<p>Harry Bauld, who wrote On Writing the College Application Essay back in 1986 (a book which still is an invaluable guide today), just released a new, 25th anniversary edition.</p>
<p>In it, he writes,</p>
<p>"...no one knows, or will ever know, why you, personally and actually, get in or not. Your teachers don't know. The New York Times doesn't know. Your parents' neighbor's cousin's sister-in-law who teaches in the med school at First Choice University doesn't know. College Confidential doesn't know. I don't know. ... Your college counselors...don't know."</p>
<p>I laughed so hard when seeing this. Does anyone on College Confidential really know when they respond to a chance thread? Does anyone really know when they scourge the Harvard SCEA results thread looking for patterns? At the least, he recognizes our effort in attempting to know... however correct/incorrect we may be in our actual predictions.</p>
<p>I love that! He is exactly right, too. Chance threads, in essence, are just a way to relax your most superficial fears and anxieties. By responding to them, we are making a bold assumption that the half page of typed information is enough to override the 90% of what isn’t included.</p>
<p>I discovered CC only recently and my first thought, upon seeing the chance threads was ***? How can ANYONE know? A friend with a D in her senior year was at an information fair for the D’s choice college and apparently parents were volunteering to chance each other’s kids. It’s CRAZY. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m the odd one here, but I’m of the opinion that WE DON’T KNOW. I know top honors, great EC’s great test score kids who did NOT get into an Ivy. I know average students who didn’t get the “required” test scores or GPA who got into both LAC and state colleges and I know a couple of below average students with ok test scores, maybe 1 or 2 EC’s who got into schools that according to CC would not even look at them. WE DON’T KNOW.</p>
<p>What I DO know is that there are thousands of colleges which accept tens of thousands of students every year that are NOT Ivy material or that ARE but didn’t get in, and most of them go on to live productive, happy lives. That’s what I’ve told my kids and so far it’s worked well.</p>
<p>Agree. To me the Chance threads are a waste of electrons. But I guess they might be entertaining for some to read. Sort of like reading the newspaper horoscope.</p>
<p>I am sure we have all run into the situation where someone you know informs you that (Not-Great-Student) just got into (Highly Selective University).</p>
<p>And our first reaction (to ourselves) is always “What!?”</p>
<p>And the reverse happens too. Your acquaintance’s child with the 4.0 GPA and very high SAT score and all the extracurricular activities and yet doesn’t get into Highly Selective U.</p>
<p>It happens. College officials will say there is an art and science to admissions. Maybe like the “dark arts.” ;)</p>
<p>Of course no one will know, not even a single admissions officer, since the decision is made by a committee of people. I don’t see the humor. Sometimes it’s hard to look objectively at yourself, and chance threads help suggest your areas of weakness, not to inform you of your ultimate fate.</p>
<p>what new stuff does he add in this edition compared to the first paperback edition (or w/e the edition with the green border and yellow cover is)</p>
<p>Sure, I get the looking at yourself part, but the responses are NOT objective. They’re from people who have no better information about who will get in where than the chance OP’s.</p>
<p>I’ve clicked on a few where the responses tell OP’s that they haven’t a shot at all at wherever they’re asking about because they did poorly in a single class or had a bad semester. Or they worked instead of signing up for a bunch of resume-padding EC’s. I want to reach through the screen and throttle them! I personally know far more kids in good colleges (by good I mean respected by some segment of society) who have plenty of flaws, or did poorly in one class or have no long resume or have no hook or have nothing outstanding, than I do who went to HYP etc. I know only a single Harvard grad-most everyone around here went to the state U, including all the movers and shakers. </p>
<p>I wish these desperate kids knew more about real life than they think they’re seeing here on CC. I don’t mean to knock CC overall-I’ve gotten some great information for D as she figures out what to do with her life. But I’m glad I didn’t know about it before she started looking. I’d have figured she’d never get in anywhere or amount to anything-and that’s simply not the case for most kids even without 4.0, high ACT and SATs and a plethora of EC’s.</p>
<p>sseamom, you’re totally right about the …credibility of the chances threads. If I were to make a chance thread (maybe someday in the near future), I would take every response with a grain of salt. I actually get quite annoyed with the users that post in every thread, from chances to essays, seemingly knowing all the answers. Again, no one knows for sure!</p>
<p>I apologize for using “objectively” incorrectly, as the whole admissions process is very subjective. But I still think chances threads can be useful. What I would want to get from chance threads would be how my ECs compare. How does it differ from what my EC means to me to what it sounds to you?</p>
<p>Most responses on chance me threads are from other hs kids, who have never even submitted an app, much less have credible insight into the review process. </p>
<p>Jiggoha, other kids can’t guage your ECs. They, after all, think it’s all about passions and any useless title. It doesn’t matter how your ECs “compare.” Even tippy top kids bask in the glow of high school success and don’t get what adcoms are looking for, in the patterns and the specifics.</p>
<p>And, GolfFather, why so eager to believe that link? It’s baloney.</p>