College Confidential Is Flawed

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>*
1) There are some people here with a lot of experience with admissions
*
'Some' is the operative word here. The vast majority of members are kids looking for OTHER KIDS to evaluate their chances.</p>

<p>2) Its not all about chances, its about fit and lists, and many people need help with lists (too many safeties/ reaches)
Lists, 'fits', 'safeties', and 'reaches' fall into this category.</p>

<p>3) I'd suffice it to say a non top GPA/ non-top SAT Asian with no hook or terrific EC did not get into HYPS in the last two years. There is an ACADEMIC INDEX and its much more based on rank than raw GPA. If you have a top SAT (which you did) as long as you are top 5-10% you are golden. No one says a 3.8UW is not HYPS material.
My school doesn't rank, but I'll tell you that I wasn't top 5%, and that my GPA was lower than 3.8UW. I think I had more B's than A's on my junior transcript. I had high scores, and no 'hook.</p>

<p>Guess what? There's a lot more to admissions than that.</p>

<p>I'll admit that college confidential has a lot of upside too. For instance, the individual forums are good for information about particular schools. But they should NEVER function as a substitute for a guidance counselor or adequately informed adult.</p>

<p>"If a student decides not to apply to HYP based on posts in an anonymous online forum, I'd argue that he doesn't have the critical thinking skills to succeed there in the first place."
Not true - for instance, many of the kids who get into HYP on these forums don't know how to remove the spaces from templates either. You'd be surprised by how easily the herd mentality can afflict an intelligent individual. Plus, it's just darn scary to be told that your top choice is a 'huge reach'.</p>

<p>*
"However, if you read here much, you'll find that there is a vast amount of information and GOOD advice offered. As in any online community, you have to consider the source - look at the member's longevity and post count, read past posts by the member, and, of course, see what other members say in response. Misinformation is often corrected quickly by other members. Furthermore, many questions can't be answered in a definitive manner, and reading a give-and-take discussion helps the reader arrive at his/her own conclusion."*
As a long-time inhabitor of online communities, I can attest that post count has NOTHING to do with how informed a member is. For instance, I could post things like "Cornell - 40%" thousands of times. It doesn't mean I know a thing about how hard it is to get into Cornell. I'm not really referring to malicious spreading of lies, but rather common misconceptions and erroneous claims. For instance, the oft-repeated statement that students need 'hooks' to get into colleges, that being a URM will balance out large flaws, etc...</p>

<p>By the way, let me point out something about URM's. There are enough highly-qualified minorities applying to colleges that they don't really need to take that many with low scores (exceptions might be Berkley, and other schools that don't attract as many URMs). It might give you a slight edge, but minorities don't have much easier of a time getting into those top schools.</p>

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<p>i totally agree with you...ironically, you might not have gotten into HYP! CC is flawed after all, you could be someone you say you arent :p Im not saying you arent who you say you are or that your points should be nullified, i just found the irony to be somewhat humorous. on a more serious note:</p>

<p>i agree with everythign youve said. this site is addicting but if it stops you from applying form a school because another kid told you he was smarter and only got deferred because of his 2200 SAT and 3.9 GPA werent strong enough and he only created 2 nuclear reactors. If you want to go to a school, the only way youre going to get in is to apply!</p>

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<p>I disagree with the argument on how SAT scores are the best prediction of freshmen year grades. My SAT scores are not nearly as good as my grades. Does that mean I am not intelligent? No. Does that mean I won't get good grades in college? No. It just shows me that I am not adept at taking the SATs. End of story.</p>

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<p>"If a student decides not to apply to HYP based on posts in an anonymous online forum, I'd argue that he doesn't have the critical thinking skills to succeed there in the first place."</p>

<p>I think that's a perfect point. If you listen to someone whose identity is unknown to you, you are dumb.
The reason people post on "my chances" thread is to see where they are, not whether to apply or not. If someone will tell me that I won't get in, I'll still apply, but it won't be as heartbreaking as it would be with only my classmates saying "you're hella smart, you'll get in".
And again, like someone before me said, if anyone predicts BS, that person is likely to get corrected.</p>

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<p>to soccersarah: Using yourself is a poor example for a statement that's meant to be a generalization.</p>

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<p>"If a student decides not to apply to HYP based on posts in an anonymous online forum, I'd argue that he doesn't have the critical thinking skills to succeed there in the first place."</p>

<p>I've seen a bunch of posts myself and have posted a lot also, and this statement isn't correct at all....</p>

<p>There are many naive high schoolers (including myself) who have come on to CC and are very anxious/nervous about applying. Saying things like "Huge reach" and "no chance" discourages others.</p>

<p>CC is a place for overachieving kids to seek advice about college. Yes, it has grown into a massive college prediction engine, but members need to put things into context and realize that other high schoolers are giving chances.</p>

<p>I myself use more generic terms like "fine chances" and "good chances." I'm not gonna lie. Yes, I'm not qualified. I post what I think and that may or may not be the best post for a particular situation.</p>

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<p>I just feel that generalization is wrong and I wanted to say something. I see no problem in posting my opinion.</p>

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<p>That's the point, soccersarah....your opinion is wrong.</p>

<p>I feel sorry for you....</p>

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<p>^Don't be such an a**hole.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I've seen a bunch of posts myself and have posted a lot also, and this statement isn't correct at all....</p>

<p>There are many naive high schoolers (including myself) who have come on to CC and are very anxious/nervous about applying. Saying things like "Huge reach" and "no chance" discourages others.

