<p>From one of the posts in the famous “Andison” thread here on CC (<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-year-later.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-year-later.html</a>) :</p>
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Stanford, academically the equal of the Ivies, has few all-state musicians in its applicant pool. Therefore, it takes a lot less to stand out in its pool as a musician --or for that matter, as an actor--than it does at an Ivy. The kind of musical skill that wouldn't make you one of the top 200 musicians applying to Yale or Harvard in a given year might put you in the top dozen at Stanford--and get you in. (It will take a lot more to get in as an athlete.) Is the fact that this musician gets into Stanford, though not to Yale or Harvard proof Stanford values musicians more than Harvard and Yale? Of course not!</p>
<p>It's proof of the fact that too many kids who are very talented but not the very, very best in what they do--whether it's an academic subject or an EC--apply to the very best places to do it. All the mathematicians apply to Princeton, Harvard, MIT. The wannabe economists apply to MIT, UChicago, Wharton (Penn.) The wannabe philosopher applies to Princeton. When they look for matches and safeties, they make the same mistake. The philosopher whose reach is Princeton uses NYU for his match. The musician applies to Yale and Oberlin. The artist chooses Bard . The creative writer uses Sarah Lawrence . The actor chooses Vassar. The squash player chooses Trinity College. A lot of the other kids with the same interests do exactly the same thing. Not surprisingly, the results of this sort of strategy are often disappointing.</p>
<p>Apply to a few schools which are not THE best in what you or your kid wants to do. A mathematician who isn't USAMO level, but is very good should apply to Stanford and Yale, not just Princeton, MIT, and Harvard. The actor shouldn't just choose Yale, Harvard, Brown and Northwestern as his reaches, but throw in Stanford too. The swimmer who isn't good enough to swim for Stanford may well be a major "catch" for Dartmouth--which does so poorly in Ivy competition, that it tried to drop the team--unsuccessfully. If he wants to go to a LAC, the actor shouldn't just apply to Williams as a reach with Vassar as a match--throw in a Carleton. You can act there too.</p>
<p>The point is to take supply and demand into account in choosing your colleges and apply to a few schools where there won't be 1,000s of kids who do what you do well too applying. That's why athletes applying to the Ivies get in.
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<p>I’m somewhat accomplished as a high school debater—certainly not one of the tippy top in the country, but among the best in my (relatively populous) state.</p>
<p>With that in mind, what do you think are the most “obvious” schools for high school debaters to apply to, and which selective schools see less than their share? I know that Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale all receive debater applications in extreme excess. Is there any applicant pool in which a state-championship-level debater (from a rural public high school, in an underrepresented geographic area of her state that had never before fielded a state championship team, if that matters at all) would be more sought-after?</p>