Arrests and Suspensions?

Sikorsky
Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:27:23 +0000

I have no clue whether any particular admissions committee will conclude that one marijuana arrest when he was 15 is a serious black mark. Some may, others may not. I doubt anybody can quantify something like that.

But I think you’re seriously overestimating your friend’s chances, apart from his past legal troubles. His GPA and test scores are really good, but they’re not out of sight. And I think you’re inferring a much bigger difference between the pool of admitted applicants at HYP and the pool of applicants who are wait-listed and denied. By and large, the wait-listed applicants are just as good as those who are accepted. It’s not the quality of their credentials that gets them the skinny envelope; it’s the limited number of beds in the freshman dorms. And very, very many unsuccessful applicants are that good, too.

Should your friend apply to Ivies and similarly selective colleges and universities? Sure. He seems qualified. Will he be better than 3/4 of unsuccessful applicants? Probably not. If he’s roughly at the median compared to enrolled freshmen, then he’ll probably be roughly at the median compared to unsuccessful applicants, too.

He may well have, as you say, “a serious shot” at these colleges and universities, but bear in mind that “a serious shot” at Harvard, Yale or Princeton is still < 10%.