<p>interesting how they accepted the guy with an 880 SAT over a guy with 1550.</p>
<p>Hmm. Don't know. Guess they figured someone with a 1550 was only using them as a safety.</p>
<p>Applicant #3, I believe, went to my HS because 1 of his extracurriculars is something that ONLY belongs to my hs. that's cool.</p>
<p>are these valid?</p>
<p>giants-which of his extracurriculars is exclusive to your school?</p>
<p>It would be interesting to see how many students below 1000 got in</p>
<p>This is something that really bothers me about people who are so worried about their test scores and their GPA and the courses that they take, and it's an issue that will send me into rant-mode whenever I come across it.</p>
<p>Colleges are building a COMMUNITY. They want interesting people in their community. They want a healthy mix of leaders, of brains, of gifted musicians and scientists and people who have a good sense of humor. Candidate 5 had a great amount of leadership experience and a lot of drive. He fulfilled their need for a leader, so they accepted him.</p>
<p>If you present yourself as a 2400 SAT, 4.0 GPA, taking all the honors classes, valedictorian, eagle scout, class president applicant, how boring is that? Do you know how many people work their butts off to be perfect, rather than to be an interesting human? It's boring to read about, as an admissions officer. It's fantastically cliche, if you're applying to a top-caliber university like Princeton or Harvard or Yale, or Berkeley.</p>
<p>YES, it's important to get good grades, because the colleges want you to succeed when you get there. YES, it's important to have good test scores, because college is based upon tests, for the most part, and they like to see how you do in a testing environment. YES, they want you to have had some leadership experience because having leadership experience is something that you'll need later in life, and having students who are leaders makes for a strong student body.</p>
<p>Let this be a lesson to you all that test scores are NOT everything. Grades are NOT everything. Rather, these are not the ONLY thing. If you're an A-student who has excellent test scores and typical extracurriculars, you just don't have as good a chance as the B/C-student who has mediocre test scores who is an underwater paramedic on the weekends.</p>
<p>Be UNIQUE. Stand out. Make them remember you. That's the way to get into college.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all of you. Be yourselves, and don't try to be everybody else.</p>
<p>But if they admit someone who appears unable to do the work, even if they are amazing, they're possibly setting up that kid for failure. UCB is going to have harder coursework than, say, non-honors Geometry. I acknowledge that #5 has some good ECs, but I just don't see how being a good student outside of school will help him overcome the academic challenges he will face in an elite college.</p>
<p>PS - I would like to add that I think grades are actually the MOST important factor when combined with the courses you took. At every information session I've ever been to, I've been told that transcript is the number one thing that the admissions officer uses to make the decision on your application. In your underwater paramedic example, I think that if both of them had nearly equal GPAs, then the underwater paramedic would be in before the high-scorer, but, like I said, I think you are underestimating the importance of a solid GPA.</p>