<p>Hey Guys,
I was at Barnes and Noble today and found this insightful book behind the college admissions process. Instead of all those other books out there that give the recipe for college acceptance, this book goes behind the scenes at Wesleyan to show students what really goes on behind closed doors.
Check it out on Amazon! It's called The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg (I don't wanna post the link because I don't know the rules of pasting links from other sites)</p>
<p>Excellent book.</p>
<p>Fantastic book - loved it!</p>
<p>It's an awesome, fast-paced read. I highly recommend it to everyone here!</p>
<p>haha my mom gave it to me a year ago. Off course I wasnt considering the Ivy Leagues (more like the top 45-50) so It really did me no good.</p>
<p>send that book over acarta07, i'll take it (too lazy to go to bookstore =X)</p>
<p>I thought it was VERY insightful. I read it when it first came out. I thought a few things were interesting:</p>
<p>1) The depth to which they went to recruit a "Native Americain" just show it would show up in their diversity percentages (then if I remember he dropped out after a semester)</p>
<p>2) How relative an essay can be. If the Adm guy plays sax and the essay is about someone's love of the saxaphone, they'll of course find it compelling (asuming its well written)</p>
<p>3) How "very few" kids wrote about 9/11 the Fall it happened because "they all assumed everyone else was gonna write about 9/11."</p>
<p>4) How over-worked and under paid these admission people are (and many are recent grads....so not all that qualified)</p>
<p>a great book that gives a real under-the-hood look at how admissions works. One big take-away I got from the book was how important it is to ask teachers whether they'd be willing to write a strong rec for you or whether you should ask someone else. The book has a rec for a girl who really got dumped on by her teacher (and who didn't get in).</p>
<p>Do you guys think the book is outdated though? I mean it was written a few years ago, and college admissions have gotten much more competitive. The author kept making reference to how students needed to have more A's than B's (making it seem like it could be 12 A's and 8 B's) but for Ivy Leagues now, don't you need to have practically all A's and only a few B's now? (assuming you're unhooked) Also, 1450's were high SAT scores--which are, compared to the national average--but isn't that the middle of the pack in most Ivies & schools that accept less than 20% of its applicants?</p>
<p>I know I read an article about the admission process at UPenn, where they almost automatically elimnated applicants with more than 1-2 B's and the article was from the 90's I believe. Not sure where I read it but it was online so it could probably be found if you guys are interested.</p>
<p>Yeah, I read that article too, that's what I was thinking about. In it, one girl got rejected because she improved her SAT scores 150 points, but she had 4 B's junior year... so they thought she wasn't living up to her "potential." ?!?!</p>
<p>"I know I read an article about the admission process at UPenn, where they almost automatically elimnated applicants with more than 1-2 B's and the article was from the 90's I believe. Not sure where I read it but it was online so it could probably be found if you guys are interested."</p>
<p>Even though the article was from the 90's, do you think that they still do this today? If so...eeks!</p>
<p>They actually do not accept the girl you mentioned chase.</p>
<p>It's pretty good for a novel. If you want admission's advice, "A for admission" Not even close.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know.</p>
<p>"A senior at a strong private school, this young woman has high test scores, including a combined 1,480 on her SATs. But her grades are weaker. She has applied to the College of Arts and Science as a philosophy major.</p>
<p>The college is eager to admit women. But all three in the room worry her merely "rigorous curriculum" is not the "most rigorous available." Also, that even deferring her might send the wrong message to the school.</p>
<p>"We've got a lot of B's on this transcript, including four in her junior year," Jackson says. "She's described as having lots of potential. But there's a lot of depth to this class. And she's got too many B's for me to be comfortable at a school like this where we do see their top kids coming to Penn."</p>
<p>Stetson: "She ended up getting a 120 point increase on her SATs. But it just proves even more that she's not using her ability."</p>
<p>Jackson: "There are so many B's on her record in a rig [rigorous curriculum, see glossary]. Still, she's in the top 15 percent of her class. I'd like to hold onto [defer] her."</p>
<p>Stetson: "Do we get much from this school? What kind of community is it?"</p>
<p>Jackson: "It's a middle-class community. It's not a Scarsdale or Mamaroneck, but it's not White Plains either."</p>
<p>Stetson: "Patti, you're thinking we should let her go [deny] now?"</p>
<p>Schindler: "Well, yeah, it's the B's and the rig - that's not going to change [before regular admission].""</p>
<p>I just finished reading the book too. The exact numbers are problably outdated.
But I do think 4Bs in junior year is a lot of Bs since this is the most crucial year in terms of GPA.</p>
<p>my bad chase, I thought you wrote that they accepted her in your earlier post</p>
<p>"I know I read an article about the admission process at UPenn, where they almost automatically elimnated applicants with more than 1-2 B's and the article was from the 90's I believe. Not sure where I read it but it was online so it could probably be found if you guys are interested."</p>
<p>1-2 B's as in the core subjects or all the subjects including art, drama, etc.
And no, I dont believe that's how they do it..</p>
<p>This book is about Wes - very different admissions than HYPS.</p>