There are neurodivergent kids who with the rigor and GPA who simply don’t test well. We know several and my kid is one of them.
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Agreed. We’re 4-5 years away from seeing if this has any impact.
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I 100% agree, but for the majority of kids it is fairly easy (and common) to develop an EC list that is sorta real and somewhat boosted. There are a select few that have very particular and special ECs.
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Right. What I’m saying is that kid did not get an acceptance from MIT with no score. I don’t know why people think kids in this situation were accepted.
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We will see that in the coming years . It’s too soon to tell
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did these students go TEST OPTIONAL at Vanderbilt
I’ve been quite cynical on ECs. So many non-profits set up that last 2-3 years. The most egregious in my books are the ones that actively solicit other kids - akin to pyramid marketing schemes.
One kid is now responsible for proving (e.g.) thousands of hours of tutoring, because they’re using the labor of other kids in their “peer to peer network”.
I think it is best to do old fashioned ones – especially if you can get a teacher in the school to vouch for you strongly that you are community minded, and you really care about the fellow students etc… and care about improving the school, that you demonstrate good citizenship … Just work within an existing club.
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In terms of volunteering or community service, I think the key is to find something the student is passionate about, regardless of what anyone else is doing. D had 2 volunteer gigs: she was the youngest volunteer at a small, national historic site that is related to a US President where she gave tours and helped out with historical reinactments (fitting for a kid who loves History) and she was a camera operator for video streaming at a local music performance venue that has been recognized by the Library of Congress for its historical significance (tied together her love of music and history).
I truly believe there is no magic formula for getting into the right college. It makes me so sad to read all of the posts about taking AP classes online, what kind of non-profit to start, how to get a good research opportunity as a high school student, etc. If we encourage students to be themselves and do things that make them happy, they will be successful at any college they enroll at, even if it is not HYPSM.
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I bet I had to take that intro class in 1985.
A girl in my kids class (2018) had an otherwise strong application (4.0UW and enough rigor to be a valedictorian, which means top 8% or so since it’s based on a weighted cutoff - I’d guess 5 or so APs when only a handful of kids take more) and excellent ECs. Teachers liked her because she was always involved, enthusiastic and helpful. But she couldn’t break 1200 on the SAT (24-25 ACT) and I don’t think her AP scores were very good. Classic case of a kid who worked hard and did all the extra credit (which makes it easy to get 90% and at least an A-). You might assume it was test anxiety, but no one would say she was an academic star and back then no one thought it was unreasonable for her to be rejected from top schools including all the better UCs.
That’s the classic case of a kid who’d look great in a test blind environment and would more than likely get into some decent UCs today. And she wasn’t even in a small, rural high school where you have no challenging courses or benchmarks for rigor.
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I don’t know. Don’t AOs know the high schools? They have school profiles. They should be able to know whether a valedictorian can pull their weight at their college. Our profile shows our AP scores as a class. If an AO doesn’t know the high school and the profile isn’t clear on how rigorous the school really is by publishing SAT/ACT scores or AP scores, and if a student from that school sends in a TO app, the AO cannot assume that student fits a highly ranked college. Again, these AOs all have regions. They know the high schools.
I know kids from high schools like those. They knew they needed high scores to get accepted to top schools.
I really just do not believe that a Vandy or Harvard or NEU is accepting valedictorians without scores when they are not sure of the rigor of that high school curriculum.
That’s exactly the point. HS students do not have the fundamental knowledge required for doing basic science research or the vast command of the literature. Maybe this gets past AOs, but it would not fly if the AOs were basic scientists…
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The other thing I’ve seen occasionally is high school students claiming to have started cancer therapeutics companies! Anyone remotely involved in biotech would realize how ridiculous this sounds. Forget the vast credentialing/knowledge required, but how could a full-time high school student even have the time to do this…
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We NEED standardized testing back. There are too many closely matched students, and SAT testing provided an unbiased way to assess student performance.
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In the final analysis it will be a moot point, parents and kids would be wise not to be stressed about rejections and more wise not to be overly confident about acceptances. The vast majority of kids going to ‘elite’ colleges will be average citizens, which is perfectly ok. Exceptional people in all fields of life are sprinkled randomly among society, and colleges. Parents have learned this lesson in the current sports crazed environment as well.
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MIT is back…
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The more things change
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Thoroughly enjoyed reading this! Plus ca change.
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The sheer number of apps and readers is where the UC decisions produce seemingly random results. Each app really only gets minimal time.
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