| geomom, my thoughts exactly. After admissions decisions came out my son's year, I posted a thread asking if students thought that the elite schools had made the correct decisions. In other words, were the adcoms able to see through the data and eliminate mere posers, resume padders, the kids who supposedly do it all but nothing very well, those who look great on paper but can't carry on a conversation to save their life, etc. Because I think the kids can see clearly who really are the truly engaged students, the real leaders, and the future movers and shakers. Also, sometimes the "top" students that high school teachers love are those who play it safe, follow the rules, and look for that formula for success. Not always, of course, but sometimes. So, recommendations can be deceiving too, especially in a large high school. Bottom line, are the markers the elite schools are looking for in high schools accurate predictors of success at college and beyond?
S's friend is very bright and from an academic standpoint deserves to be at Princeton. The kid admitted to only having two main EC's (one varsity sport, and one fun club) It's possible there was something we didn't know about, but if there was, it was not school-related. My guess is it could have been a summer job or research activity? However, the boy commented several times to my S that he could never do everything my S did and still get good grades, so his perception was that S was a superior student for that reason. Anecdotes are suspect because we don't have all the facts. But I still hold that the kids themselves know what's what. That's one reason I really like Dartmouth's peer recommendation requirement. |