<p>Now that You've click on this thread... 2 questions:</p>
<p>You may choose to answer one (1), two (2), or zero (0) of them. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>1) Is "A is for Admissions" (by Michele Hernandez) actually accurate in today's world? Reading the accomplishments of all these people here and hearing the stories of people getting rejected, I just don't think the standards back in 1997 (when the book was written) vs. today, are the same. Am I correct or not? The book says academics should be emphasized to go to the Ivy League, but everybody here says it's all about the EC's for those schools.</p>
<p>2) Has anybody actually been rejected to every school they've applied to, and thus had to stay in HS for one extra year (or face another consequence)?</p>
<ol>
<li> Nothing that truly applied in 1997 would still apply today with the same degree of accuracy! The world of college applications is changing yearly thanks in part to the internet, the Echo Boom yielding ever increasing numbers of high school seniors, and a cultural focus for American parents on "every child is special", plus so many other things. I don't think it's all acout the ECs at Ivy League schools, nor do I think it's all about SATs, or APs, or GPAs. To be quite honest, I don't think anyone can predict how any single student will fair in the application process...</li>
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<p>...which leads me to Question 2...</p>
<ol>
<li> The story of Andison has been repeated on CC with some regularity and has taken on the proportions of a CC creation myth...except it is entirely true (no myth about it). You can search the site for "Andison" and read the story of a boy who had so much going for him but got caught in a situation that yielded nothing...not one acceptance. He took a gap year, reapplied and did very well for himself the second time around. But his story stands as a cautionary tale to all rising seniors about the risks of overestimating the impact of really good credentials...depending on how you approach the process, even good scores, gpa, ECs, etc. will not guarantee that you will land where you want.</li>
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<p>Academics are extremely important (I dare to say the most important factor) for ivy league universities, but since there are so many excellent students with outstanding academics, colleges must consider other factors as well. As virtually all students on CC have good academics, the focus here has shifted towards ECs which are a way to seperate applicants with comparable academics and test scores.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses guys. I got a little too happy a little too early I guess. The truth is harsh. I suspect the colleges all put a little more weight on EC's nowadays due to the competition. Ah, capitalism!</p>