Schools in SF?

Actually, living in a low test score area has higher priority than living next door to the school. So Bayview has better chance getting into Clarendon than your house. :slight_smile:

There have been pushes to flip the priorities. If they do there is good chance Sunset house price will go thru the roof…

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Like they haven’t already???

I suggest you buy now in the Sunset so that your kids will reap the rewards when global warming makes everywhere else unbearable to live in. Far fetched? Not really.

Yes!!! Flip those priorities please…

Does that mean Siberia has the best prospect for the future… ok, I’m ready to be a Russian Eskimo :slight_smile:

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People just don’t get it. You want to live in the mild, cooler climate that is typical of the Sunset. If hot weather were so desirable, places like Sacramento or Antioch would be really expensive by now.

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Obviously, I can easily refute your statement with too much data (but that would be a waste of my time), but with reports like this, will it get any easier to get in to at least to Cal and UCLA?? I don’t think so…

Oh, by the way, where did you go again?

http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Three-Northern-California-schools-named-as-best-11278513.php

Thanks for the insight. My husband has been offered a transfer to the financial district near the ferry building. We are still mulling it over and debating where to move to if he does take the offer.

We’re expecting #3 so financially good public schools would be optimal. Trying to figure out options. Sounds like we would be stuck with at least private high school in the city.

Have also tossed around the idea of maybe Piedmont or Tiburon? Anywhere else with good schools and a manageable commute (less than 45mins)?

Millbrae and Burlingame have very good public schools. Commute to SF is manageable.

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For the record, I got into all of the above UCs back in the day and hence my statement.

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I have been under the impression that you are SW engineer.
Does this mean that you were admitted to CS program of all above UCs?
I seriously need to get some advice from you. :slight_smile:
I guess it is very challenging to be admitted to Berkeley EECS these days.

The criteria of admission has changed due to overwhelming applications.
Larger % are given to out-of-state, international, hispanics and females.

So competition is keener for male Whites and male Asians.
Of course, strong recommendation letters from teachers, and well known figures are sure winners, no change here. If don’t have these, need near perfect GPA (no C), over 2000 SAT and extra curricular activities for first tiered UCs. For CS/CE/EE, need 2200+ SAT, 3.9+ GPA (unweighted).

That’s not what I asked.

Thanks for the info!
I guess gpa and sat are predictable but impressive extra curricula and community service are big uncertain factors.
I really don’t like holistic review.
This sounds like a way to justify unfair admission process to me.

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From speaking to my friends and co-workers with kids ranging from going to undergrad to medical school, grades and test scores are not enough. One child had excellent grades from a top notch college and high MCAT score. Didn’t get in. Parent hired a counselor to review profile and to see what happened. Exactly as I said. Schools were not only wanting good students but people who really wanted to be doctors and have demonstrated it via working in healthcare and hospitals. Child takes year off, does that and some, and voila got into med school next try. Nobody likes just a bookworm.

This is exactly my point.
Kids with rich parents who can hire expensive counselor have significant advantage over other kids.

Do you really think kids who tried to work (or got an opportunities to work) in healthcare and hospitals only with the help from professional counselor have stronger motivation/desire/enthusiasm than other kids who didn’t get such opportunities?

I am sure counselor help him get an impressive opportunities in healthcare and hospitals using his/her connections. Otherwise, getting paid for offering well-known facts (that you need some sort of experiences in healthcare to be admitted to good medical school) doesn’t make sense to me.

I still do hope that there are many kids who are admitted to top schools purely based on their own achievements.

Because of this, I am so determined not to hire professional counselor to help my kids for college admission process.
Somebody needs to try to resist to such wrong trend/culture in my opinion.

They don’t like Einstein :smile: There is no way Einstein would be admitted to college. He would fail English Literature even at high school level.

These kids are getting very rare.

Oh, please reconsider. I believe professional counselors really give the kids advantage. There are tons of college counselors in Cupertino, and most of them Asians…

I don’t like tipping waiters. But I still tip. :slight_smile:

America is largely a meritocracy but connections and networking do count in a significant way.

Meritocracy is really 10% merit and 90% networking :slight_smile:

I am generally in agreement with your stance about not using anything above and beyond but this is about a child who didn’t get into med school but honestly should have (based on grades/test score) and the parents simply wanted to investigate as to what were the probable reasons/roadblocks for the rejection. And no, the counselor in this case did not pull any strings regarding jobs etc. Counselor simply advised parents and child what deficiencies he had in his profile. I agree, one would think actual work experience in the field would be a mandatory thing to possess but he simply didn’t have it. Parents, not the counselor, probably pulled some strings or called in a favor on the job…:wink:

There will always be kids with rich and/or connected parents that have an easier path. That hasn’t changed. It doesn’t mean kids without those things can’t be successful. They just need to hustle more. What annoys me is when people complain about not having the advantages of others. So what if you have to work harder? You still have the opportunity. Also, complaining about someone’s advantages isn’t going to improve your own position, but hard work can improve it.

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