Here's The College Essay That Got A High School Senior Into Every Ivy League School

College Essays
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<p>I came here to express a similar opinion to that of @Suchwowmuchcool…</p>

<p>This kid was clearly “qualified.” His academic stats were on par with many who are accepted to Ivy Leagues: 2250, 11 APs, near the top of his class. He participated in activities outside the classroom: music, athletics, research, and probably other things that are not mentioned. His essay was decent, as we can see.</p>

<p>At this point I would like to bring up the line that seems to be repeated by everyone, from admissions officers to people on this site: “at [insert college here] there are more well-qualified applicants than spots available.” </p>

<p>As a result, in order to be admitted to some of these very selective universities with very high yield rates (specifically HYPS), your application has to be “compelling.”</p>

<p>There are many applicants to HYPS that are qualified, but not compelling. </p>

<p>With the [possibly incomplete] information we have been given, there is nothing about this kid’s application that is compelling. No national awards, no killer essay, no standout leadership, not even a cohesive theme to the application.</p>

<p>Many people on this site are well-informed enough to realize that this kid’s stats are not compelling. The general public? I don’t think so. When I have discussed college admissions with adults during the past year, and I tell them my SAT score and GPA (both very close to perfect), they automatically assume I will be accepted into a few top colleges (HYPS level). Unfortunately, despite very good ECs by most people’s standards, I was rejected by HYPS. I understand why. Nothing on my application stood out. Nothing made the admissions officer say “we have to have this kid.” Nothing was compelling. Just impressive.</p>

<p>Anyone who frequents this site knows that this kid would not have been accepted by all of these schools if he were white or asian, barring some sort of crazy accomplishment not yet mentioned. His race, based on what we currently know, made his application compelling. </p>

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<p>@Koolmars stated, “I feel like most of the animosity towards this is coming from applicants that were rejected from Ivy Leagues and parents of kids who were rejected.” </p>

<p>Just for the record, I am one of those who is clearly against what colleges are currently doing. I was in three Ivys, and my kids were accepted as well. So, no sour grapes here.</p>

<p>It is a moral issue of how we think society should treat others. Preferences, handouts and the like get us further from equality not closer. </p>

<p>It is interesting to read the posts. It is easy to spot the people who benefit and who do not from the programs. That tells us right there it is not merit and the individual, but a group thing. There is a word for that - balkanization - and nothing I know good comes from that. </p>

<p>On a separate note, I love this discussion because too much of this has been under the table for way too long. At least, people have expressed what they have been thinking and discussing at their dinner tables for a while now. That is a good thing for society.</p>

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<p>@bigwords - As a dad who was accepted to Ivys and who saw his kids submit successful Ivy applications as well (no legacy either, they chose to apply to ones I did not attend so they could say they did it on their own), you are dead on. </p>

<p>I appreciate you understanding the difference. My kids’ application had a theme, a compelling thread and everything else to back it up. Without that, they would be just impressive, like everyone else. </p>

<p>And that is what everyone who thinks this sour grapes is missing. But they seem not to realize that much of the comments are coming from people who have been there and done that, not people who are assuming certain standards. We know the standards.</p>

<p>Your personal story and your recognition of what was missing from your application adds much context to the issue. Thanks for sharing. </p>

