Does it really matter? Whether it’s true or not, you seem to be looking for excuses / something to blame, which IMO isn’t the best way to deal with rejection.
And it especially seems odd, given that your DC had such great success in the admission process!
Besides all the great advices on essays, I also advise that the kids take risks with their essays, and find their own style. As a STEM girl, D is not artistically creative. But she is good with analytical side, humor or satire. She used it to her advantage. Her U Chicago essay features a “dating” app, which had the whole office laughing (according to their feedback later).
@thshadow - No blame and not looking for excuses for rejection. Just an observation of how things were and are. My D did an awesome job in HS and she is going to one of the best universities in the world. Ending up at Stanford with all the hard work she put in, why would I look to blame anyone or anything? Just honest observations of how things were for her. But in the end she did learn a great deal by working with other students not as driven or smart. Like I said she would not have been voted president of two large student groups.
Hmm, this thread has taken an odd turn.
I personally don’t think individual stats are particularly helpful to future applicants. They do not help predict any other individuals outcome for obvious reasons.
I hope we all go back to celebrating with each other soon 
What sounds like sour grapes from someone whose child was accepted to any of HYPSM will never be well-received, however well-intentioned.
Or boasting about working with other classmates who are ‘not as driven or smart.’
Maybe we should just move past this unpleasantness. We’ve been a pretty friendly group of parents most of the way on this journey, and I think we can get back to that.
I personally thank all of you for posting your kiddos’ stats, particularly the ECs that got that kid awesome competitive merit. As mom of 8th grader it is something to take into consideration, always working with the personality my particular child has (introvert) but also trying to push a little outside her comfort zone for personal growth.
I applaud all the kiddos of HS 2017.
It’s interesting – my D did stunningly well in college admissions (far exceeding anybody’s expectations) and did quite well in getting competitive (and in most cases, maximum) merit scholarships from all of the schools that offer them. Where she did not have as much success was with some of the outside scholarships (CocaCola, Burger King, etc.) that I imagine have different criteria than the schools do.
Again, I think that her essays and teacher/counselor recs played a huge role in her getting so many acceptances and getting so much merit aid.
Stats:
GPA: 3.99/4.00 UW, 4.7/4.00 W.
Private High School in Suburban Area: School doesn’t rank. Probably top 1% of her class of about 115.
ACT: 35C
SAT: 1580
PSAT: 224 SI; National Merit Finalist; Natl. Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar
Rigor: Among highest at school. 9 APs, 4 honors; Dual Enrollment Art History and French summer college classes
AP Scores: World 5, English Lang 5, Bio 5, Calc AB 5, APUSH 5, SP Lang 5
EC’s: TASP; Mock Trial - Lead Attorney, team captain. Created new elective class for middle school which she helped design and co-taught; Diversity work - active in school and community; Classical Acting; Music (Double Bass).
Common App Essay: excellent. Showcased her passions, interest, struggles, resilience, and personality.
Recommendations: Counselor - Excellent. Said she was “unequivocally brilliant” and talked about her diversity and leadership, how well she got along with and was respected by peers, teachers, etc.
Teacher 1 (History) - Amazing. He said she’s the best student he’s ever had.
Teacher 2 - (English) Likely superb. Loves her writing and literary analysis.
State: CA
Race/ethnicity: White/Latina
Schools:
Stanford: Accepted and ATTENDING;
Yale: Accepted SCEA;
Harvard: Accepted;
Princeton: Accepted;
University of Chicago: Accepted and awarded $16K in Merit and $15K in FA;
Duke: Robertson Semifinalist; Accepted and awarded $1K summer stipend (REALLY - $1K?? Ummm, no.)
Wash U: Accepted and awarded full tuition Mylonas (Humanities) and Rodriguez (Leadership/Diversity)
USC: Accepted and awarded Trustees full tuition Scholarship;
Vanderbilt: Accepted and awarded Cornelius Vanderbilt and Chancellors (full-tuition) Scholarships:
Rice: Accepted and awarded $28K Trustees and $4K Summer Research Stipends;
Emory: Accepted and invited to compete for Woodruff Scholarship - declined because of conflict
Davidson: Accepted and was Belk Scholarship alternate. Offered $25K Chambers as booby prize.
Grinnell: Accepted and awarded full tuition;
Kenyon: Accepted and awarded full tuition;
Bryn Mawr: Accepted and awarded $30K:
Scripps: Accepted and awarded $27K in Merit Aid;
Swarthmore: Accepted with no merit.
UC Berkeley: Accepted;
UCLA: Accepted and invited for Regents;
UCSB: Accepted and offered Regents/Chancellors;
UCI: Accepted and offered Regents
New College of Florida: Accepted with $25K merit
University of Virginia: Accepted with Echols Scholarship (no $$)
No waitlists. Only rejection was Yale-NUS, but got into New Haven campus, so who cares?)
@LoveTheBard Lordy, lordy, your kid did amazingly well. Too bad she can attend only one school. lol Amazing stats etc. What she going to major at Stan? How did your kid like the Admit Weekend?
