Letsrun, Rank these students in terms of Chance of Admission at elite schools

The strikes against the first are not sticking consistently with a sport, not showing leadership, and not excelling in two distinct activities.

The strike against the second is the second subject test and the lower SAT, but they will like the consistency and leadership in the sports and the music, if excellent. The third is not a National Merit Scholar, has a low second subject test and no important leadership. The SAT's will also need to be higher for the math/engineering track at some schools, such as UC Berkeley (many don't admit by major). What are the times they've run?

Student C is a sprinter/feild event guy, has thrown 36 in the shot. Student A ran an 18:00 5k as a sophomore, hasn't improved or come close to that. Student B is just barely sub 17:00 in cross country.

Student A will get into a great state school at the very least. If a minority he will get into the ivy of his choosing.

Student B is in the same boat as student A but the SAT is a bit low. If 5K < 15:30 then has a shot at a D1 school or good D3 school.

Student C is slightly better than student B but not by much.

If these are their best accomplishments and they are white, they pretty much can safely shoot for a top state school or try for one of the lesser ivies (e.g. Dartmouth, Cornell). If they are a minority then they can just walk into Harvard or whatever school they want.

None of these students have the pop factor. It's not about being consistent or well rounded - it's about being awesome at what you do so your contribution to campus culture is meaningful.

That means being the best at something, not mediocre or somewhat competent at everything.

MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc. could fill their rosters with 2400/4.0 students every year but they don't - they look for the pop factor because that's a better predictor of what they're ultimately looking for.

a > b > c

none get in an ivy

A little pruning to show what matters:

Student A:

-4.0 GPA, 8 AP Classes

-majoring in math/engineering

- 750+ on 2 subject tests

- 2340 SAT

Student B:

-4.0 GPA, 8 AP Classes

-majoring in pre-med/biology

-740, 650 on subject tests

-2180 SAT

-Cross country captain

-National Merit Scholar

Student C:

3.92 GPA, 10 AP Classes,

-majoring in math/engineering

-2260 SAT

-730, 630 subject tests

So A > B and C equal. None have anything special so none have better than a 10% chance of an Ivy like school.

Where did you guy go that getting a 4.0 in high school is common? I was lazy in high school but I went to a public gifted magnet, got a 3.1 WEIGHTED and was in the top 25% of the class. Do they just throw around As in most high schools? People actually failed classes in my high school

grade inflation wrote:

Do they just throw around As in most high schools?

Nowadays, yes.

My sister graduated with a 4.0 and was sole val; I only had a 3.9 and ditto. (About 400 in the graduating classes.) But this was BITD, and even then I knew a couple kids from a public HS that had eight valedictorians.

Now? Teachers and especially admin just don't want the hassle, and it's terribly important to pass (virtually) everybody. At a good number of schools teachers *will* get fired for giving failing grades.

Ivyguy wrote:

grade inflation wrote:

Do they just throw around As in most high schools?

Nowadays, yes.

My sister graduated with a 4.0 and was sole val; I only had a 3.9 and ditto. (About 400 in the graduating classes.) But this was BITD, and even then I knew a couple kids from a public HS that had eight valedictorians.

Now? Teachers and especially admin just don't want the hassle, and it's terribly important to pass (virtually) everybody. At a good number of schools teachers *will* get fired for giving failing grades.

I only graduated high school six years ago. Passing everyone was not a priority at all. It was about challenging us so we'd succeed in college. I got a 3.1 in high school and a 3.81 in college, so presumably it worked.