Near-perfect applicant denied nearly everywhere?

@preppedparent Agree that reach schools are hard for everyone and that you can do nothing wrong and still be rejected.

But when a perfect-stats student is rejected “nearly everywhere she applied,” that means her list of places to apply was badly out of balance – too many reaches, not enough matches and safeties. There is no reason to put all or nearly all your applications into the toughest pools.

Kids need to find matches and safeties they will be happy to attend. (And gossips shouldn’t be judging the poor kid for having to go to a school with a 50% acceptance rate, either. There are a lot of great schools in that category.)

@AroundHere Well stated.^^^

Great is where you are, not in the name of the school. That’s been shown over and over and over. Yet, we continue to drink the rankings cool-aid.

My daughter is currently #1 in her class, close to a 5.0. ACT of 33 and was rejected at Stanford, Duke, Yale and Harvard. She was accepted to UF and Auburn. There are just so many highly qualified students applying to these top schools and they are looking at those who offer a lot more outside of just grades.

^^I don’t know if they are offering “a lot more,” but rather something different. Colleges are putting together a class, a community, and diverse ones filled with people who bring something different.

Great advice but what is a “hook”?

At schools with ten percent or lower admit rates, the baby often gets thrown out with the bath water. Too many applications to give a careful reading and insightful consideration to each applicant. So it is a production line when it comes to processing these apps.

@klbmom18 just google “what is a hook in college admissions” and you’ll get your answer:

  • In the admission world, a hook is some advantage that makes you attractive to a particular college, and can make a huge difference to getting into the school you want. A hook, in admission parlance, is any advantage that makes you attractive to a particular college.

could be ‘athlete’, ‘legacy’ or ‘patent-holder/inventor/intel award winner’. An example i’ve seen thrown around … the school just needed an oboe player that year.

There are many possibilities.

The OP is asking about a girl he/she knows in HS. That makes it impossible to answer the question. The OP or any poster her does not know anything about the girl’s application other than course rigor and GPA. We will never know if the ECs, essays, recommendations etc. did anything to make this girl stand out in a crowd of superlative candidates. In addition we don’t know if this girl had a well crafted application list with reach, match and safety schools she would be happy to attend or if she applied to a lot of lottery type schools with only safety schools that weren’t chosen wisely as a back-up.

Something in the OP makes me wonder about the student being international. To paraphrase- now into safeties in the US…

I also think a lot of people rely on reported acceptance rates and scores, rather than trying to drill into the major or school level acceptance rates, which can vary by 5-10x - like UCSB may be in the 30% acceptance rate overall, but well under 10% for Computer Engineering for example. For other schools the tough admits may be international studies or business.

Lol I have a 3.9 unweighted gpa and a 1380 on the new SAT and got in Harvard and Yale. People said I wasn’t gonna make it and it was a reach school for me. You can be the brightest and the best, but are you genuinely passionate? What motivates you when you wake up? Why do u care about the world? Are you going to their school just to get a great job or are you going to create your job?

In the end, top schools are about hooks. Thousands of people are the best but few people are unique. Those unique and great people are the people who will change the world, who question society, who make an impact when they grow up.

Everyone has a hook it’s up to the applicant to figure out what it is

I don’t know what people told you, but telling a student that Harvard and Yale are “reach schools” is NOT the same thing as saying the student “isn’t gonna make it.” It means that those schools are by no means sure things and that the student must have a back up plan in case they don’t come through. Anyone that tells any student that Harvard or Yale is a sure thing is doing that student a huge disservice. Harvard and Yale are reach schools for most students.

Like everyone else has been saying: 99% of applicants to high reach schools are just as qualified as this person. Also, other factors like Essays and Recs are considered - same with hooks and volunteering etc.

@“Snowball City”, I PM’ed you.

No, not everyone has a hook. Hooks are things colleges want, and unless a student is privvy to the list of institutional goals of each college they have no way of knowing what most of those are.

You don’t need to attend a top school to make an impact on the world. You do need to be willing to work hard and make the most of your opportunities. It helps to be able to recognize the value others bring to the table. I don’t know what OP considers “near perfect,” but I’m sure her friend will do well wherever they end up.

Schools pick you, you don’t pick them - a hook today may be an anchor tomorrow. I think all a kid can do is to be a well rounded “kid” - it is high school after all, and they’ll end up in a good place.

Maybe they won’t get into a reach for them as luck has a lot to do with it, but they’ll likely get into a target and have a great experience. Yes, everyone wants to have the choice to say yes or no to a reach for them, but it doesn’t always happen and that’s ok.

The only hooks and anti-hooks in play are those dealing with “right” vs “wrong” ethnicity groups… more than we like to admit in an honest conversation. JMHO.

Like I have said in previous threads, an unhooked candidate must apply ED, not EA to have a realistic chance of getting into a reach school. Apply ED to one and save all the fees and consternation. Still doesn’t guarantee admittance, but it gives you a much better shot. This lesson seems to be learned every year by those with no hook and near perfect/perfect stats. Also put a lot of effort into the essays for that ED school. Having said that I can always point to unhooked candidates that got in RD, but it’s closer to 1 in 100 at that point, not great odds. BTW, EA for unhooked applicants is about the same -1%, after you take out all the athletes, true superstars, very hooked, etc. Your truly fooling yourself if you think that EA gives a boost because of the admission rate. Even the admissions officers will tell you that and they aren’t kidding.