Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indulge me in your admission trend predictions for the next 5 years or so. Will we ever see the well-rounded kid make a comeback over the “spiky” kid? I know that people, including AOs, have come around to how manufactured these spiky narratives can be, and yet, it still seems to be the best way to gain admission. Why does this persist and will we ever see the end of it? Or has the common app put an end to giving an edge to the well rounded applicant forever?

I am hoping they will eliminate or at least reduce institutional priorities.
MC kids constitute the vast majority of the applicants, but only getting the smallest number of acceptances. If this does not change, spiky or well roundedness doesn't matter because it's still MC kids fighting for that very small number of seats.

Unintentionally funniest post of the day lol

Anonymous wrote:Indulge me in your admission trend predictions for the next 5 years or so. Will we ever see the well-rounded kid make a comeback over the “spiky” kid? I know that people, including AOs, have come around to how manufactured these spiky narratives can be, and yet, it still seems to be the best way to gain admission. Why does this persist and will we ever see the end of it? Or has the common app put an end to giving an edge to the well rounded applicant forever?

I am hoping they will eliminate or at least reduce institutional priorities.
MC kids constitute the vast majority of the applicants, but only getting the smallest number of acceptances. If this does not change, spiky or well roundedness doesn't matter because it's still MC kids fighting for that very small number of seats.

Anonymous wrote:Well roundness is such as BS fabricated by mediocre people. This lie had its days but it’s over, forever:

Cite pleased for this bizarre angry drivel

Legacies and kids with the prospect of bringing money to the school down the road will be trends, even more so than usual.

Ivy+ and Top 10 SLACs may not need full pay for admission but will emphasize a return on their investment.

Well roundness is such as BS fabricated by mediocre people. This lie had its days but it’s over, forever:

I would like to think they will get smarter about weeding out all of the bogus, manufactured spikes. But as the number of applications continues to grow, admissions officers will have less and less time to actually think about the applications they are reading so it will become harder for them to pick them out.

As a well-rounded Ivy grad married to a well-rounded Ivy grad and the parent of a very well-rounded, non-spiky kid who has Ivy caliber grades and lots of great, diverse XCs that are more interesting than some spiky kid who can only talk about one thing, I am really hoping for the end of the spike trend.

There will definitely be a move back to valuing test scores. It also seems like there is more interest in glue kids as many schools are adding supplementals designed to see how kids handle conflicting opinions and building commminity.

I am seeing schools in favor of high test scores again. Spiky without a good test score will not make it in the next few years. A very high score without a spike would probably make it more often than not.

Yes and no: Spikey is here to stay but alongside additional models of achievement -- well-rounded among them.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think spiky kids would fall out of favor in the next five years like non-profits did a while back. As PP said, well-rounded kids are a dime a dozen, and AOs need reasons to differentiate them, however manufactured the spikiness seem to be. I also think research experience, be it pay-to-play or fake ones, will continue to be viewed favorably because AOs can be easily fooled (heck, even professors who don't work in the same research area can be easily fooled). Essays are one component that might be deemphasized in the next few years due to the omnipresence of ChatGPT.

And the omnipresence of professional essay writers.

I don't think spiky kids would fall out of favor in the next five years like non-profits did a while back. As PP said, well-rounded kids are a dime a dozen, and AOs need reasons to differentiate them, however manufactured the spikiness seem to be. I also think research experience, be it pay-to-play or fake ones, will continue to be viewed favorably because AOs can be easily fooled (heck, even professors who don't work in the same research area can be easily fooled). Essays are one component that might be deemphasized in the next few years due to the omnipresence of ChatGPT.

I know so many well-rounded kids admitted to top schools. I don’t know any spiky kids…at all. I’m not saying they aren’t out there or that they don’t do well in admissions, but the idea that they’re all colleges want is crazy. Schools want a balanced class that meets lots of institutional priorities.

The well-rounded kid is such a middle-class invention. Colleges want wealthy, highly-successful kids and alumni.

There are way too many well rounded kids. They have to rely on something to make a selection.

Indulge me in your admission trend predictions for the next 5 years or so. Will we ever see the well-rounded kid make a comeback over the “spiky” kid? I know that people, including AOs, have come around to how manufactured these spiky narratives can be, and yet, it still seems to be the best way to gain admission. Why does this persist and will we ever see the end of it? Or has the common app put an end to giving an edge to the well rounded applicant forever?