NY Times high school student blogger rejected by 11 schools

[wjb]

<p>

For comparison purposes you need to use Harvard instead of MIT for Pomona.
The student with 2320 at Pomona and that at Harvard will certainly be different otherwise the one at Pomona would have gone to Harvard.</p>

<p>Point of the statement was that it is possible that an applicant with 2320 SAT can be rejected at HMSPY but will guranteed to be accepted at Pomona.</p>

<p>That is why it is safety for the top students.

</p>

<p>How do I begin to respond to this string of non sequiturs?</p>

<p>Believe it or not, some students prefer Pomona to MIT or even Harvard. </p>

<p>A 2320 is a 2320 is a 2320, whether it’s at Pomona or MIT or Harvard. </p>

<p>Pomona is a safety for no one. No one. A safety school is one to which a student is virtually guaranteed admission. No college with an admissions rate of under 20% is a safety for any student.</p>

[noimagination]

<p>

The content seems kinda fake.

Absolutely, and this is what I expected to see more comments on. I don’t think the trite quality of the writing reflects badly on the author at all. My guess is that she wrote exactly what she thought the NY Times wanted to see and did a pretty good job of it.

And, probably a large part of the reason they are doing these student blogs is to assist students in understanding just this exact point.

I rather suspect that the primary reason they host these student blogs is to attract hits and make money. The entire industry surrounding college admissions - the how-to-get-in wonder guides, finding the perfect fit surveys, and cutesy blogs on building self-esteem after rejetion - is a big house of cards hiding a veritable money tree. Maybe I’m too cynical, but I don’t think they’re in it to make sure kids apply to enough safeties.</p>

[Pea]

<p>

How do I begin to respond to this string of non sequiturs?

</p>

<p>I know … I tried but what does he mean?</p>

[collegealum314]

<p>I don’t think the expectation of formality or writing quality is the same for a blog as for an opinion column. I think a blog is expected to be more conversational.</p>

<p>Assessments of writing quality should reflect this.</p>

[poetgrl]

<p>noimagination, yes, as the rest of my post stated, they are desperately attempting to attract an audience because they are not doing all that well…in terms of figuring out how to make money in an era when most people, particularly young people, get thier news online. Agree completely.</p>

[ParentOfIvyHope]

<p>

How do I begin to respond to this string of non sequiturs?</p>

<p>Believe it or not, some students prefer Pomona to MIT or even Harvard. </p>

<p>A 2320 is a 2320 is a 2320, whether it’s at Pomona or MIT or Harvard. </p>

<p>Pomona is a safety for no one. No one. A safety school is one to which a student is virtually guaranteed admission. No college with an admissions rate of under 20% is a safety for any student.

</p>

<p>I only believe in numbers.</p>

<p>Last I checked Princeton has an acceptance rate of 29% for SAT1 > 2300.
Please check Pomona SAT1 > 2300 acceptance rate before stating that it is not a safety for top students.</p>

[noimagination]

<p>^ Where do you get that data? Naviance data from a particular high school, or what?</p>

<p>Pomona does not guarantee admission to students based on any objective statistic. The chances may be good for some students, but it is not a safety unless admission is guaranteed.</p>

[wjb]

<p>

Last I checked Princeton has an acceptance rate of 29% for SAT1 > 2300.

</p>

<p>From the Pomona CDS, SAT means for this year’s freshman class:</p>

<p>Critical Reading 735
Math 727
Writing 733</p>

<p><a href=“https://wfs.pomona.edu/jlr04747/www/FactSheet%2009-10v2.pdf?uniq=hd401m[/url]”>https://wfs.pomona.edu/jlr04747/www/FactSheet%2009-10v2.pdf?uniq=hd401m&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>From the Princeton CDS, SAT 25/75 for the freshman class:</p>

<p>Critical Reading 690-790
Math 700-790
Writing 690-780</p>

<p><a href=“http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Pretty darn close.</p>

<p>You don’t only believe in numbers, POIH. You only believe what you want to believe, and that is that research universities are on every level superior and preferable to LACs. The numbers don’t bear you out.</p>

[Youdon_tsay]

<p>This thread has turned nutty.</p>

[poetgrl]

<p>I know. Right? It’s fantastic. :D</p>

[twomules]

<p>After a long hiatus, I am back on CC.</p>

<p>The Pomona issue has more to do than just her stats. Typically LACs get more applications from females than males. My daughter’s incoming class at Pomona had a male acceptance rate of 20%. The females rate was 10%. Most likely it was her gender that did her in.</p>

[father05]

<p>Hahahaha, I haven’t really been on here for about a year, but after sifting through most of this thread, my main impression was wow, POIH hasn’t learned anything in the last 1500 posts…</p>

[bluebayou]

<p>

But she did get into UCLA–which argues for very good stats. At our school, a person is much more likely to get into USC than UCLA…that’s what makes this all a head scratching puzzle.

</p>

<p>Actually, I think these two data points are telling: USC is BIG on test scores relative to GPA, and the UCs are just the opposite.</p>

[screwitlah]

<p>can i just express my amazement that my innocent question about what her stats were has snowballed into a 3-page monster about Pomona? okay, so she never posted her stats? i would have been happy with that answer.</p>

[bovertine]

<p>^^^No question is innocent on CC. Some are just more guilty than others. :)</p>

[mousegray]

<p>It’s exactly because of threads like this, and the inane direction(s) it has gone, that the girl blogger’s writing is so self conscious and ingratiating. Ugh to all this.</p>

[epiphany]

<p>Post 154 is correct. And actually of all the schools mentioned, USC cares the most about scores. Easier to get in with a 3.2UW gpa + 2300+ score than with a 3.8UW (same courses) and 2100 score.</p>

[QuantMech]

<p>lol, bovertine</p>

[CountingDown]

<p>I remember seeing a cite that Pomona is mandated by its charter to be 50/50 M/F. If more young women apply than men, that makes the odds tougher right there.</p>

<p>Agree that Pomona is noone’s safety.</p>

[woohoo2011]

<p>Goodness… maybe I am too optimistic… or maybe it’s because I don’t have all that much confidence… But I think she is still amazing to get into those colleges! Forget the colleges she was rejected by! She got IN to GREAATTT universities… Some kids in my school can’t even get into community colleges (lol… as funny as that is) She is amazing! And so are all the seniors who have gotten accepted to SOMEWHERE!</p>