The HYPS Miracle - but why?

Applying to College
1

<p>I have a friend who applied to colleges this year. </p>

<p>By any measure, she wasn't supposed to get into any top-tier schools. And no one, not even our GC, expected her to.</p>

<p>But she was accepted across the board: HYPS, Columbia, Penn M&T, UChicago, Duke, ...everywhere.</p>

<p>For the record, she has a 3.5 UW GPA, ranked outside the top 10%, a 2020 SAT score, no hooks.</p>

<p>To top it off, she's an ORM (Asian) from an ORS (California). She sent me her profile and I have posted it below, with her permission.</p>

<p>But why?</p>

<p>What made her such a compelling candidate to adcoms, despite her average grades and academics?</p>

<p>Why did adcoms choose her over, say, any other applicant who likely had much higher stats? </p>

<p>Yes, she has great extracurriculars, but they're not that different from lots of other top applicants. In fact, she never held an officer position for any activity.</p>

<p>Please share your opinion. Thank you :)</p>

<p>
[quote]

Asian female from CA
Upper-middle income bracket
No hooks
No extenuating circumstances</p>

<p>GPA: 3.5 UW, 3.9 W
Class Rank: 89/600
SAT: 2020
SAT II: 730 Math II, 800 Lit, 670 Chem
AP: 6 APs, mix of 4's and 5's</p>

<p>Essays: average; Common App about running with a kite
Recs: GC didn't know her, 2 teachers both "solid" recs
Extracurriculars:[ul]
[<em>] FBLA: no officer positions, independently studied business (never took a business class), won nationals x2
[</em>] Independent research in hydroelectricity (she wrote a 30-paged thesis on her own that was published by a trade journal)
[<em>] Published writer (newspapers, magazines), some writing awards (Scholastic, NCTE, TWC)
[</em>] Volunteer for international philanthropist organization: no officer positions, developed an outreach plan that was implemented in 200 locations statewide, helped organize golf fundraiser to raise $60,000
[/ul]
That's it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If you analyze her extracurriculars, you'll notice that they're all separate, unrelated fields--yet CC has always preached the importance of "focusing on one or two things to show passion". Does this mean "passion" can be shown through a list of unrelated ECs too?</p>

2

<p>i am not the best guy to say this but those are some amazing ECs. She is already so accomplished and college admins must be thinking she will work hard and continue to do amazing work in college.</p>

<p>thats what i believe.</p>

3

<p>Those are very, very impressive ECs. They may not all be related, but the depth achieved in each one is strong enough that it doesn’t matter. There is clearly the potential for continued top-level achievement in any of those areas.</p>

<p>That’d be my guess.</p>

4

<p>It’s the female scientist angle. That’s not actually that common</p>

5

<p>Look, she won a national competition twice.
she wrote a brilliant 30 page article
created an outreach program implemented in 200 hospitals nationwide
and most importantly is a good writer so she probably wrote beautiful,passionate essays.</p>

<p>why wouldn’t they admit her?</p>

6

<p>I’m surprised that she was accepted “across the board” but her acceptances are perfect evidence of the importance of real experience and materializing talents.</p>

<p>Those ECs are more standout than you think. You’re overestimating the applicant pool in that category.
How many applicants are published writers? Probably a good number.
How many of those writers have won national awards? A handful.
How many applicants have published an independent scientific research paper? Not many.
How many applicants helped organize a fundraiser that raised $60,000+? A few.
How many applicants were repeat national champions in any event? Very few.
How many applicants were involved in an EC that positively and directly influenced 200 locations? Extremely rare.</p>

<p>How many applicants did all of these things? One. At that point, it doesn’t matter that your SAT is in the bottom 25%.</p>

7

<p>Her ECs were compelling enough that the adcoms started saying, “Her stats aren’t that bad–I mean, she can definitely do the work.” Less interesting apps won’t get that consideration, and their stats will be held to a higher standard.</p>

8

<p>her stats are not bad but her ec are amazing</p>

9

<p>Her ec’s are outright amazing!!, come on your telling me NOTHING stands out about this applicant? Btw, you guys need a new GC. Oh and that 800 Lit is impressive ;)</p>

10

<p>Definitely not surprised by her acceptances after reading over her list of extracurricular accomplishments…quite impressive.</p>

11

<p>Volunteer for international philanthropist organization: no officer positions, developed an outreach plan that was implemented in 200 locations statewide, helped organize golf fundraiser to raise $60,000 </p>

<p>Most people raise a 1000 in school.</p>

12

<p>*…yet CC has always preached the importance of “focusing on one or two things to show passion”. *</p>

<p>Yup, posters on CC. Not people involved with admissions. </p>

<p>*Does this mean “passion” can be shown through a list of unrelated ECs too? * </p>

<p>Yup. In fact, focusing on one or two activities can be as risky as artificially spreading yourself thin.</p>

13

<p>There is only one EC on her resume that is noteworthy, Developing an outreach plan and raising 60k. </p>

<p>Everything else looks like something she could do in school which any kid can do and they are all individual activities where you dont depend on anyone else.</p>

14

<p>Well, obviously she "took the place " of some other more deserving white or Asian applicant with those stats:rolleyes: …Most people here would definitely be saying that if she’d been Black, regardless of her ECs, because when it comes to black applicants, the only things that matter are their GPA and test score. Fact.</p>

15

<p>I don’t know about that. Won nationals x2 at FBLA is fairly impressive. Repeat winners are very, very rare, if only because with them running at the end of the school year, to have won twice means winning as a HS sophomore and junior. Very rare to see HS sophomores accomplished enough to win. I also find published independent research to be very rare. The key word there being independent. That shows self-direction, drive, and a willingness to take control of her own education. All highly impressive qualities sought by the top schools. I too was not surprised by this. Although the most common route to acceptance is for a student to have accomplished great things within and with the support of their school, those students who have accomplished great things without needing the support of their school are even more impressive.</p>

<p>I also question the somewhat patronizing “Essays: average”. My experience is that students are often poor at evaluating how good or bad their essays and interviews actually come across.</p>

16

<p>Oh, come on texaspg. How many high school students can you name who independently studied, and then published a 30 page thesis on hydroelectricity in a professional trade journal?</p>

17

<p>Best ECs i have seen so far.</p>

18

<p>What is FBLA? How many people can win in nationals?</p>

<p>IB students have to turn in 30 page papers for graduation. So unless this work was done in a lab and some new things were identified, a paper by itself is not a major accomplishment (getting it published may be).</p>

19

<p>along with those impressive ec’s, i’m going to guess her essay was amazing.</p>

20

<p>another thought - i think some cc’ers mistakenly think that leadership positions have to be elected. this applicant was a true leader w/ her ec’s.</p>