<p>There are many bright kids who have been denied admission to Ivys and I do not like the word rejected. Going into this, I told my son that he had a very small chance getting into an Ivy and that it does not matter how well you did in HS. We as parents need to prepare our kid for disappointments and that in life things don’t always seem fair. So the only thing you did wrong was not warn your D about college admission.</p>
<p>Her app has no flaws. She actually sounds like a very bright and motivated person, and it’s entirely those schools’ loss if they did not accept her. When it comes to top school admissions, adcoms are trying to build a class rather than simply accepting the most qualified people, so some of those among the “most qualified” are turned away. But that does not detract from their accomplishments or potential at all. There are LOTS of stories of kids who did not get into any top schools but were highly successful in other places. If your daughter is still interested in attending an Ivy, though, she could consider transferring if things don’t work out, or applying for graduate school. In my opinion grad school admissions are a lot more predictable than undergrad.</p>
<p>her rank is low, satII scores are on the lower side, and comes from a competitive high school with plenty of academically qualified applicants. </p>
<p>“Cornell accepted 18%, but that number is highly misleading, because some individual colleges have a much higher acceptance rate, so the others could well be down in the 10-12% range.”</p>
<p>or lower. Cornell has a seemingly high acceptance rate because it has a few colleges within the university with high acceptance rates. doesn’t mean if you apply to CAS you should still be looking at the overall acceptance rate.</p>
<p>“If the top 10,000 students apply to every school in the nation, the rest of us will be shut out completely.”</p>
<p>I don’t see that as the problem. since the admission office makes sure that the yield from year to year is the same, they must be taking into account how many of the student will actually attend.</p>
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<p>Honestly?</p>
<p>1) I think it’s awful that as a parent, you are trying to “find some flaw” in your D’s application.
2) Of COURSE it’s very common for “stats like these” to be rejected at top schools. These are schools with single digit or near-single digit acceptance rates! There simply isn’t room for every qualified kid in these schools.</p>
<p>I think it’s probably her rank.</p>
<p>Rank definitely pops out to me. A 3.85/3.9 and top ~10% means your HS has plenty of grade inflation. (A 3.85 at our HS is top 3%). It takes something really special for an Ivy to dig that deep into a typical pool. (And no, test scores won’t do it.)</p>
<p>If you look at Brown’s website, they clearly show a significant drop off at the decile mark. Top decile has a 11% admission rate, but that includes Val (21%) and Sal (16%). The second decile (and below) has a 2% admission rate. And your D’s gpa puts her at the bottom of the first decile.</p>
<p>Just for clarification on my part–why does that mean grade inflation? Maybe a lot of kids earned that GPA, and the lowest GPA at the school is higher than most schools.
I don’t understand this inflation/deflation thing. </p>
<p>Sorry to hijack. But I agree with the above posters- your D is an excellent student and person. Her worth isn’t characterized by any acceptance/denial to any schools.</p>
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<p>That sir, is the definition of grade inflation (and why rank is so important). :)</p>
<p>But in reality, its a minor point. The broader point is that the OP’s D is at the 9% mark. HYP would have to jump over 50+ other kids to accept OP’s D. Why would they do that unless she has something really special to offer the campus community, other than test scores?</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with playing the lottery, but one just has to accept that the odds are lotto-like in such instances. IMO, the GC at a school that sends several to Harvard should have told the parents up front that yes, “it is common” for unhooked kids with such [rank] stats to be routinely rejected every year.</p>
<p>bluebayou- I prefer to be called miss :)</p>
<p>I still don’t understand that… I’m guessing at my school, 3.6-3.7 would be top ten%? my UW is 3.97 and that’s ~2%</p>
<p>But doesn’t it depend on the grading scale? Whether the school uses the 10point system( A+ –> A- = 100-90), and whether each teacher uses percents to grade (ie quizzes are worth 10%, etc) versus points (each assignment is worth a certain number of points, add total points earned divided by total points possible.)</p>
<p>Anyway, sorry again. Congrats on your D’s successes.</p>
<p>@CPUscientist — Yes, you make a good point and it happens to be one that drives me nuts. To have grade inflation one must first have an average grade whereby if too many grades fall above the average the school is considered to have grade inflation.</p>
<p>What is that average grade? That isn’t clear to me anymore. Traditionally it might have been a C, but at this point a C is considered a low grade. I don’t know what the baseline curve is anymore.</p>
<p>Nowadays, I think the “average” grade is in the 80-90 (B) range. </p>
<p>I’m still not sure why that’s inflation? Especially at “competitive” schools, where almost everyone is a great student. It doesn’t mean the teachers “inflate” the grades. I’m guessing grade inflation would be like how it is in my AP US History class. My teacher grades on a % scale. I got an F (ouch) on a quiz, but a 90 on the test. Yet my grade has always been a 90 (A-). Is this inflation? So that no matter how good/bad you do on something, your grade is more likely to stay “good” or the same?</p>
<p>Are you referring to a bell curve?</p>
<p>Which i think is completely ridiculous.</p>
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<p>I am sure that will make the OP feel much better!! The Ivy League is just a plain old sports conference like the Big Ten. Harvard = Ohio State. I get it. I feel much better now!</p>
<p>When I was in graduate school the only passing grades were As and Bs, a C was considered failing. The argument, of course was that everyone there was a good student, so that was an appropriate curve. As long as everyone knows what the curve is then that system works.</p>
<p>When each school has its own curve it makes the idea of grade inflation not as meaningful. This is just an observation, not a criticism. It makes class rank more meaningful.</p>
<p>The Ivy League is a sports conference. Sometimes I think these particular schools have too high a degree of reverence, and remembering that their original connection to each other is from belonging to the the same sports conference is a fair thing to point out.</p>
<p>RANK.</p>
<p>Competitive suburban High School students who get into Ivies are ususally in the top 0.5% (for HYPS), and at least top 2% for all the others. Top 7% does not match to Top 15 schools, generally.</p>
<p>FYI elite colleges use class rank (whenever available) in lieu of GPA, along with SAT + SAT IIs in computing the Academic Index for the applicant.</p>
<p>There’s really no reason to reflect upon why you daughter was rejected. It’s impossible to know, and knowing won’t change anything. Enjoy her acceptances!</p>
<p>@beatlesdisturbed- Accepted at HYPS but rejected by UMichigan? Wow, I wouldn’t even think that would be possible. I guess that just shows how college admissions isn’t an exact science.</p>
<p>^I believe that would be evidence of Tufts Syndrome.</p>
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<p>No, but it serves as a good reminder for those, particularly those who are new to this countries, that the Ivies are merely 8 of the best schools that happened to be united by a shared social and sports conference, as opposed to the only 8 that are the be-all-and-end-all and everything else is a huge step down. Why do you have a problem with that?</p>