PLEASE, stop calling yourselves average. (I'll explain)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I'm honestly sick of reading threads in which people say they're "medicore," "average" or "normal" but turn out to be anything but. Here are a few examples:</p>

<p>Thread title: "Just a normal girl's chances at NYU, Fordham, BC..."
The "normal girl" in question has a 4.1 weighted GPA, ranked in the top 5% of her class and founded her own newspaper.</p>

<p>Thread title: "Chance me please! Average student"
This "average" student is ranked in the top 50 of his 700-student class and had SAT scores 300+ points above the norm.</p>

<p>Thread title: "Below Average URM"
What's below average about a Future Business Leaders Association president whose high school tenure includes 10 clubs and 7 AP classes--not to mention an above-average SAT score?</p>

<p>Thread title: "Chance a medicore student"
This medicore student happens to be 25th in their 75-person class with four academic clubs on their record.</p>

<hr>

<p>Let's all take a deep breath and reflect on what "average" really means.
The average SAT score this year was a 1511, according to collegeboard.com. SAT</a> Average (Mean) Scores</p>

<p>The average GPA in 2000 was a 2.94, says MSN Encarta. [High</a> School Grades Creep Up - MSN Encarta<a href="Given%20grade%20inflation,%20that%20number%20has%20probably%20increased%20a%20little.">/url</a></p>

<p>Most seniors in 2007 didn't get a passing grade on a single AP exam--if they took any at all. You become an abnormal student just by getting a 3 or higher on a test. [url=<a href="http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/NewHome/pressreleases/2007/aug28.html%5DPress"&gt;http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/NewHome/pressreleases/2007/aug28.html]Press&lt;/a> Release - August 28, 2007, GOVERNOR KAINE ANNOUNCES AP ACHIEVEMENT OF VIRGINIA STUDENTS INCREASES AGAIN~ Number of Students Taking the SAT and ACT Rises~](<a href="http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/college/?article=admissionsanxietypiii%5DHigh"&gt;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/college/?article=admissionsanxietypiii)&lt;/p>

<p>In short: if you scored a 1500 on an SAT, have a GPA around 3.0 and won't score a 3 or above on an AP test, then yes--you can call yourself "average" in the statistical sense. If you have a 2100 SAT, 3.9 GPA and four "5s" on an AP test, then no--you definitely not.</p>

<hr>

<p>Thanks for listening to the rant. I hope this will reassure some "medicore" students that they're some of the top minds in the nation.</p>

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<p>Thank you!!!</p>

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<p>amen my brother</p>

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<p>Yes, it’s a lot of hype. Plus, a lot of ‘holier than thou’/humble complexes at work. :] Not a biggie, but who wants to hear:
Title: Fantastic Student hoping for admission into an Ivy?
;] Good info though. x</p>

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<p>welcome to cc</p>

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<p>hmm I495, i was about to make another post similar to this, but you took the words out of my mouth.</p>

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<p>love this post.</p>

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<p>I have a crazy feeling you are talking about me as well :)</p>

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<p>they mean average by CC standards. Though I don’t call myself standard I see where they’re coming from.</p>

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<p>Forget CC standards. When exemplary people call themselves average, they’re not just lying to themselves; they’re lowering the self-esteem of any student whose GPA, SATs and extracurricular happens to be lower than them. The danger is that people really might come to think that a 4.0 GPA and 2380 SATs are “normal.”</p>

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<p>this post is comforting
but in reality most of us are applying to schools that seek the most talented, so an average applicant for these schools has nowhere near a 1500 and needs more than a 3.0. i do think we should all recognize the fact that we are talented, its just that when looking at probably some of the other most talents students stats, we all fell a little average : {</p>

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<p>Hallelujah!!!</p>

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<p>Below Average in comparison to CC standards is what people refer to.</p>

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<p>Ansar, I hope that’s the case. However–at least in some topics–it seems like some students posting here actually believe themselves to be average outside of CC, too, if only because the other posters look so impressive.</p>

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<p>Sorry, but I honestly just meant “average” by CC standards, like Ansar said. I’m new to this, and the few posts I’ve seen have been pretty crazy, haha! And like collegebound_91 said, its just that the schools I’m looking to apply to are competitive, so realistically, I’m pretty much an “average” applicant. I know I’m not a total lost cause, haha. But good posttt!</p>

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<p>Word. False modesty or deluded bs is even more annoying than self-righteous arrogance (which isn’t thatbad…:wink: ).</p>

<p>+1 respect for this epic thread.</p>

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<p>I’m going to have to disagree somewhat with the OP. </p>

<p>While I certainly understand that these types of topics are pretty rediculous and some people on CC need a self esteem boost, I have to acknowlege that your statistics include the thousands of students nationwide who have no intent on attending college and feel no need to try in school or on the SAT. While, technically a 2.94 may be average, that is well below average in any community with a somewhat decent education system. </p>

<p>You can’t really look at these statistics nationally but take them in regionally and personally.</p>

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<p>I’m not gonna lie, I’ve looked at many a Yale "chance me"s and more than half have very low SAT scores, and rather unimpressive ECs. But still, I know that the other 20,000+ people applying there have something exceptional, things way more impressive than what I have goin for me. Sports, for instance–of which I do none in school. I know that the majority of people applyng to HYP and the many other schools I’m applying to are probably more well-rounded, probably have more APs (my school, same as GrayAreaGirl, offers only 4, and 1 of them is a joke), and most likely have higher SAT scores.</p>

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<p>Point taken, but the SAT results–according to the collegeboard.com website–include only “college-bound seniors,” meaning that 1511 is the average score for applicants.</p>

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<p>^Think about who takes the SAT. Pretty much most HS students right? And of those, aren’t many of them poor students, slackers who are probably going to a CC but taking the SAT because their parents are making them or just for the hell of it? I think the average would be 1700-1800 if you were to take the SAT scores from those who are going to colleges that are in the top 120.</p>