<p>The "What Are My Chances" forum on collegeconfidential is detrimental to the site's credibility, usefulness, and reputation. Additionally, it only further heightens the anxiety in high school students and spreads misconceptions about the college admissions process. I am writing this post in the hopes that others will support my plea to whoever is in charge of this website that this forum be taken down as soon as possible in order to restore sanity and truth to students across the world.
First of all, other high school students are completely inept judges of whether or not you have a chance of being admitted to a college. If you are really seeking advice on your college list, please consult a counselor or teacher to help you form a balanced list of colleges that range from safety to reach. Secondly, all of the information you need to determine your chances at a school can be found on the schools website. Average SAT scores, gpa, class profiles, etc. are all on a college's website. Most colleges, especially selective ones, actually tell you exaclty what they are looking for and the factors that they consider in making a decision. It is not difficult to determine your chances from this information, and I can guarantee you that another high school student can not provide any more information on the matter. In fact, why not attend an information session or talk to an admissions officer for questions about admissions?
Finally, I would like to address the collegeconfidential community. Many of you, but not all, seriously need to reflect upon your life thus far. Has it been worth it? Have you enjoyed it? The first time I stumbled upon this website I was baffled at the many rejections of such qualified students with perfect grades and SATs. But now, it does not surprise me at all. Colleges want REGULAR PEOPLE TOO. As my name states, I am just an average joe. Yes, I make very good grades and my SAT score is great, but no part of my application is perfect. I have only committed myself to 2 clubs, 1 sport, and 1 service activity. Yes, that's right, I filled out 4 EC boxes on the common app. And you know what? I've been accepted to every college so far, even so called "elite" colleges. Why? I think it's just because they want people, yes, people. So to all of you average joes out there, don't be influenced by these nonsense chance threads and results threads. I am an average joe, and I have yet to be rejected.</p>
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<p>You’re inaccurately generalizing. </p>
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<p>Many guidance counselors and certainly most teachers are ill-informed about college admissions and often spread misconceptions to their students. </p>
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<p>While consulting schools’ Web sites is appropriate, for highly competitive colleges the class profiles paint deceptive pictures. </p>
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<p>You’re being unclear here. If you’re implying that colleges actively accept people with lower stats because those people have lower stats and are, thus, more “regular” (whatever you mean by that), you’re incorrect.</p>
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<p>Congratulations on that.</p>
<p>^^^^ What he said. Besides, most people that comment on College Confidential are people who are interested in college, so more likely than not, they have something productive to say. Now, not everyone is right, but what’s the harm in giving an honest opinion on whether someone gets in or not? It actually calms me down to hear from other people about my chances, just because I feel more prepared for any decisions that will come my way.</p>
<p>Besides, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to spend your time here demeaning it.</p>
<p>I think this is a great thread that helps a lot of people get fairly realistic predictions about their chances. People on here do not answer " absolutely in/not getting in," but tell the person whether the school is a match/safety/reach. I think this info is useful and certainly not at all detrimental to the credibility of the site. </p>
<p>Also, the info found on college sites is very numerical and generalizes admissions trends. It does not give useful, personalized data as to whether the applicant’s ECs are good, if a decent gpa can outweigh a poor SAT score, etc.</p>
<p>Besides, if this forum is removed, individual college forums will become clogged up with “chances” posts anyways.
Th</p>
<p>Ok, silverturtle, I know you are a highly regarded member of the collegeconfidential community, and I will admit that I have found your advice on many other threads useful. </p>
<p>In response to your response,
- Yes, I am inaccurately generalizing, but anyone, including those who have no idea what they are talking about, can post on this forum.<br>
- Unfortunately, yes, you are correct. However, certainly a teacher or counselor with a college degree can give some pertinent advice on college, especially their alma mater.<br>
- The class profiles are in no way deceptive if you have any basic knowledge of statistics. A class profile does NOT state that if you have a 700-800 CR score you will get into Harvard. It states that the mid 50 percentile of students at Harvard have a 700-800CR score. It does not imply that scores in that range guarantee acceptance, but rather that scores in that range are COMPETITIVE for admission. Isn’t that what Chance threads are about? Competetiveness?
