<p>"My sons Harvard interview was a disgrace. He reports that she, the interviewer, berated him for not applying to Columbia. What business is it of hers. Also, to break the ice he asked her if she were related to a student at our town's other high school. Apparently she replyed that she was, but added with sarcasm that they don't speak to that side of the family. Sheer disgrace."</p>
<p>If anyone has a Harvard interview that is inappropriate, they should immediately contact the H admissions office, which will do its best to schedule another interview. H will be careful in how it does this so the student shouldn't fear any local repercussions for the student.</p>
<p>If there is any indication that an interview was inappropriately done or written, H will not count it, and will not count that against the student's application.</p>
<p>Since H depends on thousands of volunteers, of course there will be some volunteers who aren't up to snuff. However, no student who has a bad interviewer should assume that person is like all H alum or is doing what the admissions office told them to do.</p>
<p>The admissions office sends each alum interviewer a thick pamphlet with guidance about how to interview and how to write their report. H wants all students -- whether or not the interviewer feels they are H material -- to be treated with courtesy and respect and given a chance to display their strengths and interests.</p>
<p>When I was a teenager I asked my father, a 1935 Harvard grad, how he got in? I remember asking "were you like a GENIUS or something?" His reply was no, that in those days you just signed up and went. </p>
<p>Now that I'm older and wiser I have a new take on what he said. </p>
<p>Just signing up for Harvard may have been true in in 1931, if you could pay for it. It was the depression. My grandfather had a good job and was able to pay, so that probably helped.</p>
<p>But getting in was not always a slam dunk.</p>
<p>I bought a copy of my father's high school yearbook recently on Ebay. In it he listed Dartmouth under "plans for next year." I think Harvard made him suffer on a wait list before they let him in!</p>
<p>Still, he didn't take SAT's, ACT's, SAT II's, AP's, the Princeton Review, or do anything more amazing than attend a Yankees game during his high school years. I don't think he even interviewed. He just filled in the admission application & waited. How nice!</p>
<p>Hi, Nightingale! I'm not sure if I fit the bill of a "dishwasher with a fat letter from an Ivy," but I'm close. I am a senior at a working-class parochial school with no extremely special facilities or multitudes of extra teachers/statisticians and a summer and part-time after-school job. I got into Dartmouth and Mount Holyoke with a merit scholarship. Nothing too special about me, either! I just like Latin/Greek/Chemistry and other stuff, and can write decent essays most of the time. I only took one AP (US History) on which I got a 5, though my SATs certainly aren't perfect. So take courage! It can be done!!!</p>
<p>I suspect the "tipping" factor in many cases is the ability to write "decent essays." If you can express yourself well and show that you are a good thinker, the colleges will see you as raw material they can work with, even if you didn't have some of the opportunities other kids did.</p>
<p>"Still, he didn't take SAT's, ACT's, SAT II's, AP's, the Princeton Review, or do anything more amazing than attend a Yankees game during his high school years. I don't think he even interviewed. He just filled in the admission application & waited. How nice!"</p>
<p>Keep in mind that it wasn't until the 1940s that most Americans graduated from high school, so your dad's graduating from high school with ambitions of going to a top college made him probably as competitive as are students with tons of ECs, APs and 2300+ SAT scores today.</p>
<p>This article depressed me somewhat. After working as hard as I have in my high school career, it's tough to know that even though you are a very bright kid and have done absolutely EVERYTHING within your power to get ahead, made huge sacrifices, and promoted yourself well, you will still probably get rejected. It is hard to hear "you will still be happy at a state college" after that level of committment. I guess reality is tough. Nonetheless, I am hopeful that I can succeed in getting into the college I want to go to. </p>
<p>The college admissions process is sad for people as type-A as I am...</p>
<p>Keep it in perspective. Many people would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to "only a state college." Life is largely what you choose to make of it. I don't think people should view their hard work in terms of something that was a "waste" when they get rejected. You work hard because you were given the opportunity to do so, and to do anything less than your best (whatever that may be) would be like a slap in the face to those who will never be given that gift. Don't take your hard work for granted - you did for yourself. And if you continue to pursue self improvement - the Japanese have a concept of continuous improvement, very interesting - at the end of the day you will always have something left. If you put everything into being accepted at HYP, when a rejection comes, what will you have left? That shouldn't be the ultimate goal. Life is a marathon and not a sprint - there are many paths to individual success. You have to look for the smaller payoffs. In the end, the most successful and wealthy people aren't always the happiest and most fulfilled. You may think that you "have" to go to an Ivy now, but the Washington Post had another story, and cited a survey that found in the fall, the vast majority of kids were at their "top choice" school - even though someone of them considered that school a "safety" at one point. </p>
<p>To paraphrase an article that came out around admissions time, adulthood is full of anticlimaxes. The true test is whether a person just gives up or finds a new way to achieve their goals. Even if you do get into the school you want, life is always going to throw something at you. You have to constantly improvise. You can view rejections as a door closing or a door opening - but it's going to be a lot easier one way.</p>
<p>It's easy to say that not getting into an Ivy is not the end of the world, heck even I said it, but it's different when you are the one staring at a rejection on a computer screen. I still don't know why I did not get into Harvard or Yale(well, the most obvious thing is that bad gym grade) and I still find it hard to believe that admissions is a science. In all honesty, right after reading my rejections, i lost all hope in the admissions process.
