<p>It all depends on the person and their perspective. I have not directed personal attacks in attempts to discredit anyone’s message. Admittedly, some of it is personal to me because I know kids who are above average in intelligence and do not do good on standardized tests. I hope they see like I have come to, though not as late as me. I just came on here to get opinions on why certain folk wonder why the minority makes it with lower scores. I received answers, irrelevant side responses which reflected a persons thoughts, and basically a variety of anecdotal pieces and hypotheticals. My pessimstic expectations have not been reached, thankfully. Just because it may seem to someone a goal has not been accomplished does not mean it hasn’t. Thanks for not accomplishing mine!</p>
<p>Even if the ACT score isn’t a measure of native ability, it suggests you are at a certain level when you are going to college. It is possible that despite native ability, it may be too much of a jump in terms of your intellectual background.</p>
<p>A different point: it seems that just now, after entering college, you have become interested in intellectual pursuits. On one level, that’s great; that is what college is supposed to do. However, considering the level of competition to the ivy league, this is not the profile of someone who should get a place in the ivy league as an entering freshman, regardless of their socioeconomic/racial background. People do get into the ivy league with an impoverished background, but these people have demonstrably done everything they can to maximize their abilities with their available resources. They may have a 1900 SAT, but they are head-and-shoulders above their classmates (presumably in a bad school district.)</p>
<p>“It happened to me. I received a 28 on my ACT, and guess what, I was considered not even worthy of applying to top 50 schools. Also, I am of black origin. And now I regret not applying to schools like Brown, which would have been a great environment for my tendencies to follow my own inclinations and studies, rather than have to twist my mind to an irrelevant test like the ACT.”</p>
<p>A 28 is certainly worthy of applying to Brown. Why do you feel that you needed to “twist your mind” for the ACT? Is it your premise that being “of black origin” is somehow related to your perceived necessity to “twist you mind”? </p>
<p>I am confident that the last student accepted to Brown in the year you state you should have applied is as worthy as you.</p>
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<p>OK, I can correct you easily enough. Top colleges don’t want or need the services of anyone who is mediocre. Poor, black and a lousy ACT score is not a compelling admission tale. That is why I asked what else you bring to the table? How were you special, in other academic achievements, ECs, work history, volunteering, anything?</p>
<p>The bottom line is that Colleges use SAT / ACT scores as an estimation of intelligence. It can be argued all day long that these tests do not measure intelligence but that is how they are seen by admissions offices. As in any adademic setting, teachers are most likely to teach to the mean. Add to that the fact that many grade on the Bell Curve, adcoms often determine that a student who is sitting in classes where the average SAT score of his classmates is 200 points higher than his own, is not as likely to be successfull as a student whose score is equal or closer to the average. Yes they want a “well rounded” student but a factor that they always keep in mind is their ratings by News & World Report, etc. Colleges know that alumni are more likely to be involved (donating $) the higher their schools are ranked (and the better their sports teams are). Two factors important in ranking are: 1) SAT / ACT scores of incoming freshman 2) % of freshman who return for Soph. year. The majority of students admitted with below average scores are athletes & legacies becasue …you guessed it, they add to fundraising! Be it right or wrong it’s been going on for years with no end in sight.</p>
<p>What I want to pursue at Brown is a strong study. There are professors there, whose lifes compose of studies that I want to pursue after college, unlike my current one.</p>
<p>I’ll give you one special talent, you win. I can speak 7 languages, read in 6 of them. English is still taking a while to read. Funny, no? I kid, I kid. 3 of them have been self-taught cause I was too bored with school, and my grades reflected it.</p>
<p>I am mature and independent. That sums up why I want to go to Brown. I can go on ranting and elaborating but that will be the conclusion. </p>
<p>I am glad you are not on the committee though sargum, or are you!? I understand there are many on admissions team of your opinion though. Yes, I do understand the view on the college’s part. They must retain a degree of integrity and be reasonable in terms of the students who can handle the course load. The ACT and SAT are imperfect measures but they are better than nothing.</p>
<p>Furthermore, to a degree the ACT does show my weakness, not my limitations. I have the highest score possible in the reading section, a decent English score, but my science and math are ehhh. I have strengthened the last two because I have come to realize the interconnectedness of all my studies. However, they are not what I plan to concentrate in while in college. Where my desires lay are where my strengths lay.</p>
