<p>Depends on the school, I think. Some schools, like Stanford, care more about the essays than a school like Harvard (but that’s just what I understood)</p>
<p>The general concept of “fit and thrive” doesn’t consider potential college grades. It has to do with a kid’s perspective and thinking. And more. Much s shown in the pers statement- including some serious judgment issues. Why do some feel college grades are the ultimate measure? I don’t care. As long as the kid is learning, honing crit thinking skills (etc) and doing well enough to continue and graduate. There seems to be a mania for assessing by gpa.</p>
<p>I believe Cambridge and Oxford do not have personal statements and couldn’t care less about extra-curricular activities. They go by test scores and grades, and have very, very rigorous interviews.</p>
<p>I think they do fine.</p>
<p>Then again, isn’t it the case that the UK has standardized high school courses, and the “best” UK universities are not overflowing with applicants who got or are expected to get A* grades in all of their A-levels?</p>
<p>The US has a situation where the ceiling on academic qualifications (grades, SAT/ACT scores) is relatively low by international standards, so getting near-maximum is done by many applicants to the “best” universities. So they go holistic to distinguish between them (then again, that may be convenient for them in leaving ambiguity and opaqueness around various non-academic preferences).</p>
<p>Check out all the threads on universityconfidential.com.uk arguing that Oxford and Cambridge should use holistic admissions because Harvard and Yale do just fine.</p>
<p>
Really! My younger son has got far from perfect grades, but that’s because he’s really stretching himself - especially by taking a difficult language at a school that seems to cover more than most for course at that level. Older son also took very challenging courses in college, but he’s gainfully employed in his dream job now.</p>
<p>My older daughters college not only cared about personal essays, they hung onto them until graduation whereupon with a flourish & fanfare they returned them to the students during a special luncheon.
;)</p>
<p>At an admitted student weekend, we were at a lunch and a professor sitting next to us recognized D’s name and discussed something in her essay that had stood out to him.</p>