<p>As it should be…it’s just hard to tell if you are conveying that will to learn in your essays…and like everyone else the Ivies are looking for that something extra…something different…I have the stats and the ECs and the APs and the grades and am National Merit Semi-Finalist to boot (missed one question) but I am not a minority or a person with a particularly strong hook. Even though I would love to go to Y or H, I applied early elsewhere. Why be waitlisted or deferred because you apply early to H or Y, when you can be sure you get into another very good school early and just wait and see what happens with the Ivies at regular decision time. I think more and more people are feeling this way…it’s disappointing to be able to feel you can’t apply to your first choice school, because it seems the only “smart” thing to do. It is a little bit off-putting also to a student like me when the Ivies tell you they can fill their classes 8 times over with students like myself. I worked hard to get where I am.</p>