<p>Mom15, I think johnc’s kid and my kid might have been a little high on the totem pole on their test scores and class rank. I don’t believe every kid at that weekend had stats quite that high. In fact, I’m pretty sure they didn’t. I do think your kid’s scores put him solidly in contention, and beyond that threshhold I really don’t think they matter. (I think the same about HYP admissions)</p>
<p>I really want to stress, as johnc did, that it really seems to come down to far less concrete criteria. Last year the participants were supposed to read MLK’s Writings from a Birmingham Jail in preparation for the panel interview. D said that when they got in there it was much more a free for all and they ended up chasing topics around the room and here’s the key - while the (well prepared) interviewers would add in things from her history as in “How do you think that thought would have changed this experience of yours?” </p>
<p>I’m doing a bad job of explaining the process (duh. I wasn’t there.) but I’m trying to get across that it wasn’t anything canned or prepared or studied for that made the difference. I think they just thought she was in the moment and participating from her heart and her intellect. </p>
<p>I do remember one story - they were talking about segregation in public places as part of history and my kid said “That’s not history. That’s my history.” And proceeded to tell the story about my Uncle Blank who closed down his restaurant rather than integrate. And then off they went again with the Lit prof going one way and the History prof headed another and D doing her best to keep up. She said it got lively at times. She loved it and I think that showed. </p>
<p>Does that help?</p>
<p>Edit: One last thing. D loved all of her interviews in the college process and hated every essay. She comes alive face to face. She would have found it hard to hide her excitement and joy at being there that weekend with all the smart kids. (You’ve got to know where she “comes from” to appreciate this. LOL.)</p>
<p>She always felt that she was interviewing the school, too. 
I think she bought into the “If they don’t like me, then I better find that out right now.” theory of college admissions.</p>