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<p>@suchwowmuchcool I am not an admissions officer, I don’t know what exactly made him stand out no one does! Like I said he could have possibly done admissions interviews that would allow the admissions to actually learn more about him as a person. I’m not saying that it’s wrong for people to get upset about being rejected, it’s not wrong. There are plenty of schools I probably feel like I can get into, and probably will be bitter for awhile if I was rejected. I’m not asking people to settle for this, if they truly feel like they should get into the schools they apply to that’s fine. It’s just unfair to discredit him or any other student who have been accepted with stats a little lower than his. The 25% and 50% percentiles don’t mean that since you scored this high that you will get into the school. I’m not denying the fact that his race could have been an issue but it still doesn’t make him not qualified. Nor is it fair for students with higher stats to not get accepted either. I think the selective schools admissions process is harsh and I’m not even there yet. But seriously it’s not the end of the world. There are other well known universities like Stanford, Caltech, some LAC’s with great programs and maybe the UC’s that these kids could get accepted to. Truth is none of us know really why he got in, and that’s not important, he got in and is just as qualified as anyone else. Most of these schools select less that 20% of applicants, and it’s harsh but it’s reality. After all college is about learning, and intellectual development and preparing for the workforce. Just because these students that do research or find the cure for cancer don’t get accepted into a few schools doesn’t mean that they can’t get high pay probably much higher than a Harvard or Columbia Graduate. If someone is doing intensive research as you said earlier it’s more of a loss to the Ivy league than the individual because obviously they are motivated and probably the perfect candidate for the school anyway. I don’t it’s crazy, its kind of like the job market. Not every applicant is going to get the job, even if they are “better” than the other applicants. I believe your statement about comparing me to Booker T Washington is irrelevant. I mean if a person has gotten rejected from a school, what more could you do about it? I’m not saying these students should just settle for their state schools, or go to community college or anything like that, but don’t discredit others because they have gotten an opportunity that you feel has been “taken” by them. The people in admissions are people, everyone has their own views, and if 8 Ivy Leagues all accepted him race might have been a factor but I highly doubt that was all of it, highly doubt it. A girl at my school applied to Princeton great stats, she is a current senior and she got rejected from Princeton her SAT score was higher than his and she has a 4.0 UW GPA I believe. She is both African American and a girl.No one understands why she was rejected because she seems great too.I don’t know all of her details but I know she received a 2290 on her SAT. The kid at your school you say “only had” NHS president and all state debate status, maybe he had passion for those 2 things he did. </p>

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<p>@awcntdb I never said AA was right, I too think it’s not fair even though I am apart of a minority. I just don’t feel right about the credit that he’s not receiving. Although his scores might not be as high as everyone else who applies to these schools, doesn’t mean it was a handout either. I’m pretty sure when he applied he felt that he was well qualified applicant just as anyone else who applied. I’m just saying I really doubt his race was the only thing that got him in their, they obviously believes his has potential to succeed in those schools and he probably does. I think it’s awesome that you have been to Ivy League schools as well as your children and I hope they are very successful with their pursuits in college. The admissions process is weird but I totally see and understand what you are saying.Great point and the discussion is very interesting :D. </p>

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<p>@absentions Yellow fever makes Asians women less privileged, so I’m kinda agreeing with you. I don’t want to get into that, unless you want me too (PM me). </p>

<p>@TeamRocketGrunt‌ That’s at the airport. It’s not everyday. That’s have more to do with religion not race. But yeah, I agree it’s f’d up. I’m pretty sure almost all ivy applicants work hard? Try again. You do know that Whites with the same qualifications are more likely to get a job than blacks with the same qualifications? There’s a lot of people who work hard, but still ain’t got nothing. It’s the same the other way around. </p>

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<p>@KoolMars96 - I stand corrected. </p>

<p>This entire discussion is why I told my kids to keep their records to themselves. It is a no-win situation. Either people are going to think you are bragging out-of-place (the case here) or they will think you are trying to prove you are better than they. There is no upside that I have ever seen. </p>

<p>Yes, the admissions process is weird, but it begs the question, why in the world does it have to be weird? No reason that I can logically see.</p>

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<p>wow. just wow.</p>

<p>LOL. This has got to be a new record for CC.</p>

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You must be joking, right? I mean if all courses were just calculus, chemistry, biology, physics, etc. then you might have a point. But you cannot see how having the point of view of people from various backgrounds in courses concerning sociology, history, literature, foreign culture, and on and on would be very different than having the same classes with all privileged white males, like it used to be? Or even forget the all male part. If everyone was white upper-middle class and higher. Frankly your statement makes it sound like you don’t read or listen to anything that involves what is happening in the world today. That reason for promoting diversity, among others, has been around for a long time.</p>

