Reply to is THIS really what it takes for non-hooked kids to get into HYPS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]    I don't quite get this thread.  H/Y/P/S take a substantial number of kids who are ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in their high school class (go down a few more slots in a very large public school or prestigious private or where the kids are closely cropped together at the top) based on rigorous course loads and generally very high standardized tests.  If you start there, then add one or two meaningful EC's, write a great essay, and get great recommendations, that's about all you can do -- and at that point if it works or not is out of the kid's hands.

If a kid doesn't start with those academics, then I would argue almost be definition there must be a "hook" involved to get accepted -- and this thread is supposed to be about "unhooked" kids. . [/quote]

The issue is that these days, there is very little differentiation in grades and SATs among the top 20 percent or so of the top schools, so there is no more 'class rank' or functionally there are about, say, 50-80 kids from top DMV public health schools who look virtually the same.  And the top colleges are now filling up to around 15% of their class with international students, which is a big change & increase - which is taking a significant numbers of slots that used to be comprised of another layer of these types of kids.  Honestly, it's probably more fair, where having gone to one of these schools 'back in the day', the top 20 percent of the kids could have probably done just fine at any university (including the Ivy I went to).  So now the 'game' is to do something else that makes you 'stand out' differently than those other kids.  Legacy connections or URM can be one of those factors -- a hook.   Then things that are more 'achieved' - like a star athlete etc. (most parents have completely deluded thoughts & opinions about how the sports 'recruitment' or factors weigh in except for the most serious super stars).  So 'kids these days' have to find that 'pointy' thing - or they will also do fine ending up at slightly less prestigious colleges.[/quote]

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