<p>@keepittoyourself,
I’d still rather be judged by the content of my character than by the color of my skin.</p>
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<p>Perhaps.</p>
<p>Or perhaps not.</p>
<p>There certainly is some distribution of kids who apply to the top schools.
- The ones that “phone it in”.
- The ones who treat each app with a lot of time, focus and specialization - e.g. finding the unique part of each school that matches their personality, interests, etc.</p>
<p>From my experience, far more students fit in the second category than the first. They didn’t get to be a top student by being stupid, not knowing the odds, not figuring out how to play the system (ex. GPA management).</p>
<p>Secondly, given the odds are so low and the process is not deterministic, there is nothing wrong with applying to a school whose fit is less than perfect since there is no guarantee that you will get into a school with a perfect fit.</p>
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<p>But if they did “know the odds” and were still surprised/disappointed/angry that they didn’t get in…?</p>
<p>Sally, that’s human nature. They knew the odds but rejection surprises every time anyway and of course they’re disappointed!</p>
<p>@sally305</p>
<p>yeah, people especially in that first category could be disappointed.</p>
<p>Is that hard to understand?</p>
<p>It is a strawman argument to claim that because some people are disappointed that all people are disappointed.</p>
<p>No one said that.</p>
<p>It appears that some posters actually went and googled this kid to see what his achievements have been?? Wow, just wow. He obviously fits in statistically to these schools and we don’t know all the details of his application. My (white, middle class) daughter had lower SAT’s and is <em>gasp</em> 33rd in her class of 531 and got into the one Ivy she applied to. Why? I don’t know, and I’m her mother. She fit in with the statistics and had everything else, but why her and not someone else? And you think you, by googling her, you could tell me? Obviously the adcom saw something in her that made them want her to be a part of their community. So why is anyone trying to independently judge whether this kid “deserved” to get into these schools? Some people need to find better things to do with their time. Those who have spent any amount of time on CC know that the admission process is holistic, and there are a variety of things that tip admission in a student’s favor, an interesting background being only one of them. Why pick on this kid? How about the kid of the celebrity or the wealthy donor or the athlete or the kid who plays the tuba who got into the top school because that school needed a tuba player? You can go back and forth all day and there is no cut and dried formula when schools are rejecting 95% (i.e. tens of THOUSANDS) because there are only so many spots. My only concern with this story being newsworthy is that it continues the propaganda that success is measure by admission to one of these eight schools.</p>
<p>lol my schools naviance is so skewed. For ACT>30 and GPA greater than 4.2 (weighted) the acceptance to UNC is 0 for 34. For anything less it is 6/52. Guess better grades are hurting us</p>
<p>Just to be clear, in my post above, I was referring to the “Grand Slammer” and some of the recent comments regarding him.</p>
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<p>Including me, fluffy. I know you love to accuse posters of strawman arguments but you should read what people say rather than read into it.</p>
<p>Just my two cents… </p>
<p>I’m seeing a lot of people say “My top ten schools were the Ivies + Duke and Stanford” and then feeling disappointed. I’m wondering what people are using to determine what makes a school so good that it’s in your top few list. </p>
<p>When I made my list of schools to apply to (many of which were just schools that sent me free applications by email…), my most important criteria was student reviews of the schools. I wanted to know that students were happy at the school they were at, and I wanted to hear what it was that the students considered downsides of the schools. My next criteria was the atmosphere of the school that was determined through visits. </p>
<p>Were the stats what made you decide that these were the schools that you wanted to be at? If not, had you given other schools a fair chance? </p>
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<p>I didn’t read anything into that. You are saying that even though kids know the odds they are surprised and disappointed they didn’t get in.</p>
<p>As I said, no one is saying that all students who don’t get in are surprised…until that statement.</p>
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<p>No, so now you are ascribing things to me that are not true.</p>
