<p>The first time I visited this site, I was astounded to see how scores of 2200 were spoken of almost as "average". I mean considering that a 1550 is the median score of all high school seniors, I realized there are some heavy weight students on this site. Upon looking further, I also realized and I think this is an important realization, that most of the kids here seemingly are not your average students, but the best and brightest. So it can be quite intimidating when a student comes here for the first time and sees the accomplishments, the hefty GPAs, the staggering SAT's, so let's keep this in perspective for the "little guy" or the "regular students".I would say this site caters more to ivy leaguers than it does the average college bound student.</p>
<p>Not a good or bad thing, just a realistic observation. So for all of you, who scored 1600-1900, you will go to college and possibly onto a great school, that you will love and thrive in. A score is only a part of the equation here, just work hard in school and continue to be in an interesting and well rounded person. Good luck to you all!!</p>
<p>Perspective is the most important thing that readers - especially student readers - can bring to CC.</p>
<p>The bad news, if you want to call it that (because you're a student worrying about the competition), is that there <em>are</em> hundreds and hundreds of very high achieving, wonderful kids who aren't on these forums. Or who visit quickly and don't post. The tone of a lot of the chances threads, and the hand-wringing and insincere "I'm so lame, I only got a 790; should I retake my SAT IIs" posts, puts off the <em>true</em> brightest and best. </p>
<p>The good news is, the kids whose posts seem at first to be the most intimidating are not necessarily such great prospects. Sometimes they're exaggerating their own accomplishments (or, in some truly gruesome threads, looking for advice on just how much padding is appropriate) and their advice and their estimates of their peers' chances can be very far from reality. Overall some of those threads are downright toxic.</p>
<p>I recognize that there are many wonderful students who post here, and that there are plenty of genuine inquiries about what various schools are like, and so on. CC is a valuable site. But it should always be taken with a few tons of salt.</p>
<p>Read the Parent threads if you want more measured opinions, seasoned perspective, and very worthwhile suggestions, advice, and commentary from smart, supportive, and occasionally very funny people.</p>
<p>Always a mystery to me when someone posts a "do I have a chance???" thread and then go on to list their soaring GPA full of IB and AP classes and their 2300+ SAT scores, impressive ECs, etc. I mean, how much intelligence does it take to look at the schools website and see that you're well above their 50% of acceptees. Is it so hard to figure out for yourself that you "have a chance" or are you seriously looking for confirmation from a bunch of unknown people who have no hand in your admission to tell you something that truly escapes you?</p>
<p>As for the students you come on with strong but not perfect grades, solid but not stunning SAT scores -- yeah, I can see how hearing from some people who've jumped through that hoop with similar stats (or not) might be at least marginally helpful information for putting your odds in perspective.</p>
<p>i think most people who post what are my chances? only to go on to lower the self esteem of every person who reads their post, are in need of an ego stroking and know they can get it from a site like this. it's just a chance to get rewarded for all the hard work and stress they put out for college.</p>
<p>I am sure some have a truly sincere motive, but agreed with above that for those who have scored over 2100 and have amazing GPA's, even more amazing accomplishments, it makes many others feel hopeless and inferior. My son refused to sign up his own acct. because he found it somewhat "not real world" for his taste. He was so siked that he got the 10th highest SAT score at 1980/2000 that his bubble deflated when he looked at some of the posts so he typically stays away. As a parent I find it interesting and more so with the other parents who kindly share their wisdom with newbies to this like myself! </p>
<p>I do think however, that there appears to be many who do in fact need the attention for whatever reason to feel "validated" that they are in fact superior to most. I wouldn't be surprised if some smart person deicdes to do an "offshoot" of this site because this one is certainly dominated by extraordinary kids. One perhaps for the above average, but not straospheric!</p>
<p>Whoever you might be, whether you got a 1500, a 1800 or a 2400, best of luck to you in this next few coming months!!</p>
<p>when i first found this site i was intrigued and did a chance thread because i honestly wanted to know what the other students thought. I am very very very happy with my SAT's (750m 690cr 670w) but, to my initial dismay, those scores were "too low" for any of the schools i wanted to go to. After doing research on my own and after coming to the realization that most of the studetns on this site are outstanding, or lie, i found the site much more useful because i could put things into persepective. I am still peeved by the chance threads for outstandign applicants and they still get me down, but i think that this site is much more useful for purposes other than "chancing"</p>
<p>I definitely agree with this thread. I think I'm towards the lower end of applicants, and it's devastating to see such high scores and such competition where you feel like there's no hope for you. Let's keep it real.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Always a mystery to me when someone posts a "do I have a chance???" thread and then go on to list their soaring GPA full of IB and AP classes and their 2300+ SAT scores, impressive ECs, etc. I mean, how much intelligence does it take to look at the schools website and see that you're well above their 50% of acceptees. Is it so hard to figure out for yourself that you "have a chance" or are you seriously looking for confirmation from a bunch of unknown people who have no hand in your admission to tell you something that truly escapes you?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's understandable that these students are stressing, with the amount of competition that is now the norm for the top colleges. Often a 'match' student with scores in the middle percentile of the college's accepted range has a much lower than 50% chance.</p>
<p>These were my exact sentiments when I found this site a couple days ago. Reading through all the chance threads, I see people (like a lot comparitively to the number or "average" students) with like 2200+ SAT and 4.1+ GPAs and going "uh hopefully at the end of this post I find these people are going to Harvard, Yale, etc. or I'm in trouble!"</p>
<p>Good post, glad I'm not the only one who was noticing this lol.</p>
<p>Also in the threads most of the colleges people want to go to are Ivies, and those types. But I dug up a list of colleges past classes from my school went to and there are about 170 different ones for 250 students, some Ivies, but the vast majority don't appear on many of the chances threads, and thats ok because I definetly agree this site is more towards getting into elite colleges than the other 90% of students in the country.</p>
<p>Well said, I knew my son was not alone in his assessment! Agreed most are on the "ivy track" but there are many who are interested in top tier schools and are above average but no t"superhuman". My son is one, I am very proud of him. He is in avery rigorous full IB program, has a 2000 SATscore, has great ec's including being the founder of a active diversity/culture club. I have every confidence that he will go to a college that he loves, and will thrive in. Iget the feeling that asking to be "chanced" is akin to being thrown to the sharks. You don't know if they are biting or not, and if they are (often) it can be a lethal blow:)
I think I now get why he didn't want to come on this site....but agreed that it is a great resource for so many other things!</p>
<p>Thank all of you who have posted responses to this thread. I am a Mom of a senior in a large high school in New York with stats no where near alot of the students who are posting. It makes me feel better to read others who share my opinion that only the "best and brightest" seem to be on these sites.</p>
<p>Think about all of the freshmen/sophomores here who are posting about how worried they are because their chances at the Ivy League have been shot down due to the B+ they received in Chemistry. It's obvious that many of the people who even bother to join a forum dedicated to college admissions are high strung overachievers anyway. ;)</p>
<p>I have to admit though, sometimes it makes me feel guilty to be blessed with the power of not caring about my grades.</p>
<p>As a dad of 3 kids with widely varying "stats" this site is really helpful in terms of getting to know about college options and finding out about schools you might never have considered. Yes, there's a "reality check" regarding the crazy competition these days for the highly sought after seats in the handful of "elite" schools - but that is reality, and it might be better to know about it going into the process rather than having unrealistic expectations. The good news is that the "safety" and "match" schools are also terrific places to spend four years getting an education.</p>