<p>Unsurprisingly, better applicants than him who get rejected from Ivies are a dime a dozen. Unless he is some kind of genius and the article is not reflecting that. The story it tells us is basically that he is a first-generation American with excellent grades, an SAT score comparable to other Ivy applicants, he took a bunch of APs, he plays the viola and sings, and he volunteers at a hospital.</p>
<p>I don’t know the school, but usually 11th in the class is not good enough for HPY. Congrats to him. Not sure this story was one to highlight as the news did. </p>
<p>^^This story was highlighted in the news due to the very unusual achievement of getting accepted at all eight Ivies.</p>
<p>I like how the college counselor emphasized that being a boy was a major hook. Apparently ivies have to struggle to find qualified boys.</p>
<p>What a waste of time. </p>
<p>The rarest type of student on college campuses are African/African-American young men. He is supremely statistically qualified as many students are, and this is another case of these schools trying to balance their classes. They can admit anyone they want. I still think it is peculiar to apply to all 8 Ivies as there are serious differences in the schools. But I understand that a first generation family may have heard those 8 names more than any others as well as the term “Ivy League.”</p>
<p>So What. Who cares? Let’s share this article with those who were QUALIFIED and got shut out for no good reason from this athletic conference…</p>
<p>agree with momof3sons. he is like many top students but it was big help that he was urm and first gen american. congratulations to him. admissions are tough these days.</p>
<p>I would like to point out that he wasn’t overly cocky–in addition to the Ivies (plus Duke), he also applied to three SUNY campuses. That’s twelve–not all that many, really, for somebody looking at the most selective schools. Of course, the fact that he is African-American with a 2250 and excellent grades at a good school (and a lot of APs) made him desirable at these schools–no reason to pretend that this isn’t the case. But any person with a 2250 and that high school background will have no problem doing well at any of those schools. I don’t think there’s much news here–the only unusual thing was that he applied to all the Ivies. The quite similar kid from my kids’ school who got into Harvard would almost certainly have gotten into all of the other Ivies as well, if he had applied to all of them. The only thing that I think is a bit regrettable is the statement in the article that he isn’t a “typical African-American.” It’s true, because he’s really an immigrant striver–I wish there were more “typical African-Americans” with stats like his.</p>
<p>Good for him! </p>
<p>One of my daughter’s very good friends is a black male who completed the full IB program and was in the top 5% of their HS class. He was admitted to Princeton along with DD but choose a full Stamps Scholarship to a HBCU.</p>
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They said 11th out of 647, which is top 2%. While plenty of top 1% students get rejected, that doesn’t mean one needs too be better than top 2%. One doesn’t need to go far into the decision threads to see that plenty of unhooked students with well below 2% rank also get accepted. For example, the acceptance rate to Harvard by class rank for Parchment members is below with filters for 3.8+ GPA while taking 4+APs and not being a URM is below. Note that there isn’t a huge difference in admit range within the top 5% range. Also note that Harvard says they don’t consider class rank in the CDS, and most do not submit rank at YP (and most other highly selective colleges).</p>
<p>Valedictorian - 27% admit
Top 1% – 27% admit
Top 2% – 21% admit
Top 3% – 23% admit
Top 5% – 22% admit (includes some schools that call all top <5 as top 5%)
Top 10% – 16% admit (includes some schools that call all top <10 as top 10%)</p>
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<p>Indeed… and regrettable.</p>
<p><a href=“The Widening Racial Scoring Gap on the SAT College Admissions Test”>http://www.jbhe.com/features/49_college_admissions-test.html</a></p>
<p>From recent percentile rankings, white students score above 600 on the SATs at a rate of 25% and 30% for critical reading and math. The equivalent numbers for black students are 5% and 5%. The test taking populations of the respective races are about 852,000 and 218,000. If you raise the bar to 700, then the numbers change to 6% and 7% vs less than 1% in each test. </p>
<p>Looking at this and his class rank, he’s rare. Thats without considering the non-academic parts of it. </p>
