I know there are plenty of websites out there that will evaluate one’s chances into individual top colleges like <a href="http://www..com%5B/url%5D">www..com</a>, <a href=“http://www.thickenvelope.com%5B/url%5D”>www.thickenvelope.com</a>, CC, etc.
I was wondering, are any of those even accurate at all? I know that ****** claims to have an accuracy rating of over 98%, but I’ve visited that site and they don’t ask for nearly enough information when they try to evaluate your chances.
by the way, the stars are g o 4 i v y
<p>I'm skeptical of those things, because if they had such a great accuracy rate, why aren't they more popular? But I haven't used them so maybe I'm wrong.</p>
<p>I've done a little research on this. I submitted the same stats to different sites that purport to be able to tell you your chances at various schools. I got widely differing answers. </p>
<p>The reason, I suspect, is that the computation on these sites do not include several factors that colleges look at very closely. First, they don't consider the quality of your high school curriculum. None that I have found, for instance, asks how many years of math, science, foreign language you've taken. Most don't ask how many AP/Honors classes you've taken. At the most, a few sites ask "have you taken your schools most rigorous program?" But that doesn't tell you anything about how that program stacks up against what specific colleges want and prefer. </p>
<p>Second, these sites can't possibly measure the effect of your essays, recommendations, and interviews on your chances at any particular school. </p>
<p>Finally, these sites have NO IDEA about (1) how your application is going to stack up against THIS year's crop of applications and (2) the specific admissions and enrollment goals of particular colleges (i.e., some schools may weight legacy status heavier than others, some schools may want to boost enrollment in arts programs, or science programs, or need a new half back for the football team.)</p>
<p>They can be fun to play around with to get new ideas, but take the results with a HUGE grain of salt. No one can quantify admissions chances simply because there are too many unquantifiable variables in the admissions process at most schools.</p>