<p>1) you need a new GC
2) i agree with Ghost, SAT scores not at ivy/MIT/CalTEch/Stanford competitiveness level. Your son needed a much better college list. If your not happy with the colleges your son can take a gap year.</p>
<p>hawkjr, </p>
<p>You might find the following two oldie-but-goodie threads interesting reading. High-stats kid applies to lots of tippy-top schools, gets in nowhere. Takes a gap year, applies with a revised college list, gets much better results. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html</a></p>
<p>It was a combination of test scores and weak ECs, IMO. The problem with IB (being an IB senior myself) is that it’s so heavily geared towards college prep that it sucks up a lot of free time that could otherwise be spent on more compelling extracurriculars or on test prep. Unfortunately, adcoms don’t account for that and give AP and IB classes roughly equal weight, despite IB being so much more than a bunch of rigorous classes (EE, IAs, CAS…you know the drill). </p>
<p>There’s also a problem with your mentality. With so many applicants and so few spots (6.2% at Harvard!), the game is getting much less predictable–except that it’s easier to predict who doesn’t stand a chance at all. No one deserves or has the right to expect a spot at a top school. And unfortunately, for the kid whose scores are average and whose extracurriculars aren’t pursued at a national or at least a state level, their chances are woefully small.</p>
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<p>Applying to the Ivies was not the problem. Not recognizing that the odds of being admitted were very low for everyone and extremely low for students who fit the OP’s profile was 1/2 of the problem. The other half was to NOT paying attention to lower reach schools and more competitive likely/match schools. A strategy that solely focuses on safeties and high reaches has to be based on a safety that would be totally acceptable to attend, academically anf financially. </p>
<p>Fwiw, the explosion of IB programs in Florida and Texas has allowed more data points for adcoms to use. Since they do not operate in a vacuum, they might have realigned their expectations for IB graduates to a different reality. Yesterday’s faddish successes in admission might no longer be today’s reality.</p>
<p>It’s because you’re not a Freemason.</p>
<p>Hum…that’s really not true.
My friend goes to an IB school in Florida as well, and she was accepted to UPenn, Yale, Columbia and Cornell. She also got into selective schools such as Northwestern, Boston College, NYU, Northeastern, and UMiami.</p>
<p>In the order of difficulty of admission most difficult first _ Yale, Columbia, UPenn, Cornell, Northwestern, UMiami, NYU.</p>
<p>If someone can get into Yale - rest are not a surprise although any other Ivy schools would still turned them down. Someone got into Northeastern, it no way predicts the candidate’s admision to Northwestern or higher level schools.</p>
<p>@texaspg</p>
<p>This isn’t really relevant to OP’s question, but I was thinking about the admission difficulty and my friend actually got into Penn, but was turned down by UMiami (early action), Boston College, WUSTL, UCLA and Duke.
So, that really makes me think that the whole process is random.</p>
<p>Was your friend turned down by all listed below except UPenn?</p>
<p>UMiami (early action), Boston College, WUSTL, UCLA and Duke. </p>
<p>UPenn and Duke are close in terms of selectivity and I can see that one says yes and other no. The rest turning down a Penn Caliber student sounds a bit odd (WUSTL may be but UCLA, BC and UMiami sounds quite odd).</p>
<p>Exactly!
I was surprised when he told me that because UMiami isn’t as selective as Penn.</p>
<p>Where else did he get in other than UPenn?</p>
<p>If your son gets the feeling that it’s because of him personally, have him read the stats-threads here on CC of others rejected from his tippy-top schools, many of them had perfect stats and amazing ECs. Each top college has such a thread here on CC.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that he made an error in strategy of not applying to some slightly-less selective top-40 schools with acceptance rates in the 20-35% range. It was a very very tough year – the toughest ever – to try to get into an elite college.</p>
<p>BTW…I actually accidentally posted inaccurate SAT & SAT II scores in one of my original posts. In looking through his college application paperwork his scores were actually SAT - 2270; Calculus SAT II - 780 & Physics SAT II - 735.
