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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If they're a URM, they're a shoo-in, even without great grades.[/quote]

This is wrong.

Harvard admitted 2,056 applicants this year - of those admitted, 14.6 percent were African-American. That's 300 students. 300 African-Americans in the entire US of A were admitted by Harvard last year.

How many of them were recruited athletes? According to the NY Times, HYP admit about 200 recruited athletes over 35 sports each year. Let's guess that 20 percent of those athletes are African-American - that's 40 students. So now we're down to 260 African-American students who were admitted to Harvard last year. How many of them are legacy kids? The Crimson reported that 30 percent of the Class of 2021 were legacy students. If the African-American legacy enrollment rate is even only half that of the entire Class, that would be another 39 kids.

At that point, you're looking at 221 African-Americans admitted who are neither athletes nor legacy. Hardly a shoo-in.

What I have seen, as others have mentioned, is that to get into HYP you have to have impeccable credentials, and then something extra. For African-Americans, that something extra is their URM status - [b]but only if they're in that 4.0, 1550, strong extracurricular category.[/b] For others, that something extra might be a national award, or whatever. And if you have the impeccable everything, but not the something extra, then you end up at Duke or Brown or Penn.

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There might not be 300 URM kids in the US that have those stats.  Only a couple of hundred AA kids each year score above 750 on either section, you would need both above that.  I looked at ACT scores for AA kids a few years back and there were 31 AA kids who scored 35 and above on the ACT.  Good but not great credentials will get an AA kid into an Ivy League school.  [/quote]

There are also many white kids that get into HYP with scores of 32-33.  The only population that would be majority 35 and above is Asian. [/quote]

From Naviance data I can tell you that this is not remotely true. [b]Without a 34+ you don't have a prayer.[/b] [/quote]

I can't stand it when people spew misinformation. From our school's Naviance it tells you the low average and high  ACT score for students admitted across the country.  Here is the breakdown of the average score:

[b]ACT scores national average (according to Naviance):[/b]

Harvard - 33
Yale - 33
Princeton - 33
Stanford - 32
Brown - 31

Naviance also gives you the low, average and high scores across the middle 50%. You don't have to pay attention to the BS people say on here. If your kid has scores in the middle 50% and has a distinct passion and something to say, they should apply.
[/quote]

Our school, comprised of mostly highly educated families, also showed on Naviance that you need at least a 1500+ on the SAT to be admitted to the types of schools listed above. When we would point out an exception, the counselor would make it clear that was a special case, and not one that applied to our exceptional but not exceptional DS. Brown, for instance, shows on their website that they only admit 7% of applicants with less than a 33 ACT.  So sure, apply with your 31 ACT to Brown, but realize you are likely wasting your time and far more likely to go to Bard than Brown. (The exception would be if you are in a school where a 31 is the highest score around -- most likely a school with a less affluent population, and yay for those kids).  Time is short senior year, and it is better to have a realistic idea of what is possible and not spend too much time chasing the very unlikely.

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