Is This What it Takes to Get Into a Top School Nowadays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a troll post. 24 APs is a deadgiveaway.

At some point I become suspicious as well. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. We want to believe so badly that these people exist, but usually, there’s a massive catch. The easiest explanation is lying.

What’s too good to be true? People do more than this person and still don’t get into it top schools. This definitely isn’t the craziest applicant I’ve seen, it’s just the reality of admissions these days

The kid lists recruited athlete. That plus GPA and SAT are all that you need, the rest is unnecessary

[Anonymous]

I would've picked Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a troll post. 24 APs is a deadgiveaway.

At some point I become suspicious as well. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. We want to believe so badly that these people exist, but usually, there’s a massive catch. The easiest explanation is lying.

What’s too good to be true? People do more than this person and still don’t get into it top schools. This definitely isn’t the craziest applicant I’ve seen, it’s just the reality of admissions these days

The kid lists recruited athlete. That plus GPA and SAT are all that you need, the rest is unnecessary

Read more closely. he says he was not hooked as a recruited athlete. It's confusing but he lists athlete and URM as hooks he does not have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, what everyone has to realize is that even in the top 1% there is the top 10% of the top 1%. Read the information released as part of the Harvard case, because one of the interesting points is they indicated that 10% - 20% of their acceptances (again, acceptances not applications) are easy acceptances. The kids are so accomplished on every rubric that they just sail through admissions.

Honestly, this kid probably falls into that category or darn close. He says unhooked, however, LMC is actually probably a hook. That demographic is severely under-represented on elite campuses.

Some other random thoughts:
(i) would have been interesting to see if his college admissions were the same had all his ECs been far right vs. far left...can't underestimate how aligned political ideologies of AOs and the applicant likely helped
(ii) colleges don't hold it against applicants if their HS only has 6 periods, or don't allow Freshman to take APs, etc....you are compared to your HS peers, so the question is did you take a challenging courseload compared to your peers
(iii) colleges only really care about taking core APs and/or APs in the areas where you want to study...they could not care less that this applicant took AP CS Principles or any other random non-core APs.
(iv) it makes all the sense in the world that MIT rejected this applicant...MIT offered little to nothing in their major and the applicant had no ECs to support an MIT application...honestly, one has to believe the applicant misrepresented themselves to MIT to produce a competitive application, and it kind of pisses me off that they applied at all
(v) a male applicant interested in liberal arts with a story to support it gives them an admissions edge because the liberal arts are heavily female skewed

Ah... I get it. This whole thing (from the Reddit, to the repost here, and this response) is a setup to make a place for someone to air out their their theories on whether or not an applicant's politics affects their admissions. Wow. I mean... wow

[Anonymous]

I don't think this is legit, but it sure must have been exhausting typing it all out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a troll post. 24 APs is a deadgiveaway.

We want to believe so badly that these people exist

Looks to be the other way around to me. Lots of people on this thread want to believe these people don't exist, cant exist because, because what does that say about Larlo's chances?

[Anonymous]

It’s an amazing resume, but some of the listed activities are hard to verify (e.g. 30hr/wk at restaurants every summer). Do people self claim or exaggerate on college app? DC is bloody honest and I am afraid that’ll hurt the chances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, what everyone has to realize is that even in the top 1% there is the top 10% of the top 1%. Read the information released as part of the Harvard case, because one of the interesting points is they indicated that 10% - 20% of their acceptances (again, acceptances not applications) are easy acceptances. The kids are so accomplished on every rubric that they just sail through admissions.

Honestly, this kid probably falls into that category or darn close. He says unhooked, however, LMC is actually probably a hook. That demographic is severely under-represented on elite campuses.

Some other random thoughts:
(i) would have been interesting to see if his college admissions were the same had all his ECs been far right vs. far left...can't underestimate how aligned political ideologies of AOs and the applicant likely helped
(ii) colleges don't hold it against applicants if their HS only has 6 periods, or don't allow Freshman to take APs, etc....you are compared to your HS peers, so the question is did you take a challenging courseload compared to your peers
(iii) colleges only really care about taking core APs and/or APs in the areas where you want to study...they could not care less that this applicant took AP CS Principles or any other random non-core APs.
(iv) it makes all the sense in the world that MIT rejected this applicant...MIT offered little to nothing in their major and the applicant had no ECs to support an MIT application...honestly, one has to believe the applicant misrepresented themselves to MIT to produce a competitive application, and it kind of pisses me off that they applied at all
(v) a male applicant interested in liberal arts with a story to support it gives them an admissions edge because the liberal arts are heavily female skewed

Disagree about MIT. This applicant was clearly talented at math and would have been fine academically at MIT. MIT is actually very good for political science so it's not unreasonable to apply there. He probably just didn't have enough STEM activities or involvement to convince MIT that he's a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kid also goes to a school with at least 8 periods per day.
My kid's school has 6 and I'd estimate that at least 90% of kids take 5 classes.

That has been a point of contention within our school district. Some HS have 7 blocks, others have 8. Luckily, we're in the 8-block group and it affords many a needed study hall or credit recovery opportunity. The real hard-chargers will fill them up and take an Early Bird (pre-regular hours class -- usually a performing arts or math).

The OP-linked student is definitely exceptionally accomplished. Good for them. If I were their parent, I'd worry about burn-out.