- I am not implying that lower stats have a better chance of admission, I am simply stating that colleges, especially selective ones, admit PEOPLE not numbers. Thus, no one on here can even give you the slightest accurate chance of admission any more than you can determine your own chance based on school profiles, because nobody on here knows you as a person. </p>
<p>Why am I spending my time on here demeaning this forum?</p>
<p>Because it is forums like these that have spread the application frenzy that is resulting in overworked, unhappy, anxious high school students that feel like that have to apply to 15 schools (including all the ivies) just to have a good chance to get into a “good” school. It is more important that you do things you enjoy, sleep for 9 hrs. every night, and have fun with your friends than to stay up past midnight cramming for the SAT or next AP Bio test just to pull out the highest grade in your class.</p>
<p>Not every person is carefree. Some people aren’t average joes. Some people want to strive to be the best, and you have no right to say they shouldn’t do that. And also, are you implying that this forum makes people unable to sleep? It’s just a forum dude, nobody actually takes posters’ words to heart. Intelligent thread posters take things with a grain of salt, nothing’s 100% true on this forum, and it isn’t 100% true on ANY other forum. Forums are meant for discussion, and if you think discussion is BAD, then you, my friend, are stupid.</p>
<p>Oh and just saying, the purpose of this forum is to depict yourself as more than just GPA and rank. You can tell the other posters how well you think your essays are and stuff. It’s, if anything, MORE accurate than simple numbers that you can find on a college website…</p>
<p>I complete agree with averagejoe, no one can accurately predict if person A or person B will get in. Sure the people who read the applications are told people should fit this criteria, but if they walk into work that day and are ****ed off at the world then any application they read will sound bad. This process is incredibly subjective, there is no way to avoid it. So yea I could log on to this forum, and tell everyone they are going to get accepted. But that just builds their hopes and stress. And if you don’t believe this forum causes stress, just go to any college’s page the week before the decisions go live and read the pages of comments by people saying how anxious and stressed they are. So like averagejoe said, people should not be living on this forum and on the decision website waiting for some uplifting message. Instead you should be outside living your life, because that is where you will find happiness and a stress release.</p>
<p>Personally I find this forum a bit annoying. I understand people who are really unsure about their chances about getting into a certain colleges, but some people start threads that are similar to old ones, and expect us to be answering the same questions. Instead, they can look through old threads, and determine their chances from that. Also, I’ve got to say that although there are many qualified people on CC helping people out, there are also…not so qualified people who like to bring down others and provide insulting or inaccurate information to purposely mislead them. None of us, no matter how educated or informed, can predict the “chances” of a person getting into a certain college.</p>
<p>@wofbharatj</p>
<p>I am in no way implying that people are losing sleep because of this forum (although it wouldn’t surprise me). I am implying that people are losing sleep because they are too occupied with the notion of getting into a “top” school, and thus sleep is cast aside as not as important as studying or doing extracurriculars. Also, I think every person should be the absolute best person they can be, and personally I have worked my butt off in high school, and I encourage others to do the same, within reason. I consider myself an “average joe” because I have not won national awards in anything, and I am not unlike a regular, normal teenager. For some reason, there seems to be a misconception on CC that unless you have accomplished something extraordinary, you can’t get into a “top” school, and that is just ridiculous</p>
<p>Most of the posters on this board are more informed than the average high school counselor or teachers. </p>
<p>And yes, the class profiles from the colleges’ are deceptive. Those stats include hooked applicants, and thus do not provide an accurate picture for the majority of the applicants.</p>
<p>I find this thread ironic; you are demeaning this forum for spreading false information, which it does sometimes, while your own post is full of misinformation. I also find the majority of your arguments tangential to the subject at hand.</p>
<p>This thread should be closed for your sheer lack of knowledge and sophistication. And for goodness’ sakes, at least use proper basic grammar when trying to persuade.</p>
