Anonymous wrote:Were there any issues in the classroom? I know all schools are different but 1590 isn't commensurate with "top 20%".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every Ivy and T20 is a reach no matter the scores. Princeton comes right out and says they turn away hundreds of people with perfect SATs.

I think you mean Stanford. They pride themselves on rejecting perfect SATs but I think they are yielding-protecting. Most 1600 kids who apply to Stanford will get into MiT or Harvard (or both… I personally know 3 kids who got into both schools.)

Anonymous wrote:Every Ivy and T20 is a reach no matter the scores. Princeton comes right out and says they turn away hundreds of people with perfect SATs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The strategy in some of these older posts that I found today really makes sense to me in light of a few recent college admissions podcasts that I’ve been listening to. It’s about starting with the major at the front end rather than thinking about the major in October at the backend?

What other resources do people recommend? What other forums for this type of discussion?

I think that it’s an enormous mistake for kids to try to window dress themselves like this, unless they instinctively have an urge to window dress themselves.

If they start reading College Confidential when they’re 12, know everything about the admissions process and build an artificial narrative: Great.

If the parent even suggests that the kid look into doing this: Bad.

Kids should work hard, try to get good grades, try to be decent human beings, and force themselves away from Netflix and video games during some of their waking hours out of school.

But, other than that, they should just try to do what interests them, because it interests them, not to please admissions officers.

Then they should apply to a wide range of schools that sound good and see what happens.

Students like that can obviously try applying to a few T20 schools and a few T21-50 schools along with the state flagship, an out-of state flagship that’s not very selective (such as: the University of Kansas or the University of Iowa), and one state school that has some merit aid and takes all applicants with a pulse.

But great students should focus on finding the many schools that will love them instead of twisting themselves into pretzels to please T20 admissions committees.

First, because that’s psychologically healthy. Second, because having some integrity will probably make the students more appealing even to Harvard and Yale.

Anonymous wrote:

The strategy in some of these older posts that I found today really makes sense to me in light of a few recent college admissions podcasts that I’ve been listening to. It’s about starting with the major at the front end rather than thinking about the major in October at the backend?

What other resources do people recommend? What other forums for this type of discussion?

Anonymous wrote:Ivy+

Ignore everyone that says that SAT scores stop mattering after some ridiculously low threshold. People tell themselves what they need to tell themselves to convince themselves that they didn't get into school X because of random number generator.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-55119-0

Ignore the controversial topic of the paper generally and see how different SAT scores affected admissions at highly selective schools. A 1590 had about 400% the amount rate of a 1500.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:retake and get the 800 on the section your child screwed up on.

NO!!!
Horrible advice. Perfectionist behavior (and if Asian) is a red flag.

Anonymous wrote:Any mid size university or LAC with an acceptance rate under 25% would be a reach.

Anonymous wrote:retake and get the 800 on the section your child screwed up on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From a med Anthro perspective, talking about measles in refugee and immigrant populations is very of the moment.

If into enviro science though, I’d go the community gardens, medicinal plants and natural wilderness medicine route. Great easy & natural way to combine the two disparate interests into a compelling and memorable story.
Make sure kid took Enviro Sci and see if kid can take Anthro next year or this summer? Think Brown & Penn offer it.

OP here. "combine the two disparate interests into a compelling and memorable story". I didn't get it. How would you combine them easily? Could you elaborate a little bit more?

Enviro science and medicine intersect in a lot of ways. You would create a story/narrative/admissions hook/whatever you want to call it based around the intersection of the two as part of the kid's story (assuming this is his interest bc he co-founded the enviro club??)

How? Our environment directly impacts our health, and understanding these connections can help show a holistic approach to healthcare.

How to combine these 2 interests in a college application:

ACTIVITIES
- Study medicinal plants: Document local plants with medicinal properties, research their traditional uses, and connect this to modern pharmacology. This combines botany (environmental science) with medical applications.
- Community garden health initiatives: Help establish or work with gardens that grow nutritious food for underserved communities, connecting environmental sustainability with nutritional health and food-as-medicine concepts.
- Wilderness medicine: Take wilderness first aid courses and volunteer with outdoor organizations. This combines environmental knowledge with practical medical skills.
- Environmental health research: Study how environmental factors (air/water quality, climate change) affect human health in your community. Collect data, interview residents, and propose solutions.
- Conservation medicine: Focus on the intersection of ecosystem health and human health - for example, how habitat destruction leads to disease emergence.
[NOTE: google these for summer programs and other local ideas - in my community there's a BUNCH of stuff to volunteer for like this. Also EMTs and outdoor wilderness medicine courses this summer]

TRANSCRIPT
Taking Environmental Science is excellent groundwork
An Anthropology course (especially medical anthropology) would strengthen this narrative - I think Brown and Penn both offer summer anthropology programs for high schoolers.

ESSAYS
Might cover an EC experience or something learned in the class?

HOW OR WHY DOES THIS WORK?
It may not, but if its authentic (and your kid wants to do it and has passion for it) it can show the AdCom that the your kid doesn't just want to be a doctor, but someone who understands health through multiple lenses. This is a kid who can think critically about emerging challenges at the intersection of environment and medicine. Certain colleges (looking at you Northwestern and Brown) love kids who combine two totally different fields together.