<p>NSM, the “Chances” forum is the first that I gave up upon, long ago…and I think the rocks were still warm. It was the dumbest forum even then.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, I think we can help high school students who post the naive questions.</p>
<p>Another great one… <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=252205[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=252205</a></p>
<ul>
<li> Questions which could be answered with a simple Google search.</li>
<li> Questions which have no answer.</li>
<li> Questions which have been discussed on the board already.</li>
</ul>
<p>What about the dumbest answers?</p>
<ul>
<li> Generalizing from limited experience.</li>
<li> Quoting hearsay.</li>
<li> Speculation.</li>
</ul>
<p>Another dumb question:
Which colleges have free applications?</p>
<p>I continue to be floored by that question because it is so idiotic to structure one’s college app list on what schools allow one to apply for free. </p>
<p>I can understand it if the question comes from students who are very poor, first gen college, and have no idea how the college application process works.</p>
<p>I don’t understand it, however, when the questions appear to come from students who don’t qualify for fee waivers, yet feel the need to pinch pennies, but somehow think that finding colleges with free applications will solve their fianncial problems.</p>
<p>If a student can’t afford the application fee, how do they think they’ll afford the $20,000-$44,000 cost of going to college? Finding free aplications won’t cut it.</p>
<p>I also am very irritated by many of the questions that are posted on the Harvard board.</p>
<p>This includes questions about interviews. Questions about chances. Questions about what ECs they should pursue to impress Harvard.</p>
<p>Seems to me that anyone who is smart enough to be applying to Harvard could be smart enough to look into the CC archives for the answers to basic questions about interviews, which have been answered in depth many times. </p>
<p>As for chances, anyone who would base whether to apply to Harvard on the input of uninformed strangers clearly lacks the confidence to thrive at Harvard, where students very happily pursue their own passions without getting the approval first of their peers. </p>
<p>I’m always tempted to reply to Harvard chances posters who have great stats and ECs: “Your chances were great until you posted here about chances because that posting indicates that you lack the self confidence to handle Harvard.” I don’t post that, however, because I am a nice person.</p>
<p>After years of helping a lot of students on CC including many who asked very dumb questions that could have been answered with a quick Google search or by their simply looking at colleges’ on-line sites, I’m getting frustrated, and this thread is a nice way of blowing off steam.</p>
<p>people arguing about a particular topic, and someone giving the link to wikipedia.</p>
<p>There are no dumb questions, just silly people asking questions… :)</p>
<p>A recent favorite: Should I get a fake ID so I can buy alcohol on campus?</p>
<p>Actually, I do not think the AP vs. IB question is at all dumb. Each program has its strengths and downsides. IB would have been great for S1, AP fit S2’s need for a flexible menu of courses better. Not that they had a choice, since our school offers only APs. But there are plenty of schools that do, and it makes sense for someone who has not yet experienced either program to seek input from others. That’s what CC is for. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Note the “most.” Which means not in every case. Many students should be forgiven for not understanding that East or South Asians are not considered URMs at “most” colleges, especially if, as was the case of a young woman I met, they are one of two such students in a high school of over 2,000 students. Schools do in fact play fast and loose with statistics and definitions. When reporting ethnic profiles, many k-12 schools include Asians under minority. When providing services, however, they are not included. Similar sleight-of-hand operate at the college level. We looked at percentages of minority students at various schools my Ss were interested. Upon closer scrutiny, it turned out that the majority of these minority kids were actually Asians/ Asian-Americans. Only at Wesleyan were minority students African-American. And in fact, at some colleges we visited, it was made clear that they tried hard to recruit Asian-American students.
But how should 17 year olds who have not yet gone through the process know all that?
