<p>Yeah, An0nym0u5 that's exactly what I thought. I'll apply to both MIT and Olin though. Chris, thanks for your affirmation. I guess there really is no harm in it. The worst they can do is reject me.</p>
<p>Y'know, despite what your guidance counselor says, he/she is not the person making the final decision on whether or not to admit you to a certain college.</p>
<p>My brother's guidance counselor told him point-blank that he'd never get into Harvey Mudd, so he shouldn't even try. Well, he just finished his freshman year at Mudd and is on the Dean's List. Broke the curve in the physics class, too.</p>
<p>Apply where you <em>want</em> to apply, and then see who lets you in.</p>
<p>Seem's like sound advice aibarr.</p>
<p>I wonder if these guidance counselors are into building some sort of advising "yield rate," so they do not want students to apply to a school where they might be rejected. Maybe it's a black mark for the counselor. This would be news to me, but at our h.s., the counselors basically try to steer everyone to our state universities. My daughter's g.c. never heard of Olin.</p>
<p>Well... Olin's ridiculously new. They graduate their first senior class this next year, so not having heard of it isn't all that far-fetched. I could probably understand that.</p>
<p>And the idea of a 'yield rate' for guidance counselors is something I hadn't heard of or thought about, but that'd be all the more reason for seniors to insist upon applying to whichever colleges <em>they</em> feel they'd like to attend, rather than those colleges that their guidance counselors think they will get into. (Then again, wouldn't it look a lot better to have people try for, and perhaps get into, more prestigious colleges than not try at all? Sounds odd, but administrations are weird sometimes...)</p>