Another applicant rejected from all Ivies.

Parents Forum
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<p>Navonil - I don't know for sure where you are planning to attend college, but if it is Rice, CONGRATULATIONS! Have a great time at O-week! If not, good luck at your new school! And Navidad, thank you for clarifying. Sometimes we posters read stuff in the newspaper and respond, not knowing all the back facts.
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Unfortunatley someone is STILL missing the big picture that there would NOT be any need to clarify elements of a story had the story remained untold to begin with. None of this negative slants would have occured had this family found the common sense of NOT broadcasting their entire life in a newspaper. Uttering the word NO to a journalist is not that hard.

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Yes, Xiggi, but sometimes you get a phone call requesting an interview and you think, "What can it hurt? Maybe my story will help someone else." :) And I think Navidad is bringing this up now because he wants to set the story straight now that his son is suetting off to college.</p>

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Yes, Xiggi, but sometimes you get a phone call requesting an interview and you think, "What can it hurt? Maybe my story will help someone else." And I think Navidad is bringing this up now because he wants to set the story straight now that his son is suetting off to college.

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<p>Yes, we all can hope that this "story will help someone else" by providing an almost perfect parental roadmap for what NOT to do, including coming back ... one more time. When reading this entire saga, one cannot help feeling sorry for this very young man who deserved better guidance. </p>

<p>Entering college without this poor attempt at personal vindication and misplaced publicity would have been sweet and ... easy to accomplish.</p>

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<p>I'm glad he got rejected. It gives me hope that not everyone who tailors their life around the sole purpose of getting into college will find it worthwhile.</p>

<p>Live a little.</p>

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<p>Ghosh, read my previous post. Plan II is allllllllllllllllllllll about essays. That kid ranked 39th? Grades and ECs are worth half as much as essays to the Plan II adcomms. His essays probably ate yours for lunch.</p>

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<p>Pfff</p>

<p>Harvard is the Rice of the East + a bunch of rich snobs who think they are all that.</p>

<p>I wish you great luck in college Navonil. I am sorry about the crap being said here on CC.</p>

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<p>xiggi: "Yes, we all can hope that this "story will help someone else" by providing an almost perfect parental roadmap for what NOT to do, including coming back ... one more time. When reading this entire saga, one cannot help feeling sorry for this very young man who deserved better guidance. </p>

<p>Entering college without this poor attempt at personal vindication and misplaced publicity would have been sweet and ... easy to accomplish."</p>

<p>Well, it looks like you don't know when to quit either.</p>

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Yes, they both were accepted to MIT, but that's the only thing that your statement of "Although Navo got rejected by these colleges" applies to. I never applied to Columbia, USC, or most of the colleges the #1 and #7 students applied to. Furthermore, neither of them were accepted to Stanford. And the #1 ranked student never even APPLIED to Caltech. And yes, many other kids did get into Plan II. One of them was ranked 39th or so, consistently never did work and thus his grades showed it, and only did Math and Piano for EC's.

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<p>This is no reflection on young Navonil or on his father, but the very fact that students these days feel they even need to track what other students in their classes are doing, where they're applying to, what their grades are, what their EC's are, etc., speaks to something VERY, VERY broken in the process. </p>

<p>Shouldn't applying to college be an exercise in SELF-discovery, finding out what one's interests are, finding out what type of atmosphere might best suit those interests? Where did it turn into tracking the movements of one's classmates? </p>

<p>Frankly, I don't want either of my two teenagers paying any damn bit of attention to what any of their classmates do with respect to their grades, EC's, SAT scores, class ranks, where they apply, etc. They'll undoubtedly know the EC's of their closest friends, of course, and they may have a * general * idea where their friends rank, but to actually cultivate knowing these things about others to this level of detail? Yuck. They need to live their own lives. This is SO, so broken.</p>

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<p>Pizzagirl, I think this is very common among top-tier students. Life isn't always about "finding yourself" and "doing what makes you happy." College acceptances, for better or worse, are competitive.</p>

<p>Maybe CC should rename itself "College Competition."</p>

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<p>Which is one reason why I would never encourage my son to peruse this message board. I read it and pass on the pertinent advice, but he doesn't need any more pressure or competition in college app process.</p>

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<p>Pizzagirl, I know the rank, GPAs, major ECs, awards, and the colleges they are attending of the top 25 kids in our high school because they were announced with great fanfare at the awards assembly. Even 30+ years ago I knew the SAT scores and college choices of my friends. Didn't know the GPAs because the school never calculated them or ranked us.</p>

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<p>Perfect test scores are not a separate category on any application review checklist, from what I have been told. Every school rates the test scores and has a top mark for a RANGE. And more kids fall into that range at the top schools than there is room. They do not give a piddle if a kid has a perfect 2400 at one sitting or can total a 2300 over three sitting, and may not even know what those exact scores are when assessing the file. They just see that the kid is, say a 5 out of 5 when it comes to the test scores. And those kids DO have a much higher chance of getting accepted, given high grades and good recs and decent essays/ECs. It is NEWSworthy when such kids are NOT accepted, but it does happen. When you start focusing on a small group of schools like the Holy Trinity of HPY, the chances are quite significant that even a perfect 2400/4.0 is not going to get accepted there. However, such kids are almost certainly going to get accepted to some top school unless they have a sneer in their demeanor that shows during the process. Also "almost" means that it is a possibility if not certainty that some may lose the lottery and not get in any of their choices if they did not seriously pick a safety school.</p>

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One of them was ranked 39th or so, consistently never did work and thus his grades showed it, and only did Math and Piano for EC's.

