<p>I think both him and his dad are victims of bad counseling.</p>
<p>Poor kid. I feel for him. The public honors program really amazes me too, midmo. On the other hand, Cal Tech and Rice are nothing to sneeze at. </p>
<p>I know a couple of kids who got into more than one of the schools that rejected him, and frankly they just aren't that special. I mean yes, excellent students, good kids, well-rounded and all that, but nothing fabulous: no state or national awards, no research in high school labs much less university labs, no incredible achievements or adversity overcome. And lower SATs. It's a puzzlement, it really is.</p>
<p>As someone always says, it must be the essays! :)</p>
<p>^^No, no, no. He got into Caltech, Duke and Rice. His life is not over! Lots of people who get into HYPSM do not get into Caltech. It's a feather in his cap, even though Pasadena is not Cambridge, MA.</p>
<p>Poor kid? Deciding between Rice, Duke and CalTech? Honestly!</p>
<p>But of course, consolation, it is always the essays when we can't come up with anything else. BUT were the essays bad, or were they too good? Boring, or suspiciously professional? </p>
<p>I think we will never know.</p>
<p>Quit my job to shuttle my kid to her ECs? Ha! We had <em>carpools</em>. Since I was the one who could only drive after 6 pm, I was the designated "back home" driver. It was the best time of my life - the kids in the back seat thought I could not hear a word they were saying! I learned this stuff was calld "ECs" a year ago after reading a couple of college admission books!</p>
<p>I also notice that despite having perfect SAT/ACT scores, the student was not a presidential scholar finalist.</p>
<p>I'd also expect a student who is doing so much and has such extensive parental support to be valedictorian. </p>
<p>From the keyetv.com website:
"Navonil Ghosh and his family have prepared for an Ivy League college since he was 12 years old, and he hoped his two perfect standardized test scores would be the ticket."</p>
<p>I'm curious about what job his father had. In searching Google, there are indications he may have been a biochemist in Dallas, possibly at a university.</p>
<p>I also notice that Ghosh's high school, LBJ H.S. appears to have been one of the best in Texas, with 56 National Merit finalists. Very stiff competition there.</p>
<p>In addition, I didn't see indications that Ghosh had done any leadership or had accomplished anything on his own. His work at the UT lab could have been lined up by parents with connections. Similarly, the black belt can be achieved by being reasonably athletic and having parents who pay for and shuttle you to classes. Community service hours can be easily racked up. Far more impressive is when a young person creates a CS project and gets others to support it by working -- not by having family friends donate money.</p>
<p>Anyway, to me seems to be a situation that would be very obvious to savvy adcoms and interviewers for places like Harvard: Very, very, packaged student with smart, connected parents who'd devoted their life to getting their son to Harvard. That's definitely not the kind of student that Harvard wants to admit. Have heard this from the source: Dean of Admissions (who was talking about packaged applicants in general, not the student we're discussing here).</p>
<p>His life is not over. He could be a great scientist later, who knows. We are just trying to learn about the process.</p>
<p>As we are all speculating without a shred of info not in the article, I'm wondering if the dad torpedoed it by calling adcoms or going to interviews. I'm not joking either. I saw it in person, at an interview at Texas Tech Med Schoool for a dual admissions program. The dad had to be asked twice to leave and the whole time he was coaching his son as they were leading dad out. I was stunned. I always wanted to be as far away as possible so they'd think she came on her own. ;)</p>
<p>"NSM, why do you presume his family paid big bucks for test prep? Believe it or not, folks, some kids get perfect and near-perfect scores on those tests without prepping for them."</p>
<p>Because there's every evidence that this kid's parents were pulling out all of the stops to get him into Harvard. Not only was that stated in a TV report, but parents do not quit their jobs to drive their kids to research opportunities.</p>
<p>Who'd need to do that anyway? One could use one's salary to pay for a driver if transportation were needed.</p>
<p>There also is a lot of emphasis in the stories about this kid on the fact that he scored perfectly twice. Clearly, the student and his family thought perfection (scores, EC, sports, community service, research) would be the ticket to Harvard. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in real life, I know someone who did get a perfect SAT/ACT score and didn't do extraordinary prep. Wasn't trying to get into Harvard. Parents didn't quit jobs to devote their lives to polishing her resume. She didn't even apply to Harvard. Another Ivy, not HPY, was her first choice based on what she wanted in a college experience, and that is where she's going.</p>
<p>post 29. That is amazing, curm. I would have had a lot of trouble keeping a straight face at that scene.</p>
<p>Who knows, maybe you're right.</p>
<p>NSM, the fact that his folks were obviously obsessed with the idea of him going to Harvard (why else does this story exist?) doesn't mean he had to do anything special to score high on the SAT/ACT. The Harvard goal may have arisen as a result of son's natural ability to do well on all standardized tests and related sorts of activities. </p>
<p>As for his rank, if he is at a magnet school and he is taking the hardest possible schedule, there is no reason to assume he would be val or sal. Depending on how rank is determined, taking one or two fewer AP courses could be the difference between ranking 1st and 4th. </p>
<p>I do wonder why he isn't a Presidential finalist, but maybe he really can't write essays.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I do wonder why he isn't a Presidential finalist, but maybe he really can't write essays.
