<p>Secure? Probably not for anybody. But I don’t think I had ~7 more APs than she did and ~200 points on the SAT because I am one whit smarter. If she’d had my stable home situation and my ability to devote most of my non-school waking time to academics and academic extracurriculars, I’m sure she would have had a more number-heavy resume. </p>
<p>Although, on further thought, I’ll modify my statement to make explicit the floor I’d assumed. Her scores are still more-or-less competitive, which is why that worked. An immigrant who started learning English at age 13 and had to deal with a parent’s drug addiction and intermittent homelessness and still scored a 1650 on her SAT and a 3 on 3 APs would be very impressive, but would have not a prayer of admission to Harvard. This young woman’s SAT score, on the other hand, is competitive, if in or near the bottom quartile of admitted students. Her coursework (and, I’m sure, recommendations) would suggest that, again, had her life situation been more stable, she could have accomplished more than enough to be competitive for admission. I do still think her application was probably world-class, considering etc.</p>
<p>(although as a Harvard student who would not apply “world-class” to her own application, I am not certain “world class” vs. “very, very good and lucky enough to hit the right buttons” is required for admission)</p>