<p>Ok...maybe a strange topic, but I was listening to a radio talk show yesterday and they were talking about "Hot Girl Factor." I their opinions, "Hot Girls" have distinct advantages in life. The "Hot Girl" at the center of the conversation (one of the D.J.s) said that people like her and hung out with her because she was "nice" and "personable" and that looks had nothing to do with it. Everyone else on the panel disagreed as did most callers.</p>
<p>At dinner last night we (a group of parents) were talking about this. Frankly the conversation was a bit crazy, but it left us with one lingering point....If (I will use a girl in this example) a girl (girl A) applies to a top University/College and is on paper "equal" on another candidate (girl B), but girl A is smoking hot, does she hold that advantage? </p>
<p>Personally I said if an admissions officers interviewed them both and both interviews were created equal AND the admission officer was a man, then girl A has an advantage. If the admissions officer was a girl, I say girl B has the advantage....</p>
<p>OK, this IS a totally random topic...but I'll add my two cents: I think the "hot girl" has an advantage in all situations. Not just for men interviewers and admissions reps. Why would the woman choose the ugly girl?</p>
<p>If beauty plays any role at all in the college admissions process, I would assume that it would be MUCH subtler than the effect you're suggesting.</p>
<p>If you want to argue that beautiful people are usually more likely to be encouraged by parents/teachers to aspire to great things, elected to leadership in ECs by peers, etc., then... well, duh.</p>
<p>I think any impact is totally indirect. No college will consciously discriminate based on attractiveness. BUT, a beautiful person will get a lot of benefits along the way. Grades on subjective assignments like essays, teacher recs, counselor recs, getting voted in to leadership positions.....all of these things will be different if the person is a fat and ugly.</p>
<p>That's true that women can be mean and jealous, but I still think that in a situation where a female admissions officer was torn between two perfectly identical candidates, she would choose the more attractive one. This is totally hypothetical though! I don't actually think appearance has any measurable affect on admissions to college. Honestly, there are a million things that they could use for a "tie-breaker"...like...who has the more interesting sounding ECs? Whose high school has a more prestigious sounding name? Or, for that matter, which APPLICANT has the cooler name. Hahaha. But yeah...if it did come down to beauty, I still think the woman would favor the more attractive one. Apparently everyone subconsciously admires a beautiful woman. That's why they use women so much in advertising on TV.</p>
<p>First of all, to provide you guys some context of where I am coming from... I am a male so my answers could be partial to my sex though I doubt it. </p>
<p>At top universities I guarantee you guys attractiveness will play a role, and it could be key. People in today's world are too soon to shun off those who find their "genius" in beauty or modeling, etc. </p>
<p>When you see an actor, however good he/she may be, would you guys not agree that if one is blinding with beauty and the other is "meh" that you will find the beautiful one better? Many consider Jessica Alba to be a great actor, she is (if you analyze her acting) an OK actor (not too shabby) but she would not be where she is now if she was not as hot. </p>
<p>Are college admissions like acting, no... I am sure they have similarities, though. Having a better looking community adds to the aesthetics. Think about a restaurant, good food will taste better in a restaurant with a lot of ambiance as opposed to the same food in a McDonalds. </p>
<p>Is being Beautiful good enough to be considered a HOOK? Who knows, but I think it definitely has its own merits. </p>
<p>It's one of those things that people say "***... how can someone get in because of XXX", things like legacy etc. </p>
<p>So IMHO being brutally hot will help. </p>
<p>Remember, the "hotness" has to be good enough so the interviewer remembers.</p>
<p>"college admission officers don't care about your looks, they look at you personally not physically"</p>
<p>If college admission didn't care about your looks, then why in the world is there any conversation or worry about what to wear to an interview? Appearance matters in America. It always has. It is my opinion (and it is only an opinion) that looks matter and they always will. Is it enough to make an admissions officer take notice. That I don't know...but maybe.</p>
<p>So rahleh....maybe the key is to be a hot girl with a cool name...lol</p>
<p>Exactly. God (no I am not a creationist or any other religious fanatic, just using it as a "higher power") would not have endowed humanity with differing looks if it did not matter. </p>
<p>Sorry to break the bubbles of everyone who wants to live through life assuming the only thing that matters is "personality". Society has made a choice against conducting itself with such means and thus looks will remain important until human nature goes through severe change.</p>
<p>In my personal (and admittedly very inexperienced) opinion, I think that while looks don't play a part in college admissions on their own, they do play a role, however big or small, in many of the things that colleges look at. I think it's okay to say that in many schools across the country, Class President for example is more than just a "who's the smartest/most organized". Leadership, Student Government elections, etc. that take place in high school, well, take place in high school. And while we would all love to say that academic potential is the top and only factor, I think many things do go a little bit beyond in some situations. (Although I'm not at all saying that beauty dictates how people turn out in life, because clearly that would be an entirely false statement, I'm only agreeing with others who have said that looks do play a very very small factor in success.)</p>
<p>But honestly it's sad that looks are EVERYTHING in this society when they shouldnt be,
but I'm sure that if the interviewer had any sense she/he would pick the person who presented themselves better and has the better academic record.</p>
<p>It's so sad that this society is very shallow....I wish it wasnt but....that's life unfortunately....
hopefully most people can come to their senses and make the "right" decsions</p>
<p>I can't comment about overall attractiveness but as far as interview attire, I see it as a measure of falling within social norms. A very physically attractive woman wore inappropriate attire would be viewed very negatively by me over a woman of average to lower attractiveness level but dressed appropriately for the situation.</p>
<p>I would call into question the Hot girl's judgment and not the latter.</p>
<p>I think I would be impartial. I'm that way now, with young children that I work with. I notice adorable students, but it doesn't matter at all that they are cute when I'm teaching them. My indifference both baffles and amuses me, because there is some research showing that teachers tend to be more lenient, etc. toward a pretty child as opposed to a plain child, and it doesn't apply to me.</p>
<p>Yes being *smokling hot * and smart has definite advantages. If you have the option to submit photo with your app, I can't say the admission officer esp male will not be influenced by it. </p>
<p>This is getting off topic and highly controversial and might not be even true - there is a recent study maybe done by the Brits not sure, that shows IQ's of women are higher the more attractive they are. Our male genetics is programmed to recognized certain facial features with mate-desirability. That whole thing is to produce a better progeny. Dumb this and dumb that jokes are stereotypes against women who rely on looks and not apptitude to get ahead. Things are done for you if you fit that type of female image. Men are indeed marrying women for their brains afterall.</p>
<p>Okay- looks will matter wherever you go; it's human nature to judge someone by their looks. So to answer your question, looks probably won't affect your college admission chances because for one, interviews(which I would assume is the only part of the college process where you are seen, phyiscally) don't even count for much, and two, have you ever been to MIT? On the other hand, if the applicant is applying to a department that is centered around image-fashion, hotel management, etc- then looks will obviously play a much bigger role relative to an applicant applying to an engineering school.</p>