[/quote]
That really is not an issue IMHO. I personally know at least one girl who was nominated, but did not pursue it, since there is no scholarship associated with it, and, as she put it, "shaking hands with George Bush was not high on [her] priorities list"...</p>
<p>Yes, but there's every evidence that this young man did everything possible to make his college apps shine. So why wasn't he a Presidential Scholar semifinalist (The semifinalists, not finalists have been selected and released. This corrects how I previously referred to finalists)?</p>
<p>On the SAT prep thing, the kids I mentioned earlier both took a prep course, and nevertheless got lower SATs than several other kids in their class who did not take a prep course (and who didn't get into Harvard).</p>
<p>Neither of them ever did anything other than minor community service. One had a summer job, but his father got it for him at his workplace. Neither of them ever took an independent study, or pursued a course of study outside that offered by the local high school. What they <em>did</em> was get straight As. (The kids who didn't get in also had A averages, but a few B plusses.) </p>
<p>This pretty much flies in the face of most of the reasons usually put forth why some kids get in and others don't. Must have been the essays. :)</p>
<p>BTW, it did occur to me to worry that colleges assumed that my kid achieved his SAT score as a result of taking a prep course (he didn't), and assumed that we could afford to send him to CTY for four years and so he was "privileged" (he got a scholarship, and the rest came out of our home equity). My kid had violin lessons, but I didn't go to the dentist for 10 years. (Luckily I have strong teeth and don't build up tartar.) But "I didn't take a prep course" and "I got a scholarship to CTY" aren't things that can be worked into an application. Or can they? Must have been the essays! :)</p>
<p>There is something nothing special about his credentials except that he can test well. Black belts are a dime a dozen; all of my friends' kids who take martial arts have black belts. There is no mention of any State or National awards or leadership roles.
We don't know about his recommendations either, perhaps the aggressive nature of his parents' involvements turn off some people.</p>
<p>"NSM, the fact that his folks were obviously obsessed with the idea of him going to Harvard (why else does this story exist?) doesn't mean he had to do anything special to score high on the SAT/ACT. The Harvard goal may have arisen as a result of son's natural ability to do well on all standardized tests and related sorts of activities. "</p>
<p>The odds of this, however, are low.</p>
<p>Any parent who quits their job to drive their kid to a research internship is going to pull out all of the stops on standardized testing.</p>
<p>His achievements and his father's behavior reflect the hallmarks of a smart kid who was packaged for years to go to Harvard, not a student who was running with his natural talents and pushing his parents along. The latter is what places like Harvard are looking for.</p>
<p>NSM--I've looked through the 2008 candidate list and didn't see his name. That would indicate that he achieved his 2400 through superscoring. May the answer to the riddle is that he took the SATs a ridiculous number of times. Not twice, or even three times, but 6 or 7. (Is that even possible?)</p>
<p>(Is that even possible?) </p>
<p>Yep.</p>
<p>midmo, it was literally stunning. Jaw on the table stuff. The rest of us parents were huddled in a holding pen with the door open and there he was - going in to sit down.</p>