Delusional Parents & Kids

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Not being mean but there are some parents out there who are beyond unrealistic in their expectations and pass this on to their kids who invariably parrot them word for word. </p>

<p>Ever run into this?</p>

<p>Real scenario:</p>

<p>Parent has been talking up Harvard since the kid was 7 years old. Test scores are currently 19 for ACT and 1540 for SAT (out of 2,400). GPA is 4.02 (weighted), don't know unweighted score. Student has a superb memory but a serious deficit in analytical skills.</p>

<p>Despite these test scores they are sure the GPA will carry the day. Back up schools are William and Mary, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie Mellon.</p>

<p>High School is pretty good but students who do poorly on exams can retake them. The good students don't but the others do so frequently and this boosts them from C's and D's to A's as the exams aren't changed that much. </p>

<p>I'm worried that the kid is going to have a rude awakening come application time but am keeping my mouth shut. I am utterly baffled as to how people can be so disconnected, do they actually believe what they are saying?</p>

2

<p>Our counselors are also baffled at some students & parents unrealistic expectations in regards to college admissions. No matter how many times they tell a some students or parents, “this is your SAT score & this is the average for admitted students”… they don’t seem to get it. I just don’t think they understand the differences in scores…they are just numbers to them.</p>

3

<p>I always LOL when people think GPA means much of anything for elite college admissions. Sure, maybe you have a 3.75 or whatever and are top ten at your little village school, but that means absolutely nothing in the context of the entire nation. As far as I can tell, GPA’s beyond 3.7-3.8 unweighted are pretty much mandatory, and anything above that doesn’t significantly boost admission chances.</p>