Reply to No, test optional isn’t the reason your kid didn’t get in.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There's a basic rule in admissions, now and in the past: "If your grades are the most interesting thing about you, you're not that interesting". People want to keep denying this and talk about merit and objective measures and such, but that's how admissions people think when they look at applications. Scores are a baseline, what did you do with all those smarts? After years of looking at applications, 80% of students look like the same parent-programmed, "I checked these boxes to get into college but I don't really care about any of these things" people. Sorry, but the A minus or B student --or even just the OTHER A plus student - who did something more compelling or at least unique, is going to get the nod every time.
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No, someone who can credibly simulate having done something unique well enough to survive the cursory review colleges engage in will get the nod.  This vibes-based approach is even more amenable to gaming by the wealthy, sophisticated, or well-connected.  We all know who is really running the non-profits “founded” by 10th graders, and it’s way easier for the wealthy to write a check to create a “unique” experience for their child than anyone else.  The less legible the admissions criteria, the more it favors high SES and the connected. DEI helps URMs, so this really comes out of the hides of lower-class whites and Asian students with 1540s as opposed to 1580s.[/quote]

You identify the kids losing by race but not the kids taking with the embellished nonprofits. At our school,  the embellished nonprofits that I knew of (about 6) were all founded by kids who happened to be east or south Asian.  Several started their own that did a little and fizzled or did nothing. One had a website and big plans with volunteer requests.  My D volunteered and followed up. Nothing happened (except 
the website). One made some contribution,  made sure to get press on it, then kind of went silent. Another student was a coke scholar with big embellishments.  One had a mom-run nonprofit, but I don't know if the kid used this to the extent her mom wanted. Mom kept pushing the "student-run" org (sometimes signing emails as her daughter), but the local running joke is that the mom did everything. Kid was nice and never really spun that narrative,  so hopefully she didn't on apps either. But, to your point,  if you ID the kids losing as Asian,  you should also admit that the kids taking may also be Asian (and white too of course).  It's not oppression of Asian/white kids by "others."  BTW,  I don't think any of these kids were wealthy, but they were ambitious.  That could be any kid. And, every kid loses out when kids falsify or embellish, not just white/Asian kids.[/quote]

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