[/quote]

The key word here is "naive". Obviously no one here is qualified to predict an admissions committee's decision. That much is self-evident. Should you choose to trust the "no chance! omgah!!!!!111" despite that... that's your problem, not CC's.</p>

<p>
[quote]
CC is a place for overachieving kids to seek advice about college. Yes, it has grown into a massive college prediction engine, but members need to put things into context and realize that other high schoolers are giving chances.

[/quote]

Emphasis mine. How does that contradict anything I said? Kids need to learn to use their own judgement, not accept whatever is spoonfed to them.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I myself use more generic terms like "fine chances" and "good chances." I'm not gonna lie. Yes, I'm not qualified. I post what I think and that may or may not be the best post for a particular situation.

[/quote]

If you're not qualified, why not just say "No one could possibly predict that"? Anything else is disingenuous, IMHO.</p>

<p>This is why I stay out of the chances forum.</p>

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<p>I never bothered to post a "chances" thread. But I did use this forum to gain information about college admissions. Had I found this place earlier, I would've been much prepared. </p>

<p>If you happened to post a chances thread and got all upset about the rejects, its your fault. If you get discouraged by the people here due to lack of self-confidence, it's your fault.</p>

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<p>I find myself telling people to aim higher or add more reaches more than the other way around.</p>

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<p>"If you're not qualified, why not just say "No one could possibly predict that"? Anything else is disingenuous, IMHO."</p>

<p>Because, as i said before, I assumed people would know who is actually giving them their chances. So, I just put down what I think. </p>

<p>I suppose i was wrong in assuming people would actually known that other high schoolers are giving chances.</p>

<p>Also, once again, coming to this site is one's own decision. This is an internet forum.....</p>

<p>BTW, i was saying that your "critical reading" skills statement was wrong, not the other stuff you said....</p>

<p>PLease PM with your other comments, because i don't want to turn this thread into an argument.</p>

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<p>Dude, I totally agree with you. I posted my Stats one day asking what my chances were for the colleges of my choice and the people here told me that I would be rejected from everywhere but UCs where I already have a slot because I'm an ELC. Contrary to their statements, I was accepted early at Stanford University, my top choice, the place where nearly all the people who replied to my post said I would be rejected. The people on this site are full of crap.</p>

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<p>Well I think its just the unpredictability of admissions. For each "CC-deemed underqualified" applicant is accepted, at least one very qualified applicant is rejected. Its just that the one who gets accepted gets more attention than the one who who is very qualified but is rejected. Its more newsworthy to get into harvard with a 1200 than rejected with a 1600.</p>

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<p>Looking at all the people posting their stats in the ED/EA posts it looks like there were just as many pervect 2400's accepted as rejected. I certantly wasn't anywhere close to reacing a 2400 (I have a 2110); however, from what I've heard from going to college admission sessions, talking to admissions officers, and seeing who is getting accepted to what college, I can see that SAT scores and GPAs aren't everything. Sure a good SAT score won't hurt you, but it won't help you as much as it's made out to be. And sure, if you have a hook, you might get in, but colleges are looking for a variety of people, so that even if you don't have a hook, you still have a chance.</p>

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<p>How do we know you're not an 8th grader who just stumbled upon this site yesterday?</p>

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<p>i honestly think that the only reason people post on "my chances" is to get reassurance. Not guidance. Many people have already submitted their applications - this is simply timepass while they wait for those big envelopes. Or if they don't get in, there is a good support group here, willing to shower anyone with condolences adn regrets.</p>

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<p>They are a poor prediction of first year grades. The r-squared value for the correlation is .27, meaning 27% of the relationship is explained by the graph. That's pretty poor. Here's a slightly misleading graph to show it:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.colinfahey.com/sat/sat_corr_0_52_interpreted.gif%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.colinfahey.com/sat/sat_corr_0_52_interpreted.gif&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>There's also a lot of GOOD information in College Confidential too... if you ignore the "What are my chances" threads!!!!</p>

<p>I used to visit the "what are my chances" threads often, but after a while, I decided to stop and explore other forums in CC. Once you get out of the "what are my chances" forum, you'll be much more enlightened. I rarely come back now (only when I'm really bored) because this is probably the most faulty (and most discouraging) part of CC. </p>

<p>My suggestion is to visit other forums on CC as there is good, useful information out there.</p>