I’m happy to see this @LoveTheBard because a while ago I looked at a small dataset from another top school and found recommendations and essays to be the leading determinants. As a parent with a younger kid I wasn’t sure what to make of it. You have one more data point to back it up.
These two factors are much more harder to work on than GPA, test scores and ECs, even unreachable to most top students I think. So, congratulations to your D, and you. I suspect you need no outside private counselor.
Is it possible the discrepancy between college acceptances and outside scholarships has anything to do with her being a Latina? (not suggesting resentment against Coca-Cola or Burger King)
.As per recommendation letters, it’s very hard to get a letter saying that the student is best they have seen in 10 years (or forever), if your schools is a magnet school. Our school is nationally known for science competitions. So unless they win a gold medal nationally or internationally, no teacher will say the student is extraordinary.
@srk2017 - Unless he or she is extraordinary 
@websensation - She is a humanities kid. Most likely will concentrate on art history and/or comparative literature. She likes to take an interdisciplinary approach to studying the arts and literature.
She couldn’t make it to Admit Weekend - she had a Mock Trial competition. She went the week before (outside Admit Days) and spent two nights with a student at Casa Zapata, went to classes, etc. Sealed the deal for her – especially after having had such high expectations for Yale, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment after she visited. Stanford was a very pleasant surprise – both because she hadn’t expected to be admitted since she had applied RD and because she was expecting a very techy/entrepreneurial vibe and was delighted to find an intellectually curious, interesting, and fun group of people in an absolutely stunning campus.
@eiholi - I hadn’t thought about that. You might be on to something. While universities are pretty keen on admitting URMs, scholarship competitions – especially those that do not take financial need into consideration – may not have the same mandate. I know that one merit-based scholarship that she was a semifinalist for had the least diverse group of students she had ever seen gathered in one place.
I had assumed that D’s lack of success in outside scholarships was because she didn’t have a gazillion hours of community service and that she tends to be a bit of an out-of-the-box kind of kid – more attractive in an academic setting than in a business one. But who knows?
@LoveTheBard - "“It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is”. I bet you know who said that
Race/ethnicity plays little role at your D’s level, @LoveTheBard, as I know a white kid who’s similarly successful. Insisting otherwise is emphasizing grades and test scores which aren’t important for top students aiming at top schools.
This year I noticed the significance of parent’s knowledge and sophistication (or lack thereof) on their kid’s outcome. All parents are caring but some are more capable. And I have respect for y’all.
@LoveTheBard Congrats on your Ds amazing choices. I remember reading a while back your post that she has some physical challenges do you feel this also helped her garner so many acceptances perhaps more so than amazing LORs and URM status?
Oh I forgot about that, @Cubanmom3 – good question!
@Cubanmom3 – I would say that D’s struggles with her challenges and how she has dealt with them are precisely what made for a very compelling essay. That’s what I meant by her essay being able to “showcase her passions, interest, struggles, resilience, and personality.” Adcoms that wrote personal notes made reference to D’s resilience as well as her passions. Her resilience, academic interests, and passions were backed up by the counselor (and possibly the teacher recs – I never actually read them; the snippet about her being one of the teacher’s “best student ever” was shared to me by the teacher in a progress report; given that she had both of those teachers twice – in tenth and twelfth grades, they are very familiar with her work and can speak to her passions.
In Adcomland, D’s having to overcome (or learn to live with) physical challenges probably merits a check in the “overcoming adversity box,” which probably carries as much weight as a check in the “URM box,” the “athlete box,” the “legacy box,” the “geographic diversity box” or the “major donor box.” If you’ve got checks in more than one box, so much the better.
Admissions folks are looking at grades, test scores, rigor, and – according to one Dean of Admissions – “the quality of thought and expression in the application essays.” He goes on to say that they look at “recommendations, essays, extracurricular and academic choices, accomplishments…[that convey] a strong sense of kindness, grit, wit, or a particular flavor of intellectual fervor.”
There’s no magic formula – there are just pieces of a puzzle that, when taken together, paint a picture.
And then the rest comes down to institutional need.
@LoveTheBard I absolutely agree with you that all things being equal a student with a physical disability will be looked upon more favorably by most colleges than one without.
Kudos to your D for her brilliance and resilience. Stanford is lucky to have her.
@LoveTheBard When you say Athlete Box I’m assuming you don’t mean the Recruited Athlete Box because that’s it’s own special level above all those listed except Institutional Development. And not all URMs are the same level of institutional desire/need.
I wouldn’t say that a physical disability is looked upon favorably but of course rising to the challenge it present’s and succeeding can be a favorable impression conveyed. Generally speaking overcoming physical challenges is a safe topic whereas there are plenty of students that have overcome mental challenges that aren’t necessarily a safe topic to discuss with Adcoms. Institutions are equipped to deal with physical challenges due to ADA but many schools would rather not have to deal with the challenges some students face.