has a class rank in the top 10 as well but got zero verbals so far. 

I know it's a little early as they are Juniors but I would have though more schools would have surfaced by now for both. 
 
This is always intrigued me but do we know if the majority of people send their kids to Irvine schools thinking that it will help them get into an Ivy?

All the parents I talk to (those who aren't scared of me obv) don't seem to have Ivy aspirations for their kids (but our kids are just in Elem).

Maybe because I'm a 99%er I don't really have aspirations for my kids to get into an Ivy, nor did my parents think that for me. They were happy to have me just get a college degree (I did look at MIT but I'm too much of a Wesssayyyder).

I dunno, maybe I'm stupid, but just like I don't need my kids to go to over-competitive schools/programs, I don't think they need to go to an Ivy to have a productive life.
 
Homer_Simpson said:
Oh btw IHS.. Congratulations either way! If my son gets into a UC I'll be so happy!!

I thought your kid for into stanford for his first birthday?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
This is always intrigued me but do we know if the majority of people send their kids to Irvine schools thinking that it will help them get into an Ivy?

All the parents I talk to (those who aren't scared of me obv) don't seem to have Ivy aspirations for their kids (but our kids are just in Elem).

Maybe because I'm a 99%er I don't really have aspirations for my kids to get into an Ivy, nor did my parents think that for me. They were happy to have me just get a college degree (I did look at MIT but I'm too much of a Wesssayyyder).

I dunno, maybe I'm stupid, but just like I don't need my kids to go to over-competitive schools/programs, I don't think they need to go to an Ivy to have a productive life.

From many of the parents I've talked to that relocated to Irvine for schools... only a handful of them wanted their kids to get into an Ivy and a majority of them wanted a UC.  I did notice a trend though.. the parents with Ivy league schooling or are MD's, PharmDs were the ones with Ivy aspiration for their children.  Tiger parents??

I for one would love if my son strived for an Ivy... If not, atleast follow in my legacy. 
 
It's great to have First World problems like this. We don't have to feel sorry for people who don't get into the Ivies. Luckily having a successful/meaningful life isn't tied to your college.

Even by the limited measure of income, research has shown people with similar SAT scores who go to different colleges (elite vs non-elite schools) have statistically identical incomes.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/revisiting-the-value-of-elite-colleges/

I agree with Professor Kreuger's (Princeton Economist) final advice based on his research:

"My advice to students: Don?t believe that the only school worth attending is one that would not admit you. That you go to college is more important than where you go. Find a school whose academic strengths match your interests and that devotes resources to instruction in those fields. Recognize that your own motivation, ambition and talents will determine your success more than the college name on your diploma."

 
irvinehomeshopper said:
High School ranking is extremely important as a part of the selection process. AP classes are factored in to the students rankings. Top tier colleges request from the high schools all of the AP courses being offered and what percentage was completed by the applicants and the score from the National AP exams. Students could avoid AP classes and get better grades but having a low AP percentage hurts the students resume. On the other hand students could take all AP classes and risk getting lower grades and ranking. Irvine schools offer a lot of AP courses and that is a bad thing for students. Few could accomplish all with a perfect GPA. Some schools with a limited AP courses offered is a good thing for students to realistically accomplish all courses and still gets perfect grades. Enrolling in one or two additional community college courses during summer would impress college admission and also ease the pressure during the senior academic year when a student is distracted with senior social events, college applications and endless college essays. let my mistake be your gain.

I have to agree with IHS when it comes to how most college assess top students.  Being in a top 3% is more important than acing 5 APs when there's 20 APs offered at the school.
 
Be a top student in a less competitive high school or be an average student in an highly competitive high school, that's a tough call. 

All decent high school are all competitive in their own way but being in a highly competitive school, it makes you humble, it makes you aware that you are not a big fish in a small pond, it will show you that there are many more equally talented students exist, and I believe it prepare you more for the big word.

IHS's daughter being close to top 10 of highly competitive school is nothing short of remarkable.  And being able to get accepted to UC school of her choice, that's just outstanding. 
 
Asian parents put a high emphasis on University bragging rights.  My Chinese friend living in Hong Kong managed to get his daughter into Harvard.  He threw some crazy ass wedding banquet type party to announce it. 

Getting into an IVY is serious business.

We should focus on how to get into an IVY, not on the why, how or any moral/ethical implications.  There is money to be made here.
 
zubs said:
Asian parents put a high emphasis on University bragging rights.  My Chinese friend living in Hong Kong managed to get his daughter into Harvard.  He threw some crazy ass wedding banquet type party to announce it. 

Getting into an IVY is serious business.

We should focus on how to get into an IVY, not on the why, how or any moral/ethical implications.  There is money to be made here.

LOL

parents love to brag. 
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top