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<p>I wonder if this student #39 is reading this message board, and is aware that little Navi has publicly accused him of consistently never doing work, and belittled is ECs. Ugh again.</p>

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<p>I just don;t understand how its "shocking" that Navi got rejected from Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. Perfect stats aren't going to get anyone into HYPSM. But perfect stats will make you clean up in the Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, Brown, Duke, Caltech, category which is exactly what happened with Navi. I've seen this trend for years, no idea why its such a media event.</p>

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<p>slipper: Very balanced comment.</p>

<p>And I don't know why so many here wish a student ill.</p>

<p>Many are disappointed in their results and all have my sympathies.</p>

<p>To the student in question here, but this behind you and have a wonderful college experience.</p>

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<p>If this student really is going to Rice, he should count his blessings. I hope he comes back to post and quotes from the song, "Thank God for Unanswered Prayers".</p>

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<p>I suppose Navidad is questionable in his parenting judgement in agreeing to the article and in just taking the HYPS rejections so hard. But heck - he's a DAD - who among us is always rational and calm and wise and perfect through this terribly difficult process?</p>

<p>In terms of who has disgraced themselves most here - I would have to say some of those who have piled on and insulted a Dad and his Son for no good reason. </p>

<p>In my house I am talking up regional relatively easy target LACs for D2. I have no wish to go through the harrowing process of shepherding another through applying to highly selective schools. Even if the verdict is "Accepted" there is an aftermath of burn-out and survivor guilt and post traumatic stress that makes it all seem very questionable. </p>

<p>I say Bleh! Don't wanna play this game again.</p>

<p>Navidad, kick the you-know-what off your boots and get out of Dodge (CC). There's a beautiful sunset waiting for you.</p>

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<p>"Yes, but with his perfect scores, and being 4th in his class, why wouldn't he be accepted into his flagship's honors program? Usually entry into such programs is based strictly on stats."</p>

<p>Plan II has some odd ball requirements as well. I think 2 essays that are 'different'.</p>

<p>"The UTexas Honors rejection is puzzling - my guess is they thought it was his safety,"</p>

<p>That is entirely possible. My son was accepted in Plan II, but he gave it full 100% in his application.</p>

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<p>simba, wrong. Plan II uses the same 2 essays from the Texas Common App. As I've said, though, TONS more weight is given to those essays. </p>

<p>Once again, I am not at all surprised that he got rejected by Plan II. His application to MIT demonstrates a preference of practical science thinking over liberal arts/academia thinking, and in terms of the stats/ECs of kids who get in, Plan II is more selective than Harvard. </p>

<p>Congrats to your son. His efforts probably shined through in his essays :)</p>

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<p>
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Frankly, I don't want either of my two teenagers paying any damn bit of attention to what any of their classmates do with respect to their grades, EC's, SAT scores, class ranks, where they apply, etc. They'll undoubtedly know the EC's of their closest friends, of course, and they may have a general idea where their friends rank, but to actually cultivate knowing these things about others to this level of detail? Yuck. They need to live their own lives. This is SO, so broken.

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As a recent graduate of a competitive high school who was near the top of his class and looking at top colleges, I can speak to this. After 4 years at a school you get a hunch for who is really smart, who coasts by, who does a bunch of ECs, etc. Some is gossip. Some of it is just paying attention. At my school on the PA announcements every day there might be something about Bob qualifying for a science competition, Sue competing in a pagent, Bill doing this, Jen doing that. They announced all of the NMSF and NMF. There is an awards ceremony for top students. </p>

<p>It's also very easy to get an idea for how students do on the SAT. Presidential Scholars are announced. Just by taking a class with juniors you'll hear conversations like "SAT's this weekend, I'm kind of stressed" "Tell me about it, I have to take it again" "Thank god I got it done in October" etc. I never knew the exact scores unless someone got a 2400 or 2390 (complaining about 10 points off), but had a rough idea.</p>

<p>About college acceptances, you just hear where kids got into college. If you only tell your 3 closest friends, one of them will tell someone else, then next thing you know, half of the school knows you got into Harvard. In class around April you'll hear conversations like "I don't know between Cornell and NU" or "Maryland just offered too much money to turn down". One doesn't need to pry for information to know a small list of acceptances for a bunch of different students.</p>

<p>Maybe it's just where I grew up or the culture of my high school, but it really isn't unhealthy or bad for students to have a general idea of what their peers are doing or how they are academically.</p>

<p>I'll agree it's bad when kids say "O, X only got into good schools because he cheats in class and I hear he lied about his ECs on his app." In my year there were rumors about a girl who got into an Ivy that lied about officer positions she did not have. In the year after me there was a kid accepted to another Ivy and one of my friends complained that the kid cheated on all of his tests and just gamed his way into a top school. Those statements are not fair to those students. It's a terrible thing, whether they are true or not. Sadly, at 18 it seems like college determines the rest of your life because 4 years seems like a long time. Few kids realize that they have another 50+ years of living to do after college is over.</p>

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<p>At my kids' rather large public high school, the academically ambitious students tended to spend a lot of time with each other, in and out of class. Since colleges were much on their minds from the end of 11th grade through 12th, they tended to talk about that -- although not so much in March. A few kids remained mum, but in general my kids knew where their friends were applying, and what they thought their strengths and weaknesses were. School-based ECs and GPAs, and NMF or NMC status, were common knowledge, and out-of-school ECs were generally pretty well known, too. Other test scores maybe kinda slipped out (about the way they do here on CC, and about as reliably, probably).</p>

<p>Anyway, the result was nothing like a cauldron of envy and anxiety. The kids were rooting for one another. There were comparatively few overlaps in the colleges to which they applied, and most of those involved colleges that could reasonably be expected to accept a number of them, so it wasn't a zero-sum game. And even when it was, as with HYPS, I didn't get much sense of backbiting or jealousy. In general, the kids agreed with the choices the colleges made.</p>