<p>marite: That was funny, and thanks for the offer. Now we will have to start loving the snow. </p>
<p>Intelectually, I share all the pros of the arguements above. It just seems that in their zeal to have a diverse student body, they forgot the emotional implications of their actions on a 18 year old. They could have picked any other girl from any other school out of their 20,000 or so applicants that fit their need, but why from the same school? I have trouble understanding that part.</p>
<p>Usually the colleges will do a cursory regional check to line up who is accepted at a high school and who was not at the same school. Contrary to popular belief, colleges do not line up the apps by the school and compare those candidates. They take them as they come, so you are not directly compared to someone in your school most of the time. The exceptions to this may be the top "feeder" high schools. Then if it looks like there is going to be an issue, they will waitlist some rejected most of the time. They may do a cursory review to make sure that it was not a true oversight, but they are not going to spare a school's feelings at this stage of the game. Or if they know the GC, they may call and let him know so he is prepared for implications.</p>
<p>My D's school really had a big brougha one year when the val did not get into Harvard but someone further down the list with much lower SATs, and much less impressive resume was accepted. The accepted student was URM which brough about a lot of resentment. In your son's case, however, being of a different course of study should have been a big tip off. In some colleges, they are even different schools within the university. It's like a performing arts major getting in over a poly sci major or vice versa. My friend was really upset when her son did not get into Purdue one year, given the acceptance stat and her son's stats, but he was applying to a very limited program that only took a dozen kids and had an accept rate of about 10% as opposed to the 80 something percent over all. Getting into CMU's HS&S school is a whole different story from getting into CSC or Performing Arts.</p>
<p>It works both ways. Two years ago when my son was going through this, he was accepted at Brown while one of his female classmates who he thought was better qualified was rejected. If he could have given her the acceptance he would have since he ultimately chose another school. </p>
<p>I personally subscribe to the lottery concept of college admissions at elite schools, with the more "qualified" people being given more lottery tickets than the less qualified. Having more tickets certainly helps but it doesn't make it a certainty that the more qualified person is selected.</p>
<p>"AND...I think it's clear (tentatively clear, anyway) that it's a huge DISadvantage to be the child of a parent who went to college/succeeded (financially,anyway) in life. It surely isn't my S's fault that he's the son of two lawyers. And the grandson of two PhDs. But his stellar grades, SAT, SAT IIs, ECs, rec's, essays (which may well be subjective and so shouldn't get the "stellar" adjective w/out an asterisk--I and his GC thought they were stellar, but it's only the Adcom's opinion that counts) counted for naught..."</p>
<p>Overanxious Mother, I couldn't disagree more, given the fact that the majority of students attending the country's most elite schools are from just such backgrounds. Your own son was admitted to 4 out of 4 (Congratulations, BTW!) of his RD schools, some of which I'm guessing were probably very highly regarded. The Stanford rejection was undoubtedly very disappointing, but I doubt his background played an overwhelming part in the adcom's decision.</p>
<p>One lower in rank would mean the GPAs are very close, a 100-point difference in SAT scores isn't that much either. Her essays might have been just enough to tip the scales. You shouldn't waste the time trying to figure out why, concentrate on the schools he did get accepted to and make the best of it.</p>
<p>yeah but 100 point diff per section is quite a bit, isn't it?...And one more thing, at other highly selective school they also went head on. My S was accepted, she was rejected.</p>
<p>logic? what about German?</p>
<p>"It could be that they were better athletes, better musicians, better scholars, better writers, or overcame daunting odds ... but they DID something to get the nod."</p>
<p>We would likely disagree that "better" NECESSARILY had anything to do with it (it's circular reasoning - but it makes them feel GOOD!) ;)</p>
<p>Engineering majors are notoriously competitive at top schools like Stanford and Berkeley--often there is a seperate essay and the higher stats required to get into the program. His chances of getting into Stanford (not good for anyone) would have been higher in a different major.</p>
<p>A few years ago, one of my summer sitters (female) applied Early to Connecticut College and was rejected. Ughh.....then she found out that a boy from her class, lower grades, lower EC's, lower everything, got in. Extremely difficult for her to accept... but the truth was that CC wanted boys more than girls....so the bar was lower for the boys. </p>
<p>I just don't think that one can appreciate how thinly sliced these slots are.... a female asian from TEXAS may trump a white male from TEXAS on every day of the year....enough to make up for the delta in grades, ecs, scores etc... for all we know Stanford may want non-Californian and non-NY asians in their class demographics..... never mind the whole engineering vs natural sciences degree of difficulty of garnering a slot.....</p>
<p>I honestly do not think the admissions officers worry about kids from the same hs except for ensuring they do not take toooo many from any one geographic area or one hs...unless there is truly a compelling reason to accept more than "normal."</p>
<p>Unless Stanford publishes how they allocate "points" to candidates, one will never know why this gal got in and your son was waitlisted. The waitlist is their way of saying you are qualified but we just don't have an opening... at least not at this time and they probably use some phrase "pls pursue your other options" ..... waitlists are so difficult cause a kid can see the light at the end of the tunnel.... thru iron bars! </p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that we think this is a "controlled experiement" with the kids apps being viewed the same by each "comparable" school but the schools themselves have variables they apply to the application pile that will always be unknown to us. </p>
<p>Is Princeton the leading alternative? not too shabby an alternative! LOL... wish it was different for you, mom......or dad...not sure if simba is M or F... oh well......</p>
<p><a href="Stanford%20is%20ranked%20#2%20behind%20MIT">quote</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>huh, not that it's any difference, but i thought caltech was no 1 for engineering, mit was 2, and stanford was 3*</p>
<p>" The girl has lower scores (by more than 100), lower rank (by 1), lower GPA, very little to no ECs, lower AP scores, no regional or state level awards, very little leadership positions....."</p>
<p>Especially since she is first generation college, her achievements are very impressive. For her to have a high rank , scores presumably in the upper echelons (I am guessing her scores are in the 1400s) says that she has a lot going for her in terms of intelligence and motivation since presumably she didn't have parents to rely on for academic help.</p>
<p>If she had to help out with family after school or work a job (including in a family business), that would have more than compensated for lack of leadership and other ECs.</p>
<p>Her being a girl planning to major in engineering is a big plus. Not too many girls choose to do that. Women are very underrepresented in that field, and are highly desired by colleges for their engineering programs.</p>
<p>She also may have written a compelling essay.</p>
<p>Stanford is not MIT, but this may instructive:</p>
<p>Total first-time, first-year (freshman) men who applied 7696
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) women who applied 2968 </p>
<p>Total first-time, first-year (freshman) men who were admitted 898<br>
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) women who were admitted 826 </p>
<p>Men's admission: 11.67%
Women's admission: 27.83%</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2003/cds2003.html#c%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2003/cds2003.html#c</a></p>
<p>cujoe:</p>
<p>my numbers were for grad school, and USNews most recent ranking (last week), at least that was reported in the local newspaper.</p>
<p>ohh sorry :) i thought u meant undergrad, in which mit and caltech are better engineering schools</p>
<p>"She also may have written a compelling essay."
Haha. It reminds of just another line from the Simpsons. Homer:" That sounds like witch-talk to me, Lisa." no offense though.</p>