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<p>First of all, what makes you think that if they took people by expectations of academic prowess in college that you would end up with all white upper middle class/upper class people?</p>

<p>Second of all, I recognize that your reasons are the standard ones for justifying diversity. However, I think it’s way overblown that one’s ethnicity or socioeconomic background gives them a unique perspective on issues, especially when you are choosing among people from the same country. I’ve even seen this argument extended to engineering, which is completely baffling. </p>

<p>The best way to have a classroom where people have unique ideas is to take the most creative, intelligent people you can find. </p>

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<p>And international students have a way harder time getting admitted to elite colleges, so I don’t think that Affirmative Action is working in their favor either.</p>

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<p>nevermind</p>

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<p>@BeStillMyHeart‌ : I had a chance to read several of your posts, so let me address them in the order they came (I can’t figure out this stupid quote function). </p>

<p>“Why does it seem like white people are more mad about this than asians? When they are more “discriminated” against than whites? Don’t tell me, I already know why.”
Lol where did you pull this from? Are you able to view our races through our screens? For the record, I’m South Asian and I hate race-based affirmative action. Lol yeah, we’re so privileged. Those internment camps during WWII didn’t actually exist. The CEA wasn’t a thing. The Patriot Act wasn’t a thing. Being stopped and frisked in NYC because a South Asian person happens to “look Arab” or being similarly stopped in an airport aren’t things. </p>

<p>Also, not every facet of life that doesn’t favour a minority is the result of a non-minority’s “privilege.” I will acknowledge that some of the many “privileges” you listed do exist to an extent (“male privilege” doesn’t really exist, but that’s a topic for another discussion), but we can’t go around blaming “privilege” for everything, can we?</p>

<p>Also, I fail to see what “yellow fever” has to do with this discussion, and I further fail to see how it makes Asians more or less privileged.</p>

<p>“That’s at the airport. It’s not everyday.”
So…other minorities are discriminated against every single day of their lives, are they? By that logic, slavery was years ago; why are we still implementing programs to compensate for the injustices a 200 year old institution caused?
“That’s have more to do with religion not race”
No, it’s got to do with race as much as religion. This isn’t Nazi Germany where every Muslim wears a white crescent moon on their shoulders. Officials assume one’s race by looking at one’s skin color–if the person looks “Middle Eastern,” it is assumed that they’re a terrorist. Privilege indeed.</p>

<p>@Kerkolus‌ @absentions‌ , while I do agree that the purpose of a college is education, I also feel that a key part of education is being exposed to a variety of ideas (i.e., diversity). However, what I find offensive and sickening is that the currently implemented race-based AA system pushes for “diversity” while laboring under the disconcerting delusion that only certain races are capable of contributing diverse ideas. Is it the same push for diversity that led Stanford to implement segregated dormitories? Diversity is an important part of the college experience, but if true diversity were the goal, individuals would be admitted on the basis of their unique ideas and idiosyncrasies. As I said earlier, to assume that only minority races are capable of contributing diverse ideas as race-based AA does is, in and of itself, racist. </p>

<p>@fluffy2017‌ : income based AA allows admissions officers to “level” the playing field between kids of different economic backgrounds. For example, the kid with a private tutor for the SATs is probably going to do better on them than a kid who can’t afford a tutor. Comparing their scores directly isn’t exactly fair because the poorer kid may have been able to do just as well or even better than the rich kid, but because he wasn’t able to afford a tutor, he couldn’t show it. Income based AA allows adcoms to take into account the resources different kids would probably have at their disposal. While it isn’t perfect (flaws exist in the income based AA system, obviously), it’s better than the completely broken and racist race-based AA system. </p>

