Who is the better candidate?

Applying to College
1

<p>Person #1:</p>

<p>General Stats:
Junior, Caucasian male.
Comes from small public high school (less than 1000 students) in New Hampshire. Rural Area
Class Rank: 2/304
GPA: 100.98 weighted on a 100 pt scale. weighted 5%... All A's, and about 2 or 3 Bs.
Course load: 1 AP sophomore and junior year
(Small school is very limited with AP's) Taking mostly AP classes, but not all. 3 APs for senior year. Took a few college class instead of AP for senior year.</p>

<p>*Test scores: *
SATS: Writing : 790, CR: 800, Math: 700. Combined = 2290
SAT II: haven't taken yet, but expect around 720ish - 800. (good test-taker, not to brag)</p>

<ul>
<li>AP Scores: probably a 5 for this junior year one. </li>
</ul>

<p>Recommendations:
Will be pretty good. Good student, gets good grades. No behavior issues, etc.</p>

<p>Essays:
Excellent writer, English teachers all say.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
*Varsity Soccer *:
Been varsity soccer for 4 years by senior year- going to be captain senior year for sure because was elected end of this season</p>

<p>Speech team:
Will have taken it 3 years by senior year. For states, won honorable mention and 5th place sophomore year. States for junior year: 5th place, and honorable mention as well.</p>

<p>Drama:Taking it all four years. Sometimes gets moderate roles.</p>

<p>Track:Will have taken it four years by senior year. Qualified for 100 meter dash for states level, as well as high jump. probably going to be track captain.</p>

<p>Gay-straight alliance
- Taken it 3 years by senior year</p>

<p>Volunteer work:
Student Guiding Light- 2 years. Help out emotionally wronged students at the high school. About an hour a week.</p>

<p>Help out at the homeless shelter every weekend. About 150 hours total so far in high school career</p>

<p>Church Youth Group - Part of a youth group. Help the homeless, etc.
Various other volunteer efforts.</p>

<p>Around 250 volunteer hours under belt.</p>

<p>Leadership:
Will be among the seven varsity soccer captains next year
Probably going to be track captain senior year</p>

<p>Job:
Secretary at dental office - 3 years</p>

<p>Awards:
Expecting a book award
Several school wide awards</p>

<p>Catch = Person does tons of stuff, but is only mediocre at most of them --- with the exception of sports (could you tell just by reading this resume?). Solid person, but does not stand out in a crowd. Personality does not shine. Most teachers like him, but don't LOVE him. Hoping that aspect does not show through in application process.</p>

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<p>Person #2:</p>

<p>General Stats:
Junior, Asian Male
Same Public high school as other person above
Class Rank: 1/304
GPA: 101.07 weighted on a 100 pt scale. weighted 5%... All A's
Course load: 1 AP sophomore and junior year
(Small school is very limited with AP's)
All possible AP classes senior year.</p>

<p>*Test scores: *
SATS: Writing :710, CR: 720, Math: 620. Combined = 2050
SAT II: haven't taken yet, but expect around 590-700</p>

<ul>
<li>AP Scores: probably a 3 or 4 for junior year AP</li>
</ul>

<p>Recommendations:
Will be good. Good student, gets good grades. Nice, smiley person that everyone freaking likes. Teachers all know him.</p>

<p>Essays:
Good writer.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Speech team:
Will have taken it 4 years by senior. three state championships, four regional championships. coaches underclassmen after-school.</p>

<p>Drama:
Drama for 4 years by senior year. Been in all school productions. Mostly lead roles / major roles. State-level awards and recognition, regional awards for competitions. Summer theater program.</p>

<p>Band: Played trumpet for 6 years. Regional honors band, and tutors kids trumpet every week for an hour, and trumpet section leader. School-wide music awards. Jazz band for four years by senior year. Lead trumpetist.</p>

<p>Soccer: Worst soccer player on the team. Will have taken it for four years by senior year.</p>

<p>Gay-straight alliance
Taken it four years by senior year.</p>

<p>Volunteer work:
Student Guiding Light- 2 years. Help out emotionally wronged students at the high school. About an hour a week.</p>

<p>Tutor trumpet once a week after school.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Volunteers for music events.</p></li>
<li><p>National Honors Society - Maybe going to get president / vice-president senior year</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Probably around 100 hours of community service under belt.</p>

