100%.
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Yes and no. No one has diminished this student or any other. As I said (and you said), control what you can.
But what you cannot control is the AOs thoughts, their perception of your background, what they ate for lunch that might have made them tired or not feeling great, the time of day they read your stuff…maybe it’s end day and they’re tired. Maybe it’s opposite. Maybe they are looking for only people West of the Mississippi.
I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying. I’m not diminishing any accepted or rejected student.
I’m saying when you have 100 great applicants for ten spots, yes it’s in large part…we won’t say lottery. How bout we say…in addition to your wonderful accomplishments…you need a little luck too.
Time to move on…everyone gets both of our points.
I don’t think it’s a crapshoot for the OP’s daughter, female STEM with strong academics and ballet is pretty unique. MIT could be an example of this, their acceptance rate for men was 5%, for women 12%, doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s more than double. It doesn’t mean any of these reaches are a guarantee of course, and maybe 12% is still a crapshoot, but it is not the published acceptance rate.
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I acknowledged this earlier. They seek to build a complete class hence my Wyoming vs NY or Oboe vs flute or whatever I said. Things that are unique, not plentiful are helpful I’m sure. They don’t want 100% of kids to be rocket builders in HS or their class will be homogenous.
I’m simply saying it’s still a long shot…that’s all.
I agree with everything you both are saying and have stated so. But you still need back up schools….
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Ok, the combination of ballet + STEM makes more sense to me now. She will need to clearly explain this in her apps. But it sounds like she is a good writer and will be able to handle this.
Regarding the ‘packaging’. Even though she attends a private K-12, her guidance counselor is not always the best to rely on. The goals for a GC at a private school are to maximize placements for the entire class. Not to maximize individual chances for your daughter. There is a lot happening behind the scenes. So this is why I suggest that you seek outside expertise on the packaging. Find a good consultant/college counselor. Paying for a few hours of advice is well worth it, especially since it sounds like you can afford full tuition.
My son went to Lawrenceville, and about 1/3 of the class ended up at T20 schools. The college counseling office was very good at what they do. But I still think its worth getting outside advice.
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@Dad16 I saw @Twoin18 's message and can add a bit of info on Stanford. My son had similar academic stats as your daughter. He was classically trained but more into contemporary. He was '22 but took last year off so now he is '23 at Stanford, major in human biology and minors in dance + music. There is a group of probably 10 or so professional level ballet dancers at Stanford and the ballet company perform Nutcracker in winter and another show in spring. It’s common for dancers to take a year or two off school to dance with ballet companies. I know one girl danced 4 years on and off. My son loves the advanced ballet teacher Redirecting.... As @Twoin18 mentioned 6-8 hours weekly classes is not enough training. Currently my son and about half a dozen dancers who are interested in pursuing dance as a career has a dance group and they spend 5-6 hours weekly teaching each other classes and choregraphing dances for shows. My son tried to transfer to USC dance program his 2nd year but wasn’t able to. Now he doesn’t want to leave 
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