<p>@fallenchemist‌ :“But you cannot see how having the point of view of people from various backgrounds in courses concerning sociology, history, literature, foreign culture, and on and on would be very different than having the same classes with all privileged white males, like it used to be? Or even forget the all male part. If everyone was white upper-middle class and higher. Frankly your statement makes it sound like you don’t read or listen to anything that involves what is happening in the world today. That reason for promoting diversity, among others, has been around for a long time.”</p>

<p>Er…so you’re saying that white people think similarly and would be unable to contribute diverse ideas? Or are you saying that minorities are the only ones who can contribute diverse ideas? Having a unique outlook on a situation or problem (the “diversity” that colleges aim for) isn’t based on race. That’s like saying, “That black guy can’t think in the same way this white guy can.” Sounds a bit racist, doesn’t it? </p>

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<p>@teamrocketgrunt the patriot affects all Americans. Those South Asians you’re talking about? Are those from the middle east/some part of Indian? Yeah, they are Asian but are still Caucasians for the most part. Yellow fever does have a lot to do with things, but since this is a college website and not a sex/porn site I’m not gonna address it. Yeah, they are some Asians who oppose AA just like they are some blacks. But majority of those people are white. Japanese internal camps? WWII is over. The exclusion act? To my knowledge that stopped in 1943? Redling still affects blacks today. Gentrification still affects blacks today. Sorry to break it to ya, but fifty years doesn’t make up 250 years of oppression. When during those 250 years, whites pushed themselves forward and blacks were put behind. Male privilege don’t exist? You’re right, that’s another discussion. But talking about college, they do have it better than women (besides STEM). </p>

<p>I was wrong for saying that Asians were just as privilege as whites. But white people like them more than Hispanics/blacks. They have it in America better than hispanic/blacks. Name a current law that hurts Asians. I can name plenty that hurts latinos/blacks. Christian privilege is a thing as well. I forgot to mention that. It doesn’t relate to college, but it relates to life. I do hate that Arab looking people are discriminated at the airport, I do.</p>

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<p>You are comparing the “injustice” of small number of prospective students being rejected from 8 elite private schools in favor of “undeserving” URMs to taxation without representation, government corruption, etc. Wow.</p>

<p>The Ivy league schools are happy with the classes they are creating. They don’t have to change in order to suit a small number of disgruntled students and parents who are bitter that they are being “forced to accept less than they deserve.” They are NOT going to go to strictly GPA/SAT format of admissions. And in spite of that, their hallways are bursting with intelligent, qualified, creative, and enthusiastic students. There is no “problem” to solve. And really, society at large really doesn’t give a flip if a few college kids have got their panties in a wad because they didn’t get into an elite private school. There will be no revolution.</p>

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<p>@collegealum314‌ -

You just made that up, because I never said that or implied that. Notice the key phrase I wrote “…like it used to be”. Please read more carefully in the future.</p>

<p>The question I was responding to was how does diversity promote better education. These days they wouldn’t end up with an all white etc. class if they went strictly by academic merit. I was pointing out to @absentions that a class with people from various backgrounds is a richer educational experience than the way Ivy League classes used to be constituted, i.e. in the days before racial preferences. That is what is being discussed, after all. That is essentially what AA is.</p>

<p>However, if they went strictly by academic merit, it has been shown that certain groups would decline dramatically, especially African-Americans. Of course they wouldn’t be shut out entirely, but without preferences in the admissions offices their percentage of the incoming classes at, say, the top 50 or so in the USNWR would be lower. The hard truth is that if nothing counted except stats, the Ivy classes would be nearly all white and Asian with a smattering of various other groups. One only has to look at the reports from ETS to see that. Now to be fair, you said “academic prowess”. I suppose one would need a complete definition of that term and how you determine it among all the applicants to know exactly what an incoming class would look like using only that criteria.</p>

