<p>Stats and grades and extracurriculars are important...but on a board like this everyone seems to think these are the determining factors. In fact, I have read many chances threads and people always say "not enough extra-currics". The schools do not want to see overloaded extracurricular activities because then it does not seem as though you are truly interested in them all. It seems as if you just do them to do them. I have also heard many times that people says schools like HADES are extremely selective. This is TRUE, dont get me wrong, but I know people who have gotten into these schools who are not special at all. In fact most people on the forum would not believe that kind of person could ever get in. I just wanted to inform all of the people who are scared for their life about the chances thread... ignore it. Schools do not want the exact same profile kid as their entire student body. A brainiac with 30 years of violin and 100 years of lacrosse. Diversity is not just color, socioeconomic, and location. Diversity is considered a very broad thing, that cannot be defined to one "type" of diversity. To all those people who are so scared about your chances..EVERYONE HAS A CHANCE! I just want to let everyone know this, so people do not get psyched out. Also, when people say their interviews went well it is extremely hard to tell what the interviewer is actually thinking. I just wanted to let all of us regular people...THERE IS STILL HOPE!</p>
<p>THANK YOU hadeswisher! :D</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing with us. </p>
<p>But, but, but how do GADES select their students then? Just the hunch? :)</p>
<p>you should have posted this on march 9th. I am not psyched out now, but I am assuming I will be then. haha</p>
<p>No GADES/HADES definately look at those different pieces for the admissions process, however it is not the end all be all. Again, CC is only a small pertentage of applicants, and if you look at the Master List of Acceptances many CCers did not get into all or even most of their schools. Living in a place where about 30% of all kids go to boarding school, trust me they are not all that special.</p>
<p>Great Point hadeswisher! You just really lifted my spirits!</p>
<p>I feel so much better now.
But there are outstanding, genius students on here who got rejected… ._. Maybe they were too nerdy at their interviews? :)</p>
<p>This thread will help me sleep better tonight. Thanks, Hadeswisher!</p>
<p>Thanks for this post! I feel like my interviews were the strongest part of my application, and that’s really want it comes down to, right? Of course, the GPA and ECs and recs all count but the interview- it’s do or die.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the information. I am very new to this site and have become a little concerned with my daughter getting in anywhere. i haven’t figured out how kids play 5 sports, EC’s and maintain good grades. * am a single parent of a pretty smart girl from the midwest. She dances 15 hours per week, 3 hours of community service, 3.71 gpa, #3 in her class, travels 3 hours round trip to/from school and is teaching herself Japanese and reads an additional book every two weeks.</p>
<p>It is good to feel like she has a chance again :-)</p>
<p>Finally, someone sees it the way I do!</p>
<p>Finally a good opportunity for me to speak out about ECs and what I’ve been seeing posted on this board. Look, I’m not an admissions officer, just an alum of one of these schools with a son applying giving my perspective. I’ve seen applicant after applicant post lists of ECs 10 pages long here. If I were an admissions officer reading an application folder, my reaction would be, that’s nice, but then I would focus on the one or two ECs that appear to be most important to the student. And I would judge the applicant on his/her achievement in and commitment to those activities. I would be much more impressed by an applicant who had achieved something noteworthy (considering that these are still teenagers, after all) in those one or two activities that they showed some commitment to than had padded their resume with lots of fluff. And in my mind, a long list of ECs starts to be somewhat of a negative if it is clear that they are there as padding and “for show”.</p>
<p>That view certainly doesn’t mean that a student needs to have achieved greatness by 14 or they’re not worthy of admission. At 14, significant signs of potential are still enough. That often comes out during an interview. Like Potter said on a very different topic, “I know it when I see it.”</p>
<p>*Thank you so much for the information. I am very new to this site and have become a little concerned with my daughter getting in anywhere. i haven’t figured out how kids play 5 sports, EC’s and maintain good grades. * am a single parent of a pretty smart girl from the midwest. She dances 15 hours per week, 3 hours of community service, 3.71 gpa, #3 in her class, travels 3 hours round trip to/from school and is teaching herself Japanese and reads an additional book every two weeks.</p>
<p>It is good to feel like she has a chance again 
*</p>
