<p>With another admissions season winding down, let's have some fun! I'll start.</p>
<p>With 2250 and 3.7, I just don't belong.
Am I the only one who doesn't have a 4.0?
Am I the only one who lives in a 24 hr/day & 7 d/wk world?
Is my Dad the only parent who doesn't have a lab in the basement?
Am I missing out for not applying to 20+ schools?
Did I miss the "chance back" rubric somewhere?
I'd better apply to all eight Ivys.
No top 20 = no hope ever.</p>
<p>Am I the only one who didn’t do graduate level research and get it published?</p>
<p>My kid doesn’t want to major in pre-med, engineering,CS, or ibanking. She’s doomed, isn’t she?</p>
<p>And, my kid isn’t an URM. She’ll never get in, will she?</p>
<p>this post speaks to me.
also: You mean your school offers how many APs?</p>
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<p>(1) Almost no one should apply to all 8 Ivies. The campuses are not interchangeable, in atmosphere, in student body, in academic programs, in activities, in post-grad career opportunities. </p>
<p>(2) Anyone who is not top material for one Ivy, will almost surely not be considered seriously by any of them.</p>
<p>(3) College admissions is not a lottery in the sense of “the more tickets you buy, the more your chances increase.” Your chances “increase” if, again, you are highly desirable by at least one of them. </p>
<p>(4) The Ivies are not “better” than all other colleges. They belong collectively to an athletic conference to which other schools do not belong. They also have a long history, including a history of excellence, but so do many other universities in this country. The Ivies are hardly unique in the excellence category, and, depending on the particular academic department, some non-Ivies have better reputations in those departments and more concrete opportunities for some students, leading to eventual greater wealth for those students.</p>
<p>(5) The whole “not top 20 = no hope ever” is a myth reinforced by parents on CC, indirectly, whenever said parents engage in hand-wringing and prolonged grief about their darlings being “overlooked” or “discriminated against” by a top-20 school.</p>
<p>I know the OP and the first replier (as of this real-time writing of this post) were not reflecting their own views, but many parents do buy into these myths.</p>
<p>Every student, both the 4.0/2400/Val and the 3.7/2290/Rank #17, should apply realistically and stop thinking that “one more research project” or 30+ more points on an SAT will make a difference in outcomes. Most likely, it will not, because EVERY college (not just U.C.'s) engages in holistic review. Unfortunately, too many students + parents think that means overlooking weak aspects of the application because of impressive other aspects. For the privates, it does not mean that at all. It means that consistent quality and depth of scholarship & intellect, with exceptional promise in that, is what converts a Probable to an Accepted. Thousands of students have 4.0’s, including even from demanding high schools, and high scores, and high ranks, but are not EXCEPTIONAL intellectually. Generally, AND COMPARATIVELY, it’s the teacher recs that communicate that most convincingly to the committees. So when students or their parents say that, “Oh, no, it couldn’t be that. I/she/he got a great teacher rec, and I saw it.” Yes, but what you didn’t see are the COMPETING teacher recs. And even if you saw them all from the same high school, you did NOT see them from high schools in other cities, counties, and States.</p>
<p>I just met a student the other other day who desperately wanted me to prep her for the next SAT sitting, because she “only” got a 770 in the Verbal. She must seriously think that an 800 will make her more competitive. NO, girl, IT WON’T. In fact, my combined 2350 student applied to Stanford, in the most competitive admissions year for S so far, she, a non-hooked candidate, got in. I saw her teacher rec. Most students, with whatever scores, will not be able to match the content/reality of the rec (which is accurate; I also know this student quite well). JUST THE FACT that the recent student thinks 30 extra points on an SAT is what will advantage her speaks volumes about this student’s lack of perspective on WHAT MATTERS. (Unintended pun for all you S applicants). It means that HER teacher rec will almost surely not be persuasive for an elite school. </p>
<p>Wow…there are other people just like me out there…I am not a special snowflake. I can’t wait to get to college to meet all the other smart, motivated students with so many different interests. And there are so many different schools that they attend–I will apply widely and I will get into some choices, and not get in to other choices, and that will be okay because there are so many smart, interesting kids just like me going to lots of schools. And, sometimes kids who slacked in high school for the first year or two, or even longer, get their mature academic legs in college–and they are smart and interesting too. College is going to be a blast, and I am going to bloom wherever I get planted!</p>
<p>boysx3, I would hope that that’s what a student would take away, indeed. And it is indeed, true. We live in a great country, with talent and opportunity everywhere. I am just so tired of hierarchical thinking. It’s for LOSERS.</p>
