<p>I'm glad your happy for her.</p>
<p>How did you know she was rejected? I can't imagine someone being so open about it (Hell, I'd lie my ass off if I were rejected: "No, I got in, but I decided I'd rather be like Britney Spears, skip college and shave my head.")</p>
<p>That "I didn't get in because of affirmative action" response never ceases to annoy the hell out of me.</p>
<p>..pretty crazy, but some people are like that. Al Gore only applied to Harvard when he was hs senior, yes, ONLY Harvard. Fortunately, he got in.</p>
<p>PlattsburghLoser: She was surprisingly cool about it. She told EVERYONE; it seems to have sort of deflated her ego. I dunno, but I'm just glad the whole process is over.
Patlees: If I were as intelligent as Al Gore, I would have applied only to Harvard as well.</p>
<p>Oh, by the way, if I would have applied to Harvard, I would have framed my rejection letter and hung it on the wall ;)</p>
<p>I was rejected by 7 schools (1 of them was an Ivy) but I was accepted by one of my top choices, as well.</p>
<p>To me it just signifies the grace of God, not particular embarrassment or whatever.</p>
<p>
[quote]
..pretty crazy, but some people are like that. Al Gore only applied to Harvard when he was hs senior, yes, ONLY Harvard. Fortunately, he got in.
[/quote]
I don't think it was that risky since he was a senator's son, attended one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country, and was pretty smart.</p>
<p>"pretty crazy, but some people are like that. Al Gore only applied to Harvard when he was hs senior, yes, ONLY Harvard. Fortunately, he got in."</p>
<p>Back the, which probably then was the most competitive year ever for college admissions due to the baby boom, about one in 3 guys who applied to Harvard were accepted. (Females were more qualified on the whole, but only 1 in 4 was accepted because there was a quota on the number of women at Harvard).</p>
<p>Gore is a smart guy, and probably had excellent grades and stats. In addition, he went to prep school and had a rich father who also was a senator. Would have been a shoo-in for Harvard back then, and probably the same is true today.</p>
<p>" I'm glad that she has a back-up school that fits her now, but she still insists on complaining that the people who got accepted into the Ivies got in because of affirmative action or something similar (at this point, I sort of treat her like the crazy old uncle in the corner who yacks quite a bit). "</p>
<p>Given her logic and personality, I'm wondering whether she's lying about her Cornell acceptance.</p>
<p>Probably today? Definitely today.</p>
<p>As much as I dislike arrogant people, I am glad she got a safety I would hate to have her stranded without an option and I feel good that she has apparently learned something from this. It's fine to present your outstanding qualities, but you need to know your limits and your reaches. Frankly, if she had got in, there would have been a small curdle of frustration in my heart :p</p>
<p>nortstarmom, how is it that schools like HYP give huge preference to prep school kids, compared to say very competitive public hs kids? Many excellent students from my hs w/ impressive scores and ecs were rejected from my school last yr, while one of my friends who transferred to Andover while he was sophomore in h.s. said that Andover is like a feeder school for Harvard and Andover isn't even that much advanced academically or in other aspects, compared to my hs which is very well respected and was ranked among best 100 hs in the nation by several sources. (he knows bc he attended both high schools) Sadly, only one student got into Harvard last yr from my hs., and she was a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>There are public high schools like at least one in Newton, Mass., in which as many as 30 students get into Harvard each year.</p>
<p>From what I've heard from Harvard classmates and others who went to top prep schools, the top prep schools still offer educations far beyond what top public high schools can offer. Meanwhile, I'm fairly sure that the proportion of Harvard students who attended prep schools is far lower now than it was back when I was admitted (from a good public school). That is due in part to Harvard's interest in having a diverse student body -- diverse in all meanings including the types of high schools students attended.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm glad that she has a back-up school that fits her now, but she still insists on complaining that the people who got accepted into the Ivies got in because of affirmative action or something similar (at this point, I sort of treat her like the crazy old uncle in the corner who yacks quite a bit).
[/quote]
Yeah, but everyone has to blame their deflated ego on something =/</p>
<p>"nortstarmom, how is it that schools like HYP give huge preference to prep school kids, compared to say very competitive public hs kids? Many excellent students from my hs w/ impressive scores and ecs were rejected from my school last yr, while one of my friends who transferred to Andover while he was sophomore in h.s. said that Andover is like a feeder school for Harvard and Andover isn't even that much advanced academically or in other aspects, compared to my hs which is very well respected and was ranked among best 100 hs in the nation by several sources. (he knows bc he attended both high schools) Sadly, only one student got into Harvard last yr from my hs., and she was a recruited athlete."</p>
<p>I am so glad this question was asked. Admissions at Havard STILL, in the 21st century, seem to reflect a preference for a certain school, a certain family, a certain attraction to money. Perhaps I'm missing something. It just feels like kids form no-name public schools have to work a lot harder to get into Havard than do kids at Andover, etc.</p>
<p>" It just feels like kids form no-name public schools have to work a lot harder to get into Havard than do kids at Andover, etc."</p>
<p>Of course. Kids at Andover were hand picked from applicants from all over the country. They then get a very personalized, demanding education.</p>
<p>Even at the very top, competitive, public schools, the schools draw only from their metropolitan area, not from the entire country.</p>
<p>northstarmom, even if the prep school may provide better academic opportunities and thus the prep school kids may be better prepared, i wonder how the prep school kids (like andover) whose rank is around top 20-30% of the class still manage to make it into H, while Vals from good public hs w/ top scores are getting rejected...it doesn't make sense to me.</p>
<p>I feel like picking a lot of students from Andover et. al. says a lot about the quality of the students at Andover AND says a lot about Harvard's interest in elitism and interest in money.</p>
<p>I feel a lot prouder coming from a public school - I had to work extra hard to make myself stand out.</p>
<p>i'm sending my kids to private schools.</p>
<p>not</p>
<p>still deciding; don't have kids yet tho</p>
<p>Public/private determines how the education is funded, not what its quality is. </p>
<p>I'm all for school voucher schools, actually.</p>
<p>
[quote]
northstarmom, even if the prep school may provide better academic opportunities and thus the prep school kids may be better prepared, i wonder how the prep school kids (like andover) whose rank is around top 20-30% of the class still manage to make it into H, while Vals from good public hs w/ top scores are getting rejected...it doesn't make sense to me.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>i think you're generalizing--andover and other top boarding schools aren't filled with rich kids who just happen to be smart. a lot of them have great financial aid programs that rival many colleges and with the amount of resources they have, they can recruit top students from anywhere...
also, schools aren't going to admit kids who they don't think will succeed and top grades at a top hs is unshakable (versus being val at some random public school). in fact, many andover kids JOKE about how easy college is compared to hs...</p>