Yes, the US's admissions process is more about societal engineering than academic qualifications. |
JMU, VCU, VT for humanities, CNU, UMW in VA. None look for unique personalities in applicants. |
All of the UK besides Oxbridge. |
Stop being bitter. Admit you played the wrong game and lost and move on. You will do better for your other kids. I suggest listening to Lee coffin‘s podcast. Today was the conclusion of season 7 and they both talked so poignantly about one current senior’s essay that they remembered about pancakes made by his mother. They said they will never remember the details of any random research that kids drone on and on about, but they remember the essays that shed insight into who the applicants are as human beings, what they value, and what they will, most importantly, bring to the community - outside of the classroom. |
OMG how can you believe this BS. |
That’s what they want! Give it to them… My kid did and is now headed to a T10. |
NP. Because admissions offices are still staffed by human beings and human beings still currently make admissions decisions at schools like Dartmouth. Many such human beings are moved by pathos. In that vein, Dartmouth got about 31,000 applications to fill a class of about 1,100. After an initial cull, everyone they seriously consider has incredible stats. So the little things like a memorable essay or the peer recommendation that shows an applicant's good nature can make a difference. When my DD went through the process last cycle, I listened to a million podcasts and read 3-4 books by former admissions officers, and they say the same thing. Either there's an incredibly well-coordinated, sweeping, and intricate conspiracy that transcends the nation's many admissions offices and officers to hide "the real reasons applicants gets offers" or they're telling the truth. I'm going with Occam's Razor on this one. |
What fraction of currently enrolled Dartmouth students do you suppose wrote their own essays? |
Most. The essays are not fancy. They are heartfelt. Frankly, the essays written by parents or fancy consultants try too hard at a place like Dartmouth. That’s not what they’re looking for. |
Agree with you. And I think people don’t spend enough time understanding that who you are as a “community member” is extraordinarily important to these schools, after you meet the baseline for grades/ rigor/ test scores. The community aspect, especially at a small school, is critical to understand; showing how you would fit in in campus life is central. |
McGill and many of uk/Irish schools. They just look at grades, ap, don't seem to care about ec/leadership. I know several public school kids who got into st andrews, trinity in dublin,etc with good grades in ap courses, and test optional. Pitt also seems very transparent and rolling admission so u get a quick answer! |
Kelley also has automatic direct admission if your grades and scores are above certain thresholds and you apply early. |
You can’t seriously expect me to believe that the number of students capable of writing a heartfelt essay is always exactly equal to the number of students Dartmouth needs to admit to make its class. |
Newsflash. They reject a lot of people with very heartfelt essays too. |
Who on earth listens to podcasts about this? |