Is getting accepted to Ivies and top universities based on luck?

<p>I have seen much more qualified candidates getting rejected, and muxh less qualified candidates getting accepted.
How do you think about it? I guess essays are the key factors..?</p>

<p>Essays are definitely key factors, as mostly everyone who applies to top schools will have good stats. There’s a certain bit of luck, which could be the strength of the application pool and number of apps among many other factors. For example, at Northwestern, there are different undergrad schools, and the admission rep said that some years the engineering school is “easier” to get into than the liberal arts school, and other years it switches. Just depends on how many applicants and the strength of those applicants. So yes, there’s some luck, but you have to be qualified as an applicant as well. The candidates you see as much less qualified stats-wise likely have something that makes them qualified, like a good essay, or a legacy or URM status, to name a couple options.</p>

<p>Do you need some luck to get it? Yes.
Does it based on luck? No</p>

<p>It is absolutely not a lottery. Some people may or may not have plus factors that you or I may or may not view as fair, but the vast majority of those offered acceptance at any top institution are well qualified</p>

<p>This video from a former Stanford Admissions Officer was posted today by someone else and I had never seen it before. To be accepted to an ivy or a top college, you need the full package. This video should debunk a lot of talk about lottery and luck in the applications process: <a href=“Erinn Andrews, Former Stanford Admissions Officer, Video Case Study #2 - YouTube”>Erinn Andrews, Former Stanford Admissions Officer, Video Case Study #2 - YouTube;

<p>There is some luck involved. Example: Your admission officer reads your app bright and early in the morning vs. late at night when he/she just wants to go home. For the most part, though, it’s about being not just well qualified but truly exceptional/unique. This can be done in different ways besides EC’s themselves (example: showing extraordinary character/drive/humility/compassion etc. through essays).</p>

<p>^^ That’s why selective colleges have at least two, sometimes three, Admissions director read every file. While it’s possible one AO could be having a bad morning, it’s less likely two or three of them are all having a bad day. So, that kind of luck is taken out of the equation.</p>

<p>Sam199, how are you evaluating ‘more qualified’ and ‘less qualified’? To see which factors the college considers in relation to each other, you can look at the CDS.</p>

<p>@gibby those are great videos there are 4 or 5 for this session. But once in a while she says something that is a real headscratcher, and the viewer, not the attendees maybe, don’t have context why she doesn’t know a lot of things, if it is presumed to be an application.</p>

<p>@BrownParent I’m assuming these are hypothetical. The things she doesn’t know would be on the SSR provided by the guidance counselor.</p>

<p>Lets say its based on CONNECTIONS(money) or FATE.
Overall, it really is up to the Higher power, because I have seen those with “connections” denied, and others with no connections admitted. On the other hand, I have also seen some admitted, and for some reason - just could not attend.
So work hard and apply, if the undergraduate route does not work out, there is always graduate school - and if none lands you there, then, it probably was not meant to be.
Best of luck to you.</p>

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One factor models of complex phenomena are almost invariably caricatures of reality ;-)</p>