<p>I feel as though we’re starting to beat a dead horse with this thread and the OP is amusing himself by continually stoking the fire. Pretty much everything that needed to be said has been very eloquently said by many of the veteran posters (as well as some wise young HS students). Just looking at yesterday’s RD results threads of the Ivies shows that there are many, many applicants with the same or better stats and EC’s that got rejections.</p>
<p>That’s how it goes. Nuff said.</p>
<p>I agree with Falcon1, so I am closing this thread.</p>
<p>Over the years, I have seen the college admissions process from many perspectives: As a student myself, as a college faculty member, and now as a parent of a high school senior (and about to go through it again next year with child #2). I also have a number of friends who do alumni interviews for their alma mater. Each college weighs the various facets of the application differently. Some put more weight on high school grades. Some put more weight on test scores. Some put more weight on recommendations, or on student application essays. Some place a high weight on personal interviews, others don’t even conduct interviews. As far as extracurricular activities, both quantity and quality count, but again they will factor into the formula differently at different colleges. My older child, the one who is currently deciding between college offers, had excellent but not perfect SAT scores, and was a National Merit Semi-Finalist, but had less than perfect grades in sophomore and junior year. She took the hardest classes her school offers (all honors and AP), and was heavily involved in extracurriculars (two year-round sports, music, and a leadership position in her youth group). On her own initiative, she spent the second half of her junior year abroad (sacrificing most of her extracurriculars in the process). She also wrote fantastic college essays (not just a mother’s opinion - her AP English teacher was amazed).</p>
<p>The end result: She was accepted at 8 colleges, wait-listed at 2, with no outright rejections. One of the schools that put her on the waiting list is considered much less selective than several to which she got accepted. The difference is in the formula they use to evaluate candidates. They put more weight on the high school GPA. Another moderately selective college that accepted her did not offer any merit-based aide, and did not offer to put her in their honors program, where 6 of the schools offered merit-based aide, and 5 of those offered to place her in honors programs. Some of the schools that offered the merit aide and honors programs are quite prestigious. Again, the difference is in the formulas by which each school evaluates candidates.</p>
<p>I warned my daughter before she starting applying that college admission decisions sometimes appear to be arbitrary, and that candidates who have less impressive test scores or GPAs may beat candidates who seem better qualified in that regard, because of other, less visible factors. We saw that play itself out, when she and her friends at school compared who got in where, and with what financial offers or special programs</p>
<p>I don’t think any of the colleges are being “unfair” by using different admission formulas. Each one is doing its best to choose based on the factors that they believe will make a successful class of students. </p>
<p>test post.</p>