S/O - I met a kid who got into X top 20 College and this is his/her story . . .

[Anonymous]

That thread about the recent Harvard admit who was not a legacy but had a cab driving daddy prompted me to start this thread. Just curious to hear about those kids who are actually getting into all those top colleges these days, where strong grades and top scores guarantee nothing. Do they all have such compelling life stories? Is it a sports hook? Passionate about a cause? Overcoming life hardships?

[Anonymous]

I think this is a ridiculous post. No one knows the true details of anyone else's applications.

[Anonymous]

Lots of kids get in with just top grades and great scores. There are more kids with this profile than there are spots, so some with get in and some won't, but a good proportion of seats at top schools go to good kids with great grades, recs, scores, activities, and no other hook. It's a numbers game with college admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of kids get in with just top grades and great scores. There are more kids with this profile than there are spots, so some with get in and some won't, but a good proportion of seats at top schools go to good kids with great grades, recs, scores, activities, and no other hook. It's a numbers game with college admits.

I know a number of kids from DC's school who got into ivies this year. There were some (including my own) who have no hook (athletic recruitment, URM, legacy). But all the unhooked kids did have some truly excellent extra curriculars in addition to the mandatory great GPAs and SATs. That is to say, state and national-level achievements in these extracurriculars. Unfortunately, DC's friends with extra-curriculars that absolutely impress me, including leadership of various school clubs or internships at local college science departments or NIH, somehow failed to impress the top colleges, which seems unfair, but that's what happened. We're pretty amazed DC got in and we attribute a lot of it to luck, not just the great ECs. This is from my limited knowledge of maybe 20 kids going to ivies next year, including many but not all from DC's public school, so YMMV, caveat emptor, and all that.