<p>So I was just wondering, how well do you think the credentials of the students on CC reflect the ACTUAL student body of some of the top colleges and universities. Like it seems that CC seems to (for the most part) attract the most overachieving student demographic. Like the standards we see on here seem to very often disagree with the standards we see in the facts and figures of a lot of top tier colleges. For example, the 25th to 75th percentile for students accepted to Dartmouth on the ACT is 29-33 (according to their website). But most kids with 29 on the ACT would be told here that they have no chance for admission to Dartmouth. Or even a 30 or 31 for that matter. Now of course, some hooks and circumstances heighten one's chances. I guess my main question is, do you think that the idea that college forums attract such overachievers mar the facts in terms of college admissions. Just curious.</p>
<p>I think that people on CC, due to the type of students that it attracts and the fact that it’s largely anonymous, tend to be much more brutally honest than people like. It’s often a reality check for new users (I know it was for me) about just how competitive admissions are, but at the same time, some people get so caught up in that fact, that they don’t give the best advice. So, ultimately, I think it’s important for everyone who uses the site to take the advice they get here with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>The “chances” threads should be taken for what they are: complete and utter nonsense. Nobody participating in those threads has ever served on an adcom, and is thus - at best - making a wild-assed guess at what they think the adcom wants to see.</p>
<p>It’s like college admissions astrology, and about as accurate.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it is impossible to really chance someone on a college forum such as this. But again, I don’t mind the brutal honesty, my real question is, does that fact that almost everyone on here is an overachiever skew the perceptions of college admissions?</p>
<p>I think so.</p>
<p>If I posted a blind stats/interests profile and the graduate schools I applied to, asking for “chances,” my educated guess is that everyone would tell me OMG U SUCK FAIL REJECT EVERYWHERE. I started at a community college and graduated from an unprestigious small-Western-state flagship. With the exception of a single number (verbal GRE), my stats are highly unspectacular, even mediocre.</p>
<p>In the real world, I got accepted everywhere I applied, with at least one offer of full funding.</p>
<p>CC is a great place for info, but you have to take it with a grain of salt the size of a dump truck.</p>
<p>Agreed, I’ve always thought the chances threads were, for the most part, rather pointless. </p>
<p>I think that for the most selective schools, CC actually gives a more realistic perception of admissions. There are a lot of people who assume that getting a 2400 or being valedictorian guarantees you acceptance at Harvard because they don’t realize how competitive admissions for those schools actually is.</p>
<p>Agree with both of you. Lol just curious though, polarscribe, how the hell did you get into all the schools you applied to if you are as unspectacular as you make yourself sound? I think what people do not realize is that everyone, within reason, has a chance at a top tier school. I mean people who are applying to the ivies are almost all academically capable of the workload, etc. I think people put to much emphasis on academic minutia such as the difference between a 2190 and 2270 SAT. Granted it makes a difference, but there is a ton more that goes into decisions than quantitative analysis.</p>
<p>mt, of all of the kids on the Dartmouth forum, the only one I ever recall getting in to D with a 29 ACT was a recruited athlete for football. I recall one kid getting in from the waitlist with an SAT of 1800: he was an URM immigrant with a compelling personal story. But that’s anecdotal. Let’s look at the actual stats:</p>
<p>[Testing</a> Statistics](<a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/admissions/facts/test-stats.html]Testing”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/admissions/facts/test-stats.html)</p>
<p>Note that only 34.4% of applicants who scored an actual 800 on the CR section of the SAT were admitted. Note that the acceptance rate for those scoring 600-690 was only 6.5%. Realize that Dartmouth fields a lot of athletic teams for a school its size. Most of the kids at the low end of the ACT/SAT range for D or any other super-selective schools are going to have a very powerful hook: recruited athletes, URMs, possibly legacies (most legacy kids are rejected though), and some rare development admits. Realize that the chances of an unhooked student with 650 on his or her CR and Math being admitted are roughly those of a snowball in hell. :)</p>
<p>Also note that only 25% of the enrolled freshmen at Dartmouth submitted ACT scores. That means it’s approximately 68 freshmen who had ACT scores of 29 or less (bottom quarter of a quarter = 1/16th of the entering class), a pretty small number. Given that as many as 40% of the entering freshmen at a school like Dartmouth are “hooked” (recruited athletes, legacies, “development” admits, or URMs), you have to assume some significant fraction of those getting in with weaker stats are in one of those hooked categories. So for the unhooked applicant with a 29 ACT, chances of admission to Dartmouth probably range from slim to none.</p>
<p>Very true. you guys pretty much dismantled my example. lol</p>