Reply to I hate the mentality that college admissions is creating

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That is just such a sad commentary.  One B in high school means you are shut out of T20?  No matter what else they do or don't do?  No matter what scores they put up?  What they've done in their lives?  I'm really sorry for the kids going through this.  My kids, not that long ago at all, took challenging courses and got more than a few Bs, but they learned, scored well on tests, did lots outside of the classroom and all ended up at high end T20s.  No wonder schools can't choose among applicants if so many have A+ averages.  And, pity the kids who feel that getting one B is ruinous to their chances.  We really have to do better than this as a society. [/quote]

Unfortunately, when the T20 schools are rejecting 95%+ of their applicants, and 95% of those rejected have an amazing resume (with almost all A's and maybe one or two A- and 10-12+ AP courses), it does mean a B or 2 most likely ruins your chances for admission.  There are simply too many kids with an UW 4.0 or only 1 or 2 A- on their transcript.

My 1500/3.95 (at graduation) kid had 9APs (all STEM and AP Psych, no APHistory or English or FL).  They were deferred ED1 at a T10.

They had 1 A- first semester of HS for honors history (taught by the AP team leader who essentially taught it as rigorous as APUSH).  The only other blemish on their transcript was a B- first semester senior year for Calc BC (great teacher, really pushes the kids, and this ultimately turned into an A- when my kid got a 5---100% of the kids get 4 or 5s, with 95%+ being 5s).  This is at a school known for only deferring a small percentage and then often taking a significant percentage of them in RD. My kid was rejected in RD.  Don't know for sure, but as an engineering major, that B- in Calc BC certainly did not help them get accepted.  Now it could just be the lack of AP ENG/AP history, but given that they don't defer many and then accept a decent amount, it's just as likely the "bad grade" cost my kid admissions.

I'm actually happy it happened, because my kid is at a non-pressure cooker school (T40s) that is actually a better fit for them.  I love their ED1 school, I went there and loved it.  But nowadays the top schools are largely pressure cookers.  And that can't be healthy for many students.  
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