Top schools for kids with perfect scores but minimal ECs?

[Anonymous]

If you look at the number of words some of the top school allow for the essay, you will see that they really don't care what your kid has to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this but at that level, your race matters a LOT. Whether you like it or not, that's how the game is played. My Asian kid with similar stats and over 1000 hours of volunteer hours got rejected by almost all of the top schools.

probably because your child had poor essays

Lackluster/poor essays are a huge reason for why so many get denied. It's not the stats and it's not the ECs which make or break the app, it's the impression you create on the admissions officer such that they can support you

If you play the cards to their advantage, you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you did, what scores you got, etc.

I'm a new poster. What do you know about this child's essay for you to presume that? If he has perfect grades & test scores, he's probably a decent writer as well and certainly a hard worker who would have put in a lot of effort on his essay, I would think. My dc is not a great writer and will probably not have good essays for college but you can also see that in his grades, which always have lower humanities grades. He just really struggles in English & History classes where there are a lot of papers & essays. This kid obviously didn't. And really, you think a kid with perfect grades & test scores just slopped together some mediocre college essay after working so hard all his life in school? Does that really seem likely to you? We all know at the top schools, it's a lottery. Instead of having a little sympathy for a family whose kid obviously worked so hard all his life, why do you immediately accuse him of submitting a poor essay? Like you know anything about him, his essay or the admissions process...

[Anonymous]

I said probably. I'm not presuming I know anything about the applicant, but for private schools where applicants are all the same stat wise, recommendations and essays play a huge role.

Most admission officers I know have said the majority of the essays they read are mediocre. So it could very well be the reason a high stats student gets denied from many top schools.

[Anonymous]

RPI or Union. Both with 6 year pre-med programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this but at that level, your race matters a LOT. Whether you like it or not, that's how the game is played. My Asian kid with similar stats and over 1000 hours of volunteer hours got rejected by almost all of the top schools.

probably because your child had poor essays

Lackluster/poor essays are a huge reason for why so many get denied. It's not the stats and it's not the ECs which make or break the app, it's the impression you create on the admissions officer such that they can support you

If you play the cards to their advantage, you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you did, what scores you got, etc.

I'm a new poster. What do you know about this child's essay for you to presume that? If he has perfect grades & test scores, he's probably a decent writer as well and certainly a hard worker who would have put in a lot of effort on his essay, I would think. My dc is not a great writer and will probably not have good essays for college but you can also see that in his grades, which always have lower humanities grades. He just really struggles in English & History classes where there are a lot of papers & essays. This kid obviously didn't. And really, you think a kid with perfect grades & test scores just slopped together some mediocre college essay after working so hard all his life in school? Does that really seem likely to you? We all know at the top schools, it's a lottery. Instead of having a little sympathy for a family whose kid obviously worked so hard all his life, why do you immediately accuse him of submitting a poor essay? Like you know anything about him, his essay or the admissions process...

A kid with no life outside of schoolwork may not have interesting things to write about. Essays should show passion and personality. All top scorers are not necessarily great at creative writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this but at that level, your race matters a LOT. Whether you like it or not, that's how the game is played. My Asian kid with similar stats and over 1000 hours of volunteer hours got rejected by almost all of the top schools.

probably because your child had poor essays

Lackluster/poor essays are a huge reason for why so many get denied. It's not the stats and it's not the ECs which make or break the app, it's the impression you create on the admissions officer such that they can support you

If you play the cards to their advantage, you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you did, what scores you got, etc.

No, not that. His essays were fine but I realize it's easy to sit here and speculate.

It's also easy to sit here and cry racism instead of understanding that other kids had spectacular essays and extracurriculars that brought their applications to the top.

DP....Maybe but it's also naive to believe that if you're an URM you don't need great grades, perfect test scores or even a decent essay.

[Anonymous]

The fact is that HYPS are ~25% or more Asian for undergrads (if you also factor in internationals/mixed-race students), which is a substantial number.

