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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Re: Random

I think that the admissions process is random in the sense of statistics, where different cases have different probabilistic outcomes, rather than random in the sense that there is no process at all. Clearly there are important things to do to be in the range to be considered at highly selective schools (strong academics, other interest areas, etc.) but there are also factors at play that aren't under the control of anyone. The first big one is who else is applying? Perhaps one year, there is only one award winning French Horn player applying and they stand out to the admissions committee, but in a different year there are 100, so no one stands out. The second big factor is the order the admissions committee fills their spaces. Some students may be clear admits for various reasons, but then others are chosen to "round out" the class. I found it interesting that an MIT admissions officer [b]said that they had admitted a fantastic class, but that they could set aside all of those students and admit a completely different, but equally fantastic class.[/b]

When you can take a given set of candidates and run it through the admissions process 1000 times and come up with different answers every time (although individual students have different probabilities from 0%-100% admission), I'd call that random.[/quote]

Exactly. This is what I was trying to articulate; thank you![/quote]

This.  Someone with experience, thank you! It certainly is random.  Meanwhile so many families are scrambling to sign up for water polo.  Guess what?  The top schools are not recruiting for that. [/quote]

Unfortunately it seems like you have a reading comprehension problem confounded by a lack of understanding about the concept of random.  The admissions officer example above is NOT random.  What the admissions officer is saying is that there are so many well-qualified applicants that they could choose any of them and have a fantastic class.  Even the fact that there is an application process nulls the argument that it is a random process.  You should go ask your parents about this because hopefully they can help you with the concept of random and not random.  I don't know what grade you are in but hopefully as you mature and take more difficult classes (hint:  statistics would be good) then you will develop stronger logic skills.[/quote]

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