<p>I really don't understand these what are my chances threads. Can someone please answer this question- How can you tell someone their chances at a specific college when you dont work with admissions at any college (and especially if youre still in high school)? Unless it is an extreme case (i.e:someone with a 1.2 GPA and a 920 SAT wants to get into Harvard), how do you know enough to tell someone "you're not getting in unless you boost up ur _____"? </p>
<p>I'm not venting, I am really just curious because people you wouldnt expect have gotten denied from schools you would think they could get into. And people have gotten accepted at places you would never imagine. So I dont understand. How can you reply?</p>
<p>certain people - like me - have experience with the admissions process (ie having gone through it yourself or gone through it as a parent). Others are just familiar with looking at peoples stats on this website. Others really just dont know what theyre talking about</p>
<p>I think that when people offer their opinions on someone's chances, they realize that, yes, they are not on the admissions committee and they don't exactly know what it is that makes certain applicants attractive to some schools and not to others. Instead, we merely try to base your chances on previously known facts of a profile of students who have shown to be accepted more often, you know: 3.9/4.0 GPA, 2350 SAT's, sals and vals, etc. Though at the same time we agree that what we say is not fact, and yes surprises do happen, but usually there's a reason behind that, and upsets do happen and there's also a reason for that, and though we may never know some of these reasons, we must merely speculate on the circumstances and carry on with business. {Because trust me, the colleges I was accepted to no one expected me to get into, and then there's the sal of the girl who was accepted to Columbia but rejected from Lehigh, it's just one of those things.}</p>