<p>Class profiles are not deceptive. The middle 50 percent range does not include 1/4 of the class that has lower scores. Truly “hooked” applicants do not make up more than a 1/4 of the class, and many of them have scores at or above the average of the class. Also, your comment regarding my sophistication is the exact pompousness that I am attacking in this thread. As for my grammar, I am sorry I left off a period. Here it is : . As for your grammar, you might want to check your commas in that last sentence. (proper, basic grammar)</p>
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What a ■■■■■■■■ comment.</p>
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<p>To expand on my comment on the deceptiveness of college class profiles, remember that those profiles contain many factors such as ethnicity, legacy, geography, athletics, etc. For example, many people think that a 2100 SAT is above average for Cornell admits. This is only true for NY applicants since Cornell is obliged to give NY applicants more consideration (1/3 of Cornell undergraduates come from NY) because it receives funding from NY state. Out of state admits thus have a significantly higher average SAT scores.</p>
<p>That was just one example; there are many, many other reasons why class profiles are deceptive. To be honest, you’re making yourself look foolish by claiming that they are not deceptive. </p>
<p>I don’t think you’re in any position to judge this forum, especially that you consider yourself the “average” Joe. You’re attitude is no better than that of anyone else on here.</p>
<p>Since this thread is absolutely useless, misleading, and shows your irritating, apologetic attitude, it is reported. If only you could realize how pointless this is.</p>
<p>All that aside, I find the most disturbing part of your thinking is that you’re trying to take something away. Regardless of whether making a chance thread is beneficial or not, it is ultimately the poster’s choice to make it. This thread thread makes you look like an arrogant jerk who supposedly knows what’s good for other posters. If they want assurance, let them have it. And believe it or not, many responses on this board are some of the most accurate chances the posters will get, aside from those from admissions officers.</p>
<p>Clearly, one of your sophistication would not understand the average joe metaphor from “Dodgeball”. Also, “retarted” is not a nice word Mr. Sophisticated.</p>
<p>I fully support ryan.</p>
<p>P.S. ryan, people only say something is retarted when they can’t think of any legitimate response.</p>
<p>“…many people think that a 2100 SAT is above average for Cornell admits. This is only true for NY applicants …”</p>
<p>Link?? show me the breakdown of SAT scores for Cornell admits by NYS residents vs. residents of other states. Only three of Cornell’s seven undergraduate colleges receive substantial funding rom NY Sate. And for all of them, admissions are done by college, each with different admissions pools and selection criteria.</p>
<p>My apologies. I only meant those 3 colleges. Being from NY is essentially a hook, therefore the standards for NY applicants are slightly lower.</p>
<p>Average joe I understand your just trying to help quell our anxiety, and I thank you for your consideration, but A) until april 1 my anxiety will drive me crazy and at that point I will be either ecstatic or suicidal and B) you need to respect other’s choices- if we choose to assist each other and help perpetuate our anxiety in a way that sometimes helps to quell it, who are you to tell us what to do? Live and let live(albeit with worry XD)</p>
<p>There are few points I want to make here:</p>
<p>**Not everyone here is highschool student 
**
Examples:
- There are actually some real college representatives searching/posting around this forum such as UC Davis representative (He/she used to answer my question back in 2006)
- If you don’t realize, there are MANY parents participating frequently in this forum. Any parent here, please raise your hand!!!
- There are many who graduated from college coming back to help out the community and I’m just one example of this. </p>
<p>**Highschool students especially these smart population in this forum, in my opinion, are capable of thinking critically to judge in the so called “chance me” topics ** because many of them have at least research the schools and know what a good/bad candidate for the schools. </p>
<p>I also believe that the topic starters would be more relieved after hearing some opinions from their fellow students so they get at least some sort of confirmation for their own judgements. This is a bit generalization but I see that many who started the chance me topic are really curious about how they stand in the game of admission and constructive comments are always valuable to them </p>
<p>**Average Joe gets into elite school does not suggest that elite Joe doesn’t get into elite school. They have little to no relationship. The chance of admission is really based on the “HOLISTIC” view of the applicant. **</p>
<p>Last but not least, chill out!!! We are not in 2012 yet and it is not the end of the world. Let people start their “chance me” topic and hear comments as they like. i’m not sure if you notice this sub-forum “chance me” is one of the most active for yearsssssss and they never be taken down. Why should they 
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<p>Relax and peace! -Kevin101 :D</p>
<p>Kevin, you’re so cool. <3 haha</p>