What is the profile of an "Ivy caliber" applicant?

<p>POIH, you simply can’t project the college-experiences of a very elite prep school to the rest of the country. It can’t be done.</p>

<p>^^^: I’m not only coming from a college experience of DD high school but a lot of both private and public high schools and not only the area I live.
I was just trying convey which in my opinion is very useful if applied properly to any student.
There is always benefit in knowing more.</p>

<p>But there is something arrogant about claiming to “know” things that simply you cannot prove. You do not “know” the process simply because you did some research.
I know plenty of Harvard students; and they come from all regions and many countries; not just one prep school. But even I do not claim that I have the statistics that show xx students admitted as legacies; yy as sports stars; zz as WRBKs.</p>

<p>It’s always good to know more. It’s not a good idea to “know” something that is just speculation; and It’s not good to spread speculation as if it were the truth.</p>

<p>Looking at published giving stats at various schools, there are probably far less than two dozen significant and consistent donors per graduating class. Only a relatively small number of these people will have children or grandchildren applying in any given year, so the number of development cases must be teeny tiny - a literal handful each year. </p>

<p>One could look at a window of graduating classes - say late 1970s to mid 1980s who are likely to have current high school seniors. How many of these have parents/grandparents who are major donors? In terms of this discussion, it is an insignificant number. Looking at annual giving publications, it would be pretty easy to figure out.</p>

<p>Marite: I’m not sure how you infer things but for me you can realize the content or logic or a system by observing the Inputs and Outputs to the system.</p>

<p>i.e. </p>

<p>Applicants — Harvard Process — Acceptance/Rejection</p>

<p>I can infer Harvard Process with out knowing the internal if I can research the applicant pool and Acceptances and rejection.</p>

<p>Now whether the sample pool of applicant studied over the 10 year period is sufficient or not is another point of debate.</p>

<p>But telling that it is not possible is utterly wrong. It is possible to know any college process with a great degree of accuracy if you can analyze the inputs and outputs of that college process properly.</p>

<p>So you know the profile of ALL the Harvard applicants in a given year? And the profile of ALL the students who were offered admissions? Can you direct us to the source of that information? I’d be very surprised if the Harvard admission staff let it out.</p>

<p>Marite: Sorry but it seems I’ve to spell out everything here</p>

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<p>I don’t need to know all the applicants and science has provided us with a very basic concept of “Sampling” and if my samples are good enough then my analysis and the result of the analysis should be accurate.</p>

<p>Your “sampling” is among a very elite private prep school where there are significant relationships between the school / GC and top colleges, and where it is also quite likely that there are legacies and / or developmental admits. So it cannot be extrapolated to Moderately-Decent-Public-School land,. which is where the majority of students in the country attend. At all.</p>

<p>^^^: No my sampling doesn’t include only DD school but most of the schools in our area and the schools in north east.</p>

<p>I’ve nothing to gain by putting out information that I don’t think can be useful to parent in my position 4 years back.</p>

<p>You call this sampling? Do you have stats for all the schools in Northeast? Or just a few which may not be in the least representative?</p>

<p>My school sends students to several top schools (including several Ivies) every year, but it does not have Naviance. How would you get data from such a school? Even with Naviance you would not be able to know whether an applicant was a legacy, a URM, a top artist, etc… You would just have cold stats.</p>

<p>S1 was a very good fit for the college which he eventually attended. I believe that came across in his essay far more clearly than his “profile.” But no one but we and the adcom got to read it.</p>

<p>We called our son’s application to Ivy League and the like schools his “lottery ticket” applications. Because, really, what else is it when less than 10% are admitted? </p>

<p>During the Harvard visit, the admissions officer told us about a multi-year study they did about the applicant pool. They determined that 60% of applicants would be successful at Harvard. Then she said, “So what does it mean if we do not admit you to Harvard? It means we have 1,600 beds. That’s it.” </p>

<p>I thought that was a good way to put it.</p>

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<p>So, you’re letting parents know that their kid has a slim to no chance in a crapshoot? And how is this useful? Let me guess, your kid didn’t get into Harvard, so the process must be completely rigged?</p>

<p>^^^: Yes, for a large number of both private and public high schools in Northeast that send 3 or more students to Harvard every year.
As it is of no use considering schools that send 1 or 2 students once in a while.</p>

<p>Wow, we don’t have to wonder why a certain thread last year was so volatile. POIH, let us know how your new career as a Harvard adcom goes. :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>I’m letting parent know that your child will have a great chance at matriculating at Harvard if the child has what I listed.</p>

<p>I might be unable to put this through but I was conveying that even admission at Harvard is predictable and for the right candidate it is guaranteed.</p>

<p>“But the information might be useful to those who want to make use of it”
Information, yes, made up figures, no.
And once again, you are not telling us “how you know” , just that YOU know.
Let me give you a bit of advice- don’t come on a college forum that is FILLED with knowledgeable, college educated parents whose kids have gone to elite private schools that send , on average, over 25% of graduating classes to HYPSM, and thus may have more first hand knowledge about a particular college, like HARVARD, and proceed to tell them that YOU know more about that college than they do, without backing up your statements or information with proof.
It is arrogant to say you “know” something when you you won’t prove it. “Trust me” doesn’t cut it here.</p>

<p>Wow. How large is large? Did you read the whole file? Did you read the recs, the essay? Or just the GPA and board scores?</p>

<p>There aren’t 300 performing arts superstars in the country at age 17/18 in any given year that have the academic stats or the interest in attending Harvard. Don’t tell me that all the Julliard rejects end up at Harvard- doesn’t work that way. And presumably you don’t think that starring in your towns community theater version of “Suddenly Modern Millie” is going to get you into Harvard on the strength of your performing arts hook.</p>

<p>Your numbers are actually funny.</p>

<p>gm, It is pretty much slim to none though, isn’t it? 7% means 93 out of every 100 applicants is not admitted. </p>

<p>I have no idea if POIH is right or wrong as we come from two totally different backgrounds. Most people truly have no idea how few students are admitted these days. A mentor of my son encouraged him to skip applying to Brown and instead go for Harvard as he was absolutely sure my son would get in. I try to explain to people that the Ivy no longer admits 25% of applicants or even 15% but people think they are being helpful. </p>

<p>I give thanks everyday that I found this website and got that wake up call. To be completely upfront, thus far my son has been rejected by one Ivy and not heard from another. But that’s more than fine because following the advice we got here, we got in gear finding safety and match schools that he absolutely loves. I also learned a ton about how financial aid works and thank goodness for that as well.</p>

<p>POIH -</p>

<p>How in the world did you come up with 600 development admits? You do know what development is, right?</p>