<p>Encomium, thanks for letting parents know what worked for you. A lot of parents do pick up tips from knowing what worked for others, and also in seeing that there are a lot of different ways for their kids to get where they are going.
Congrats on Yale! Don't forget to consider wearing orange and black for grad school! Best of luck, keep up the good work!</p>
<p>What was your hook? You have done so well with admissions and I know you had the grades, scores, and rank (as do some other high achievers) and am wondering other than the essays and all which were good...I missed something and there had to be something that made you stand out besides your stats (which are surely great)....I missed it and forgive me....was it the achievement in community service? What did you do? Also you won some regional awards...what are these in generally? I just know you must be special in certain areas or ways beyond your academic achievement or have something that gave you a nice package/profile outside of your stats....can you explain it cause I missed something or was it the community service? Thanks. There are definitely hooks or profiles that do not involve art, sports, music or student government. I just am unclear what your profile or hook was beyond your stellar academic record. I hope I worded my inquiry right...I am looking for you to explain the piece I was missing here, not at all questioning IF you had other things to your profile beyond the stats, thanks.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I find Ecomium's comments DANGEROUSLY MISLEADING! If his point was to rub the noses of those nay-savers who said that he didn't have a snowball's chance into his success story, then I say good for him! I'm sure it feels good and he deserves it. If the point is to set himself as an example then I'd offer a few caveats.</p>
<p>First, Ecomium is not just an average Joe highschooler-- who had a good time, got good grades, hung with his friends, and fired off a few apps.
On the contrary he is a very savvy, educator consumer of the college application process. He has chalked up 1750 posts on this board. He hopefully learned something along the way about how to play the system. Knowing how to play the game, which he adds half way down the thread, should have been at the top of the list.</p>
<p>"ECs are not that important. As long as you have something you're dedicated to, you should do fine. . . there is far too much emphasis on ECs on this site."
Misleading AND contradictory. Something you're dedicated to IS an EC. Since it is critical to have something you're dedicated to, it is therefore essential to have an EC. We may be splitting hairs over semantics here, but in my book a passion, an interest, a talent -- whether it's student government, art or stamp collecting -- is an EC. You'd better have one and you'd better convince the AdCom that you really care about it. Or as NSM says, proceed with "passion, depth and creativity."</p>
<p>"Obtain as near-perfect a GPA you can in a rigorous curriculum. Avoid Bs at all costs. Seriously. Try to get straight As. Be valedictorian."
Depends on your school and your interests. If you go to a competitive school, you may not even make it in the top 10%. Adcoms know this (just like graduate school admissions know about grade inflation/deflation). Also, don't avoid taking chances because you are afraid of getting a B. Take another language, take physics if you're a humanities person, take Shakespeare if you're a science nerd. And further, don't panic over one or two C's. It happens even at the ivy league.</p>
<p>"Obtain the highest possible SAT scores you can. It's amazing the difference I see between people with 1450s and 1580s. If you're white or asian, this is almost crucial. If you get a 1550 or below, retake. Also pay attention to the SAT II. A set of 1550+, 780+ scores is extremely desirable. "
I stand by what I've said again and again. Any SAT between 1450-1600 (by the old scale) will not get you into a college and will not keep you out. Take it two or three times maximum and put it out of mind. Having said that I would add that it helps to score well in the area that you're pursuing. E.g., if you bill your self as Charles Dickens reincarnated do well on the verbal. Same for the Einstein clones on the math side.</p>
<p>"Craft excellent essays. "
Here I agree 100%. For the LACs I believe compelling essays are essential. For the bigger universities and ivies, the affect may vary, but for sure a good essay can't hurt.</p>
<p>"Obtain a nurturing relationship with humanities teachers. I don't trust science and math teachers for recommendations."
Fine, but if you're heavy on math/science are applying for an engineering or other math/science specific program, you'd best get a math/science teacher to go to bat for you. Find one that's verbally inclined.</p>
<p>"Research the interview"
Agree, like a good Boy Scout be prepared.</p>
<p>"Present your applications well! I deliberately chose my font, my paper, a special folder, a well-organized format---an overall aesthetically pleasing design."
I agree in part, as I think it's important to be clear and accurate; however I see no evidence that schools react better to hard copies than electronic submits. Considering the sheer volume of incoming material I imagine all those fancy folders are the first thing to bite the dust.</p>
<p>In short the application review process is holistic and a weakness can compensate for a strength. Intangibles, like self confidence, character, creativity, intellectual drive really are as important as statistics.</p>
<p>EncomiumII: nice post. your op and the "devastated" caught my interest. by the end of the thread, I could see you are fine, you were basically fine the whole time and I really like how you responded to the devastation, to the point of updating those doubters regarding your situation. Right On!!</p>
<p>cricket: well said! I read CC to pick up for my daughter. like many sons and daughters of the parent posters, mine doesn't come to CC. what are they doing with their time?!! I keep her updated on what I learn and the excellent advice and success stories I read about here.</p>
<p>This definitely one of those Your Mileage May Vary situations. I am happy for you, Encomium--you beat the odds and have only good things to come. </p>
<p>I've been through this process twice in two years. Between my sons there were 15 accepts and one waitlist. I still feel that the roulette wheel had more to do with this statistic than any other. While they did not apply to HYP, they did apply to some top LACs as listed on this board.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree on the perfect stats. Each took the SAT twice. Each was closer to 1400 than 1500. I saw many, many kids with outstanding stats that did not get accepted to their first choice school.</p>
<p>I would also disagree that math/science teachers can't help you with recommendations. First, many schools require at least one recommendation in that area. The key is to pick a teacher that knows enough about you to write a recommendation. Being in the class isn't enough. It may not even be the class where you have the highest grade. </p>
<p>While the EC may not be as important as rigorous curriculum, I think you do need something besides schoolwork and stats. You need to be able to contribute something back to the university community. Padded EC lists stand out, as do ECs for which the student shows little to no enthusiasm.</p>
<p>Don't discount geographic diversity. If there are schools that pull in fewer students from your area that would meet your needs, you will stand out in that respect. </p>
<p>Be realistic. If a school accepts 10% of its applicants, even perfection is not a guaranteed admit. Yes, the applicant pool on these boards is skewed, but they are still in that pool of applicants. Students that are at schools where many people apply to the same colleges must also take that into account.</p>
<p>I think what helped my children the most was being sincere. They are who they are. I would suggest trying to shore up deficits. Mine are weak in math. They both took the entire math strand through Calc BC and took the AP exam, this to show that they can handle the core freshman math requirements. There were even some "B" math grades, but they took those hard math classes anyway.</p>
<p>Again, YMMV as they say. What works for one of us may not work for another. I think Encomium's dedication and persistance was an asset in this process.</p>
<p>My S. did not have a stratospheric GPA, did not take the SAT (ACT), and was accepted to his two top choices, selective, very highly regarded schools, as well as some safeties. He was able to do this because he had outstanding essays, good recommendations, and very good and somewhat unusual EC's. We believe it was, if fact, his EC's that made the ultimate difference. I do agree that it is the degree of commitment, not the number of EC's that is important.</p>