average jewish kid's chance?

pyroclastic
Sat, 10 Dec 2005 20:06:23 +0000

I hate to seem as vicious as some of the people on the board, but the fact is you really don’t have much of a shot at any of these. Yes, numbers aren’t everything. But they certainly do matter. People that get in without good numbers have something else going for them - a unique ability, winning essays, surmounted hardships. “Average jewish kids” (shalom) tend not to have any of that. The chess thing is interesting, but by itself it won’t balance out a weak record. Are we talking merely a good player or something like IM level? I could maybe see one of the best players in the country getting in somewhere, but a run of the mill 1800 player, probably not.