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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It always seems like these kinds of threads are driven by people who think their very bright, hard-working, high stats kids deserve a spot at top schools and are upset when kids with lower stats get accepted instead. The thing is, [b]most of these high stats kids have absolutely nothing exceptional about their applications.[/b]  They may be accomplished in several areas, but they typically have the same ECs, interests, and achievements as scores of other high stats kids at their schools or communities and as tens of thousands of similar kids around they country.  While the bulk of top schools are, in fact, made up of students like this, that doesn’t mean any one kid of this sort is likely to get the nod as they are typically fairly indistinguishable from the similar kids in this enormous category of students all applying to the same schools. I’m not in any way criticizing these kids, my eldest was one with perfect scores and grades and good ECs.

If your student is as talented academically [b]as my younger one is at sports[/b], and has put the same level of time into the pursuit of excellence, your student will stand out above the crowd and be sought after by top schools on the basis of academics alone. My kid’s freshman roommate was one such highly accomplished genius, and through him he’s met others. The good things that can happen when the genius network and sports networks connect is a topic for another post, but it has helped me understand why top schools seek out kids with very high achievements in a variety of areas, including non academic ones. Another thing you see if you’ve actually gone through this process is that the average excellent high stats kids do well wherever they go, and can easily have college experiences that equal or exceed those of their peers who made it into the more coveted schools. [/quote]

It seems you are mistaken about the underlying premise of this thread. Many PPs are saying that getting into college should be really about academics, which of all things you seem to snidely dismiss. No need to be rude about other kids with good scores.

And on the flip side, college admissions should not be about something randoms like sports, which has NOTHING to do with academics. Imagine if colleges gave a massive preference to Pokemon card collectors. You'd be screaming about arbitrary the process is.

It's great your kid knows how to throw a ball, so send him to a football recruiting camp instead of college. [b]But don't steal a college spot from an academically gifted kid.[/b][/quote]

And this is where the fallacy lies.  No one is "stealing" a spot from anyone, because (1) no one is entitled to any spot and (2) admissions decisions aren't made on the basis of one-to-one comparisons.  No college is going to say "we can take either this athlete or this top student -- which is it going to be?"  [/quote]

You're kidding yourself, because that's exactly how it works. A college has X spots and that's it. There is obviously a trade-off between one more sports jock vs. one more academically gifted kid, even if the admissions office makes it sound all nice and individualized.[/quote]

This is simply not true.  Top colleges with[b] major athletic programs set aside a certain number of spots for each of their sports teams[/b], and aspirants for those teams compete against each other for spots -- [b]and[/b] also must have a certain minimum academic profile to get in.

Your "more academically gifted kid" -- who, by the way, may not actually be "more academically gifted" than a kid competing for a spot on an athletic team -- is considered in the general applicant pool.  They're not being pitted against each other or compared to each other. [/quote]

Your response makes no sense and is contradictory in of itself. Those set-asides you mention for the sports teams are seats that could have gone to academically stronger students.

I gather you got into college on a football scholarship?[/quote]

Ha ha, hardly.  I'm a total dork who couldn't throw or catch a ball to save my life, and neither can any of my kids.  And I'm not contradicting myself at all.  The point isn't that the set-asides "could have" gone to academically stronger students -- it's that there are separate pools.  No kid -- not yours, and not an athlete -- is guaranteed a spot at any top school.[/quote]

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