<p>SuNa: I'm not sure I understand your question. You asked, "Are you saying that a kid might prepare in advance for the essay question?" Miller was talking to a roomful of alumni, not applicants, so he wasn't giving advice to applicants. He was just saying that if there were any questions about a student's writing ability, they would read the essay written for the SAT writing section. </p>
<p>I agree that you have to take what admissions people say with a large grain of salt. There are exceptions to every rule. And the rules change every year. Last year they wanted unusual students, this year the tuba player, etc. In that session with Miller, I heard him say one thing about admissions, and then he pretty much contradicted himself 15 minutes later. If there is a kid they really want for some reason, they will accept this kid despite their "rules." And I think there are policies and practices they follow that are set by internal college decisionmaking that they don't want to make public. While we would all like to know the magic elixir that will get our kids into the school of their choice, I don't think asking an ad rep for that recipe is useful. The recipe changes, perhaps even day by day, kid by kid. (OTOH, I will confess to really wanting to know. I'd like a million bucks, too. Oh well.)</p>
<p>Bethie, yes they tell you to take the highest level of rigor -- but they accept kids all the time who haven't. You will probably never know if your kid is rejected if that decision to take stats instead of calculus was the tipping factor, or if they would have been rejected even if they had taken calculus. My daughter decided against taking calculus at her HS (and is taking a HS-level online class instead), and we supported her decision despite GC pressure partly because of the experiences I read about on CC. What's most important is to follow Carolyn's advice, and do things that fit who you are and what you are interested in and make sure that comes through in your application.</p>