So while race may play a role to an extent in deeming the types of standards expected, it's not as if no Asian students are getting in. They're usually the second largest group enrolled at most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a fact in any way. With his scores and grades, HYPSM will ALL keep him on the list for a long time. Eventually, they are only going to take about 5% of the kids who are grinds but THEY do take grinds, just not at a rate better than random. Since he has nothing that will knock him off or get him in, eventually, they will draw the names of a few like him from a hat. Seriously, they need a share of grinds to keep their score and GPA averages as high as possible while getting the others you list.

"A kid with just numbers and no other EC hook is not going to get into HYPSM unless they're a URM, recruited athlete or legacy. That's not racism, that's the facts."

What are grinds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this but at that level, your race matters a LOT. Whether you like it or not, that's how the game is played. My Asian kid with similar stats and over 1000 hours of volunteer hours got rejected by almost all of the top schools.

probably because your child had poor essays

Lackluster/poor essays are a huge reason for why so many get denied. It's not the stats and it's not the ECs which make or break the app, it's the impression you create on the admissions officer such that they can support you

If you play the cards to their advantage, you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you did, what scores you got, etc.

I'm a new poster. What do you know about this child's essay for you to presume that? If he has perfect grades & test scores, he's probably a decent writer as well and certainly a hard worker who would have put in a lot of effort on his essay, I would think. My dc is not a great writer and will probably not have good essays for college but you can also see that in his grades, which always have lower humanities grades. He just really struggles in English & History classes where there are a lot of papers & essays. This kid obviously didn't. And really, you think a kid with perfect grades & test scores just slopped together some mediocre college essay after working so hard all his life in school? Does that really seem likely to you? We all know at the top schools, it's a lottery. Instead of having a little sympathy for a family whose kid obviously worked so hard all his life, why do you immediately accuse him of submitting a poor essay? Like you know anything about him, his essay or the admissions process...

A kid with no life outside of schoolwork may not have interesting things to write about. Essays should show passion and personality. All top scorers are not necessarily great at creative writing.

Just because the kid doesn't participate in formal extracurricular activities doesn't mean he doesnt have a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I said probably. I'm not presuming I know anything about the applicant, but for private schools where applicants are all the same stat wise, recommendations and essays play a huge role.

Most admission officers I know have said the majority of the essays they read are mediocre. So it could very well be the reason a high stats student gets denied from many top schools.

Here is what happened at my kids private school - the B students w connections, legacies and money get into HYPS. The rest no matter how smarter the kid was unless it was an athlete or an orchestra/band kid, no one else did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this but at that level, your race matters a LOT. Whether you like it or not, that's how the game is played. My Asian kid with similar stats and over 1000 hours of volunteer hours got rejected by almost all of the top schools.

probably because your child had poor essays

Lackluster/poor essays are a huge reason for why so many get denied. It's not the stats and it's not the ECs which make or break the app, it's the impression you create on the admissions officer such that they can support you

If you play the cards to their advantage, you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you did, what scores you got, etc.

I'm a new poster. What do you know about this child's essay for you to presume that? If he has perfect grades & test scores, he's probably a decent writer as well and certainly a hard worker who would have put in a lot of effort on his essay, I would think. My dc is not a great writer and will probably not have good essays for college but you can also see that in his grades, which always have lower humanities grades. He just really struggles in English & History classes where there are a lot of papers & essays. This kid obviously didn't. And really, you think a kid with perfect grades & test scores just slopped together some mediocre college essay after working so hard all his life in school? Does that really seem likely to you? We all know at the top schools, it's a lottery. Instead of having a little sympathy for a family whose kid obviously worked so hard all his life, why do you immediately accuse him of submitting a poor essay? Like you know anything about him, his essay or the admissions process...

A kid with no life outside of schoolwork may not have interesting things to write about. Essays should show passion and personality. All top scorers are not necessarily great at creative writing.

