NY Times on this years HYP applicants

Parent Cafe
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<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/education/04colleges.html?em&ex=1175918400&en=6f395ff4c93b2a13&ei=5087%0A%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/education/04colleges.html?em&ex=1175918400&en=6f395ff4c93b2a13&ei=5087%0A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"Harvard turned down 1,100 student applicants with perfect 800 scores on the SAT math exam. Yale rejected several applicants with perfect 2400 scores on the three-part SAT, and Princeton turned away thousands of high school applicants with 4.0 grade point averages. Needless to say, high school valedictorians were a dime a dozen.</p>

<p>It was the most selective spring in modern memory at America?s elite schools, according to college admissions officers. More applications poured into top schools this admissions cycle than in any previous year on record. Schools have been sending decision letters to student applicants in recent days, and rejection letters have overwhelmingly outnumbered the acceptances."</p>

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Needless to say, high school valedictorians were a dime a dozen.

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<p>That's because they are literally a dime a dozen. If high schools hadn't redefined the term to allow the naming of a dozen or two dozen or three dozen valedictorians, people might not be so misled into thinking that elite college admissions is that much more difficult.</p>

<p>In the old days, you really did have to be a valedictorian.</p>

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<p>...and that's because in the old days, an A was really an A. (More rare than today.)</p>

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<p>Our high school almost only has only one; I think once I can remember there was a tie. So some places are still "old school."</p>

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<p>epiphany-are you saying it is now a lot easier to get into elite schools? i bet you'll next be arguing that is easier to pay for as well!</p>

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<p>How could you possibly extrapolate that from my reply? There was absolutely no indication of such a conclusion, from my statement.</p>

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<p>If only they spent 1/2 as much time analyzing what's wrong with our high schools as they spend analyzing the Ivies. Sheesh.</p>

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<p>I think I finally understand mini's point that these places are getting less selective--not more selective.</p>

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<p>With grade inflation and the skewed credit for APs and Honors courses, a "4.0" is not particularly impressive.</p>

<p>15% of our Senior class had a GPA higher than 4.0</p>

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<p>This article is no surprise.</p>