<p>My s and and my friend's d have long been top students in our town. They've consistently won awards and received top grades, all the way back through elementary school. They've also had dedicated involvement with ECs and contributed to life in our community. They both very much wanted to continue their studies at Yale, but alas they were deferred EA and then rejected RD.<br>
This afternoon I ran into an acquaintance who's son was a year ahead of ours, graduating from hs in '04. His main activities during high school were partying and playing a particular sport. As a result, he did so poorly that he wouldn't have been accepted in anything but the most non selective college. So, instead, he was sent off for a year at a moderately selective boarding school. I asked this friend how the family was and she cheerfully applied that her s had just been recruited by and accepted into Yale. ONE year of hard work was all it took.</p>
<p>In other words: play a sport.</p>
<p>(That's the cynical me.)</p>
<p>I know finding this out must be like rubbing salt in your son's wounds [and yours].</p>
<p>This too shall pass. There is something good ahead for your son. No one who is as qualified and dedicated as he will be without options for long.</p>
<p>This is very dismaying to hear, Andi. It seems unfair to those kids who work consistently hard for four years. I'm all for getting and giving fresh starts, but not at the cost of closing the door on kids like yours and mine (who was waitlisted). While I know that colleges have institutional needs and athletics is one of them, sports seems to do a number on fairness and common sense in admissions sometimes.</p>
<p>cynical, yes. Bitter, yes. This is a kid with a rather questionable amount of intellectual curiosity. I guess I expected a little more, even from recruited athletes.</p>
<p>I remember reading somewhere that while only 5% of students attend private schools, 35% of students accepted at ivies come from private schools. </p>
<p>Your son got caught somehow. You need to appeal all the rejections and pursue all the waitlists. Be an advocate for your son. Drive to the schools he is most interested in and request a face to face explanation. Someone needs to try to stop the madness.</p>
<p>Andi, dear, SIGH. This makes me sad. What a low blow. I am so UN-impressed by this decision. Hang in.</p>
<p>I guess I'm going thru the anger phase now, or is it the disgusted phase.</p>
<p>Well people, accept and get over that this is a simple reality. Sports brings money into theses schools. Winning teams bring alumni dollars. This enables the schools to have money for financial aid. Athletes are no different from legacies or development candidates who also bring money in. Think of it as a food chain. Were it not for these special cases a lot of deserving kids couldn't be there. Kids without a hook simply compete in a different pool, this kid did not take the place of a great academic.</p>
<p>and exactly who are these "deserving kids?"</p>
<p>I think it has been very clear that sports is the hook that transcends test scores and grades, especially if it is high impact sport. If the adcoms see some evidence that the athlete can get through the college, he is accepted if he is at that level. If you want to see some real discrepancies in academic profiles, take a look at Duke's basketball team, particularly the starters. </p>
<p>A few years ago the new admissions head at Dartmouth started talking about downplaying sports at Dartmouth. Alot. Getting rid of some of the sports. Well, I'll never forget one response. You know that the Ivy League designation is really athletic. There are other Ivy leagues in highschools that are also athletic designations that came into being before we started to use the term Ivies for the top schools. Those 8 ivies are clumped because they are in a sports conference. If Dartmouth wants to drop the sports, they should drop out of the sports conference which just so happens to be the Ivy League. Well, that ended that talk. For those who don't want to deal with the athletic emphasis there are a number of schools that do not have this emphasis and do not have a football team where the real numbers are in academic disparity because so many players are needed to support a team. </p>
<p>There are some kids with C average and 1100 SATs that I personally know who are accepted to the top schools because of their athletic prowress. It is discouraging to top students, but that is one of the things on the wish list. Development kids also can squeeze in with lower stats. There certainly are exceptions to the academics first rule, but we all knew that here at CC as these things come up all of the time.</p>
<p>The top of the general pool (subjective of course, as determined by the Yale adcoms and who knows what their bias is...) who can't pay $40K.</p>
<p>I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it if the kid was accepted on his own high school record but it looks like he was sent to a private school for one year where he was groomed for ivy admission with an athletic hook. That does not make him a "deserving kid." It does make him a spoiled brat who will probably screw it all up anyway while some true deserving kid who would have worked his butt off loses the opportunity.</p>
<p>Yale is a private organization, I keep wondering why people seem to think they (or any other private colleg) are fair and unbiased. That they will fill themselves with the best possible candidates as determined by some objective measure. They don't and don't pretend to. </p>
<p>We all know that many special groups are favored. Be that athletes or the wealthy. This could be 1950 when many great students didn't stand a chance because of race, religion or economic status. Yahoo, everyone stands a chance now. Those kids from families making under $40K who would have been sneered at 50 years ago are now in demand. Go figure! But everyone will never stand an equal chance. URMs get a boost today and that might go away in 20 years. Who knows who will get the boost then? But as long as these schools are private, they'll make their own rules.</p>
<p>Andi, if it's any consolation, to some degree Yale (and other HYPS) schools are a crapshoot for even 90 percent of the people who are accepted. The Yale adcoms say they could have at least three complete classes with no overlapping students that would like identical in terms of stats, profile, etc.</p>
<p>Fwiw, my D was rejected Yale EA last year. She's having the time of her life this year at the LAC she wound up going to instead. Well, aside from staying up until 4:30am working on mid-term Math problems....</p>
<p>There are official programs at some of the top prep schools in the country called post grad programs, the 5th year of high school. At one time, they could really make a difference for kids, but now not as much unless you are disadvantaged or an athlete. Then they can make a big difference in ivy and other top admissions.</p>
<p>Andi, I'm really so sorry that your son didn't get into Yale. However, I think there is more to a person than just grades and awards. </p>
<p>You've heard this song a thousand times probably, but I have to say it again. Schools are seeking to create a well rounded student body. Your son is very qualified, as are many of the other students that institutions (like Yale) admit. The problem is, however, that there are too many of these qualified students. </p>
<p>In additon, I know I wouldn't want to attend a school full of people admitted on the basis of either their brains, brawns, skin color, or any other attribute you could name. The result would be a boring, tepid community without an exchange of ideas or cultures between students.</p>
<p>Besides, knowledge isn't in just grades and standardized tests, awards; it's what other peopler don't know about. For me, learning is seeing or hearing things I've never had the chance to experience. Students that make Ds or are brats yet can run a football field or hit home runs are just other fascinating facets of life to discover.</p>
<p>I wasn't admitted to my university on the basis of athletic ability or race, but I like that some people have been picked by those attributes. I came from a high school that did what most colleges do, try to create this well-rounded student body. I found I learned so much from these other groups, lessons I may not have picked up had we all been bookworms.</p>
<p>I find fewer people are apalled at the idea of a musician being admitted on the basis of his talent than an athlete being admitted on the basis of his equally demanding talent.</p>
<p>(BTW, my admissions interviewer was an athlete with a voracious hunger for knowledge and current events. He's part of the reason I'm attending my school.)</p>
<p>Andi, you continue to be in my thoughts. I am sending you virtual hugs and lots of moral support. Hang in there!</p>
<p>Andi, I know how you feel. It is very disappointing to not get accepted in the first place, and then to hear about the other kid, makes you ill. No matter what a crapshoot everyone says the whole process is, it's impossible not to feel pained.
Hopefully if your son hears about it, you are able to discuss it without him hearing your bitterness. Because that will only get him to brood more.</p>
<p>Andi, rest assured that your son will do just fine without Yale under his belt. Any degree is going to be gold in the hands of a go-getter like him.</p>
<p>'F it, Yale wasn't good enough.</p>