<p>This year at my S's top 50 college prep school there were some interesting admissions results. Many of the very top students, that would have in previous years been admitted to the very top schools, this year were rejected and most had to settle for their safety schools. On the other hand the kids that maybe did not have that high GPA and tons of AP's got accepted to some of the top schools and were pleasantly shocked. I talked to the schools guidance counselor about this and she said that colleges are looking for kids with passion, not academic robots who have nothing in their lives but grinding out the grades. For example, a girl with not perfect grades, only a few AP's, only took 4 academic classes her Senior year, but was heavily involves with her passion, theatre. She got into, Georgetown, USC, UCLA, BC, and many more. They wrote her a personalized letter from GT saying that they really loved her passion in the theatre and that she would be an asset to the school. </p>
<p>SOOOOO ..... just wondering if times are a changing and what colleges are really looking for is passion???</p>
<p>Yes those result are interesting. They would be even more interesting if we had specific information about the two sets of students. Regardless, it’s hard to see GCs telling students “Hey look, forget about A’s. Cut back on your studying, and take up kayaking.”</p>
<p>^ our hs saw alot of this as well
One of the top 2-3 students at our students’ hs didn’t get into a tippy top school–another student did–that accepted student was well rounded and had alot of leadership and focused participation…</p>
<p>I have seen this with my older son, and with with my younger son. </p>
<p>My younger son has a friend who particpates in very little. He spent high school at home doing his school work, and playing video games. He has fabulous stats, but little else to fill his application. He is a naturally academically gifted student. He was rejected from top schools.</p>
<p>My older son had a peer in his class also with fabulous stats but also did not particpate in clubs/sports, etc… He also did not get into his top choices, but was admitted to one top tier school where he also offered geographic diversity.</p>
<p>I think that the top schools are looking for academics and passion. The academics may slip a little if the passion (and any quantifiable metrics related to the passion) are great. Few top schools are looking for academic drudges. They are looking for students who are going to interact with the college community and bring some life to it.</p>
<p>I have seen this trend for the past 10 years or so. I worked for a top prep school and started seeing the best academically focused students having less success in the top 25 schools than in previous years. The kids that were getting in were not the kids that were in every club, on every team, etc. They were the kids that had 2 or 3 activities that they actively persued, whether it was a sport, a volunteer activity, a club or a fine arts. This trend has continued and gotten more pronounced as the years have gone by. I think in this competitive admissions environment, the applicant with demonstrated depth and passion in a few activities fairs better then the so called “well-rounded” student or the student who is grade-driven with no other dimension to their application.</p>
<p>I think they look for what they have always looked for. Good students who are involved and active in things that interest them and enrich their life in a way that shows in their communications and applications. Those colleges will always take a group of academic achievers who are less dimensional, but they certainly don’t want an entire campus of kids that never take their nose out of a book or a laptop.</p>
<p>About 8 years ago a girl from our church got a full-ride to UNC based on her significant volunteer work in HS. The scholarship was based on her spending her summers as a volunteer in Appalachia. She was not a top student (good, not great), which convinced me that kids need to be a complete person in high school, not just academic robots. I often remind my kids of her and tell them it’s not all about A’s and 2400s, and encourage them to be well-rounded, including meaningful volunteer work, sports and ECs.</p>
<p>northeast mom is exactly right - I had dinner with an admissions rep last week (good college, although not “elite”) and he specifically said they do NOT want high stat kids who do nothing but study and play video games. They would rather admit someone with a few Bs who will contribute to the campus. Straight A’s and perfect test scores, by themselves, will not do the trick.</p>
<p>rockvillemom, my B+ kid with solid standardized test scores did very well with respect to admissions and merit aid. I am convinced it was because of his essay which showed a passion outside the classroom (looked like it was written by a teen and nobody touched/edited his words, clearly one would know that HE wrote this essay), as well as having another very strong EC that was listed. Additionally, he does very well on interviews and he did interview at 90% of the schools where he chose to apply. Oh, he did not shoot for unrealistic schools, but did apply to 2 reach schools. In the end we had EXCELLENT results with respect to college admission.</p>
<p>our school head had a slightly different take on “passion”- he says, beyond demonstrated academic skill, what best schools look for is a high level of what he termed “agency”- demonstrated self sufficincy and ability to make choices and enact them on the world</p>
<p>^^^^ said “what best schools look for is a high level of what he termed “agency”- demonstrated self sufficincy and ability to make choices and enact them on the world”</p>
<p>so now you have to be an adult to get accepted at a top college ?</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>P.S. Part of the trend you all are noting is demographic: in 2000, there were about 2.8 million High School graduates; this year there are about 3.2 million;havent; seen data, bhut doit sure seems like mor eforeign students are vying for US top schools</p>
<p>part of the trand is “branding” - anecdotally we seem much more conscious and desirous of the HYPed schools, which is part of the reason that applications for them have grown so dramatically</p>
<p>that “flight to reputation” means that the top schools have so many applicants with top scores that they can afford to accept interesting students with less than sterling scores and grades and still keep their middle 50% SAT stats up; e.g., Brown rejects 3/4 of valedictorians</p>
<p>I don’t think that the Ivy schools are becoming more popular, I think that more kids are simply applying to more schools. If you are a family like us that needs merit aid but doesn’t qualify for financial aid, it just makes sense to apply to quite a few schools so there is some choice when the offers come in. The B students have joined the A students in applying to 8- 10 school.</p>
<p>I’m on board with the pointy applicant. How many adults are interested/good at everything? Not only does this make sense, but it should take some stress off the kids working too darn hard at subjects they dislike.</p>
<p>My take from looking at our naviance results and from talking to local kids is more that some schools are specifically rejecting higher achieving kids who they believe are using the school as a safety. This improves selectivity and yield and is probably just plain more sensible. I can point to a few schools where the acceptances are in a band below the top achiever applications. I think this strategy is a response to the number of kids applying to tons of schools. </p>
<p>In other words, the schools are trying to pick kids who are actually picking them. I think the stuff about “well rounded” is more a smoke screen to avoid saying this.</p>
<p>How different is this from the Tufts syndrome? In other words are you saying that more colleges are following this practice rather than the few formerly such as Tufts or WUSTL?</p>
<p>Some schools place little value on well-roundedness; they want bright, motivated, talented students who, collectively, bring diverse backgrounds and interests.</p>
<p>If I died; I would know that I was sent to Hades if I was given the job of an Admissions Officer - having to read one essay after another about how an applicant is “passionate” about such and such studies. Because, it would be virtually every essay because students egged on by their parents feed you the crap that they think you want to hear. Funny, I’ve never had a kid use the word “passion” or “passionate” in conversation with me - least of all about school studies. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t care whether a student had several interests or one interest that he or she devotes a lot of time to. It’s hard to be great at something if you have a lot of different interests. That said, I wouldn’t downgrade the Renaissance Man either. I’d select applicants on whether I’m interested in continuing to read their essay and I’d only read their essay if their academic results were impressive. YMMV.</p>
<p>Well, I do hope that kids who have shown extreme devotion to one pursuit have that recognized at least somewhere in the admissions process, or at least by some schools.</p>
<p>When my S put together a theater resume recently for a summer program I was surprised by how much was on it; I wondered to myself how he had found any time for schoolwork; these kids all amaze me.</p>
<p>Thinking about D’s class last year and this year’s class from her HS (I know many of the kids), I see that the students with the higher academic profiles are the ones getting into the more competitive schools. These students tend to also be very active in EC’s.</p>