Of course CC students are normally the top of their class and aren’t an accurate representation of college applicants. However, are results thread on CC accurate on how “impressive” unhooked students normally are to get into top(t-20) schools? There are always outliers but is it a bad idea to look at results threads to see how your objective stats stack up?
I don’t think it hurts. You should also Google the Common Data Set for each school for a more complete statistical picture, though.
I personally find that looking through the CC accepted stats is helpful. I’d guess that they’re pretty accurate about how impressive unhooked candidates have to be to gain admissions - I see kids on those threads who are still pretty darn impressive who don’t get in, suggesting that that the kids who do post about getting accepted are about the bar you have to reach if you’re not hooked. However, also looking at the common data set doesn’t hurt. It gives you a little more of an idea about what objective goals you have to reach whereas the CC threads include a lot more subjective information as well.
I find the rejection results on CC more helpful, i.e. if this person with amazing ECs, 2400, 4.0 GPA can’t get in, there’s no hope for me.