<p>Harvard doesn’t need to groom students to become Rhodes scholars. It plucks a small number of HS seniors every year for its Freshman class out of a huge pool of applicants, some of whom could/might/are likely to become Rhodes contenders. Some will become Marshall/Fulbrights. Some will win nothing at Harvard, but will attend Yale Law school, make law review, become a federal clerk, then do an appellate clerkship for a “feeder” judge, and end up clerking for the Supreme Court. Some will go to Teach For America; some will join the Peace Corps, some will get a job at Goldman Sachs or DE Shaw or Google.</p>
<p>At the high end there is no invasion of privacy- every college tracks where there students go after graduation (even yours, Quant Mech). At the low end, every college tracks its drop outs… how many ran out of money, how many had a 1.8 GPA and had to withdraw, how many took a medical leave and never made it back.</p>
<p>Exactly what privacy issues are you concerned with here?</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, PG #1449, my spouse and I exchanged SAT scores. Luckily our totals on the SAT and GRE combined fell within 20 points of each other, so it was smooth sailing from there on out. </p>
<p>I looked back at one of your earlier statements, blossom,</p>
<p>“Kids don’t just get randomly ‘plucked’ to become Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright scholars- universities invest time and money (they pay professionals) to guide their top students through the selection process,”</p>
<p>I realize now that the guidance might be limited to the time-frame of the selection process. This could well be true at Harvard–they can just look at the seniors and decide where to invest efforts. There are some other schools that do try to “groom” students for those scholarships, starting when the students are in the first year. </p>
<p>6 posts in a row. That is an example of perseveration, per blossom’s comment. And the overanalyzing each post, going back to posts 100 posts ago. Its not longer a conversation. Its a funny blend of a monologue/soliloquy and a bit of a diatribe.</p>
<p>Write one post- not a million. Have you posted in any other threads or are just stuck on this one? You last posted, with 2 posts, about an hour ago. Now 7 more. It feels obsessive.</p>
<ol>
<li> Blossom said it, QM, not me</li>
<li> Admissions is NOT looking for future Rhodes, Fulbright or whatever. Come on, go re-read that post.</li>
<li>If your app reflects your fit, you are way better off than some kid who sleepwalks through his app, thinking it’s another hs task and thinking his stats will get him in anyway.
Now going back to read more of what I missed.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, while QM eats her hat, let me say something, from my perspective:
*A kid claiming a college to be FIT is totally irrelevant to colleges when their admit rates start dropping below 30% *</p>
<p>Show, not tell.<br>
No one wants to hear a 17 y.o. tell you (claim) he thinks he’s perfect for the school. It’s empty, immature, presumptuous. Otoh, if you are savvy enough, you can show you share the attributes they seek and admire. That’s not some ‘oopid’ list or making a bfd out of your being president of the pie club. It’s in the perspective you show in your writing, the attributes that come through, the energies you did devote and why. It means hitting the mark- and again, you can’t hit the mark unless you know what it is. And knowing doesn’t come from round-and-round threads where everyone gets a say, not from the HS forums. It comes from researching the correct sources, what the colleges themselves say, in many forms, in print.</p>
<p>And it means being able to read in between the lines, to glean a sense of what the college is, what it stands for, what it particularly values, by how it presents itself in marketing materials, by how the campus feels, by the types of activities they call out.</p>
<p>There are characteristics of certain colleges that are apparent to people who are familiar with them. With my twins, one of their schools could be characterized as “earnest, work-hard-but-make-sure-to-play-hard too.” That’s supported by what the website portrays, it’s supported by the mailings that go out to parents, the things that are emphasized. The other school could be characterized as “we are an elite bubble and we know it, and we take ourselves very seriously.” </p>