<p>To me, this feels like a full quota of ECs. One really major EC demonstrating a significant sense of commitment (I’m sure you can flesh it out with some details - performed in this and that, etc…). Solid GPA and class rank (though if schools don’t know her school, standardized tests will be of some importance to help them interpret the value of her class rank). And also she has a few extra things on the side that present her as more well-rounded. Assuming she comes across well during the interview, she certainly should have a chance. No school mentioned on this board has a requirement of a minimum number of ECs for admission. That many ECs may look good in a discussion forum setting, but play differently, imho, to an admissions committee which will look at the entire story behind an applicant and make its decision based on that in the context of their entire applicant pool, current student body and school philosopy. At least that’s the way I see it, ymmv.</p>
<p>The discussion about EC’s is all valid. I have no further comments. On this observation of OP’s however
</p>
<p>I’d ask first what is your definition of “special”? GPA, test scores, an impressive EC, special talent, legacy status, atheletic ability, an under-represented minority, state or country, ability to pay the tuition… the list that can make someone special goes on. If you still can’t match something special with the someone you know who gets admitted, I know that almost all students from a private middle school would apply to a certain top tier boarding school. Many of them are qualified but the BS can only take a certain number of applicants from a single pool, so the result is that someone from another school or an area that is less special gets admitted over someone more special in this pool. Of course, there is always “margin of errors” coming from the admission officers. This is a human driven process so there is subjective factors involved. If only 1 in 5 of the applicants to top schools get accepted, are we better off having faith that all admitted have something special to offer to the school or thinking it’s more of a crapshot or sweepstake?</p>
<p>After going through the application process last year and having a child at a HADES school, I think the schools are really looking for kids who are going to be a nice “fit” with the school community. Each school is very different and the kind of kid that will thrive in that particular environment varies. The level of maturity displayed and the ability to be a self starter are key. To make it at any of these schools you need to be able to hit the ground running. No more mom and dad to make sure you are on time or have your homework done. So 99% SSAT and straight A’s are not all that it is about. Many kids come from very rural environments that did not give them access to AP classes and tons of ECs and they are accepted and do well. It is like when I applied to my 1st job out of college. The interviewer said to me that most people who applied for the job could do it; they were looking for people they could picture themselves pulling an all nighter with.</p>
<p>so true, however sometimes specail ecs can bee ur ticket. understand that noone is perfect, but some people need ecs to get in. for instance if i didnt have football… my admission cahnce would be screwered. im asian nd have only a 3.7 gpa… barely. nd im applying to HADES so yeah.</p>
<p>*so true, however sometimes specail ecs can bee ur ticket. understand that noone is perfect, but some people need ecs to get in. for instance if i didnt have football… my admission cahnce would be screwered. im asian nd have only a 3.7 gpa… barely. nd im applying to HADES so yeah. *</p>
<p>In that case, you missed my point. I’m not saying that ECs are not taken into account. Nor am I saying that they shouldn’t be taken into account. I’m just saying that a laundry list of ECs without any depth to them will be (or at least I hope should be) viewed skeptically by an admissions committee. Conversely, I believe that an admissions committee should look favorably upon an applicant who shows commitment and depth to one or two ECs without presenting the laundry list. I’ve seen too many exchanges around here go:</p>
<p>Query: “Here are my credentials including my 227 ECs. Please, please chance me!”</p>
<p>Response: “To get into a HADES school, your grades and SSATs are ok, but you really need a few more ECs.”</p>
<p>oh i completly agree with that… these ppl make me look like a loser hahah</p>
<p>anyways i find it ridoncolous that ppl think everyone needs a hook. wake up ppl, hooksc are for the small # of peple of what school needs</p>
<p>honestly the hook that has the biggest pull is athletics, with is good for me but unfortunate for a lot of other people. you can be less expectational at athletics, and have it count as a hook. while you must be extraordinary in the arts for it too be counted as a legit hook IMHO</p>
<p>The laundry list of ECs really means very little to most admissions readers unless you have DEPTH in those ECs. Most schools are going to look very hard at a kid with the grades/scores and 1 or 2 ECs with great strength (ie varsity sport potential, first chair violin etc) and a FEW lesser ECs. An applicant with a dozen ECs but none with great depth faces an uphill battle and better have FANTASTIC grades/scores/recs or be a development admit. This advice may be too late for many current applicants but is certainly true at many of the schools with low admit rates.</p>