Does this count as being one of the few hundred 'geniuses' that HYP selects?

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
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<p>In an interview with the Dean of Harvard, he mentioned that they often accept 200-300 students based on being really really gifted in terms of academics, then outstanding EC, like sports, music, and then about 600-800 all around great kids.</p>

<p>Does this count as someone being a ‘genius’:
[This is my friend, not me]</p>

<p>Stats: 4.0 UW GPA, Valedictorian of a top private school. And I mean TOP.</p>

<p>In Ninth Grade, he took these classes:
AP Latin
AP BC Calc
English 1 Honors
AP World History
AP Music theory
Bio Honors</p>

<p>In 10th Grade, he took these classes:
Spanish 4 Honors
English 2 Honors
AP USH
AP BIO
Chem Honors
AP Stat</p>

<p>In 11th Grade, he took these classes:
Multivariable Calculus
AP Spanish
AP Chem
Physics Honors
AP Euro
English 3 Honors</p>

<p>In 12th grade, he took these classes:
AP English
AP French (he took French over the summer every year)
AP Art History
AP Physics
AP Comp Science A
AP Macro</p>

<p>I think his worst grade was a 97 weighted, 94 Unweighted in AP Euro.
He got a 2390 on his SATs, a 36 on his ACT, and was a National Merit Scholar, Cum Laude member, National AP Scholar, AMC 10/12 Finalist, and many other awards.
Total of 16 APs, 4 Honors Courses.</p>

<p>Would this be considered ‘genius’?</p>

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<p>really easy way to tell: is he well-rounded or are these incredible stats the only things he’s good for?</p>

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<p>Genius is more like getting a 2400 SAT I in 7th grade, winning Intel, making one or more of the International Academic Olympiads, etc … Believe it or not, by HYP standards, your guy is more of the well-rounded sort, IMHO.</p>

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<p>first of all, the answer is no. have you looked through any of the decisions?</p>

<p>secondly, i’m at a loss as to whether there is really such a need to stress that this is your “friend” when the forum itself is pretty much anonymous</p>

<p>finally, i’m wondering why you are so interested in your friend. you could be using this time more productively</p>

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<p>Most of the people in these decisions take around 3-8 APs. He’s done over 16.</p>

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<p>Well, sure, he’s academically gifted.</p>

<p>But I bet there’s like 500 cases of students like him, that’s the thing.</p>

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<p>Well, I don’t think the number is 500, because fewer than 500 have his SAT score or higher (not superscored). </p>

<p>He is surely in at least the 99.9th percentile in terms of academic ability and achievement, but HYP get other applicants with similar numbers. But they don’t get a ton.</p>

<p>We don’t know whether he’s a genius based on that information. He is very hard-working and intelligent at the least, however.</p>

<p>With some solid ECs, he will have good chances.</p>

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<p>Oh, he helped develop some drug that relieves stress, I forget what it’s called. It was released in Europe.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/2008_AP_Scholar_Counts.xls[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board; </p>

<p>Don’t you already know your friend’s college admission results if your friend has completed senior year?</p>

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<p>He would certainly be considered an “Academic 1”, but I really don’t think Harvard would view him as a “genius kid”.</p>

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<p>hahahahahhahahahahhaha thanks for pointing that out, Tokenadult. I was thinking the same thing. Are you on crack?</p>

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<p>your friend is awesome no doubt about it- a tremendously gifted student. The only way a student could be considered a stronger applicant is to focus 100% (just about) in one academic field- say math for example, and achieve national or international prominence (like IMO) which takes a simply staggering amount of personal effort in addition to that spark of “genius.”</p>

<p>The US college admissions process values academic success only to some extent. Otherwise Princeton for example wouldn’t have 30 or 40% of students as recruited athletes or URMs. A pure play academic process is more in play at the British universities like Oxford and Cambridge, the French grandes ecoles, China: Tsinghua/Peking and India- the IITs. We don’t have much in the way of national admission tests except the SAT I and II, which are less a distinguishing factor in the ivy league because many rejected students have better scores than accepted ones.</p>

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<p>It just says ‘accepted.’ Doesn’t mean 'oh ur accepted cause you’re one of the 300 or so geniuses!"</p>

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<p>If he ALREADY got into a top school, it doesn’t matter whether or not hes a genius. You’ll never know… I’ll tell you this much, though: There is no difference between student X and student Y at Harvard, Princeton, or Yale (URM, Athlete or otherwise).</p>

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<p>There is athlete wise. There’s a kid from my school who does football for Yale, and he got straight B’s and took like Algebra 2 and Latin 1 in 12th grade.</p>

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<p>Honestly, your friend would just be competitive. Have you looked through decision threads? There are tons of kids like him at HYP. And tons that get rejected. And he hasn’t done anything particularly astounding. AMC is top 5%, which while cool, is not rare.</p>

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<p>Well he has like a 3.97 at Harvard now, so…</p>

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<p>Hahaha, that’s awesome! Still though, I don’t think it makes him a “genius,” but that’s maybe why you put the term in quotations.</p>

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<p>Oh well. He’s clearly above average in comparison to other HYPers.</p>

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<p>Just curious: what’s he majoring in?</p>