<p>One more thing I like to add is that check your school naviance. The schools that are on my daughter’s list are the schools that have accepted kids from our high school with similar stats. The only variation would be ECs, essays, LORs, etc…</p>
<p>No, sadly. D was valedictorian with perfect ACT, SAT IIs, great recommendations and ECs. Rejected at 3 ivies. Double legacy at her first choice. Due to parent involvement in many alum activities, the parent received an e-mail to “explain.” D did not meet “diversity needs of incoming class.” Devastating at the time, but she is very happy where she landed. Current school has ideal program in her major, so may be for her benefit in the long run.</p>
<p>Momof2, how active in alum activities is the parent after the rejection?</p>
<p>lol - parent’s time and money going to the school where child is enrolled (Parent fund, parent committee, etc.)! </p>
<p>Ivy admissions is truly a lottery for even the most qualified kids. My kid was on the short end. It has all worked for the best, but many tears were shed last year.</p>
<p>Here is an example of a 2400 with perfect GPA and got into reach school, even more selective than Wharton, with so so ECs.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14119092-post42.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14119092-post42.html</a></p>
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I find it very surprising that a double legacy with perfect stats would be rejected at the legacy school, and frankly, I find the “diversity” explanation to be hard to believe (and I’m amazed that any school would say this).</p>
<p>But I do find it quite believable that any student, even with super-stats, might be rejected from any three given Ivies.</p>
<p>One of my D’s classmates, with a 36 ACT and one of the very rare 4.0 averages at a magnet school widely known for its grade deflation, applied to 10 so-called “top” schools - including a number of the vaunted Ivies - and was rejected at 10 of 10. The only place she was admitted was the state flagship. In her case, there is a likely reason; but yes, it does happen.</p>
<p>Does she need financial aid?</p>
<p>“You would be surprised at the number of Vals and perfect SAT scorers that Harvard rejects”</p>
<p>There are 300ish people who score perfect on their SAT’s each year. Of those who become valedictorians, I would estimate less than half. Why do people perpetuate this myth of “perfect scorers” getting rejected? You have a much better chance of getting in if you get a perfect score, not necessarily because of the score, but because of related factors.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean what Swingtime said was untrue, however. Just wanted to point out a careless remark (sorry)</p>
<p>Didn’t read second page, oops. Hunting dude already said this</p>
<p>Just pointing out that Brown rejects 80% of the applicants that score 800 on each part and only had 133 applicants who had a 36 on the ACT (and rejected over 70% of them):</p>
<p>[Admission</a> Facts | Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>
<p>So, no, I am not surprised about kids with 2400 SATs or 36 ACTs, like momof 2kids D, getting rejected at these schools.</p>
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<p>that is how I would respond too. I am glad that she is happy now though!</p>
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<p>I thought the same thing. I would have been pretty irritated. So glad that her daughter is happy.</p>
<p>School does not rank (Elite HS)
3 kids with 4.0 and 2400 or 36</p>
<p>1 got into few Ivies include one upper Ivy
2 kids got rejected from SMC AND every Ivy they applied (Can you guess their race?)</p>
<p>People seem to be taking apart the 2400 ACT and the Val status. LIke why are people saying 'you need top grades too" obviously if you are VAL you have them. Apart they don’t mean quite as much as they do together. A perfect srcoring VAL (which is probably around 200 people tops) has a much better chance than this indicates. You would still need some decent ec’s but not stellar at least not for ALL the Ivy’s though HYPS are different.</p>
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How many Ivies did they apply to?</p>
<p>Everyone is so negative on this forum…
If your extracurriculars are where they should be, I see no issue! I know several people who were certainly not valedictorian but were in the top 10, and did not get a perfect SAT that at least got into Cornell and Brown (I know about 5 Brown students, lol). Ivies are not that difficult to get into…it’s only when you’re not prepared that it’s hard.</p>
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<p>I’m not convinced. I think you’re placing much greater weight on the difference between a 2400 and a 2300 than the adcoms at the most selective colleges do (and certainly more than they* say* they do, and I’m more inclined to believe them on this point than you). Once you reach that tier, they just check the box that says “SATs are outstanding” and move on to other criteria; you don’t get extra bonus points for having 2400 single-sitting versus 2400 superscored (and there are far more of the latter than the numbers you cite) versus 2300 single-sitting. And if that’s the case, then we’re talking thousands of applicants in the top tier on SAT scores, not hundreds. Just because you prize a 2400 so much more than a 2300 doesn’t mean an admissions committee does. And in my opinion, they’d be a little foolish to place that much value on what is essentially statistical noise.</p>
<p>Next criterion: class rank. Roughly 30,000 vals and 30,000 sals. Look at the Brown data: vals (19% admit rate) have a better chance than sals (14%), who have a better chance than those in the top 10% (10%). But even for vals the percentage isn’t that high, and there are tens of thousands of them, many in the 2300+ SAT range.</p>
<p>Do a 2400 SAT score and being val help in Ivy admissions? Sure, other things equal, they’re huge advantages. Do they guarantee admission to an Ivy? No, not unless the applicant also has a “hook.” </p>
<p>It’s the “other things”–diversity, legacy, recruited athlete, life story, quality and originality of essays, ECs–that will determine it. And to be quite blunt about it, high-stats kids with cookie-cutter ECS from affluent suburban backgrounds are a dime a dozen in the applicant pools of these schools, not nearly as special as their SAT scores lead them to believe.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, how are you certain about the method that colleges check SAT scores?</p>
<p>I was quite surprised by the e-mail with the comment about diversity myself. I could not believe the guy put it in writing. Perhaps he thought it would make it easier to accept because there was nothing “missing” in the application. For the record, the three ivies are generally considered the three most selective. D was pretty realistic about her chances, but thought she would get into one of them! Not being negative, just trying to raise awareness. I wish I had known just how much of a crap shoot selective admissions are, particularly for over represented applicants. Any one of our kids could get the short end of the stick in the decision process. That is why so many kids apply to multiple schools. On the flip side, plenty of applicants do get into their dream schools.</p>
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<p>If that’s directed at me . . . . Well, I’ve been around the block a time or two, listening carefully to how admissions officers describe their admissions process. Here’s another description, from a former CCer who went on to gain admission to MIT and closely observed their admissions process:</p>
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<p>This person then goes on to describe some of the qualities MIT is looking for: responsible risk-taking, creativity, work ethic, engagement with the world.</p>
<p>And here, straight from the horse’s mouth, is how William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s longtime dean of admissions, described it in 2009:</p>
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<p>First, notice how far down the list SAT Reasoning Test scores are: behind AP and IB tests, SAT Subject Tests, and HS grades. Second, notice the reference to what I’m calling “statistical noise”: differences of 50 to 100 points “or more” have “no significant effect on admissions decisions.” In other words, a 2300 is the same as a 2400. Either one of those is at the “extremely high” end of the scale where “standardized tests are most useful.” But I take all this to be saying that 2400 and val doesn’t necessarily get you in the door or even give you any kind of meaningful edge over the 2300 and val; both will get careful consideration, but ultimately it’s going to be other factors that decide it.</p>
<p>Yeah, count on getting into either SUNY Cornell or UPenn State.</p>