<p>You then said

Regarding the very last sentence, you will note that I specifically said the same thing by referring to math, chemistry, physics, etc. For the rest, of course there are lots of definitions of diversity. And it is absolutely true that an African-American male brought up in a wealthy family probably won’t have the same perspective as someone from the projects of Chicago. And that person won’t have the same perspective as someone from the slums of Rio. If true diversity is the key, there should be more filters than just race. Of course these incoming classes are only so large. But even bringing in the “most creative, intelligent people you can find” doesn’t insure diversity of views. I am not even sure I know how you know they are the most creative and intelligent, but isn’t not letting in less intelligent people limiting diversity? LOL, just kidding with the last one.</p>

<p>In conclusion, I wasn’t really trying to address which philosophy of admissions was better. I was simply responding to the rather naive notion that having a diversity of views in the classroom doesn’t lead to a better education, and on the whole as things exist in this country today ethnic diversity is a reasonable proxy for bringing a diversity of views into the classroom and the campus environment.</p>

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<p>@fallenchemist‌ If colleges went strictly by merit and certain groups decline, I don’t see how it’s the college’s responsibility to balance out that decline. Merit is merit. </p>

<p>I think it’s far worse to have certain groups think they can get by on lower merit.</p>

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<p>Also, when I mentioned diversity, I meant racial diversity. Not a diversity in ideas. </p>

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<p>But that’s just it…universities aren’t creating the classes they are because they feel responsible to some ideal of affirmative action. They’re creating the classes they are because, for whatever reason, that kind of class meets the needs of the university. Obviously a class based solely on “merit” (however people here are defining it) is not desirable to the powers that be in the administration of these universities. They’re looking for something different. </p>

<p>And it’s working…supply (number of open places in the classes) has remained the same, cost (tuition) has increased for many of the most “meritorious” of appliancts, and yet demand (number of applications) continues to grow by leaps and bounds.</p>

<p>@Nrdsb4 put it perfectly a couple of posts back: “There is no problem to solve.”</p>

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<p>@ absentions wrote: “I think it’s far worse to have certain groups think they can get by on lower merit.”</p>

<p>Ah… How are you defining merit? Merit means different things to different people. My URM son scored a 32 on the ACT when he took it at the end of his junior year. He probably could have studied, taken it again and scored higher. However, he looked at one of the Yale admission videos where the AO said don’t take and retake your standardized test. So, he took the advice of the AO and ‘settled’ for a 32. He spent the summer after his junior year composing and focusing on music. Did this have less merit than the person who spent time studying, took the test again and scored a 35 or 36? I guess that would depend on your views of what has merit. I would say that the summer he spent composing had as much merit as a 35 or 36 on the ACT because he received a $10k scholarship as a result of spending the summer composing. Plus, I think that composing probably had more ‘intellectual growth merit’ (for lack of better wording) than studying for a standardized test.</p>

<p>Also, my son was ranked 16th in a class of almost 600. Did 16th have less merit than 1st? I don’t know. You be the judge. He never had a B in high school. He did take several unweighted classes his freshman year and had two A-s which resulted in his ranking of 16th. After his freshman year, he never moved more than several spaces up in the rankings. It was impossible to do because of his unweighted classes. The top four kids were apart by .08. The only reason that I know this was because one of the parents of the top four kids told me. Was #4 less merit worthy than #1? I can guarantee that #5 wasn’t far behind. S/he probably took an unweighted class and/or had one A-. </p>

<p>You also said, “I think it’s far worse to have certain groups think they can get by on lower merit.”</p>

<p>Really. Do you think that the vast majoriy of URMs think that they can get into elite schools on lower merit? You are deluding yourself if you think that is true. I would venture to say that almost all of the URMs who apply to the elite schools are in the 25-75% range along with all the other children who are admitted to the university. Along with their ORM counterparts, URMs put together the best application they can, submit it and wait with nervous anticipation along with the rest the applicants.</p>