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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You all really don’t get it. You can pick between two candidates and have it be an essentially random process. And if it isn’t literally a coin flip, it’s at least a choice based on criteria no one can strategize for.

Read The Gatekeepers or just look at the quote from the NYT article I posted above. Even if random isn’t the right word, the process at the schools with the lowest acceptance rates are, once you clear the GPA and SAT/ACT bars, not something you can reliably strategize for. I speak as someone whose spouse works in higher ed and has had private conversations with deans at top schools about this process.[/quote]

There is no such thing as "an essentially random process".  Something is either random or it isn't.

The fact that you now feel obliged to use "essentially" is a concession.

The fact that you can't strategize for it is also untrue.  Most students can't with high accuracy, but if you don't think you can try to be the kind of student a certain college is looking for you are incorrect.   Of course, that is doing it in reverse.  The proper way is to find out what kind of student you are and find the colleges that are looking for that.

Don't mislead people to think it is random.  No one who has actually read The Gatekeepers would think that.[/quote]

Yes I’m conceding it isn’t random. What I’m not saying is that you can strategize with great accuracy. You can try your hardest to be the exact type of student a college wants and still get rejected. When you’re looking at a place with a 5% acceptance rate, it’s to be expected.

Listen — I didn’t just read books about this process. I saw what happens with hooked kids because I went to a school with a stellar college acceptance record and, like I said before, my spouse works in higher ed. Without a hook, there is very little a kid can do to influence the process in his or her favor. It’s not fair but it’s true.[/quote]

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