<p>I’m saying this at the risk of upsetting a lot of people, but the thing that I’ve taken away from this board is that admissions are NOT a crapshoot. Are they unfair? yes. Are they a crapshoot? no.</p>
<p>In almost every case of a rejection, we can examine the stats and conclude why a person did not get in. It could be a racial disadvantage; it could be geography; it could be extracurriculars. Whatever the case may be, fair or unfair, there are reasons that some people get denied and others accepted.</p>
<p>Yes, it is unfair that I got an edge over other applicants because I play a sport. I am sure that there are people who work just as hard at their extracurriculars as I who were rejected because their hooks were not as strong. But, regardless of the unfairness, there were reasons (not a crapshoot).</p>
<p>I apologize in advance for raising a possible riot, but I just had to put my two cents in, because I am tired of hearing people talk in a fatalistic way about college admissions. I hope that this will comfort some of you, and that you will realize that your lives and situations are not the results of strange college admissions black magic. :-)</p>