| Hahah, as one of those "2390, 4.0 etc" applicant who just recently posted a chance thread, I do have to disagree with the inherent uselessness and mere braggingness of them..or at least I don't think that is the OP's intent when they write them. : )
Everyone KNOWS that the Ivies are hard. Why? Because they DON'T just look at the numbers. They look at the intangible person behind the stats and awards. I think that's why it's useful for the “snotty picture perfect" applicants to have other people who may have more knowledge and experience in this fierce competition comment and suggest improvements in the application or even in the selection of colleges. Of course, there ARE those who know nothing but still choose to reply from the best of their knowledge. But even THESE replies can be helpful. By having peers assess you from what they personally have done and from what they have seen their own peers done, it gives you a wider picture than what you may see from just your own high school and town (at least for me, since I come from Iowa heheh).
PLUS people should know that these high up supposed boasters are human too. Everyone is nervous. And of course we try to apply to places that we think we could spend a good four years. Unfortunately for the overachievers, these places turn out to be the more competitive schools that some people think they are applying to just for the name. And why do the “down to earth and unpretentious” student who apply to the schools of their own caliber with their own set of reaches get chanced with sympathy, and high scorers applying to competitive places with equal uncertainty of acceptance is sometimes viewed as mere braggarts? AH, I know, this comes off as snobby too. But I’m just saying…it’s not really fair, is it? Everyone is in the same boat (and PLEASE I DO NOT want this to come off as elitist, but I fear I am..oii) – there are just different compartments and everyone needs to struggle to survive.
I almost feel as if the students applying to some of the relatively easier schools (although, here on CC, that seems to be quite rare…”easy” here is still in the ranks of difficult in the real world) are the ones wasting people’s time. Those schools have more predictable admissions that are possibly more focused on numbers. Yes, I know, I just mentioned that we were all in the same boat and etc, but still, I feel that when the admittance rate is 70% and you can find the average scores and etc online, you can more often than not judge for yourself if you can get in or not. (spiteful hypocrisy much? Sorry guys..)
I’m sure there ARE people who are just looking for the “accept w/ $, no prob, lol” response, but that certainly doesn’t apply to everyone. Ending this rather over-my-own-head and self-acknowleged hypocritical post, I just wanted to say that it’s unfair that high scorers are too often dismissed as bragging when they too are truly concerned….just like everyone else.
PS I’m not saying EVERYONE dismisses the “ivy chance” threads as ego boosters, and I TRULY do thank the sincere replies…it’s more from reading this thread that I perceive the hostility(?) against number-perfect applicants to be somewhat unwarranted for : ) |