Why do people ask for stats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because until you go through this process with your kid you naively think that you can make sense out of it by comparing stats.

This made me laugh - and not in a good way. What a long year.

[Anonymous]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNamara_fallacy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people ask about stats so much? It’s been known for years that college admissions is a holistic process and that a kid with a 4.0/1600 can easily be rejected from a school that admits a kid with a 3.6/1450. When are people going to realize that ECs, LORs, awards, essays, interviews, fit, etc. are as, if not much more, important?

Because your premise is wrong. Absent a hook, nothing is more important than GPA/rigor.

That’s been increasingly proven wrong. Obviously below a certain GPA/test score threshold, a student will be automatically rejected. However, beyond that range, Ithese are many thousands of students who AOs need to filter through using the factors mentioned in the original post.

We found this to be especially true this year. After meeting the “threshold”, some personal qualities or individual characteristics are valued more at some colleges over others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because until you go through this process with your kid you naively think that you can make sense out of it by comparing stats.

This made me laugh - and not in a good way. What a long year.

“Because until you go through this process with your kid you naively think that you can make sense out of it by comparing stats.“

lol.
So true

[Anonymous]

Because until you go through this process with your kid you naively think that you can make sense out of it by comparing stats.

This is 100% correct. I feel sorry for parents still caught in this mindset because it leads to a lot of animosity and heartbreak. Encourage your your kid do their best and use the CDS' to make your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats matter.

This is OP. Of course stats matter; that wasn’t my point and I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear in my post. I meant that there are a million other things contributing to whether or not a student gets into a college, and that stats alone don’t provide an accurate representation of students.

NP. I don’t want to share my kids ECs, essays, LOR, personal qualities with you, that’s why.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why people ask for GPA and SAT scores. I am more interested in their kids "great ECs" but more are not forthcoming about ECs here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats matter.

This is OP. Of course stats matter; that wasn’t my point and I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear in my post. I meant that there are a million other things contributing to whether or not a student gets into a college, and that stats alone don’t provide an accurate representation of students.

NP. I don’t want to share my kids ECs, essays, LOR, personal qualities with you, that’s why.

New poster: why respond at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stats matter.

Well they aren’t IRRELEVANT, but what do they tell you unless you know

the specific school and/or district. DCPS, MCPS, FCPS, APS etc all have different grading schemes. Not to mention privates.

the specific courses. A 3.75 taking Calc BC, AP Bio, AP physics, AP music theory isn’t the same as someone with a 3.75 taking AP Stats and AP Gov.

As someone else mentioned there is no meaningful difference between a 1450 and 1550 SAT score for the vast majority of AOs, if the 1450 has even slightly better ECs, recs, essay etc. They aren’t looking for maximal scores, just above a threshold.

So asking for and providing stats doesn’t really tell anyone much of anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why people ask for GPA and SAT scores. I am more interested in their kids "great ECs" but more are not forthcoming about ECs here.

Same here. Bc it’s very unique and will identify kid.

[Anonymous]

Because they have the misguided notion that one random kids' stats are more relevant than the common data set, university admissions profile, and Naviance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats matter.

This is OP. Of course stats matter; that wasn’t my point and I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear in my post. I meant that there are a million other things contributing to whether or not a student gets into a college, and that stats alone don’t provide an accurate representation of students.

NP. I don’t want to share my kids ECs, essays, LOR, personal qualities with you, that’s why.

No one said you should or have to. The point is that people should stop asking, not start telling.

[Anonymous]

I am more interested in their kids "great ECs" but more are not forthcoming about ECs here.

A friend's kid who didn't care at all about academics (the struggle was real) was accepted to Northwestern's music school. She always laughs when people say the lower GPA's on the CDS are URMs and athletes.

[Anonymous]

Why do people look at scattergrams? Why do people look at the CDS for stats? Why do people look at 25,50 and 75 percentiles for test scores for admitted students?

You know why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people look at scattergrams? Why do people look at the CDS for stats? Why do people look at 25,50 and 75 percentiles for test scores for admitted students?

You know why.

Because those are the only quantitative data points given. It doesn’t mean they are as paramount as is often assumed.