@koshkas , you correct, it can go the other way for those much stronger in math / science. I just see it the other way around much more often because most high schools in Ny state have an “advanced track” for Math & Science by which students can end up with 5 high school credits in each (culminating with calc & AP Bio). If a student is not in that track (and thus won’t get to Calc)) they have very little chance of being admitted to the most selective colleges, even if their intended major has nothing to do with math.
Two things:
College Board - Pay them to take a reasoning test. Pay them to take tests which demonstrate proficiency in high school subjects. Pay them to send the CSS profile. Pay them to take supposed college level classes which do not prepare you for college at all, and which may or may not earn you credit. Pay them to send scores. JUST PAY THEM.
ARGH.
“Why this College” essays - What am I supposed to say? “Oh, I always knew I wanted to be a doctor, the thought of years of arduous work and large prospective loans excite me!”.
Two things
1- How secretive selective colleges are about their admission process and using bs terms like “holistic”.
2- How affirmative action is carried out. I see the use in affirmative action, but if it takes away a spot from another more qualified applicant, I don’t see the use. Also, if there is affirmative action in college admissions then there should be affirmative actions in other places such as sports, music, or entertainment. There is severe under representation in those industries for Asians yet nobody does anything about it. There is a double standard.
I hate the fact that test scores don’t seem to matter anymore. My oldest has a 35 ACT score and silly me, I thought that it was still like the dark ages when I applied to college. Back then a 99th percentile score and a rock solid GPA would get you in wherever you wanted to go.
I hate the common app. Again, back in the dark ages, you could “demonstrate interest” by taking the time to fill out the 4-6 page application. Now you just check a box and hope the adcoms can tell who is seriously interested.
I hate the fact that being a full pay person doesn’t get you any bonus points. I’m grateful that we can afford to send him wherever he wants to go but it bothers me that most likely we’ll be paying 2 to 3x what the average kid is paying to go to the same school.
^i kind of feel the same way…It makes me feel somewhat “used” to know we are paying so much more…
I dont like how you may not get admitted to a solid match bc they think they are the safety! no win situation there!
@gluttonforstress, test scores DO matter. I think your frustration is a result of the number of qualified applicants the most selective colleges now receive. It is a smaller world & much more common for the most selective schools to get qualified applicants from all over the world. My D’s recent graduating class at Cornell had students from 48 states & 45 countries.
I hate having to pay for an application for financial aid.
When people join Club X because they think Club X looks good on college applications.
Inflated GPAs.
The never-ending cycle of students sending in more applications, driving acceptance rates down (and the average number of applications per student up), which leads to future students sending in even more applications, and so on…
The thing about college admissions that makes me angry is when people hate on affirmative action for being “reverse racism” or something of the like. Sure, it would be logical to make affirmative action solely based on one’s socioeconomic standing, but there are so many things students of other races have to go through that just aren’t apparent to white people.
That being said, a lot of different people have to struggle through a lot of different things, and it’s difficult to say which of those things affirmative action should address. I wish there could be a way to make it about individual experiences to everyone receives the chances in college admissions that they deserve. Affirmative action may be flawed, but the concept is certainly admirable.
If you guys want to discuss race in admissions, you can go to the stickied thread. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1544837-race-in-college-admission-faq-discussion-11.html#latest
Otherwise, this thread might get shut down by the moderators.
In admissions criteria, actual achievement has been pushed out by social justice.
The requirement that 16-17 year old must demonstrate a true passion for something for selection to an elite college.
