<p>Starting a “charity” is fairly common at our local high school. This is the result of the (still correct, I think) standard advice that students show evidence of leadership and community service in order to get into a good college. The conventional leadership positions at our competitive hs are limited, so students are actually encouraged by our GCs to start their own charitable club, name themselves President, and then do something productive with it. This is what was brought to mind when Suzy wrote about “fake” charities. I do agree that in a way they are “fake,” because the ones I am referring to were established with the student’s self-interest in mind, not an altruistic motive. Most of the charities that are started are repetitive of others that already exist - like raising money for Katrina, collecting prom dresses or paperback books for the poor, etc.</p>
<p>one: i don’t care the reason kids volunteer, if its resume padding, at least someone may be helped. my daughter had to put in a certain kind of service hours for her highschool. she did alot of volunteering, but her school had a certain critia for acceptable work. she ended up at a senior home doing art with the residents. something she might not have wanted or thought to do,. and she ended up loving it</p>
<p>two Idon’t think people say she should have been rejected, necessarily, just she didn’t look all that impressive to be accepted.</p>
<p>three I think its awesome schools want people who do more then study</p>
<p>four her working as a page was fine and dandy, but another of those kind of very often gotten appointments because you know someone (something she has conveneitly forgotten</p>
<p>I would have preferred a serious article about this topic- one written by a student who truly does stand out and was still rejected. </p>
<p>Weiss is an excellent student, but with her SAT scores, no one at my daughter’s HS would regard her as a candidate for the Ivies- not unless she is an athlete.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s friends, an Asian girl with 2400 SAT scores, near perfect subject test scores, a 4.0 GPA (unadjusted) in an incredibly tough load of classes (for example, she has been taking college level post-AP math for two years), numerous school awards, stellar recommendations (we assume), and national recognition in two extracurricular activities, was rejected at MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, CalTech, Wharton, and U of Chicago. I don’t want to say where she is going, but it is a top school that is a terrible fit for her personality-wise. (She should have had much more of a choice.) </p>
<p>Although MIT and CalTech have the most merit-based admissions systems of all, this girl was clearly rejected from these schools because of her lack of science or math-based extracurricular activities. (She has As in AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Physics) and took AP Calculus (where she got an A, of course) sophomore year. She is clearly humanities-focused. I think she understands.</p>
<p>The Ivies, if they would be honest, would say something like, “What makes you think you are entitled to attend a school like ours?” </p>
<p>Look at the admission rates to Ivies from top private schools. These schools often send huge numbers of students to each of the Ivies. Their profiles often indicate average SAT scores in the mid to high 600s on each part. Contrast these scores with averages of low 600s at many elite community public high schools that enroll many students who bring down the average and enroll in regular classes. I argue that the average student in many honors and AP classes at top community public high schools is probably better than the average student at some of the top rep schools. </p>
<p>Also consider the huge number of international admits and athletic recruits to the Ivies and other elite schools. Admission of full paying international students allows elite colleges to boast that admissions is need blind. If colleges focus on admitting students from upper end private schools, they are less likely to need to offer FA than if they accept upper middle class students who live in good neighborhoods but still cannot afford private college without financial assistance.</p>
<p>When all is said and done, how many spaces are left at elite colleges (all of which receive money one way or another from the federal government) for the top students from the best public schools?</p>
<p>Even students with perfect test scores, a perfect GPA, and national recognition in more than one extra-curricular activity are rejected from Ivies and other elite schools. I would like to see a study that looks at the chances such a student is from a public versus a private school.</p>
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<p>This is what I think she was speaking to. She obviously did not want to become a part of that, yet sees those who do rewarded for their efforts.</p>
<p>I’m just joining this conversation, but I have to say that reading the article, I did not find it particularly amusing and I tend to agree with others who have suggested that she might be using her p.r. offensive to get an acceptance from a wait list. Moreover, I do feel that the article smacks of the “jkjk” syndrome - i.e., I can say any snarky thing I want, but then if I say it’s satire, I’ll be forgiven.</p>
<p>Do I think that kids game the college acceptance system? All the time. Do I think that the system is fair? Not necessarily and not always. Are some great kids rejected because of certain institutional needs that they don’t meet? Of course. Do I think that the author of the article had some good points? Sure. But did she show grace, maturity or real humor in her presentation? Nope, just took the usual cheap shots and then enjoyed the 15 minutes of fame that resulted.</p>
<p>
Well, since the top schools started getting tens of thousands of applicants, including hundreds, if not thousands, with top grades and scores. They are drawing from a much bigger pool than they did decades ago.</p>