+1

That does not look like a fun HS experience for many. It's HS--they have the rest of their life ahead of them. I'd rather my kid relax a bit, enjoy HS, do ECs that they love not to "get into college" and take APs they like/will benefit them for their major/college. My kid did that and while they didn't get into any T25 (deferred ED and rejected ultimately from T10, WL at T30, Go abroad first year at a T60 that has single digit acceptance rates--we are full pay and most put into these programs are full pay), but they got into 2 ranked in 40s with excellent merit and another 2 in the 50-70 range with great merit. And ultimately they are happy at their choice. They had many choices, tried a few reaches and almost made 1 to 2 and got into all their targets and safety schools. Most importantly they crafted their HS plan doing what they wanted, not what would look good for college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, what everyone has to realize is that even in the top 1% there is the top 10% of the top 1%. Read the information released as part of the Harvard case, because one of the interesting points is they indicated that 10% - 20% of their acceptances (again, acceptances not applications) are easy acceptances. The kids are so accomplished on every rubric that they just sail through admissions.

Honestly, this kid probably falls into that category or darn close. He says unhooked, however, LMC is actually probably a hook. That demographic is severely under-represented on elite campuses.

Some other random thoughts:
(i) would have been interesting to see if his college admissions were the same had all his ECs been far right vs. far left...can't underestimate how aligned political ideologies of AOs and the applicant likely helped
(ii) colleges don't hold it against applicants if their HS only has 6 periods, or don't allow Freshman to take APs, etc....you are compared to your HS peers, so the question is did you take a challenging courseload compared to your peers
(iii) colleges only really care about taking core APs and/or APs in the areas where you want to study...they could not care less that this applicant took AP CS Principles or any other random non-core APs.
(iv) it makes all the sense in the world that MIT rejected this applicant...MIT offered little to nothing in their major and the applicant had no ECs to support an MIT application...honestly, one has to believe the applicant misrepresented themselves to MIT to produce a competitive application, and it kind of pisses me off that they applied at all
(v) a male applicant interested in liberal arts with a story to support it gives them an admissions edge because the liberal arts are heavily female skewed

Ah... I get it. This whole thing (from the Reddit, to the repost here, and this response) is a setup to make a place for someone to air out their their theories on whether or not an applicant's politics affects their admissions. Wow. I mean... wow

LOL you're sounding like a conspiracy theorist, no one cares that much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s an amazing resume, but some of the listed activities are hard to verify (e.g. 30hr/wk at restaurants every summer). Do people self claim or exaggerate on college app? DC is bloody honest and I am afraid that’ll hurt the chances.

Do adults exaggerate on their resumes (hint...yes they do basically 100% of the time)? Seems like a strange item to lie about...that I work at a restaurant 30 hours per week during summer. Seems like a fairly typical summer job for a kid coming from a LMC background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think this is legit, but it sure must have been exhausting typing it all out.

Very legit, I knew a kid like this at DD's HS. Ended up at Princeton and was an academic machine. It's actually encouraging to me that there are kids like this out there who have that motor to exceed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a troll post. 24 APs is a deadgiveaway.

We want to believe so badly that these people exist

Looks to be the other way around to me. Lots of people on this thread want to believe these people don't exist, cant exist because, because what does that say about Larlo's chances?

+1, lot's of DCUMers in disbelief that there are people like this out there to compete with their golden child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s an amazing resume, but some of the listed activities are hard to verify (e.g. 30hr/wk at restaurants every summer). Do people self claim or exaggerate on college app? DC is bloody honest and I am afraid that’ll hurt the chances.

30 hr/wk during summers is not off base. Looks like he is lower-middle income, and a lot of lower-middle income kids put in similar work hours over summers (sometimes doing other things like lawn care instead). Let's face it, this person is gifted and that's ok, people like him exist and all we can do is applaud them and hope they use their talents for good. There are smarter kids than him believe it or not, but he has a great combination of smarts, work ethic, and passion to get him into Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Princeton, UPenn, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, what everyone has to realize is that even in the top 1% there is the top 10% of the top 1%. Read the information released as part of the Harvard case, because one of the interesting points is they indicated that 10% - 20% of their acceptances (again, acceptances not applications) are easy acceptances. The kids are so accomplished on every rubric that they just sail through admissions.

Honestly, this kid probably falls into that category or darn close. He says unhooked, however, LMC is actually probably a hook. That demographic is severely under-represented on elite campuses.

Some other random thoughts:
(i) would have been interesting to see if his college admissions were the same had all his ECs been far right vs. far left...can't underestimate how aligned political ideologies of AOs and the applicant likely helped
(ii) colleges don't hold it against applicants if their HS only has 6 periods, or don't allow Freshman to take APs, etc....you are compared to your HS peers, so the question is did you take a challenging courseload compared to your peers
(iii) colleges only really care about taking core APs and/or APs in the areas where you want to study...they could not care less that this applicant took AP CS Principles or any other random non-core APs.
(iv) it makes all the sense in the world that MIT rejected this applicant...MIT offered little to nothing in their major and the applicant had no ECs to support an MIT application...honestly, one has to believe the applicant misrepresented themselves to MIT to produce a competitive application, and it kind of pisses me off that they applied at all
(v) a male applicant interested in liberal arts with a story to support it gives them an admissions edge because the liberal arts are heavily female skewed

Disagree about MIT. This applicant was clearly talented at math and would have been fine academically at MIT. MIT is actually very good for political science so it's not unreasonable to apply there. He probably just didn't have enough STEM activities or involvement to convince MIT that he's a good fit.

Maybe things are different now...but my MIT friends always joke that MIT has liberal arts degrees for all the kids that can't hack STEM (so they can still graduate with an MIT degree).