College Discussion - View Single Post - What's going on with the College Admission this year?

FirstWonder · 04-29-2008, 07:50 PM

After lurking in CC for awhile, now our S has decided on a college today, I'd like to share our experience...

Our S was lucky to be accepted in most schools that he applied to. I would say that his stat is not stellar, compared to what I've seen posted on CC. He did not have any math, science, or music awards! I would say that he is very much a normal kid: love playing video games, going to movies, goofing off with friends...All the things that a teenager normally does...

I think what may set his application apart is how normal he came across. He talked about playing ice hockey since 7 in one of his essays. He did not have many EC but the ones he listed showed long term commitment. For EC, he mentioned being an Eagle scout and worked as a photograher for his school's paper. He took as many AP classes as his school allowed. Scored well on some and lousy on other (3 for Chem and Computer Science...). He was not ranked first in his class, in terms of GPA. By the way, our S is half Asian, half Caucasian.

He is truly humbled by the schools that he was accepted to. After agonizing over Stanford and Princeton, he decided on Princeton today. I honestly do not know what colleges are looking for when they review thousands of great applications; but I cannot imagine they would want all perfectly scored SAT kids, or all math genius or muscial prodigy of some sort... Somehow, in a sea of many applicants that have much more stellar qualification, his application shined thru. After seeing many kids with such great stat posted here, I did not dream that he would be accepted at places such as Princeton. In the end, I think it is important to come across as honest and authentic.

I'm relieved that the application process was over. Now, I have four more years before it is our D's turn!

04-29-2008, 07:50 PM	#167
FirstWonder New Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Threads: 0 Posts: 4	Our S's college application experience... After lurking in CC for awhile, now our S has decided on a college today, I'd like to share our experience... Our S was lucky to be accepted in most schools that he applied to. I would say that his stat is not stellar, compared to what I've seen posted on CC. He did not have any math, science, or music awards! I would say that he is very much a normal kid: love playing video games, going to movies, goofing off with friends...All the things that a teenager normally does... I think what may set his application apart is how normal he came across. He talked about playing ice hockey since 7 in one of his essays. He did not have many EC but the ones he listed showed long term commitment. For EC, he mentioned being an Eagle scout and worked as a photograher for his school's paper. He took as many AP classes as his school allowed. Scored well on some and lousy on other (3 for Chem and Computer Science...). He was not ranked first in his class, in terms of GPA. By the way, our S is half Asian, half Caucasian. He is truly humbled by the schools that he was accepted to. After agonizing over Stanford and Princeton, he decided on Princeton today. I honestly do not know what colleges are looking for when they review thousands of great applications; but I cannot imagine they would want all perfectly scored SAT kids, or all math genius or muscial prodigy of some sort... Somehow, in a sea of many applicants that have much more stellar qualification, his application shined thru. After seeing many kids with such great stat posted here, I did not dream that he would be accepted at places such as Princeton. In the end, I think it is important to come across as honest and authentic. I'm relieved that the application process was over. Now, I have four more years before it is our D's turn!