As a rising junior, a lot about the process and how it has corrected students interests and paths requiring them to find something they “love” and show dedication to it all 4 years, have a 4.0+ GPA, and be amazing at everything even if it requires you to sacrifice your interests and ideas to get there. I know that you CAN get accepted to colleges even without having every single one of the required things but I still believe it is unfair. Also I believe the race quotas are ridiculous. Being Asian or Caucasian should not determine a baseline score for that individual and there should not be a higher standard. The better students should be able to get in regardless of the college maintaining a balance. It seems extremely unfair that students who work hard have to work harder to compete within the top for slots when other students can have a lower baseline score and not have to put in the same amount of work. (This article explains what I am trying to say http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-cahn/whats-behind-asian-discri_b_7498760.html ) I believe that the college admissions process makes students feel insecure about outstanding accomplishments and although it drives students to the edge and creates more achievements many of those are fallacies created only due to the need for words to fill in arbitrary blanks on a application. Although college is an important step for many, college admissions process has too much of an impact on students lives in high school.
The fact that Affirmative Action exists makes me angry about the college admissions process. Making assumptions about a person based on his/her race, rather than his/her opportunities and personal qualities as an individual, is racism. I find it very ironic that college adcoms expect high school students to demonstrate ‘character’ on applications.
Also, AA makes College Confidential a lot worse. I have never been a member of an Internet community where people talk about race so often. The fact that students here distinguish themselves as either “URMs” or “Non-URMs” just shows how much Affirmative Action has taken us a step backwards.
It makes me “ridiculously angry” that everyone seems intent on getting this thread forcibly closed. 
I almost feel the opposite(^). In my honest opinion, I think that people put too much emphasis on the ACT/SAT. Once you hit in the 30+ or 2100+ you’re already an extremely brilliant student. Top 5% of the nation! I see students get all upset, for example, when they score a 32 on the ACT. Because people put so much emphasis on standardize testing, they feel like they’ve let their chances on going to colleges go to waste. It’s absurd. The difference between a 36 and a 32 can be just a couple of questions! Unfortunatly (I’m guilty of this as well), many of the top students only look at the most selective schools. They have the “Ivy Leage or bust” mentality. I’d like to remind people that the national average ACT score is around 21…you should be thankful for you’re 30+ scores! There are plenty of other amazing schools out there!
Nonetheless, that fact that you’re signed up for CC means you’re a step ahead of most students. The fact that you’re planning for college early, even if you don’t have amazing scores, sets you apart from many. Congrats!
“Lottery schools” who bombard my white upper class male children whom they have no intention of admitting with marketing materials asking them to apply. They go in the trash but it is frustrating to be targeted solely so that you can be rejected in order for a school to look for more selective to increase its marketing cache’.
Schools screen for serious applicants so we screen for seriously interested schools.
What grinds my gears is the amount of disinfo spread, including on this thread.
It bothers me when people act like “follow your passions” is an antidote to the craziness of college admissions culture, rather than an affirmation of it. I’ve always thought of passion as something that develops over time after you make a choice to work hard at something. Expecting high school kids to have passion for specific fields is just as weird as expecting them to have wisdom and careers.
Similarly, I don’t like the idea that kids are “selling out” if they take classes or participate in activities that don’t correspond to their pre-existing interests. It’s good to try new things in high school, even if your only goal is to pad your resume for colleges.
“The requirement that 16-17 year old must demonstrate a true passion for something for selection to an elite college.”
Given our situation I find this requirement amusing. I think what they probably mean is having a passion for what admission likes to see.
My d has danced on a competition team since she was 5. She gave up nearly any activity outside of school for this activity. She was only able to go to a few birthday parties growing up because of the demands of this activity.
She has danced 20 - 40 hrs/ week for years now… And this activity goes year round. She typically goes to sleep at 3 AM on school nights because she gets to start studying when she gets home at 10:30 PM. She has maintained straight As and will have taken 11 APs (with all 5s except one 3) and will be National Merit Scholar.
Although she has community service to put on her app, she has practically no involvement in school clubs. Therefore she can’t put down “President” of this club or whatever.
She has shown unbelievable passion and commitment while maintaining very high level of academics and I kind of doubt she will be credited the same way as a student is who spends an average of one hour per week on a club and is president of the club. I have calculated that she has danced more than 15,000 hours learning and perfecting dance. We will see if admissions and scholarships value her commitment and passion and see these as not just actions, but attributes of her personality.