<p>Hoedown…I understand what you are saying. I think that Oberlin might one of those schools that you speak of. And I agree completely with your point that to assume that since a spectacular talent had been admitted with lower scores that any ordinary applicant should be overly hopeful for admission with the same scores. But this is only for schools with talent-based admissions. For other schools that are looking to build an interesting community, talent is an important ingredient for an applicant to have, as it is something that often distinguishes one great candidate from another (as do other outstanding attributes, such as leadership, for example).</p>
<p>It was NJ_mother who specifically asked the question about Hopkins/Peabody, a few posts back (#77).</p>