<p>This is a common complaint I see on CC and I'm starting to hear it in real life too. How can such people be for real? It's as though they've read their "inferior friend"'s application and they have the authority to make the judgment on why said "friend" doesn't deserve to go to a school simply because they didn't get in.</p>
<p>It's understandable. A complaint I hear every now and then is, "How did ___ get into Stanford? She doesn't even do anything in class! How did Stanford choose her over _____, who's so much more academic than her?" In all fairness, people haven't read other people's applications, so they can't really say that, but it can get frustrating when one of your classmates, who's clearly not an academic superstar, gets into a college that rejects the 'class geniuses.'</p>
<p>well sometimes you know them very well that you KNOW they couldn't possibly have written a better application essay and answers than you did.</p>
<p>Everyone is tense about colleges. Everyone wants to get in. Particularly if you aren't close friends with the person, things can get hostile. People want to feel that they are the most qualified and worked the hardest. Sometimes it's merited, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes people just want to complain and feel that the world WAS unfair to them. CC can be a place to do that because your complaints won't come back to bite you in real life.</p>
<p>Some feel that they worked really hard, while another kid did well but partied and took it easy (or at least looked like he/she did). That's hard to take too. If you've been dedicated and put in a lot of effort to get where you are, and you feel that an accepted applicant hasn't, it feels unfair. </p>
<p>Also, the college process is arbitrary sometimes. Once you're at a certain level of applicants, it sometimes seem like someone's playing "eeny-meeny-miny-moe" behind your back and you're the unlucky one. Because, let's face it--there's too many qualified applicants and not enough spots.</p>
<p>There's also other contributing factors--finances, for instance. I have a friend who goes to a really expensive private high school. There are people who go there who can pay for a new library to be built, while others are on scholarship (she's told me all sorts of tales). That can generate hard feelings too--especially if the "rich kid" hasn't done as well as the "scholarship kid" but gets in anyway. She told me that kids sometimes shun other kids if they get into a certain school because of finances or legacy.</p>
<p>When you slaughter someone in GPA and SATs, only to be waitlisted while the other person gets in... You'll grow bitter.</p>
<p>i want to be that someone who has a lower stats and gets in. hehe</p>
<p>no whats unfair is when one of the dumbest people in your school gets to go to a tier one school because his/her dad is coaching a sport at that school.</p>
<p>EDIT: and affirmative action, of course</p>
<p>Some people with lower stats have an interest in things other than books. Like South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere such as....</p>
<p>This year admission have been extremly painful and brutal; lots of well deserving students were rejected from many colleges. It has increased the pressure on everyone so some just couldn't handle it so lash out. It is human nature. The process in absurdly complicated and unpredictable so it is not fair.</p>
<p>No body knows who can get in and who cann't. I think the lessons I'm learning for the next year to ask my D to apply to as many colleges as possible. Also to learn as many tricks as possible to get leverage at different colleges.</p>
<p>^^
if everyone used that logic and applied to as many schools as possible, all it would do is increase competition, decrease admission rates, and make next year's addmissions even more painful and brutal.</p>
<p>^^^: True but if you learn strategy; you may cut down that list of applications.
So learning the process is quite important. Play it like a game to win. You may loose some matches but you will win some too. Point is to choose the opponents (Colleges) properly.</p>
<p>Ah, alamode, but then you get to the interesting crux of competitive markets. Which is, if a new technology comes out which improves efficiency/quality, the companies rarely benefit from a relative standpoint with each other, whereas the consumers do. This is because all the firms must incorporate the new innovation - all of them presumably spending the same amount, etc etc.</p>
<p>In terms of college, the "corporations" would be the students, which are applying to an increasing number of students, which of course results in a cross-flood of applications. Who gains as the consumer in this instance? The colleges, of course, who get lower admission rates as total apps surge. But the thing is the students have no choice but to apply to as many as possible, because there's no governing body or union to help them as a collective. So nobody has an incentive to cut back for the common good...</p>
<p>yeah, i guess the problem is that with the unpredictability of admissions, people find it necessary to apply to as many schools as possible to increase chances of being accepted somewhere, but this phenomenon would eventually snowball out of control, with thousands of students applying to 15+ schools...not sure what would happen at that point.
