<p>I agree again rmadden, but unlikely things still happen. He might indeed have those hooks you described, he might write a spectacular admissions essay or do a great interview or he might have left something out of his description of himself. It is highly unlikely that he will get into those colleges but he can still try and hey, you never know, he might get in. My problem with what Ray said is that he immediately discounted the OP from admission into these top colleges without qualifying his statement that a lack of ECs and a less than perfect GPA will result in rejection.</p>
<p>It costs money to apply to those schools. So, paying 65 dollars for a .00001 chance seems wasteful in my eyes.</p>
<p>I prefer honesty to creating false illusions. If he thinks he can get into so called prestigious colleges based on his stats he needs to be taken down a notch, and if he doesn’t he’ll obviously realize that the use of the term of “prestigious” is faulty. Could he get into top programs? Possible. Should we raise hopes of such an event? Not really. It’s the internet. It’s not my job to flatter people’s egos. If somebody wants answers they’d better be prepared for the brutal truth.</p>
<p>That’s exactly my point; you created a false illusion with what you said. You could have said in a kind way ‘While it may be possible you could get into a top program, admission is very competitive and a lack of ECs will really hurt you. You might consider these schools:’.</p>
<p>My main point is that there are nice ways of being honest and there are unkind ways of being ‘honest’. Your comment was unhelpful. And really, I don’t know why we’re wasting our time with this argument. It really isn’t a big deal and it’s not like you’re an awful person because of it. We’ll just agree to disagree.</p>
<p>“… many students with ‘average’ grades have been admitted to top colleges.”</p>
<p>I think Ray’s point was that MANY MANY students with FABULOUS grades have been REJECTED by top schools.</p>
<p>“Prestigious” is relative (though I know this is heresy at CC). I think those posters who made suggestions of colleges the OP might have a decent shot of getting into, and left it up to him to decide just how prestigious they are, had the right idea.</p>
<p>Levi, to the good suggestions you’ve already seen, I’d add Clark and Denison.</p>
<p>Look at ASU</p>
<p>Looks at some of the Colleges That Change Lives schools. It may be a positive for both you and the school.</p>
<p>with good essays and recs: NYU, BC, Tufts, Lehigh etc.</p>