<p>This movie blows; I can't watch it without choppy audio and video interruptions every five seconds. Think it's my connection? Nope</a>, sorry.</p>
<p>PBS must have five-year-old setting up their video streams. I couldn't watch or hear any of it at 56K or 220K.</p>
<p>Did it depress anyone else that the kid who had the best essay they'd read all year and was up for a big scholarship didn't get in because of a grade slip in his sophomore year?</p>
<p>Rabo- yes, that was fairly depressing. Three B-minuses in 10th grade, and he was out. I wonder if there was more to that story that editing left out. </p>
<p>The video was choppy on our computer, too. :( </p>
<p>-- Momof2 in CA</p>
<p>I would suggest using the direct link through your real player as it I did not have any problems viewing on this link</p>
<p>I used Windows Media Player, not RealPlayer. I guess that's the problem. I refuse to download Real, though; I simply hate it.</p>
<p>sorry,</p>
<p>I used this link which Newt posted, had no problems</p>
<p>I used RealPlayer and had the same problems.<br>
Rabo I agree with you - I found it incredibly depressing that 3 B-s in 10th grade would result in such negative comments, never mind the lack of admission. Amherst is a very small school so clearly they cannot admit everyone but the comments really raised the hairs on my back. As a mother, I thought of many reasons why a student might have a bad quarter and, frankly, maybe the B-s came from teachers who refuse to give more than two As. Maybe the B- student hadn't figured out yet how to manage all his/her extracurriculars - it is a learning process, still! I kept wondering, would theses reviewers meet their own standards....and have their standards been validated by the outcomes? I am ready for the rebellion as well! You kids deserve more honesty and humanity than the college admissions process currently provides.</p>
<p>is sucks that a sprinkle of B+'s is considered mediocre</p>
<p>well. . .it depresses me just as much, but I guess when you have the choice of picking all As over As with a few B+s, then you go for the former. And I guess Amherst and a few institutions like it have the opportunity to make those choices, as the competition is so tough.</p>
<p>the kid with the grade drop in 10th grade depressed me also. But at least the ad com had taken the extra step of discussing it with the counselor at the kid's school. Presumably if the counselor had reported something like a significant illness or family problems that would have been taken into consideration.</p>
<p>the reviewer who called the college is an Amherst Graduate (we met her when D got accepted) Joy St. John is a Stanford graduate</p>
<p>that was nerveracking, especially since he was applying for classics, close to home...</p>
<p>I am just not convinced that the criteria of all As is a reasonable criteria but I guess that is an age old question. My son has two Bs on his report card this term - but also lives in a crazy house with his mother working full time, and getting her doctor, and he just experienced his father who had a stroke four weeks ago. He has NOT told his counselor this and doesn't want to. Apparently he should. It's nice to be proud of our children when they get all As, and it inspires confidence, but these are still lkids and I don't believe that a person's worthiness for college is diminished by 3 Bs in one quarter. I don't want my son to believe that either. Ge is not applying to Ivies or Amherst so I don't have to worry about this but it just makes me shake my head and wonder where common sense has gone. If it really is so competitive and there really are so many deserving kids, it's time to open up some more slots, isn't it???</p>
<p>doctorate, I should have said.....and his father had a stroke, pardon the grammar!</p>
<p>wtf... so this guy gets a 67 in math and they just don't even see the file...Gosh, I didn't know grades were THAT important</p>
<p>But they were also looking for a reason to admit the person first of all by bringing his application to committee and up for discussion. Imagine the number of people who were just straight our rejected without discussion.
The reason that grades are important is the best predictor of future behavior is relevant past behavior. When the school daw this big drop in grades they tried
to find out if there was a problem to justify the drop in grades, and the counselor said that there was none, which ulitimately led to the person's waitlist. There is a difference between if he had problems which they would have taken in to condieration and the appearance that he just slacked off and got himself together because junior and senior year grades would be used for college.</p>
<p>Doesn't it seem to undermind those that work hard all of time?</p>
<p>Remember Amherst gets rejected by 60% of the acceptees. This low yield tells you something about the process. As the director of admissions states, they view themselves as competitors of about 6 other highly selective schools (perhaps obsess over this competition). The 6 fight over the same candidates (perfect grade and test scores and elite URMs and athletes) and the Adcoms job is to fill the place from this small group of candidates only. The questions you have to ask are: 1) Do I want to go to a school that is so focused about beating brand X in admission statistics; 2) Why is Amherst brand college right for you versus many competitors and 3) Given the well documented selectivity, why would they accept you. I didn't think the video showed Amherst in a favorable light, just a very insular group of bureaucrats trying to beat the other guy to the same small group of kids. Hopefully everyone learned from the experience.</p>
<p>" I didn't think the video showed Amherst in a favorable light" thats why I appreciate it, they are atleast teling us the truth!! It happens at all the elite Universities and I doubt any one of them would even consider making such a video.</p>
<p>I think that the video showed the realities of the college process, the admissions commmittee knows that everyone that they ultimately chooses (with the exception of ED) is not going to choose them. I also believe that it is a self selected group of students who are applying to similar schools. The ones applying to HYP, know that the odds are really against them for being admitted , but they throw their hat in the ring, not expecting to be accepted , but estastic when they have been. So in realistic terms, Amherst was their first choice until this twist of fate intervened. </p>
<p>The pool that applied to Dartmouth, Amherst, and Williams have applied to 3 schools that are so similar to one another, that if accpeted only to one would be more than happy to attend. However they dynamics change if a student is accepted to more than one. From the first time my daughter saw Amherst, she was wowed by the school, and was hoping to be admitted. She saw Williams and Dartmouth in her junior and senior years and felt that she could find her niche there also. She applied with the hopes of getting into one of them and being happy. The situation at Amherst is similar at Williams and at Dartmouth. Williams has gone on record stating that they lose students to HYP and it is pretty much a 50/50 spilt between Amherst and Dartmouth. Like Amherst, Williams also had to go to its waitlist because not many of the students they accepted chose Williams in return.</p>
<p>However, Daughter was accepted to all three (they are so similiar to one another that it was difficult for her to make a finall decision), and met a a lot of friends at the admitted students open houses that were also considering all three schools. It got to the point when they left Williams it was like I'll see you at Amherst next weekend. I remember them coming back from Amherst on Sunday, and students saying to each other, "I'll see you thrusday, when they were all going off to Dartmouth".</p>
<p>The world may be a big place, but it is a small place as most of the Associate Deans of Admissions all know each other, I remember picking up my daughter from a visit at Williams (before the application process) and going directly to an event where she would see one of the Associate Deans from Amherst, she mentioned that she just got back form Williams, where the dean said oh, _______ and I are good friends. The Associate Dean of Admissions at Brown has known the Associate Dean at Columbia for over 20 years.</p>
<p>My d. ended up choosing Smith over Williams (my alma mater.) But the most intelligent thing I heard in the whole process was the introductory speech given on accepted students day by the Williams President. He congratulated every one on getting admitted, noted that each of them (us) had difficult decisions to make, that the acceptees were all winners already regardless of where they chose to attend, and, given the quality of competitive institutions, would likely succeed wherever they chose. He wished them all good luck, suggested they all take a look at what Williams had to offer, and what the competition offered, and come to reasoned judgments.</p>
<p>You have to remember - he went to Hofstra.</p>