<p>My son has straight As and is a Junior right now. He has been in the school musical and band but doesn't have other ECs.
He works part-time. He should do very well on the PSAT based on his practice tests.</p>
<p>But it sounds from following CC for awhile that "regular" smart kids don't stand much of a chance of getting in. By that I mean students with top grades and test scores with average ECs and volunteering. I know the ivy leagues are always looking for the prodigies: kids who created a cure for cancer in their basement, who single-handedly pulled an underdeveloped country out of poverty or wrote a Pulitzer prize-winning novel at age 14, etc.</p>
<p>So does anyone who is "just smart" ever make it in- maybe with good recommendations or a knockout essay?</p>
<p>My D is a “regular” smart kid who got into Cornell. She had good grades, good SAT scores, strong EC’s but nothing newsworthy, and good essays. I’m also guessing she had very good recommendations because her teachers seemed to really like her. But there was no one thing about her that stood out as “wow;” she was a good all-around student. And from what she tells me about most of the kids she has befriended at Cornell, they are mostly “regular” smart kids too. I think what helped her get in was she showed interest in her major and had some relevant experience.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that on College Confidential you are only seeing a tiny fraction of applicants and admitted students.</p>
<p>I by no means was a child prodigy or a genius or anything. I was smart, I was passionate about the stuff I did, I stood out at my small public school, but I was (and still am not) unbelievably extraordinary. I have met a few people here who did things that were pretty remarkable or impressive, but the vast majority of people are just regular people who happen to be intelligent and hold varying passions. </p>
<p>Some of the people i met that go to cornell are pretty average. very odd to hear kids who have 2200’s get denied to cornell but its not like its uncommon. I would assume theres something special that admissions see in the people that they decide to accept. </p>
<p>Essays & letters of Recommendation are huge. I have seen students with below average (for cornell) stats admitted and students with above average stats denied. As I told my kids “hope for the best, but expect the worst” with college admissions. They end up where they belong. </p>
<p>A bunch of us on CC, perhaps not all Ivy League graduates though, feel that we wrangled our way into an Ivy. It is most definitely worth trying. </p>
<p>My son would kick himself more for not trying to get into an Ivy than if he gets rejected.</p>
<p>The trick is, some people with great stats don’t get in - maybe poor essays, maybe poor recommendations. I know from alumni interviews, if a student acts like my alma mater is “one of many great schools I am applying to just to see if I can get in”, that is going to look very bad on an application.</p>
<p>I am hoping that my above average. but hasn’t cured cancer, DD gets in. She is applying ED in a couple of weeks. A lot is riding on SATs tomorrow!!</p>
<p>You see, it is what people define by smart. People would usually classify someone who is smart, by how many As they get on their report card, or how high their SAT or ACT score is. I mean, no one can be smart at everything. Everyone has a different type of field that they are smart in. What these Ivy League colleges look for in general is someone who is passionate in their field, and is not there for the title but because they need the education to accommodate them on to help full develop their passion. The ivy leagues are looking for kids who are passionate in their field, true, but they are also looking for kids who have grown as a person, and not just prodigies. Just like Spiderman, the man who became Spiderman had one of his uncle shot and killed by a criminal, and that situation drove the man to become Spiderman, because he doesn’t want people to get killed by criminals. What the Ivy League looks for in kids, is who they are as a person and what is their passion. End of story.</p>