<p>arkleseuzure, that is very true, but parents like that will not believe it. When we were at an info session at Cornell there was a father and daughter in the row behind us and when the director of admissions began discussing how to be the best candidate the dad jumped up and said "With a 1600 on the SATs you will be admitted". And the Admissions Director said no, they look at the whole person. And the dad began arguing with her, that they would definitely admit anyone with a 1600. When she said they actually reject some kids with 1600 he just stood there shaking his head. So I do not think any parent on CC is going to change these minds.</p>
<p>was the dad asian?</p>
<p>well, yes.</p>
<p>ParentofIvy- Do you even have any idea what the Ivy League schools are all about? Do you know the differences between Cornell and Princeton, or Brown and Penn? Do you have any idea what your child's social and academic interests are? Posts like yours make me crazy. What makes you think one of the schools in this particular athletic conference is the only worthwhile goal? I hope your kid develops a passion for SEC athletics and winds up at Alabama (which I happen to think is a fine school) so you can put a Roll Tide decal on your Lexus.</p>
<p>Can't we just stick to the title of the thread? Some of us are genuinely curious to know if people get into the Ivies without astonishing stats.</p>
<p>780 across the board IS an astonishing stat. That's the sad part the OP doesn't realize.</p>
<p>Is this with the assumption that CHYMPS are the "Ivies".. lots of people get into the other five Ivies (notably less from Columbia and the most from Cornell though..) with the stats you mentioned.</p>
<p>rlm919, I'm a student--not a parent--but I've paid attention enough to know that perhaps the parent you spoke of might have been right...several decades ago, when getting a single 1600 in the entire state was something to write home about. </p>
<p>What I hope is the case--and which, if true, isn't emphasized nearly forcefully enough--is that a child who loves a subject, can communicate that in writing and in an interview, who pursues a number of opportunities to get a better exposure to that subject, who can communicate their sheer enthusiasm--will be eaten up by admissions officers at colleges well suited to that particular interest. (And, of course, those are the colleges the student SHOULD be applying to, because they're the ones that cater to the student's interests in the first place!) </p>
<p>It's difficult to describe the best approach to making sure that your child finds something that sets them off like that, because for me it was a largely unconscious process. Encouraging your child to go out and FIND ways to satisfy their interests is the biggest part of the issue--as a junior, I'm applying to RSI and other summer research opportunities, but how it'll look for colleges barely registers in my mind: I'm interested in these things because I'm eager to do some research, to begin independent studies. </p>
<p>The central pillar of my outlook towards colleges is that the things colleges should care about boil down to that kind of academic passion I've just attempted to describe. I'm not sure how important that kind of passion is for someone not planning to go into academia--in fact, in some areas it could be counterproductive--but I think that's what colleges should be looking for, and I plan to apply to colleges under the assumption that colleges DO find that more important than anything else.</p>
<p>(And, sunshadow--some of us are genuinely curious to know why people are so Ivy-obsessed, and pray daily that our education system has not deteriorated so far that the things that should matter go unnoticed by good colleges.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Can't we just stick to the title of the thread? Some of us are genuinely curious to know if people get into the Ivies without astonishing stats.
[/quote]
Then search through old threads...</p>
<p>Brown</a> ED '11
Brown</a> RD '10</p>
<p>Columbia</a> '11
Columbia</a> '10</p>
<p>Cornell</a> ED '11
Cornell</a> RD '10</p>
<p>Dartmouth</a> ED '11
Dartmouth</a> RD '10</p>
<p>Harvard</a> SCEA '11
Harvard</a> RD '10</p>
<p>Penn</a> ED '11
Penn</a> RD '10</p>
<p>
[quote]
So in summary you would like to say untill my child gets into RSI or Intel or Siemens or some other extraordinary EC there is no chance to make it into Ivies.
I forsee a score of SAT1 > 2200, SATII's > 750, GPA UW: 3.8 - 3.9 W 4.15 -4.3
with around 8 APs
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There will have to be EC interest either way. Think about how many thousands of people have statistics like that. True, it is a great accomplishment percentage wise as those stats put the person at the top percentage wise. But we are talking the top of millions. So that is in reality a lot more people than say, Harvard, can accept into their freshmen class.</p>
<p>So they have to pare it down by who they think has proven to show passion and leadership and generally benefit the environment around them. This doesn't necessarily mean something like Intel. It could be creating a program to help others locally and mobilizing the community, for example. But something unique does have to be there. "Normal" kids do get into Ivies but it's because they were passionate about something and communicated that passion. It's leading rather than following along, in whatever way they chose to do that.</p>
<p>You go, Momofwildchild. Excellent post. </p>
<p>And thanks to kemet for posting those links, because yes, those would answer the OP question.</p>
<p>Can someone also get the links for Duke, Stanford, MIT & Caltech.. arguably Ivy-caliber schools..</p>
<p>Sooiee!!! Pig!!! Wooooo!! Pig!!!!!</p>
<p>I was accepted to an IVY having no alumni connections with a 3.6 w GPA and a 710 cr 640 math. I was surprised by the acceptance and only applied for the hell of it.</p>
<p>^^Which Ivy...and what were your ECs?</p>
<p>Please make sure you visit! Do an overnight, go to a class, walk from the freshman dorms to classes.</p>
<p>my friend got a "very likely" (read acceptance) letter from Dartmouth... m680, r710, w750... she's wonderful but not much ecs. No sports, no work, no internship, one leadership :) ... She got defered from stanford and is pretty much sitting on a bee at this point in time.... ;) ahh... I really hope she gets in....</p>
<p>What do you mean by "robot"? Maybe some kids are just supremely talented. Afterall, the top schools admit about 1% of the top college bound students. </p>
<p>(1.5 mill SAT test takers, about 15000 top college students, so about 1%).</p>
<p>Anyone that has good grades and good scores is a robot if they don't do community service and play a sport. </p>
<p>It's basically a "sour grapes" complaint. I don't know a single person who only studies; everyone does something - even if they spend hours studying for the SAT, they have either played in a band, participated in speech and debate, joined chess club, etc...</p>
<p>Oh, as if people don't do community service and sports like robots.</p>
<p>That's a broad generalization; music, art, math, dance... these are all things that are neither community service or sport, and that normally express a passion few robots can muster :)
Community service is a wonderful thing if done for the right reasons. In many cases here on CC, it isn't.</p>