<p>sad! but at least the kid learned something.</p>
<p>last year I read an article about schools that practice this kind of admission selection. It cited Princeton as an example, explaining that if you were to divide top students into two categories (cream of the crop outstanding, and then still pretty damn good, but not creme de la creme) Princeton would admit a higher percentage of the second tier students (the still pretty damn good kids) than the top tier, in an attempt to guess at where those top-notch kids will really end up (they assume harvard or yale), rejecting them and thus ensuring higher matriculation rates for their own school. Additionaly, they pay attention to what studetns say in interviews (it is often asked where "school A" is ranked on your list, or where else are you applying?)</p>
<p>Lastly, schools want a good match for their school, someone who will really excell in their programs. My friend is a medieval renaissance major. he wrote about his passion for norse mythology on his app essay. He was rejected from several of his safer schools that lacked majors in med/ren but got into Duke, which has an outstanding med/ren department. when he arrived, the woman who'd assesed his app praised him on his essay, etc. The point is, why would a school admit a kid so gung-ho about norse mythology to their school if they dont even have a med/ren program? They know he won't attend. Schools do try to predict student's choices. Thats why its so important to show interest. Some schools, like WashU have a very tough time admitting students who havent visited the campus. They want to know you are interested enough to visit. </p>
<p>It sucks that schools try to read your mind to protect their stats. but they do it. Usually its the schools (like princeton) that seem to care a whole lot about stats. Just recognize it and try to play it to your advantage. Make it seem like theres no where else you'd rather be. This is why so many schools ask you to write the essay about "why their school?" and the reason EA and ED have come into being.</p>
<p>the valedictorian, super most outstanding kid in my class was rejected from all the ives he applied to, and some of his safeties. He ended up very happily at Rice, an amazing school, but everyone thought it was so bizzare. It does happen. The college admissions process is just messed up like that. Understand it, and work with it. dont get your hopes up.</p>
<p>Well said, roza_soza.</p>
<p>Way to protect yourself from this nonsense: apply to world-class schools that don't do the yield-conscious mind reading nonsense. Caltech and MIT come to mind immediately ;-)</p>
<p>tokenadult is absolutely right: when data is published, perfect scorers applying to the most elite schools tend to have nearly a 50% acceptance rate. I haven't seen any such data for MIT, however - only places like Princeton and Harvard. MIT's admissions rate seems to increase more dramatically when plotted against SAT score (as we can see from the graph), so I imagine the figure is somewhat higher than 50%. Still, it's not even close to a sure thing - I know a very talented student with a 1600 (among plenty of other credentials) who was deferred and then rejected last year.</p>
<p>And mollybatmit, I don't think that the 100th percentile data point could possibly just represent perfect scores. If it did, then Harvard would only have an admissions rate of 20% for such students, which is considerably lower than what we've heard (40-50ish).</p>
<p>You can find the charts of acceptances against SAT scores on page 6 of the "Revealed Preferences Ranking" paper. It compares Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. You'll see the differences, and may be interested in reading the entire paper.</p>
<p>Wow, academically intelligent, but lacking common sense.</p>
<p>Why would you tell your interviewers about the other schools you have applied to? </p>
<p>As for the query: no, that's probably not the reason he was rejected.</p>
<p>becasue the interviewers usually ask you where else you are applying. In fact, I had several interviewers ask me to tell them where school A ranked on my list. Of course common sense ought to tell you to say "its my first choice," but you better be prepared to make them believe it. And that isnt as easy as it sounds. Knowing little details that arent published in admissions pamphlets and websites are good. Mentioning an impression a tour guide or current student has made on you can help too (dont be vague with this). and in a time when applying early to your first choice is an option for some, this only complicates things. I had an interviewer ask me if i was applying early anywhere, and I was. sure, I could have lied, but I didn't.</p>
<p>Well, Princeton has an Early Decision- naturally the standards will be lowered for those candidates that are bound to the school. It would attribute to the two peaks.</p>
<p>and 2- you're exaggerating. I had a somewhat unfriendly Columbia interviewer during the Regular Decision round who asked me where else I'd applied etc etc, and I told him that I'd applied to, and been accepted into, MIT Early Action. He responded kind of coldly like... "well well..." and jotted down a few notes- there was a "you asked." kind of look from me to him and that was the end of that subject. I walked away from the interview kind of indignant (it'd been my most unpleasant college interview). Come April 1st, I got in.</p>
<p>My surprise doesn't come from the fact that this super star student got rejected, but from the possible reality that some Ives do play this kind of number games........I didn't believe that when I posted this original thread, now I see, it's possible.......thanks for all the information sharing.</p>
<p>Everyone has these examples of the star who gets turned down by all top private schools. Maybe the friend of a friend is unpleasant or cocky or generated a letter of rec that was mixed. Maybe his numbers weren't all that great (it's almost impossible to impress a top 10 school with your SAT's and grades--many top schools, HYPS and even Duke, now accept fewer than half the valedictorians and fewer than half of those with perfect or near-perfect SAT's. I don't think it's aield game as much as a tough statistical crunch.</p>