I hear so many stories about high GPA high SAT kids being shut out of top 20 schools, and I wanted to know how common that was. p.s. I understand that college admissions is a crapshoot, and that ECs, letters of rec, etc carry a lot of weight also
I had a 2330 (2350 superscore), and probably could have had a better admissions process had I applied to more schools. So cast a wide net! Four is not enough, haha.
Accepted w/ honors college: Pitt, Penn State (attending)
Waitlisted: Case Western (ultimately accepted, turned 'em down), Penn (ultimately denied)
Back in HS I had a 2320 and a 2350 superscored SAT. The most highly-ranked school I was admitted to was UC Berkeley. I was also waitlisted at a couple of Ivies (though nothing ultimately came of it) and denied at plenty of others. Having above a 2300 on the SAT is by no means a guarantee of getting into the top schools, nor does it even give you a good chance of admission.
@supercilious In many cases these students and parents don’t view the universe of top schools as 25, or 50, if you include separately ranked liberal arts colleges.
They view it as the Ivy League less Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth and MIT, Stanford and maybe University of Chicago.
There is also a very pronounced cultural bias, so many but not all of these stories are due to a faulty application strategy driven by peer pressure or overreliance on quantitative measures, or being oblivious to geographic and demographic factors.
The other interesting point is that in a lot of cases, the downside of the Common App is never acknowledged. This has a lot to do with the overall problem as well.
So, if Stanford (to take but one school) got 35,000 applications for 1,700 (approx) slots (less those set aside for recruited athletes, legacies and development candidates), how many 2300+/4.0s do you think got shut out? Consider that most of the 35,000 were top students at their high schools or they wouldn’t have even thought they had a chance.
I know three from my son’s high school. Two had perfect scores. This was over a three year period. The reason is they were viewed as not likely to attend. Two others I know we’re in fact accepted and neither attended.
BTW, don’t assume the bulk of that 35,000 all had stellar qualifications. It isn’t true.
Stanford passed 35,000 a few years ago. This year’s number was 42,487.
Most people with 2300+ go to their state flagship if they do not get into top 20 privates.
I think with a decent GPA and a 2300+ SAT, most kids can get into their state public school as those schools weight scores and stats more heavily than EC’s and essays.
More than half the applicants to Stanford have a 4.0 GPA. Their admit rate is about 6%. Clearly, 94% of them are rejected.
10% of the Stanford applicants have an 800 CR - SAT. The admit rate for them is 13%, so 87% are rejected. About half or so are above 700.
@ARandomPerson1, I view Cal as a top school so personally think you were successful in college admissions.
I think that for kids who are 99th percentile in both test scores and grades, if they have a smart application strategy, they are very likely to get in to at least school at the near-Ivy level or above: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1682986-ivy-equivalents.html
Obviously, if you only apply to only 1 school at those levels, your chances of getting in to at least one of them are slim.
I got a 2300 and the best school I got into was Georgetown. I got rejected by the majority of schools I applied to.