<p>While I think CC's an excellent resourse, few things have done better to make me feel worse about college. The match section? Seriously? We have people with 3.8s and 2050's saying that they're below average? What? People with EC lists two miles long and better grades than a lot of people could hope for are desperately asking if they have a shot at schools that they clearly could get in to? If a 92-100 average is below average, I have to ask you, what hope is there for the rest of us?</p>
<p>What do you think is causing this mentality of an A to A- suddenly becoming something to be ashamed of? I dunno. I'm usually pretty happy with anything above a 90. Are people lying and bloating their scores? Are people just looking to have their egos stroked by hoards of anonymous "experts?" We're not all Harvard-bound, here...</p>
<p>And even if we all were Harvard-bound, scores and grades are hardly all that's considered.</p>
<p>As an adult college parent, I agree with your posted thoughts. Please don't believe every stat that is posted on CC. I know of many students who were admitted to multiple "most selective" schools with stats well below those typically presented on this website. But I also know students with stats above the mid-point for that particular school who were waitlisted and/or rejected. My point is that there are many factors that admissions commitees consider when assessing applications including student interest in that school as no "most selective" school wants to knowingly admit an applicant who regards that school as a safety.</p>
<p>Also, consider the fact that there's a whole group of people who get accepted to top schools and who've never been on CC. I doubt all of these are as obsessed with scores as we are on CC.</p>