So there are dumb questions. There are also plenty of dumb answers, and from parents as well as from students.</p>
<p>I agree with Marite about the URM questions. Many people – including basically savvy parents and even GCs – don’t realize that all Asians are highly desired at certain colleges, including top ones like Grinnell, and Jewish students are highly desired for diversity reasons at Vanderbilt and probably at some other excellent southern universities.</p>
<p>ACK!!! :eek: I would have been pretty devastated to open a thread like this and see a current question of mine posted as a prime example of a “dumb question,” and as I’ve already said, I’m quite certain I posted many of them back in the day—and, uh, even now! :o</p>
<p>Please try to keep it in the abstract. I hate the thought of anyone who needs help getting his feelings hurt enough to not feel comfortable seeking it.</p>
<p>Also, like marite, I have found some of the questions listed to be not “dumb” at all. In fact, I was just sitting here thinkin’, “Boy, I’m glad that <em>I</em> didn’t ask THAT!”</p>
<p>Yes, please don’t link to current dumb questions. I’m not trying to embarass any of the current dumb question posters. I’m just trying to blow off steam while also subtly letting people know what questions are a waste of time to post.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is dumb to ask about whether a suspension will hurt your chances for admission. There is a lot of mis-information about this, and it is a good question. The answer, in MOST cases, is NO, despite what some parents intuitively think.</p>
<p>"
And it becomes down right looney when someone asks what the best undergrad physics program is (to use an example) and folks reply with rankings of graduate programs."</p>
<p>I don’t think this is such a terrible question - obviously rankings are subjective, but it would still be nice to get a general idea of what the top schools for undergraduates might be if they are interested in a particular field. My son for example is interested in computer science, every college in the country teaches computer science - it’s really hard to get any information about the relative value of one school’s undergrad program vs. another.</p>
<p>“Actually, I do not think the AP vs. IB question is at all dumb. Each program has its strengths and downsides.”</p>
<p>I don’t either. The assumption that it has a yes or no answer is perhaps dumb, but that’s not what he’s getting.</p>
<p>“and Jewish students are highly desired for diversity reasons at Vanderbilt and probably at some other excellent southern universities.”</p>
<p>An adcom came to our school and said that it was a big plus to be a Jewish New Yorker.</p>
<p>Sorry you are so irritated. This is a community of people, some of whom we have come to know–in person, in some cases–and trust. So, as with nearby friends who are often the first, softest recourse when something is worrisome (as in a medical condition), people sometimes come here first, searchng perhaps for a bit of guidance before they go to the “next level”–whether it be a doctor, or Consumer Reports, or the college website.</p>
<p>I don’t think all of the questions posted are dumb, and if you don’t have enough self-control to just not open the threads that you deem dumb, well, then…I think THAT is dumb. I share the concerns of other posters above that you have frightened away a lot of well-meaning people who are novices. Perhaps a gentle reminder of “caveat emptor” would have served as well.</p>
<p>mathmom,</p>
<p>Perhaps you don’t understand grad department rankings? You said
I agree. </p>
<p>But grad department rankings have little to do with the undergrad program. In fact, one might suspect that the undergrad portion of departments with top grad programs might suffer, as the departmental effort is focused on the grad students, postdocs and maintaining departmental stature. And, I suspect the chances of having TAs goes up, too. After all, no department gets a top grad ranking because of good teaching. They get it because of research output.</p>
<p>Yes, no one ranks undergrad programs, except for business and Bus. Week’s rankings. But to rely on a metric that may be misleading is much the worse, IMHO.</p>
<p>Hey–for all of you who don’t think this thread is appropriate–don’t open it! </p>
<p>(That’s what I was recently told when I got on a thread and challenged it.)</p>
<p>I think this is a good thread, because I think that the questions the OP posted are the ones we see over and over. In some cases, they are annoying in that they are posted in laziness–people don’t want to look up things themselves. They are sometimes just silly. Maybe it’s all a reflection of how silly the “competition” to get into the “right” college has become. </p>
<p>Lighten up–this is just a chance to blow off a little steam at time-wasting threads!</p>
<p>USC was recruiting Jewish students when my son applied in 2003. There was a big article about USC’s effort in the LA Times several years ago.</p>