<p>Private universities are more likely than are public universities to weigh in admission problems like family emergencies’ impacts on grades. With the exception of recruited athletes, public universities tend to make admissions decisions virtually 100% on stats.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to wrap my head around the blatant lies by omission found in the OP’s first post. You never made one mention of academic hardships, you just went on and on about how high school sucked. Forgive me if it’s hard to believe that now that your shoddy rationalization has been shot down you’ve all of a sudden changed the edge to your argument.</p>
<p>If, in fact, your mother did almost die 8 times in your high school career, I’m sorry about that. If, in fact, you are one of those romanticizers of college life that constantly curses high school atmospheres, I have one thing to say to you: get over it.</p>
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>I don’t find it hard to believe that you found high school a less-than-inspiring learning environment. I did not enjoy high school much either, although my schools weren’t quite as bad as LOTF. College could be a much better place for you, although, as other posters have pointed out, it could also seem a lot like a continuation of high school. It depends a lot on the school you go to and the classes you take. Your plan sounds reasonable to me. Good luck with it.</p>
<p>Northstarmom: So you’re saying Madison could care less?!</p>
<p>Yes, I’m saying that it’s rare that public universities admissions offices take family emergencies and similar things under consideration when they make admissions decisions. With the exception of recruited athletes, most public universities also don’t factor ECs into admissions decisions (though may factor them in for merit aid).</p>
<p>Most public universities make decisions based on whether one has taken the required h.s. coursework, state residence, and your gpa, scores and possibly class rank.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, why is it that places like Madison (who claim to use “holistic admissions”) do not consider personal circumstances in their admission process? Is it that too many people apply to public universities and the adcoms don’t have time to review anything but stats, or is it that Madison is (unintentionally) saying “If you didn’t have a nearly perfect life while in high school, you’re not going to make it here”?</p>
<p>Is Madison’s “holistic admission process” only “holistic” for the nearly perfect applicants? If so, I can see why I didn’t get in this year!</p>
<p>It’s because public universities are funded by the people in their state, and have to justify admissions decisions to them. Consequently, the more the admissions system is based on things that are easily quantified, the easier it is to explain to taxpayers why their beloved kids weren’t accepted.</p>
<p>They also don’t have the funds to hire the many admissions officers who’d be needed for a more comprehensive system. At some states’ universities, admissions officers take only about 10 minutes to review a file and make a decision on admission.</p>
<p>bump 2 of 20</p>
<p>bump 7 of 20</p>
<p>i’m sorry to tell you, but I would bet that around 96% of college freshman can’t name a single suprem court justice either.
I would also bet that more than half of college seniors can’t name a singe supreme court justice (if you look nation wide, including lesser state colleges and community colleges).</p>
<p>bump 8 of 20</p>
<p>My brother…Super smart, super slacker…Got decent grades in high school, but could have done much better. Succeeded at Cornell doing a math major with premed, scored higher than the national average on the MCAT, and is planning on going to a MD/PhD program.</p>
<p>So…</p>
<p>High school predicting success in college? I think not.</p>
<p>"My brother…Super smart, super slacker…Got decent grades in high school, but could have done much better. Succeeded at Cornell doing a math major with premed, scored higher than the national average on the MCAT, and is planning on going to a MD/PhD program.</p>
<p>So…</p>
<p>High school predicting success in college? I think not."</p>
<p>Your brother’s h.s. grades must have been excellent for him to get into Cornell. I highly doubt he was carrying a C or even B-average in h.s.</p>
<p>No, his average was like a B+. If he did all his work, he would have had an A or A+ average. And, getting into Cornell isn’t as hard as people on CC think it is…Not if your from where I’m from.</p>
<p>are u saying that getting into cornell is easier if you are in new york, kind of like getting into ucb or ucla from california?
i have heard this too</p>
<p>bump 9 of 15</p>
<p>What is up?</p>
<p>what else do you want to know?</p>
<p>bump 10 of 10</p>
<p>IHNC - Regardless of your feelings/thoughts on your HS experience, I’m glad you got into a school. You now have the best chance to make an impression on Madison - by excelling in a college environment. The only better predictor of college performance than HS performance, is college performance 
I also hope your home life is better these days. You’d be less than normal if those things didn’t weigh heavily on you during HS.</p>
<p>Dan D</p>
<p>If you’re from Ithaca or the surrounding areas and have at least one parent who goes to/works for Cornell, then yes, it’s quite easy to get in.</p>