Again, I really appreciate everyone’s feedback. As I have stated in an earlier post…We weren’t feeling like he “deserved” entry into ANY particular school simply based on any one fact (such as many of those critical of the IB Program have pointed out), but, we were at least hoping, since MIT & Princeton had asked him for a face-to-face interview with a local alumni, that just maybe that was a good sign. We ARE actually happy that he was accepted by & is seriously considering UF…afterall, his Dad is an Alumni, so HE is actually thrilled. Oh, and btw…he did get 2 scholarship offers from other schools (schools to which he didn’t actually apply)… University of Oklahoma (who advertised in their letter to him that they have graduated the highest number of National Merit Scholars) & the University of Texas. We are going to visit University of Oklahoma & Embry-Riddle over Spring Break so, he does have some very good options. I am extremely proud of him regardless what college he selects. His good grades, academic choices and dedication to his own education are just a few of the reasons that I am proud of him…more important to me are character-related things such as honesty, integrity, faith, dependability & compassion toward others. I know he will be a productive member of society & will always be “succesful” in my eyes.</p>
<p>Hawkjer - UT is at the top of the rankings in some areas. If you get a scholarship equal to instate tuition at UT, it is a great deal.</p>
<p>@texaspg</p>
<p>He only got into Penn. And those schools listed are the only schools he applied to (he didn’t really apply to any “safety” schools.</p>
<p>Take a look at your son’s high school’s record in getting kids in the most selective schools in prior years. Is this an isolated thing or is this school not getting kids into the top schools? </p>
<p>Looking at your son’s stats, his SATs are not up there for those schools, his ECs have no special hook that would put him on any wish list, and his class rank is not gonna do it unless his school is a known school with the ivies and other such colleges. My son’s high school gets kids into Brown, UPenn, Cornell in the second quintile rankwise which is highly unusual, but the kids are pre selected through a difficult admissions process from the get go. For most kids, you have to be in the top 3 to get into the most selective schools. So right there, with grades, ECs, and test scores, your kid is an average applicant for those top schools and that isn’t going to do it. Even a great essay and recs aren’t going to pull him up. </p>
<p>If you have other kids going to that high school, you might want to look at their profile and their accept rates to top colleges, and if those kids have aspirations for top school, the high school may have to start looking to get more competitive in the selective college process or you need to find a school that has gotten there already.</p>
<p>Hi Random - Just guessing - Might be something on his application like financial aid that may have a negative impact in some of those schools. The only other thing I can think of is that his Penn supplement was really outstanding.</p>
<p>That is a small pool of schools though for him to make into Penn and nowhere else.</p>
<p>Randompiglet, even if the selectivity order works 70% of the time, you get a lot of outliers. There was a story following 6 seniors from a Denver area high school applying to colleges, and one student who was a true standout got rejected from Grinnell and other such schools but got into the HPY and ivy ring of colleges. With some schools demonstrated interest can make a difference, the student’s sex (BC is more difficult for admissions for females), geographics, financial need in need aware schools, and yes, serendipity plays a role too.</p>
<p>Hawkjer, my s sounds a lot like yours–although he applied to a different set of highly selective schools. He is a full IB diploma candidate and it seems that this distinction carries much less weight than we thought it would. If he had to do it over again, he would have taken only those IB courses at his school that truly interested him, thereby eliminating some that he took only because he was told that it would “look good” on a transcript, help him gain admission to top colleges, and fulfill the requirements of a full IB diploma. </p>
<p>By not taking those courses, and not having to fulfill the extra requirements that go along with a full IB diploma (including the extended essay and our particular program’s atypical definition of community service) he would have had more time and energy to devote to improving his SAT scores and engaging in truly meaningful community service. He also would have had more time to devote to preparing top-notch college apps.</p>
<p>In our community, it’s been apparent over the past several years that kids with full IB diplomas don’t seem to have any sort of edge over other smart, hard working students in terms of acceptance to highly selective schools.</p>
<p>“In our community, it’s been apparent over the past several years that kids with full IB diplomas don’t seem to have any sort of edge over other smart, hard working students in terms of acceptance to highly selective schools.”</p>
<p>I would say that’s the same in my community. While full IB diploma gives an edge at many good/great schools - it’s not the golden ticket some feel it should be to the hyper competitive elites.</p>