<p>the only thing I would add to your soliloquy is, “Actually, I AM a special snowflake. I just haven’t located or defined my shape yet. THAT’S WHAT COLLEGE IS FOR.”</p>
<p>Good job.</p>
<p>98% of all high school graduates are in the top 10% of their class.</p>
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<p>Actually, many colleges have automatic admission for at least some applicants. Others have admission by formula, although the thresholds for admission are not determined beforehand.</p>
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<p>You think being exceptional intellectually or a deep thinker is some kind of big advantage. I think that in itself is a big misconception. </p>
<p>By your previous descriptions, it sounds like your daughter is very intellectual and I’m happy that she was successful in admissions. But that is one data point. In general, for unhooked candidates the profile I see being the most successful at HYP is a high stats person who is good at multi-tasking and initiates and leads lots of different EC projects, in-school and in the community. Getting recs that say you are the next Joseph Campbell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, or Ezra Pound is often not enough, even when you are applying from an obviously competitive environment.</p>
<p>I read the OP and thought, “Great! Another tongue in cheek fun thread. Let’s go!” Why are some of the responses to this so serious?</p>
<p>On cc? The good students (think scores in the mere top 10% range–28 ACT and 1930 SAT) are going to think
<p>^^^^ that!</p>
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<p>Why does absolutely ever CC’er assume that when one talks about “one’s student,” it means a S or D. Geez! Again, NO! I am talking about students who are NOT RELATIVES!</p>
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<p>Lots of those types do not get accepted. More of the intellectually strong ones get admitted, who incidentally can multi-task because they’re not up til 3 a.m. studying, trying to beat the elusive competition.</p>
<p>It’s the single most important data point for an unhooked student. And they’re at the Ivies in spades.</p>
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<p>T’was not me who fired the first shot.</p>
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<p>I never made this assumption. The assumption that I made was that your perception of admissions is largely guided by your daughter’s results. I am aware you do see students’ records as a teacher and as either a counselor or an interviewer.</p>
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<p>I dare you to find one quote, one piece of rhetoric, from an ivy admissions person which says that apparent intellectual superiority is what separates the wheat from the chaff after they hit the threshhold signified by high stats. </p>
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<p>And many multi-task to the nth degree to make up for the fact that they cannot truly distinguish themselves in an academic or intellectual capacity, and are quite successful at translating that into ivy admission.</p>
<p>Everyone goes away to college (although only to a flagship, top LAC, or Ivy). Community colleges are only for the kid who got a 2.4 in high school (would have been a 4.5 but the dog died leading to terrible emotional distress). </p>
<p>The USNWR graduate program rankings should always be consulted before choosing an undergraduate program. A difference of twenty places is totally meaningful and will determine how employable one is post graduation. Note that this does not apply to engineering programs where a graduate from the Oregon Institute of Technology has exactly the same job opportunities as someone from Georgia Tech. </p>
<p>There are five professions in this world; computer programmer, doctor, engineer, NYC consultant, and lawyer (although the last is disappearing so better not bank on it). Choose accordingly. </p>
<p>If you’re from California and go to the school in the Northeast, you will die come November. </p>
<p>Even though the rest of the university might be known as Party On U, the students in the Honors College have all made a solemn pact to forgo alcohol and other substances until they’re 25. </p>
<p>On that note, getting into an honors college is basically akin to getting into a top 20 LAC. No honors student will ever even be in the same building as the rest of the student body.</p>
<p>Everyone will graduate college in four years. No one has ever dropped out of college and although 86% of students fail to graduate from X University in four years, you will surely be in the 14% who manages to finish “on time”.</p>
<p>High school students have intellectual passions, and we’d pursue them with abandon if only we weren’t so busy padding our resumes for “Ivy’s” like Stanford. </p>
<p>Everyone’s parents are really interested in college admissions.</p>
<p>Everyone lives in a dorm. </p>
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All of that, but I’m still a special snowflake. </p>
<p>Whenhen, I cracked up reading your post above! :)) Hilarious!!!</p>
<p>A Superscore is not how you order a large Quarterpounder Meal at McDonalds.
A CSS Profile is not some secret data collected by the KGB.
ED is not a talking horse in a 60s sitcom.</p>