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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,428
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That's a good reminder, ColinsMum, since I anticipate having kids with high numbers but less shiny resumes.
I actually don't think I really know yet what my kids' abilities are. Maybe that is unusual. Nobody has asked them to go to their limits, and I don't plan to advocate more than I have, unless something happens to take either of them off the GT magnet/IB school track. It will sort out more in middle and high school, I think. Anyway, all I want is for them to able to pursue whatever career they want, within their abilities, of course. To me, it's looking like grad school is the new college, anyway, so probably the focus should be more on getting out of college without huge debt while also finding someplace that one feels comfortable and that can support one's interests. For their sake, I hope they have a sense of what those are at age 18.
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Joined: Jul 2010
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I disagree. The extracurricular war in American is minor compared to the schedule of many Chinese students. And they hire consultants to get their kids in top global schools and plan around the strategy early.
I think Europe is not attuned that way, just like Canada. They don't have that for Canadian schools. You are a top student you can get into U of Toronto, which is on the list of top 20 in the world. Or U of Britsh Columbia, which is next.
Or many non Canadians choose McGill because it has name recognition but not the ranking. So an American can get in without the extracurriculars, pay less tuition and live in Montreal. But we are talking about English speaking universities in this case, no?
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Joined: Aug 2013
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McGill is an English university even though it is in Montreal.
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Joined: Jan 2008
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I was referring to world rankings. The Chinese and Arab schools are rapidly gaining ranking because of the large investment dollars into their research. They may or may not have classes in English. I didn't look into it.
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Joined: Feb 2011
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In my case my husband went to top tier/ivy schools but I have no illusion that my DS15 will manage get accepted at either university despite the legacy. My son is not motivated and it shows in his grades. We have been discussing what grades he needs to attend top public research universities. I am assuming that he will do well on the SAT, and it looks like he will mostly likely be interested in math/computers/engineering or science at university. We have three more years until high school so it is difficult to predict how things will be then. DS never grubs for grades (even when the teacher made a mistake) while DD makes sure that she gets every point. Interestingly, DS has been pestering me about my grades and courses in high school recently. My feeling is that he will have the high grades and testing scores but I don't know whether he will have the patience to jump through all the hoops. DD might be leaning toward top art schools, but I have already warned her that the very top art schools (at least in my day) are probably as rigorous and selective as the ivies.
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I'm always surprised by these types of questions. Although, I don't know why I should be.
These are a series of little conversations we have along the way. I know what you mean. I guess in the back of my mind, I am thinking, aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? Let's see how you do in middle school and then high school first. With DS at least, I am finding that those little conversations keep popping up.
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That was what I was missing - I was actually crazy enough not to have applied to any safety schools! In my defence, in those days there would have still been time to apply to the in-state universities after the letters arrive. I only applied to one school; no defense, just the wondrous youthful mixed air of arrogance and ignorance. Spot on!
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Of the top four kids in DD's graduating class-- and the top four in last year's?
I think they applied to a grand total of eight schools-- between them, I mean.
I don't know of a single one that applied to more than three. Wow - that is very rare in my experience. Both only applying to three colleges and the top eight students limiting themeselves to the same eight schools.
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I like that visual - claws and fangs! For some reason, DS is not particularly competitive, at least with his classmates but that can change.
It's also kind of weird how clearly DS understands statistics from an early age. He undestands that even 99.9 percentile is ultimately a dime a dozen when there are millions of people. He is the one who pointed out to me that you can hit perfect scores on all the AMCs and be a long way from gaining one of the few slots on the USAMO team. That is what often scares me. Ds7 is about 1 in 18,000. We only have 4.5 million in this country. You are dealing with a much smaller pool - there can't be more than 200,000 kids within a year of his age range in your country. Just curious - how did you calculate that your DS is at the 99.995 percentile?
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I like that visual - claws and fangs! For some reason, DS is not particularly competitive, at least with his classmates but that can change.
It's also kind of weird how clearly DS understands statistics from an early age. He undestands that even 99.9 percentile is ultimately a dime a dozen when there are millions of people. He is the one who pointed out to me that you can hit perfect scores on all the AMCs and be a long way from gaining one of the few slots on the USAMO team. That is what often scares me. Ds7 is about 1 in 18,000. We only have 4.5 million in this country. And there are only *500* Fortune 500 companies! That means *only* 500 CEO's! So, the competition will become fiercer and more brutal as you move through the system! Fortunately, the life cycles of many of those CEOs are rather short so it is not as hopeless as it seems. LOL
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