<p>Competitive colleges accept three types of people.</p>
<p>First are the superstars. They are Intel winners, NFL Debators, published writers, awarded musicians, genius inventors, etc. They are academically outstanding and they have one or two EC's they excel in, so they are admitted almost anywhere they go. These are the people we usually associate with those colleges, but they actually make up a pretty small number.</p>
<p>Second are the "normal" kids. By "normal," I mean they are still valedictorians and student presidents and team captains, but they don't have one particular area they really really excel in. Maybe they have a particularly intriguing essay, or somehow demonstrated their passionate interest in the school's X program, or something or other that pushes them slightly apart from the crowd. These make up most of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the like.</p>
<p>Finally, there are special cases. These too, are a minority. They include athletic recruits, development cases, and URM recruits. If you're not one of these, don't bother , because they have their own separate requirements and only make up a small number of the population.</p>
<p>how much is NFL debate worth? I alway thought it was like anything else you like doing science bowl or dancing. Something to show you put your effort into but nothing big.</p>
<p>Is it really such a big deal to be a Debater?</p>
<p>i don't think being in the top 10% or 15% of the class really matters? i mean, what if one lived in a bad neighborhood? and every one had 1100s and he had a 1300 and ranked top 3%. i highly doubt any top tier school would take this person b/c of the rank, it's not balanced!</p>
<p>i don't think being in the top 10% or 15% of the class really matters? </p>
<p>It matters a heck of alot more than you think.....I heard if you are even in 11% of your class at college X that its almost IMPOSSIBLE to get in.....</p>
<p>If you go to a crummy school and perform at the top, you have overcome significant odds.</p>
<p>Class rank matters a lot. It puts you in context. At some schools kids with 4.2s are not top 10%. That tells you a lot about the school. At very competitive schools a 3.6 is often top 10%</p>
<p>The weight of class rank varies from school to school. If you go to a Harvard feeder school like Groton, Philip exeter, or some place like that then if you rank in the top20% you're set academically. I know a lot of people who got in with B+ averages. But then again, those schools have harvard,yale, princeton phd's teaching 8th graders and what not, so I suppose it balances that way.</p>
<p>ivies are soooo unpredictable. you never have any idea what's going on in those admission peoples' heads.
however, one thing i do know: REAL people get into these schools, REAL people succeed at these schools, and don't be discouraged by what you may hear about the elevated status of these "ivy" league schools.
just be prepared to go to a backup school- it would be very wise to apply to a few safeties that you KNOW you would be happy with along with your ivy league applications.</p>
<p>The whole "top 10%" thing is not just a box that is checked off on your app...the higher the better! At Rice university, for example, the acceptance rate is around 24%. However, the acceptance rate for students from the top 5% of their class is around 40% and the rate for students from the second 5% from the top is in the mid teens! For valedictorians, it is 57%! My point is that the "top 10%" thing is just a stat reported to USNews and in the Common Data Set. If you looked at the percentage of students from the top 2-3% at ivies and other elite privates, it would certainly be a majority. In fact, I have seen numbers (although I can't remember where, in order to cite tham) that at indicate that at some top 10ish schools, the average admitted student is top 2% or so. Elite universities ARE unpredictable, but if you put yourself in the position of having solid SATs (1400+) and grades (top 2-3%), then the randomness factor decreases significantly.</p>
<p>It's not a top ranking that gets you in. That's a side effect. It goes the other way, if that makes sense - Ivies are the BEST schools in the country, therefore it would make sense that the students are the BEST. It just happens that they're the top in their classes, etc. It's not that they look at the rank and go "Oh look, this person is 3%, better accept them!"</p>
<p>i don't remember the top 1% or 2% or 3% on the applications, i remember it was like top 10% and top 5% and one of the very few blah blah....
there was no box like top 1% or 2% or 3% right?
i hope my counselor checked off top 5%, or i am going to have a long talk with her :'(</p>
<p>i think these schools are looking for well-rounded kids as well as the "smart kids," and they always pick a whole CROP of kids, not just the brightest. did you ever wonder why Harvard had a 25-75% range of 1400-1590? Because 25% of that 6,591 student population have SAT's UNDER 1400! If people can't get that into their heads, I don't know what to do. Granted, a certain percentage of schools take up their lower percentages with athletes, but certainly not all of them are "great."
someone from my school applied to Yale last year- valedictorian, 1600 SAT's, great SAT II's, impressive schedule, great recs, but he didn't have the kind of EC's that many other applicants had.
These colleges don't want grade machines, they want PEOPLE.</p>