<p>new yorka mate, he got a 700 on the reasoning math. Thats like making 3-4 mistakes in the entire thing. If he can get close to 800 on MathII, then i m sure the reasoning would be overlooked.</p>
<p>Look, i understand your situation, and how it would have been near impossible for you to succeed against legacies and athletes. But this guys not in that position. Its different for him. I mean, look at me for instant. I barely got over 2200 on my SATs. and was only rejected by one ivy league school - cornell - despite being an international applicant.</p>
<p>i got nothing against you, in fact i m glad you give an honest opinion, and thats what i do too. You should read some of my others posts, and you will realise that I m not posting to please people. If people start ‘chance’ threads on CC, they want honest posts, and you and i certainly provide that. I did not say anything about what your opinion, I was just surprised at how aggresively you put it. I mean you are entitled to your opinion, just don’t be too hostile about it, and try to enstil it upon others as well.</p>
<p>Sid, I enjoy the debate. If your argument is that he can retake it and get an 800 by all means he should.</p>
<p>However, just take a moment to go on the websites of the schools and look at the common data sets. MIT takes very few kids with a 700 math, no matter how many questions they got right. Also look where the 700 stands at HYP, not good my friend unless you’re seriously hooked.</p>
<p>He does not face my exact hurdles, but he has a set of his own as I briefly wrote about above.</p>
<p>Look, the bottom line is if you read the CDSs the OP is not a strong candidate at any ivy based on their published numbers. I’m not even talking to the OPs case anymore, future applicants need to look at the data. If they don’t comfortably fall into the range for the unhooked (and 50% of every class is hooked), odds are seriously against them. Sure some beat the odds, but the odds are, well, the odds.</p>
<p>I seriously wish the OP the best and hope he gets into a school of choice. But too many posters ask if they will still get in despite not being a strong candidate based on quantitative facts and despite what folks here seem to think, the answer is no.</p>
<p>FellowCCViewer, I’ll be sending 3, I just don’t know which I’m sending yet. =P And thanks for the overrated comment, thinking about it now, I’ll probably only send them the 4 clubs I posted originally.</p>
<p>If I was an adcom and saw most ECs being only 1-2 years, I’m not sure but I’d feel like the guy was trying to merely play the game for college…</p>
<p>But perhaps adcoms are idealists…</p>
<p>We can only hope. And newyorka has dealt me some ugly news in the past but I thoroughly appreciated it and I hope I can rectify/modify my situatition to help my chances. So OP, don’t get annoyed at newyork (For clarification never said you are annoyed at him/her) but take it as constructive. </p>
<p>Its vital a forum like CC has people like newyorka to ensure everyone doesn’t go all ‘fake sincerity’ etc on each other. If it wasn’t for newyorka I would have thought I’d AT LEAST get into one or two of HYPSM but now I won’t be crushed when the almost inevitable rejection letters come in (Still applying, lol, I’m persistent!).</p>
<p>I’m not honest to me mean. I’ve realized that a lot of people don’t have the benefit of good counseling and believe the myths such as that ECs override low stats and a 2100 is looked at the same as a 2400 by colleges. Not to mention the dozens of candidates on this site alone who plan to tell colleges an illness caused bad grades and expect to get in.</p>
<p>Better to get real early and put the effort into realistic colleges then cry a river in April.</p>
<p>I do truly respect and learn from your posts newyorka and I would like to thank you for giving me your hard, matter-of-fact opinions. Lke shore, I am quite persistant, so I will still be applying to my dream schools.</p>
<p>I’ve also decided to retake the SATs with hopes of getting a a higher mark in the mathematics section. Unfortunately, my previous GPA is something I cannot change. But hopefully, I can use my essay to prove to them that my grades are not wholly indicative of my true skills and that I would be an integral part of their student community.</p>
<p>Is there anything else I should work on? And do you have any opinions on my chances to the lower Ivys?</p>
<p>Good luck Flip. IMO all the ivies will be a longshot, but check out the common data sets yourself.</p>
<p>On this board in Sushifureaks thread, post #6 contains scattergrams from a typical high school. You can see what it took for those applicants to get into every ivy. It speaks volumes.</p>