<p><a href=“http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-by-Gender-Ethnicity-2012.pdf”>http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-by-Gender-Ethnicity-2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>^Although a professional writer should be aware of unintended negative connotations associated with phrasing, I think all they meant by that was that he was born in a foreign country.</p>
<p>Well, its not clear that he actually was born in a foreign country from the article, but I understand the statement and I don’t think that was all the outside counselor meant. As far as I can tell by the article, he grew up on Long Island. I find it telling/remarkable that her reaction to the admissions is to suggest that he engender a competition among the schools. That certainly would not be my advice. The article is unfortunate for him and he would have been better off if it had not appeared. </p>
<p>By the way, he is not African-American, as defined by the cultural meaning and historical significance of that term. Certainly he may well have African ancestry, being from Surinam. But it has come to be generally accepted by college admissions persons (well, some Admissions personnel) that the ethnic category “African-American” applies to the descendants enslaved Africans; descendants reared under the legacy of Jim Crow segregation in the United states. Just as a Jamaican in the U.S. distiguishes himself/herself from African-Americans, the talented young man from Surinam similarly is not an African-American.</p>
<p>^Maybe so, but these definitions are constantly shifting and often there is no consensus. </p>
<p>I was more impressed by this kid:
<a href=“http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/30/5457373/elk-grove-teen-goes-9-for-9-in.html”>http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/30/5457373/elk-grove-teen-goes-9-for-9-in.html</a></p>
<p>I finished reading it and thought “No wonder every single one of those schools accepted him” The article is from last year, so the kid graduated from HS in 2013 and will be graduating from college in 2017</p>
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<p>DS’s high school must be not good enough. The size of his graduation class is about the same. But it is usually the case that only the top 0.5% (slightly more, pitifully 4 only) got into HYPSM. This was many years ago though. But it could be worse today.</p>
<p>There is no way 11th out of 647 could get into a single HYPSM from his high school. His high school essentially does not have any African American students.</p>
<p>BTW, I heard from DS at one time that a very high percentage of “African American” students at such a college are the “atypical African Americans” (i.e., somebodies who look like American American but do not grow up here in US.) I think DS only met a single “typical” African American (in the one-on-one context) who grew up in some lower socioeconomic environment from a relatively poor neighborhood. (“meet” here means that he hangs out with him quite frequently, like eating lunch together quite often in one year.) He learned a lot from him in that year (i.e., benefit from the sharing of his different growing up experience.)</p>
<p>Is it just me or is this a little bit bizarre?</p>
<p>I think what these kids did is great, but I feel weird reading the articles. It is like they are being paraded around like zoo animals with some exceptional skill when in fact they are simply doing what 1000s upon 1000s of other students have done and are doing. 2250 is excellent, but not atypical of the top schools; so what’s the big deal? In fact, the average at Harvard and Princeton last year was higher (2255), I believe. The course loads are not atypical either. </p>
<p>This kind of makes me cringe that the high bar is set lower for the URM - an obvious separate, but equal in standards thing going on here. That 2250 would not match the top 40% of students at some of the top high schools. And his ECs and everything, while excellent again are not atypical either. So, I feel weird saying how awesome and great this is when I personally know kids with better scores and ECs etc. It’s like I am being forced to praise a lower standard than many kids I know who did not get into the Ivys. And the ones I know that got in are equal or better, with most being better. So, where are their articles?</p>
<p>I do not know how to explain this exactly, but in feeling happy for the URM, I also feel pity that a typical standard for the Ivys is held up as beyond exceptional; it feels disingenuous and illogical probably because it is. But worse of all, it is like saying to african-american kids that your potential high-water mark is really about 2250. So when you get 2250, we put you in the paper. This strikes me as not a good message to send.</p>
<p>I wish him well, as I do all students, but I fear the message sent is not as enlightening as the author may think. I find it more disconcerting than enlightening.</p>