OCSA

Tenor sax and trumpet look good, but I think even more strategic would be to choose instruments that aren't typically played by middle schoolers:  Baritone sax, Bassoon, French Horn, and Tuba.  On the other hand, piano and strings, favored by Asian Tiger Moms (ATM's), should be avoided.

My son started playing trumpet and euphonium this year in school as a 4th grader, so maybe I'll have him audition at OCSA in 7th grade just to see what happens.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks to OCSA:  I've read it's a very liberal campus and your child may be heavily influenced by that mindset, potentially ruining their ability to function in the real world.  Secondly, they don't offer any sports programs, so if your child is into athletics then it might not be a good fit.  Third, if you are focused on STEM fields, it might be better to attend a high school geared towards that.
 
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow
 
Being a boy also seems to better your odds.

This isn't based on fact but just an anecdotal sampling of kids my kids knew who got accepted to OCSA.
 
BlackKnight said:
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow

From Irvine, OCSA is really far.
However, if my kid really had passion for acting or playing drums..etc...then I would make the travel sacrifice.

Being an art school it's liberal as hell....but it is surrounded by tacos.  So there's that.



raw
 
BlackKnight said:
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow

OCSA has a much higher Harvard acceptance rate than Irvine schools.  For Asian Tiger Moms (ATM's) that is a sacrifice well worth making.
 
Liar Loan said:
BlackKnight said:
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow

OCSA has a much higher Harvard acceptance rate than Irvine schools.  For Asian Tiger Moms (ATM's) that is a sacrifice well worth making.

"Correlation does not imply causation."
 
Liar Loan said:
BlackKnight said:
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow

OCSA has a much higher Harvard acceptance rate than Irvine schools.  For Asian Tiger Moms (ATM's) that is a sacrifice well worth making.

Nearly half of white students admitted to Harvard between 2009 and 2014 were recruited athletes, legacy students, children of faculty and staff, or on the dean?s interest list?applicants whose parents or relatives have donated to Harvard

https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-get-into-the-ivy-league-extraordinary-isnt-always-enough-these-days-11650546000

Instead of taunting, shouldn't we applaud the Irvine students and the Asian Tiger Moms for still pushing valiantly against a rigged system ?
 
Kenkoko said:
Liar Loan said:
BlackKnight said:
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow

OCSA has a much higher Harvard acceptance rate than Irvine schools.  For Asian Tiger Moms (ATM's) that is a sacrifice well worth making.

Nearly half of white students admitted to Harvard between 2009 and 2014 were recruited athletes, legacy students, children of faculty and staff, or on the dean?s interest list?applicants whose parents or relatives have donated to Harvard

https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-get-into-the-ivy-league-extraordinary-isnt-always-enough-these-days-11650546000

Instead of taunting, shouldn't we applaud the Irvine students and the Asian Tiger Moms for still pushing valiantly against a rigged system ?

I'm teasing ATM's here, but quite honestly I don't view the ATM phenomenon as a healthy thing.  I remember the incredible stress some of my Asian friends were under back in high school.  I think there was lifelong trauma that occurred as a result of the high pressure these students endured, when they should have been enjoying one of the best times of their lives.

I also don't think conforming to the rigged system is necessarily the way to fight it.  They are perpetuating it to some extent.  That being said, they are choosing to play the game as the rules currently exist, and having a world class art portfolio is one way to get noticed by Ivy's.  As I advised earlier in the thread, choose an instrument that most middle schoolers wouldn't choose, especially not violin or piano, if you want to get noticed.  Think outside the box to make the rules of the system work in your favor.
 
Liar Loan said:
Kenkoko said:
Liar Loan said:
BlackKnight said:
Pay a premium to live in Irvine for decent schools but choose to drive  at least 2 hours a day to ghetto santa ana for osca 😀😀😀 woweewow

OCSA has a much higher Harvard acceptance rate than Irvine schools.  For Asian Tiger Moms (ATM's) that is a sacrifice well worth making.

Nearly half of white students admitted to Harvard between 2009 and 2014 were recruited athletes, legacy students, children of faculty and staff, or on the dean?s interest list?applicants whose parents or relatives have donated to Harvard

https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-get-into-the-ivy-league-extraordinary-isnt-always-enough-these-days-11650546000

Instead of taunting, shouldn't we applaud the Irvine students and the Asian Tiger Moms for still pushing valiantly against a rigged system ?

I'm teasing ATM's here, but quite honestly I don't view the ATM phenomenon as a healthy thing.  I remember the incredible stress some of my Asian friends were under back in high school.  I think there was lifelong trauma that occurred as a result of the high pressure these students endured, when they should have been enjoying one of the best times of their lives.

I also don't think conforming to the rigged system is necessarily the way to fight it.  They are perpetuating it to some extent.  That being said, they are choosing to play the game as the rules currently exist, and having a world class art portfolio is one way to get noticed by Ivy's.  As I advised earlier in the thread, choose an instrument that most middle schoolers wouldn't choose, especially not violin or piano, if you want to get noticed.  Think outside the box to make the rules of the system work in your favor.

My son attends Harvard and we are on the mailing lists for all the news, newspapers etc. on a weekly basis.
When it comes to their admission process, it feels like they have unspoken boxes they have to fill, such as:
- Class has to have representatives from each of 50 states.  As a result, it is more difficult to get a spot if you are a kid from CA, where there are so many amazing students for these few spots.  It would be easier to get noticed if you are from rural area with the same accomplishments vs. a kid from urban, competitive centers.
- There are many division 1 sports at Harvard and insane number of students are athletes.
- There are also many international students and it seems that in each class there would be a healthy student representations of countries and continents across the world.  I cannot estimate the actual number of international students, but it feels like there are many.
- With each admission cycle Harvard sends an announcement of the new admitted class and it's racial, economic and gender distribution.  With minor fluctuations, it stays about the same from year to year.  Admitted class size is about 1950-2000 students.  You can do the math. 
 
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