Reply to S/O, Where did your "top private school" DC get into through ED (that's not Ivy, or a Top 10 school)

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Reply to "S/O, Where did your "top private school" DC get into through ED (that's not Ivy, or a Top 10 school)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And sadly, schools that cutoff at the 3.9 level are going to miss a lot of great kids.  Who  says that a 3.9 kid at a top private has learned more than a 3.2 kid.  At our school a lot of the 3.2 kids are just as smart, and pretty hardworking, but [b]kinder, more passionate, less self-absorbed and more interesting than some of the 3.9s. [/b] This is not to criticize those at the tippy top, but rather to sway that a lot of that energy gets lost in a highly stats driven admissions process.  My husband went to an Ivy, and he wonders if it would be as interesting an experience now.  [/quote]

10:48 again. I think it's pretty unfair to the kids who are pulling in 3.9s, to call most of them uninteresting, self-absorbed and unkind. Some of these 3.9 kids are just incredibly smart. Some of these 3.9 kids are also more motivated, and better able to keep future goals in mind, than the average teenager.

The criticism of 3.9 GPAs also misses the bigger picture. These days, to get into the very top colleges, you need a 3.9 GPA [b]and [/b]ECs that show your selflessness, lack of self-absorption and passion. [b]And [/b]essays that also demonstrate your passion, self-awareness, kindness, and all the rest. Why? Colleges get tons and tons of 3.9 applicants. The very top colleges get over 30,000 applicants per year, and most of these are very qualified including 3.9 GPAs. ECs give admissions offers a way to reduce the stack of 30,000 applications. Also, colleges don't actually want a class full of kids who are glued to their desks. They know the kids who live in the library are not going to be leaders or innovators.

Sure, there are definitely resume-builders out there who just want to be SGA president because it will help with admissions. (I digress, but DH went to Whitman in the 1980s and they had a Young Executives Club where every single member had the title of Vice President. Guess why?) It's the admissions officer's job to distinguish between the resume builders and the kid who is really passionate about issues. College ADs claim they can spot the packaged applicant a mile off, which I kind of doubt, but let's hope they get most of the essays that were written by a consultant, and most of the bogus-looking ECs.

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