<p>How does one define unqualified? In college admissions it is an almost purely subjective thing. I mean, aside from if you got a 900/2400 on your SATs and have earned straight Ds you pretty much have a shot anywhere as college admissions at this point is akin to flipping a coin. I wonder how much longer this insane stressed-out overachiever culture can extend before the bubble bursts and we start all over...</p>
<p>huh.. my cousin super-rich, she got into standford with a 1290 (old) 4.0 UW private school.... I'm not so rich... 2150 SAT, 34ACT. 3.7UW and I dont have a chance</p>
<p>biceps09: i know someone who totally like that. this girl in my school is hispanic...has a 1320 and is in mostly CP classes. she's taken like one ap in her entire life. she does the school play but she;s neven gotten a major character. she's dropped classes...like last yr she dropped alegbra 2 honors cuz it was too hard and this yr she dropped physics honors cuz it was too hard. somehow she gets in harvard. </p>
<p>the college process is total BS.....yea im bitter, i try not to think about it but seeing her kills me. </p>
<p>lewisloftus-ur totally right. i have to somehow let it go or else ill be consumed with envy.</p>
<p>kchen, liveitout, & RockyMountains,
you all have it right. And I always also appreciate N'starmom's corrections of people's misunderstandings -- & sometimes outright ignorance -- about minority admissions.</p>
<p>There have been a lot of conversations about this on PF lately. Not that they don't come up every year: they do. It's just that, as RM notes, the Perfect Storm-"impossible"-odds was especially brutal & dizzying this year -- a fact which was predicted by some of us who were merely reading demographic tables -- never mind any clairvoyance. The upper-level schools tend to be able to fill their freshman classrooms 3 times over with qualified applicants, & this has held over the last few admissions cycles. </p>
<p>It (the mismatch between available seats & qualified applicants)is definitely not "fair." Nor am I making any statement about the particular admittee being complained about, except that, as others have noted, the "qualifications" are determined by the colleges, not by the applicant's classmates, by student competitors, nor by parents of hopefuls. The colleges have no wish to shoot themselves in the feet by admitting loser candidates. They expect an overwhelming amount of those admitted to do well, or at least to graduate: they are making individual judgments about that based on the applicant's record of ability -- a record that is not accessible to our eyes. Any admission by a college is an investment, thus a financial commitment as well -- even if not a dime of aid is requested or awarded.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that there will be non-URM's accepted into high-profile colleges who have achieved <em>less</em>, including quantitatively, than some URM's accepted to those same colleges. That's why this line of argument is scapegoating.</p>
<p>We DO all need to take a deep breath & stand back, including parents. Parents need to follow their own "Love Thy Safety" advice if they have prospective seniors graduating in the next few years. Yet I see some parents "pointing fingers" on PF threads, too -- targeting AA as the culprit, or "randomness" as the reason -- as if admissions committees are blindly pulling "accept" apps out of a hat. Selective U's are rejecting qualified students of every race, by the armful. The decisions are very deliberate, but are not a comment on the academic worthiness of those rejected, merely a comment on who that college has decided to keep for this particular year, given similarities in many of those apps.</p>
<p>I know a Sr. who is miserable right now because she applied to 11 reaches & only 1 match & 2 safeties. She's been rejected from all those reaches. In her case, she really did over-reach. In her case, guaranteed that she was not passed over for minority candidates, merely for reaching too high given her stats. I will be encouraging my own D to apply to about 8 safeties, 3 matches, and 1 reach. (Because by that time, some of those "safeties" will probably be matches!)</p>
<p>"huh.. my cousin super-rich, she got into standford with a 1290 (old) 4.0 UW private school.... I'm not so rich... 2150 SAT, 34ACT. 3.7UW and I dont have a chance"</p>
<p>Maybe you won't get in because you can't even spell "Stanford" properly. </p>
<p>This thread is just a haven for bitter people. How sad.</p>
<p>hmm this is true... but it is the internet and I don't see a need to speal write.</p>
<p>you really start to wonder, I mean if thats girl goes to Harvard Med, would you like her to be your surgeon just caus she went harvard? I mean those schools are so stupid sometimes, if one of those students one day lets them down ( and they probably will) well then they'll get a really bad name because of it, so why not simply not allow those students in their school in the first place?</p>
<p>i know how you feel. people think that i'm a sour grape case. that may be true if i'm the only one complaining. but nearly all of the people who know him/her? something must be not right somewhere.</p>
<p>global, those colleges don't get a really bad name if somebody slips into mediocrity. That only happens if a graduate turns into, say, the Unabomber. And Harvard seems to be doing just fine...</p>
<p>"hmm this is true... but it is the internet and I don't see a need to speal write."</p>
<p>Yes, cover up your ignorance by pretending you don't care.</p>
<p>It's like the guy who makes a joke, and nobody laughs, so he claims that he "wasn't trying to be funny."</p>
<p>So i am ignorant because I spelled stanford wrong... which by the way is very easy to do if you r typing fast since d and f are right next to each other. I would say the ignorance is on you for even pointing that out in the first place. Like anyone really cares if I spell stanford wrong. </p>
<p>I really dont see a point in spelling as long as people know what you mean. </p>
<p>"Yes, cover up your ignorance by pretending you don't care."</p>
<p>LOL. The fact is that I dont care. At all. You are just someone who gets a kick out of pointing out other peoples mistakes, and then making fun of them.</p>
<p>The fact is that "name" and money can get you far in this world and its no different in the college admissions process. </p>
<p>You can seriously quite talking</p>
<p>"I mean if thats girl goes to Harvard Med, would you like her to be your surgeon just caus she went harvard"</p>
<p>Actually, yes. That would be one of the main factors that I'd want to go to her for surgery.</p>
<p>"I mean if thats girl goes to Harvard Med, would you like her to be your surgeon just caus she went harvard"</p>
<p>Actually, yes. That would be one of the main factors that I'd want to go to her for surgery.</p>
<p>actually, if frankenstein went to Harvard med u wouldnt care??? For starters I dont like Ivies much, overrated as hell... secondly, good doctor = good colletge is quite a senseless statement</p>
<p>beauty and beast tale. i wudn't mind dating frankenstein. he's not as scary as to popular belief.</p>
<p>so, Harvard makes u a mnice person? This remins me on these 'fair and Handsome' ads. or equally dumb.. (if u live in india, ud understand)</p>