<p>In the end the part I don’t know is whether colleges really overlook illness. It’s hard for me to believe they do given the huge number of people who are asking them to, but just maybe your story is a good one. That’s the only wildcard I see here.</p>
<p>newyorka, quick question, may i ask where you applied and where you got accepted/rejected?</p>
<p>If you do not want to answer the question of where you got rejected ill understand…</p>
<p>Also, where are you currently studying? Id just like to know…</p>
<p>Also, thanks for honest truth/ getting your parents to buy high priced great counselors (im assuming they are great, and must have aided a lot)… some of us are not fortunate in getting these things and so knowing someone like you who probably had the money and is passing down the info he got from the counseling for free is very appreciative…</p>
<p>Anyways, im just curious what institution you are attending, what major, and where you got rejected/accepted/applied.</p>
<p>So liberal arts faculty and major in that faculty.. good… Glad to hear you were accepted by all those universities. Did u ED any of those schools?</p>
<p>It seems ur perception is that legacy plays a huge roll… hmmm… i wonder how that feels to many of the public school indian kids in boston (just as an example) who dont have legacies and get into Harvard… i have had 4 indian friends get accepted who werent as fortunate as you are in terms of wealth… did not play sports… and most certainly did not have legacies… im starting to doubt ur direct interpretations of certain chance threads… Just saying… i know 4 indians isnt much data to work off of in terms of understanding the admissions… but it goes to show those dont equal into automatic acceptances… Not trying to argue with you or anything, just seems to me the counseling you got told u what u wanted to hear and what u did not want to hear.</p>
<p>Well, I go to a school and live in a town where legacies exist in high numbers. Trust me, the standard is different for them, especially if their parents are wealthy and influential.</p>
<p>There is still 50% of the class left after the hooked are accounted for!</p>
<p>I didn’t want to hear forget HYPW, but I opened my eyes yo the facts rather than slave over those apps when I loved other schools as much.</p>
<p>I’m not asking anyone to take my word, but anyone who has a hard time understanding the college game should read The Price of Admission.</p>
<p>Also have a close look at the scattergrams on sushifureak’s thread. There the stats of kids who got into ivies are layed out for you clearly. They jibe with what I’ve seen and with what counselors have told me. 4.0 and 2300 plus if you’re not hooked.</p>
<p>I agree with newyorka, and I also agree that sending 7 letters of rec. is not just pointless, it is an awful idea. Send the normal amount if you want to, but with your GPA I don’t think you will make it into HYPW, but I do not think that your ECs are weak (especially the Environmental Council you are on. Raising that much money is impressive.)
Best of luck to you! I would apply to schools with strong programs but that are easier to get into than HYPW. After all, there are plenty of other excellent options!</p>
<p>“stats of kids who got into ivies are layed out for you clearly”</p>
<p>each applicant is unique and is looked at INDIVIDUALLY with referenced to demographic location, lack of opportunities around him/her in terms of where they studied etc. and other factors.</p>
<p>As im sure you know that… there are such thing as feeder schools yes… but again applications are looked at in terms of where the person is and if there was enough resources that the individual seized or whether they didnt seize but were there…</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is an example of a university who splits up adcoms in terms of which country/state they read FIRST for applicants… They have an adcom specifically who knows of canadian admissions. </p>
<p>Just an example… but universities arent heartless fiends who only take into consideration grades+scores… They are humans themselves, researching where you studied in ur high school and whether or not you took the available opportunities.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say they are so unique when the 4.0s/2350 are getting in and everyone else isn’t. In a CA HS like the one who’s numbers we have there’s a wide range of kids of various ethnicities, income levels, etc. Yet the results are so one dimensional!</p>
<p>Why don’t we come back to this discussion in April about how understanding colleges are?</p>
<p>^ Ok they might not be heartless but they are choosing from an enormous applicant pool, and a low GPA simply will not cut it when they have thousands more applicants with higher (possibly) scores who are seeking admission. Unless you are an incredibly unique applicant with a low GPA, your chances just aren’t good.</p>