<p>QM and others, I’m betting you’ve never seen a communications / advertising brief – which involves some pretty high level conceptual thinking about what you’re trying to communjicate, to whom, with what tonality and what messages. I am sure most elite universities have some marketing officer whose job it is to ensure all the major communications flow with a certain tone - which reflects whatever that university stands for. In fact, my company has an elite u as a client (though at their grad school level, not undergrad). These are concepts that I think some of us are very familiar with and come to us fairly naturally and intuitively – just as science and physics and so forth come very naturally to some of you. I daresay that just as some of us are less naturally skilled in science (c’est moi!), some of you are less naturally skilled in the ability to read an audience /campus and suss out their values, their mission, their tonality, their desired image, and what kinds of students might or might not fit there - and then what one would want to emphasize about oneself to highlight the areas of fit. </p>
<p>My D’s college is welcoming the class of 2018 with this on their website:</p>
<p>"But we are more than our demographic data! Members of XXXX Class of 2018 include:
A professional film actress who has appeared in several independent films
A certified tax assistant who helps low-income families file their taxes
A student researcher at a food science sensory lab
A Lincoln-Douglas-debate-style state champion who also trains fox-hunting ponies and works at a hot dog stand
A junior firefighter
The founder of a chain of frozen yogurt shops
A National Cheerleaders Association All-American
A translator for Project Gutenberg who translates foreign books with open copyrights into Chinese
A tour guide at a Himalayan art museum in New York City
Co-concertmaster of a regional Youth Symphony
An apprentice baker
A coach of a soccer team for mentally challenged adults
A National Championship-winning synchronized skater
A Model U.N. participant
An activist with SPARK, a movement to demand an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media
A member of the National History Day Team, and of her town’s historical society board of trustees
A canvass campaign leader in the last presidential election
A singer and service award winner in a selective women’s choral ensemble"</p>
<p>The blunt, literal reaction is … oh wow, this school really values trainers of fox-hunting ponies, firefighters, cheerleaders, apprentice bakers, and synchronized skaters I wonder if firefighting adds the equivalent of 50 points or 100 points to an SAT score? In any case, I’ll tell my kid to pursue one of things.</p>
<p>The conceptual, intuitive reaction is … this school really values people who do something that is unexpected and unique – not weird for the sake of weird, but something that sounds like it would be fascinating to learn about. </p>
<p>There’s too many of the former gaming and not enough of the latter on this thread. </p>
<p>(Disclaimer: My D was on a similar list when she first started – but I don’t think it was on the website, it was just on a welcome letter to new students)</p>
<p>I’d also note that the majority of these things listed above demonstrate LEADERSHIP - but none of them are predicated upon “was elected by classmates to be president of the XYZ club.” That’s another area where people go way, way too literal. </p>
<p>…kids who are empowered and go forth. It’s a beautiful thing to find. These sorts don’t worry that the app essay is conformist, they dig in to the challenge. They don;t get their panties twisted that their individual thinking styles will be stymied. They work on expressing themselves. They have vision, energy and perspective and more-- and grounding, appreciations for simple things, as well. Have faith in these kids, folks. </p>
<p>These things are also very consistent with a wide variety of introversion / extroversion styles and approaches.</p>
<p>Which is why it is so, so frustrating when some of you start up with your inevitable “well, what about the kid who is shy.” Or “what about the kid who isn’t the life of the party.” Well, what about him or her? </p>
<p>I totally disagree. Most of those things would be as natural a fit for an introvert as they would for an extrovert, if not moreso. Most people think that things involving a performance, talking (such as debate or public speaking), or being the center of attention favor the extrovert, but I disagree. </p>
<p>Sorry, lookingforward, you are totally right about post #1397. I thought it segued from your immediately previous post, and did not notice that the person posting it was blossom, and not you. My apologies. I think I misled PG also.</p>
<p>I wonder what Wellesley adcoms would think of an applicant who manages to revive and breed a flock of mutant 15 foot tall Dodo birds or T Rexes who have been trained to ballroom dance or who can vocally perform at the Met Opera or at least…TV’s “America’s Got Talent”. </p>
<p>For the T Rexes, a certain dopey voiced purple compatriot can serve as their idolized role model. :D</p>
</p>