<p>Leadership:
Trumpet section leader
Student Council Member
HOBY ambassador</p>

<p>Job:
None</p>

<p>Awards:
State-wide art appreciation award
Several school-wide awards
Perhaps a book award (too obvious of a candidate. teachers might not give to him)</p>

<p>Catch: test scores suck. some teachers LOVE him. a few teachers don't like him as much because they think he is grade grubber-- but he is more committed to his EC's. he is also asian.</p>

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<p>As you can see, these people are very much alike in their activities, etc. Consider them friendly rivals. But who is the better candidate? Why? How much better is the other person?</p>

<p>If both were to apply to Middlebury, Bowdoin, Tufts, Harvard or Brown... who would make it in? Both? None? Only one? They are both applying to same places.</p>

<p>Please give me a good analysis. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>The caucasian kid: i think you will bwe i nat Bowdoin and you have a chance at Brown but Harvard is a big time Crap shoot.<br>
The Asian kid: i personally think he will be accepted to all of them..</p>

3

<p>This is another thread about the stereotypical Asian...</p>

4

<p>^ this asian isn't stereotypical, man. this guy is terrible at math, and he does theater, and he's afraid of being part of the math team. and he's part of the gay-straight-alliance.</p>

5

<p>anyone!???</p>

6

<p>From what I've been hearing at my school, you should not put GSA on your transcript (especially if you want to go to a conservative school). Admin. allegedly looks down on it..</p>

7

<p>The two are pretty much indistinguishable except for SAT scores. Both have good SAT scores, but the first one's are much higher.</p>

8

<p>Haven't you already made a couple threads on you and your friends rivalry? I don't really know, I would think the asian kid, I don't think that 2050 is a "horrible" score.</p>

9

<p>Person #2 because you're obnoxiously competitive and I'm sick of your posts. Plus you're ranked 2, second to 1.</p>

10

<p>quote: The caucasian kid: i think you will bwe i nat Bowdoin and you have a chance at Brown but Harvard is a big time Crap shoot. </p>

<p>Actually, Brown now is as difficult or more difficult to get into than Harvard</p>

11

<p>colege, why did you pick the asian kidd?</p>

12

<p>parkrunner: your posts in general are pretty petty, self focused and show a remarkable trend of unfriendliness. Your "what if I'm too attractive" thread, this one, the insistence that the Princeton book award's prestige -- man, you like to start controversial threads for sport. </p>

<p>Eiewww.</p>

13

<p>Based on the post, their both good candidates. It's impossible to tell what kind of a person someone is by something you can write on paper. Unfortunately, that's all colleges can look at when they evaluate people, so college admissions end up being really convoluted at times.</p>

<p>Well I got into a good number of schools, and I attribute it to my modesty and friendly nature. Based on what I hear from other people, I'm almost positive that I'm the most modest person in my grade, if not my school. I NEVER brag about anything, and all my teachers love it. I'm pretty sure I got good recs from them because of this, but I'm not positive (If I were positive, I wouldn't be modest about it). </p>

14

<p>Isn't it ironic that you just characterized yourself as 'the most modest person' in your grade?</p>

15

<p>This thing does not compute. Asian kid who has sub par SAT scores (at least compared to white kid) is ranked higher than white kid? How did he actually end up with higher GPA if he's a bad test taker. Don't tell me, they award extra points if you smile during the tests. If those GPA's are correct, the performance in the SAT's shouldn't have that much divergence. Unless the numbers, as presented, are fudged. But for what purpose?</p>

16

<p>^ they aren't fudged. thats the way it happens. many good students get bad SAT scores and many bad / okay students get good SAT scores.</p>

17

<p>I think they both have different things going for them. It's hard to compare two individuals.</p>

18

<p>The Asian kid because its proven that kids who take the "deep approach" to learning (learning for the hell of it) tend to score lower on the SATs than kids who take the "surface approach" to learning (kids who see learning as a means to an end). So from the Asian kids facts we can deduce that he enjoys learning and is not a stereotypical Asian kid. If I were an admissions officer I'd see the Asian kids app as a breath of fresh air amidst the monotony and admit him immediately. The white kid is just another one of the thousands of applicants who are trying to game the system.
Even if the class ranks were reversed I'd still say the Asian kid.</p>

19

<p>^ could u tell that about the white kid just by looking at the application?</p>

20

<p>The SATs are odd, just like at my school. I got a 2050 and am ranked 2/232 and my friend got a 2270 and is ranked like 30ish/232 and we have taken the same classes etc..</p>