The "Best and Brightest" Aren't Always Obvious

Applying to College
41

<p>grades and test scores are almost a requirement for admission to top schools, the only way you can overcome not having that requirement (think 3.8-3.9gpa and 2150+ sat) is by having truly exceptional talent (recruited athlete, international Olympiads, Intel finalists, maybe world-class musician possibly, extremely successful entrepreneur possibly)) which very few people have or through demographics (or legacy). Let someone find the admit rate for someone who has <3.8gpa and <2100-2150 SAT who has unhooked demographics at top colleges. Pretty damn low. Most of those people who managed to get admitted with those stats and no demographics to back them up were probably legacies or those exceptional talents I mentioned.</p>

42

<p>Maybe those “exceptional talents” are a form of being the “best and the brightest”, eh?</p>

43

<p>

</p>

<p>=D> </p>

44

<p>@SammyxB “Exceptional talents” which are…well, exceptional. These kids are the exception, not the rule. The majority of students are either good ol’ average or above average lol. Your hypothesis does not apply to them.</p>

45

<p>@Lilliana330

</p>

46

<p>Yeah there probably are no more than a few hundred kids like those as a very liberal estimate. They’re the exception, not the rule. </p>

47

<p>@SammyxB I’m actually a Quest Scholar myself, and I would never make excuses for any poor performance on my side. Success is all about keeping the bar raised high, not lowering your standards. :)</p>

48

<p>@Lilliana330 Ooh cool :slight_smile: Which partner school you chosen?</p>

49

<p>@SammyxB USC (:</p>

<p>There are certain hardships which sometimes will prevent students from reaching their highest potential, yet I’m sure every other Quest Scholar will agree with this: slacking isn’t one of them. Also, while the tough times some kids go through are saddening, hardships without potential won’t cut it in admissions…Students must show that, despite their struggles, they have something to bring to the table.</p>

50

<p>

</p>

<p>UT Austin auto-admits top 7% of Texas high schoolers. That may change from year to year.</p>

<p>Other Texas publics auto-admit top 10% of Texas high schoolers, but often have additional auto-admit criteria beyond the top 10% of Texas high schoolers.</p>

<p>There are other schools which also have auto-admit criteria:
<a href=“Updated list of schools with auto-admit (guaranteed admission) criteria - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1562918-updated-list-of-schools-with-auto-admit-guaranteed-admission-criteria.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

51

<p>The SAT should be able to pick out the “best and brightest” with a high degree of accuracy. It does more than just predicting first year college grades, as CC orthodoxy seems to suggest:</p>

<p><a href=“Do standardized tests matter? | Nathan Kuncel | TEDxUMN - YouTube”>Do standardized tests matter? | Nathan Kuncel | TEDxUMN - YouTube;