<p>I already know I am a strong applicant, I do not need to further prove it unless you really are on the Brown admissions committee. None of what I have said is the reason I started this thread though.</p>
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<p>OK, so far the Brown committee knows you have a low ACT and poor grades, but all is well because:</p>
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<p>My practical advice is that you PROVE you know 6-7 languages, by objective standardized testing (SAT subject tests for example).</p>
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<p>Blech. There are how many other students wanting a spot and you believe the college should be <em>begging</em> for you ? What an insult to all the other applicants. Yuck.</p>
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<p>Lazy is also not compelling. Don’t expect someone else to do the legwork for you.</p>
<p>I can respect ze opinions on this board. Deborah, yep, I expect them to provide me what I am paying 50,000 plus for. At my current school, the price for one student is 45,000+. I do not know when the culture came to be impress the colleges and bow down to their prestige. I am sorry, not the way I grew up. Of all the top schools, Brown seems to hold the least amount of these prestige folk. Another reason why I want to attend, granted all schools have prestige fanatics.</p>
<p>Let’s be for real. What college wants all perfect SAT and GPA kids. That is a dystopian novel waiting to be written.</p>
<p>Thank you for dissecting my message, and focusing on the fact that I do not like to brag and that colleges are here to serve us. Begging is a bit of a strong word though, don’t you think?</p>
<p>I don’t think a 'tude is going to help you get where you want to go.</p>
<p>If that is what you see. By the way, are any parents affiliated with Brown, through their children or by their own right?</p>
<p>Haitian, other people are willing to bust their rumps for something you want. </p>
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<p>This indicates you believe you should be handed same on a silver platter.</p>
<p>Okay, yes, the way it was phrased I can understand why you would take it that way. It is an overreaction to the tendency for many students to think that all glory goes to the college and not themselves. Students give the college just as much in return if not more than the college does the student. </p>
<p>And no, I do not expect anything on a silver platter. I am working for mine. I am OOOffended you would place this label on me. I am not like the kids that receive endless prep tests, and expect to get into a top school with the snap of a finger. I am definitely working for all that I have come to have and want to have.</p>
<p>I hear you, Haitian, but know that resentment can get in your way. Other people have their own burdens to bear, too. Let the anger drive you to be in a place where you feel better, not to do things that are self-destructive.</p>
<p>I do not resent anyone, or so I believe. I can see I have probably not done a good job of clearly showing this. The only things I resent are ideas and abstractions that permeate the social world negatively. </p>
<p>I don’t know if this is some sort of projection or something, with the everybody has their own burdens to bear, though I understand where you are coming from. Everybody does have burdens. Getting accepted to an Ivy sure is a great burden to bear. I am sure the kids I oversee are just as burdened if not more. Sorry, my sarcasm is rather dry, I am not trying to be hostile. I am just trying to get a point across.</p>
<p>I don’t want to call their holes, but a lot of these posts are entrenched in a hole of logical oblivion. You are telling me to appeal to emotion, but to go about it logically. Well, thanks for your advice, I do not doubt you are sincere.</p>
<p>Parents- we are feeding this kid’s ego. Typical immature rant- some day he’ll grow up. bye</p>
<p>So your 6-7 languages are all dialects of French plus English? Or you self-studied 10 words of Chinese? </p>
<p>And if you are paying 45-50k you are not even poor. If someone is paying you, you better bring something more impressive to the table.</p>
<p>wis75, what can I do but rant, when that is all y’all will hear. I try to address what I think is important to me, but all I get are attacks on my scores and such. It is exactly as expected on collegeconfidential. This was not meant to be about me, it was suppose to be about the validity of standardized tests, the impact they have on certain groups, and whatever else the thread was going to bring up about standardized testing. I think a lot of people get reliability and validity mixed up when talking about these tests.</p>
<p>“my 28 does not show my intellect or my potential. You are not seeming to get that.”</p>
<p>Actually, I DO get it - that’s why I asked you why you didn’t apply to Brown because clearly you seemed intelligent. Don’t be so defensive…</p>
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<p>Uh, actually you did. High school prepares you for the ACT. You’ve already told us your grades are lackluster because you were bored with it. Had you taken your classes seriously, then maybe you would have done better on that test. You didn’t take advantage of that fact.</p>