<p>As for fake charity work–I ask myself whether charity work done to look good for college is better than no charity work. I’m not sure. My kids were required to do charity work by county rules (plus more for IB), which I didn’t really like.</p>
<p>Finally, I don’t think it’s likely at all that the Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher will have a significant direct impact on private colleges–it would be quite a stretch to prohibit them from practicing affirmative action. Not completely impossible, but I just don’t see it happening unless the Court gets even more conservative than it is now. And I’ve also got to add, if they got a case that involved a claim that colleges were considering race to keep the numbers of Asians down, I’m not so sure of how the conservatives on the Court would vote.</p>
<p>I believe kids need to volunteer at least a bit (50-100 hrs an year to me sounds reasonable) and schools requiring them to do so are doing a good thing. However, registering non-profits or for profits with tax ids is something that I find a bit farfetched. Do they truly serve a purpose outside of collegeapps and what happens to these when the kids move on to college, another dead charity?</p>
<p>If supreme court accepted a case in March, does it mean they hear the case before this term ends or is it for next session?</p>
<p>To be honest, when I read the letter I actually laughed out loud a few times. I found it funny in a sort of sarcastic way.</p>
<p>PsychoDad - congratulations to your son on getting admitted to three truly great, in many ways world-class, universities: WUSTL (and of course Johns Hopkins) is as good if not better for biomedical sciences than most of the ivies, Michigan is ivy-caliber in many of the social sciences, and Johns Hopkins’ small English department is probably one of the very best in the world (or at least it was in Hugh Kenner’s day). At all of these universities, in most areas of concentration your son will be able to find excellent teachers and great scholars who are the equal of what he’d find in the ivies. Best to you and yours,
T</p>
<p>Her SAT scores were on the lower end of the spectrum, and her ECs definitely were not great enough to complement that.</p>
<p>Honestly would have been surprising if she got in anywhere.</p>
<p>Lots of charities boast that it looks good on college applications when students volunteer.</p>
<p>How much more exploitative can you get?</p>
<p>The first time I read that, I became turned off. I never encouraged my children to volunteer, though my husband and I have done volunteer work ourselves. I hope we have served as examples of the importance of giving back to the community- at least as adults.</p>
<p>Rather than do hours of volunteer work a week, many of high school students might be better off working those hours for money for college instead.</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think it is true that college want to see volunteer hours. Colleges, at least the top ones, want to see passion. They want students to hone a talent or do something original. For reasons I will never understand, colleges favor athletics most of all.</p>
<p>We’ve taken the wrong tactic with volunteer work. We should disabuse students of the notion that it counts for college admission, when, in truth, it doesn’t count much at all.</p>
<p>However, I would be very much in favor of a domestic Peace Corps program that helped college students pay off debt for a certain number of years of service that involving work in a nursing home, a homeless shelter, etc.</p>
<p>@fendrock – according to the family she is going to U Michigan. She was also admitted to Indiana and Wisconsin. Rejected (although one of the articles termed it “shunned”) from 3 Ivies (maybe Princeton, Yale, Penn but don’t quote me) and Vandy…</p>
<p>HUGE HUGE PR Machine behind this.</p>
<p>Really.???</p>
<p>Of the 30k + kids that apply to EACH HYP etc…</p>
<p>her biggest, from what she said, attributes where a high gpa. and maybe senate page, but for some that can be “bought”, so why she fills like she needs to publically whine, i have no idea, but seeing her family has strong republican ties, well…
people see the gpa and go woowwww! and my daughters both had sat scores at least 150points higher</p>
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</p>
<p>well, what?</p>
<p>
I agree; Weiss’ SAT scores were below average for most, if not all, Ivies, so her rejections were hardly surprising.</p>
<p>It reminds me of the Fisher case before the Supreme Court: Fisher also was a weak applicant, so I’m surprised affirmative action adversaries didn’t try to find a Jian Li caliber plaintiff.</p>
<p>All right, sea, you have now said three times “Republican ties”. What does it have to do with ANYTHING?! </p>
<p>Nothing, not a darn thing. The only “Republican tie” that would likely be beneficial at top schools is having a relative named Bush.</p>
<p>Writing a letter like this is a good way to blow off steam, but it really should not have been published. If this person had asked me in September if they could get into an ivy, I would’ve told them no. She’s angry that she didn’t get in because she didn’t do anything interesting, but with acceptance rates below 10% you really need to do something interesting to get in. This letter would hold more weight if she had a 4.7, 2350 and lots of leadership and extracurriculars.
Also, as someone who claims to see through the subjectivity and unfairness of ivy admissions, she should realize that the differences between an ivy and a school like Michigan are minimal. She should know that name recognition is the biggest benefit of an ivy, and that intelligent, hardworking people can do well wherever they go. She needs to stop complaining and be happy with the options she has.</p>
<p>Funniest part of this satire? It is exactly the type of thing that does get you into these places. If only she would’ve published this pre-decisions…</p>
<p>And now, a moment of silence for the author of the article, Daniel Bates, who listed Vanderbilt as an Ivy League college.</p>