But whatever, I am going to northwestern now with an awesome fin aid and I couldn't be happier. I guess there is no point to this post, I just want to tell kids like me (lower class, minority, 2 jobs, hardest classes, cool e.c.'s, and all that jazz) to be prepared for a rejection.
Oh and also, look outside of the Ivies because I never thought I would go to NU but it is freaking awesome!</p>
<p>I agree with you - there are very few. The Ivies wouldn't even come anywhere near our school - don't even know us. And obviously, since they make no effort to know us, don't really care.</p>
<p>We can all pretend that lower class kids would have an advantage, but I think the deck is stacked against them. No money, no good counseling, no exciting ECs, no Ivy. I would like to see some acceptance stats also.</p>
<p>Also, my son got a 1400 SAT, first time, no prep, from a rural school where he had to design his own curriculum to take advanced classes. No Ivies knocking on our door, although we do consistently hear from the University of Chicago. :)</p>
<p>The Atlantic article is excellent. Really a must-read, although I do think the notion that Ivies are not overrepresented at the helms of major corporations is not correct.</p>
<p>Those of us that are a bit older need to be cautious to feed into the group-think that our kids eat up: "Good schools equal success in life."</p>
<p>What happens more often than not, especially when talking about the undergrad admission's process, is that these great kids are forgoing their childhoods to enter into the fray. We need more Haulden Caufields (myself included) who can catch them before it's too late, and encourage them to actually live and to think openly. </p>
<p>"... these great kids are forgoing their childhoods to enter into the fray. We need more Haulden Caufields (myself included) who can catch them before it's too late, and encourage them to actually live and to think openly."</p>
<p>I'm reading these posts trying to decide if I better serve my daughter by supporting her dreams, or persuading her that the Ivies are too much of a long-shot to be worth sacrificing so much of her childhood. Tough one.</p>
<p>" persuading her that the Ivies are too much of a long-shot to be worth sacrificing so much of her childhood. Tough one."</p>
<p>The students that Ivies are seeking are those who would pursue Ivy-quality academics and ECs even if there were no Ivies. These are students who genuinely enjoy doing such things and consider such activities as important and essential parts of their youth. They aren't teens who would consider it a sacrifice to take rigorous academics and participate passionately in ECs. </p>
<p>Consequently, instead of trying to fit one's child into academics and ECs to match what Ivies want, it's better to allow one's kid to pursue their own interests and then figure out what colleges would best suit them.</p>
<p>This is what bothers me about the whole thing: many kids give up time to sit and think, time to breathe. I see this with my own 16 year old son; he is so busy all of the time, and he is one who doesn't study 4 hours a night. He pushes back against my demands for above a 95 average in his very demanding curriculum, because he wants to have some time to walk in the woods when he comes home, and just hang out and relax. And I can't really blame him, although I pull my hair out when he doesn't perform to his ability.</p>
<p>What is the most important thing in life? That is what it comes down to for my son. Does he want time to think, time to daydream, time to read what he is passionate about? Or does he want to be at the grindstone all of the time, working for that extra 2 points on an essay? And I don't ever tell him this, but as a high school teacher, I can tell you that even when a kid writes an essay that is 3 pages longer than necessary to insure a 98 on it, the kid who writes the 94 in half the pages probably has half the stress it causes the perfectionist kid. The extra time it takes out of a kid's life when he or she is trying to figure out who he is may not be worth it in the long run.</p>