Just because the kid doesn't participate in formal extracurricular activities doesn't mean he doesnt have a life.

Agree. At our private, the kids who had all the extra after school had a stay at home parent. We are a two working parent home w no family in this country - how is my kid supposed to participate in these wonderful ECs that make a difference if the ones offered by the school like model UN, chess, etc. don't make the cut?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a fact in any way. With his scores and grades, HYPSM will ALL keep him on the list for a long time. Eventually, they are only going to take about 5% of the kids who are grinds but THEY do take grinds, just not at a rate better than random. Since he has nothing that will knock him off or get him in, eventually, they will draw the names of a few like him from a hat. Seriously, they need a share of grinds to keep their score and GPA averages as high as possible while getting the others you list.

"A kid with just numbers and no other EC hook is not going to get into HYPSM unless they're a URM, recruited athlete or legacy. That's not racism, that's the facts."

Will you please just stop posting. HYPSM has an overabundance of kids with perfect GPAs & scores who also win national contests, captain sports teams, make all-state in orchestra etc, etc, and they are rejected. A kid with perfect numbers but minimal ECs doesn't have a chance. Maybe 20-30 years ago he would've been a shoo-in, but not anymore. Sure, OP's son can apply - treat like a lottery ticket - but don't waste your one shot at ED/SCEA at one of these schools.

I agree 100% with the PP below - it tracks with what happened to my white son who applied last year with a 1590 SAT & 4.0UW GPA

My (white) child with almost identical stats and non-amazing ECs got into Rice, WashU, and Berkeley last year during the RD round, along with some top 10 SLACs. Based on her friends' results, agree that Chicago, Duke, and Northwestern are possibilities if he applies ED. As others have mentioned, Vandy, USC and Hopkins like high stats kids too, and MCGill is great for those who truly don't have much in the way of ECs. Consider Michigan and Cornell as well.

Anonymous
Post 10/28/2017 13:04 Subject: Top schools for kids with perfect scores but minimal ECs?

[Anonymous]

Cornell Engineering. If he'd be into that. Each college at Cornell has separate admissions (at least they did when I went back in early 2000's).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this but at that level, your race matters a LOT. Whether you like it or not, that's how the game is played. My Asian kid with similar stats and over 1000 hours of volunteer hours got rejected by almost all of the top schools.

probably because your child had poor essays

Lackluster/poor essays are a huge reason for why so many get denied. It's not the stats and it's not the ECs which make or break the app, it's the impression you create on the admissions officer such that they can support you

If you play the cards to their advantage, you'll get in. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you did, what scores you got, etc.

I'm a new poster. What do you know about this child's essay for you to presume that? If he has perfect grades & test scores, he's probably a decent writer as well and certainly a hard worker who would have put in a lot of effort on his essay, I would think. My dc is not a great writer and will probably not have good essays for college but you can also see that in his grades, which always have lower humanities grades. He just really struggles in English & History classes where there are a lot of papers & essays. This kid obviously didn't. And really, you think a kid with perfect grades & test scores just slopped together some mediocre college essay after working so hard all his life in school? Does that really seem likely to you? We all know at the top schools, it's a lottery. Instead of having a little sympathy for a family whose kid obviously worked so hard all his life, why do you immediately accuse him of submitting a poor essay? Like you know anything about him, his essay or the admissions process...

A kid with no life outside of schoolwork may not have interesting things to write about. Essays should show passion and personality. All top scorers are not necessarily great at creative writing.

You are a strange person. What do you know about my kid? How do you know my kid had no life outside of schoolwork? What do you know about his writing style and whether he showed "passion and personality"?? How is your statement different than non-AA's saying "all AAs are stupid and lazy" or "since AAs are so good with sports, they can't be good at school"? Is this what AAs' been trying to fight for so long to fix??

[Anonymous]

If you want med school, go to your state college (they don't have time to read essays or look at EC's) and get a 4.0 with lots of medical volunteering.