There is no way to stop this from happening because the only way to do so would be for everyone to limit the number of schools they apply to.<br>
However, if only one person limits his applications, this will not effect the process and they will end up being disadvantaged by the admissions process because all other students will be submiting more applications, and the one person who limited his applications will probably be rejected/waitlisted at most/all of the few schools he applied to.<br>
Few have the courage to take those chances, and so I assume that this trend of simply applying to more schools will continue.</p>
<p>Well, stats isn't everything. But sometimes it is more than stats. Someone who took many classes with you and was a very average student in all of them, and who was involved in similar ECs where you were a leader/winner.
A good paid college consultant can make pile of junk into a stellar application even without serious cheating. And there were many threads here, where kids acknowledged that they stretched the thruth on their apps. And essays are edited by professionals. And letters of recommendation are organized from family friends.</p>
<p>I think it's impossible to really know the strength of another person's application. On the parent's board, I occasionally read comments that dismiss other students' courseloads or EC involvement. Particularly with the ECs, I always wonder - how can an outsider truly assess what someone else's kid is doing? Some important ECs are off the high school radar - church service, community theater, dance, a sport that isn't offered at the school - lots of stuff. And unless weighted GPAs are posted for all to see (and I guess some schools do this [shudder]), how can people really know the strength of another's transcript?</p>
<p>The essay may address topics that outsiders have no knowledge of. Maybe a kid writes about having an alcoholic parent or taking care of a special-needs sibling or some other highly personal issue in a way that demonstrates exceptional grace or maturity.</p>
<p>Finally - let's remember that enrollment management is also at work in this process. Many selective schools will accept a student with lower stats if they think the student is likely to attend, while waitlisting or even rejecting a student with higher stats. Which is why you want to show the love to your safety schools.</p>
<p>frazzled-
very good analysis of this process. I agree with your comments, particularly the memo on essays. I believe the essay has a great amount of weight these days. Often it can highlight an applicants true self. The essay of course can be often reflective of the applicant as it is compared with the ACT writing section. In this regard the essay can be looked at to see if in fact the applicant wrote it or if by someone other than the applicant.
I have also been reading about college admissions in various books that the ad coms sometimes do not want an applicant that would be a "tea cup"-that is someone that may crack at the first time a person may not do well on an exam or class. In other words perfectionism may not be what a college is looking for in an applicant. I think it is in poor taste for people to criticize others for being accepted to a school that another applicant "feel" is undeserved. Most likely, there are many, many features in an application that these ad coms examine.</p>
<p>Possible reasons for a person with lower stats getting in over a person with higher stats:
1. The person actually has some very impressive achievement that does not show up in the stats, that you just don't know about.
2. The person has some particular skill that is needed at the school (i.e., plays the oboe, athlete).
3. The person has some characteristic that the school values (i.e., is a URM, a legacy, from an underrepresented geographical area, first generation college).
4. The school thinks the lower-stats person will enroll, but doesn't believe the higher-stats person will do so.
5. The person is very, very rich.
6. The person lied on some key element of the application.
7. The admissions office made a mistake, or acted arbitrarily.
I think all these things are possible, but I list them in descending order of likelihood.</p>
<p>1) Schools admit applications, not people. There's a difference.</p>
<p>To their credit, it seems to me that schools put a lot of effort into trying to see the person behind the application. But in the end all they have is paper. All things considered, the schools do a pretty good job.</p>
<p>2) While you're looking ahead of you at kids who got in to your top choice school with worse stats than yours, don't forget to look behind you at the kids who see you the same way for the schools you did get into.</p>
<p>winchester--Some schools actually do evaluate people, and not just the applications. Examples include Pomona and Bowdoin where weight is given to the personal interview.</p>
<p>Post #3, False. Post #15, True.</p>
<p>Students you believe you know well may turn out a surprisingly good piece of writing (on their own) when motivated. Motivation can be the key when it comes to effort & product.</p>
<p>Haven't seen their app; haven't seen their recommendations, unless they themselves have seen them, have copies of them, and are foolishly sharing those contents with you.</p>
<p>Post #17, Point #1, also true, and i.m.o. the main Unknown factor advantaging the candidate that you believe you know just oh-so-well. Also, in some cultures it is considered unwise to tell-all about yourself and/or in bad taste to expose all of your assets outside your immediate family.</p>