<p>I don’t love it at all. I find it sad and somewhat depressing that some people here have to resort to strawman arguments and ad hominem attacks to try and make a point…or something.</p>
<p>" (Not trying to be racist)."</p>
<p>“Wait”…Are folks actually “TRYING to be” racist? Maybe that’s a figure of speech I can find in the “urban” dictionary. </p>
<p>@collegebvv1 - I feel like this thread has deviated a little from its original purpose, haha. Anyways, I saw that you were waitlisted at CMU and you shouldn’t give up hope; send in another recommendation letter or something if allowed. However, I believe that if you applied to more than one school at CMU, such as SCS and CIT in your case, then you won’t qualify for the priority waitlist–just the regular one. </p>
<p>Best of luck! </p>
<p>Fluffy do you think that someone who applies to all the Ivy’s, Stanford a few other top schools has a true interest in what each of those schools can offer or merely because of the status they confer? I realize students with top scores are the group that is largely going to apply because they typically require high scores. I would not be surprised that those universities are more likely to admit a strong student with strengths the school is looking for and a genuine interest in the school for something other than status than a student with perfect stats who applies to all the schools looking for one to stick. </p>
<p>@coriander23 - Actually my son applied to more than one school at CMU and was priority waitlisted for each of the schools. OP should check his waitlist letter for details.</p>
<p>I’ve read through this whole thread and I have to say, I think it’s really great that you all (the parents) are taking such an active role in your kids’ education.</p>
<p>Personally, I wish I had had parents like you all when I was applying. My parents didn’t really have the time or the resources to help me out much. (Not to discredit them or anything; they’re great parents.) Thing is, they’ve always taken a very passive role in my education. In fact, we never even really talked about college until my sister started applying during my sophomore year. Which is pretty odd, I guess (esp. considering they’re Chinese immigrants, haha). I think they kind of assumed that my school would explain all of this to me. But my school counselors were pretty ■■■■■■, which pretty much meant I was on my own. So you could say I made the mistake of applying to too many reach schools.</p>
<p>But yeah, good to know your kids are being assisted throughout this process. Hope they get what they’re wishing for!</p>
<p>…and I just realized how off-topic this is, lol. Oh well.</p>
<p>I don’t know if anyone has posted this article. My friend shared it with me, and I think it would be especially helpful to those who were rejected at their top choices.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/opinion/bruni-our-crazy-college-crossroads.html?_r=0”>Opinion | Our Crazy College Crossroads - The New York Times;
<p>@annavera – I know for myself and other Parents I’ve met here, our active role came from being in your position and having parents who were not active when we went through it. </p>
<p>@annavera @Longhaul…same here. I had absolutely no guidance ( immigrant parents also) . I made so many mistakes and bad choices. It was basically “Oh you are going to college? best of luck!” If it were up to my parents I would have gone to secretarial school. Short hand would have been a useful skill in today’s world! </p>
<p>@twinmom2014 I went through the same thing. My parents aren’t immigrants but I’m the first kid in the family who intended to go abroad (international citizen). They had no idea how this admissions process worked so I told them I’d figure everything out and there was this huge lack of communication between us throughout the whole thing, down to how much they could afford to pay. I ended up applying to mostly private schools that give aid. Not top 20 or anything, but still selective. And after most of the deadlines had passed I found out they would willingly pay as much as some of the cheaper state schools which I actually wanted to go to. I don’t really blame them. I think it was mostly my fault because I took up more work than I could handle. And I have good stats so I probably put too much faith in them.</p>
<p>Once the rejections started rolling in I realised I didn’t really want to attend the private schools I’d applied to anyway. This college process has just been really, really awful. I’ve only been accepted to 3 universities I don’t even want to attend. I mean, I wouldn’t want one of those parents who are dictating my every move. But it would still be nice to have someone to guide you. I’ve learned a lot though and I guess that’s what really matters. I’ll probably end up attending a local safety but they’re encouraging me to transfer at the end of the year so I’m not too discouraged (:</p>