'It's a crap shoot': Father of girl who wrote scathing letter to Ivy League colleges

Applying to College
701

<p>I have seen observable differences in personal qualities among the grads of H, Y, and P that I have known. It seems improbable that they were all developed in college.</p>

<p>Right, re post #700, I understand that the colleges don’t act collectively–that would probably be a “combination in restraint of free trade” if they did. Oxford and Cambridge get around this issue, because students are only permitted to apply to one of them.</p>

<p>If you think that the admissions are all holistic, and that’s all there is to be said, does that mean that you think that H, Y, and P are essentially taking the same holistic view and want the same qualities; but that since the judgments are subjective, you get some unpredictable differences in outcomes? On the other hand, if the differences in admissions split along predictable lines, I would find that interesting, as presumably would people applying in the future (and their parents).</p>

<p>I have no personal interest in this, since everyone in (my generation + 1) in my extended family is in college, dropped out, graduated, or not going. So I am not looking for a magic formula, nor do I expect to gain anything. But I am actually quite curious about possible differences. </p>

<p>Perhaps the difference in our thoughts on this question is related to differences in Myers-Briggs categories? I have mentioned on another thread, where this came up, that I am INFP. </p>

<p>Back to the issue of differences in what admissions is seeking: To people who live in some areas of the country, the differences might be obvious (assuming that there are differences). To people in my area, where a limited number of students go to the Ivies each year, the differences are not obvious. I am not sure that generalizing from the grads I know is valid, although there are more of them than there are accepted students whom I know in (my generation + 1).</p>

702

<p>To add an example: A few years ago, someone in the administration at Harvard decided to start a campaign asking the students to be kind to each other (and garnered some derision for it). If kindness were one of the qualities that is explicitly considered in the holistic evaluation at Harvard, presumably there would have been no perceived need to ask the students to be kind.</p>

703

<p>

You have your answer right there. There are a couple of decades of research now that shows that “most successful” is a matter of EQ (emotional intelligence) rather the IQ. That is, social intelligence and qualities such as self-discipline win out over intellectual abilities. Harvard wants to educate future Presidents, Senators and Supreme Court Justices, or corporate CEO’s. In addition to personal qualities, personal connections are important – so the sons and daughter of current Presidents, Senators, judges and CEO’s probably get an admissions boost far more significant than affirmative action for some ghetto kid raised in poverty. Harvard does have its own internal diversity goals to meet – and they will consider those in admission – but they are going to place a high value on qualities that they perceive as evidencing leadership potential. </p>

<p>But that is probably not the same as what Brown is looking for. Brown is located about an hour’s drive away from Harvard – I think a prospective student could visit both on the same day, and have a very different sense of the respective cultures of each campus.</p>

704

<p>Brown seems somewhat distinctive to me, in terms of the personalities of the students who go there. Do you think that the descriptor of Harvard (in #703) does not apply to Yale or Princeton?</p>

<p>The answer of interest to me involves the differences between H, Y, P, and other top schools that posters would like to add (if the differences exist).</p>

<p>Or, to paraphrase Barbara Walters, if the ideal applicant to H, Y, or P were a tree, what kind of tree would each be?</p>

705

<p>A good starting point would be to look at the array of graduate programs and graduate institutes each university maintains. For example, Princeton does not offer advanced degrees in law, business or medicine. While universities do not generally accept undergraduates with the goal of preparing them to attend their own graduate schools, their faculty hiring and institutional priorities are influenced largely by their graduate programs.</p>

706

<p>they all want to educate future presidents, business leaders, scientists. That’s not a distinction with difference. We should end this conversation declaring Sally305’s post #700 the definitive response. There can be no other. Here endeth the epistle.</p>

707

<p>It was all pretty good until I read that she had a 2120 SAT. I’m not trying to be snobby but 2120 is below average for Ivy students. Seriously… has she not heard of all the 2300 kids getting rejected? And yeah it seems unfair to use the rich white girl stereotype against her but no sane person should be this upset about getting rejected.</p>

708

<p>Shame on all of the people that have been spreading personal attacks about her.</p>

<p>If you’re going to claim that she’s snobby, arrogant, or entitled, you should have evidence to back up what you’re saying. There is absolutely no indication of that ANYWHERE in the letter that she wrote.</p>

709

<p>This thread ran it’s course a month ago, I see no reason to resurrect it, closing.</p>