<p>Did Arianna get in?? Any update?</p>
<p>She did not. Her mom posted a follow up comment to the original story last December.</p>
<p>Where is she going in the fall? Anyone know? FB?</p>
<p>These were the schools she was “recruited by” according to her profile on an on-line site.I notice she’s Quaker. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up at Earlham, a place where lots of Quaker students go.</p>
<p>“Bryn Athyn College
St. John’s University
Simmons College
SUNY Buffalo
Syracuse University
Bloomfield College
University of Bridgeport
Green Mountain College
College of Mount Saint Vincent
Nazareth College of Rochester
Caldwell College
CUNY – York College
Mount Mary College
Earlham College
Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts
Baylor University
Mills College
Westminster College
Concordia College-New York
Defiance College
Iona College
Marymount University
Wesley College
Saint Leo University
Bay Path College
Paul Smith’s College
Macaulay Honors College at CUNY
University College Dublin”</p>
<p>I knew a similar situation with Boston College. The young lady did have SATs within the mid 50% range and excellent grades at a top school that did have a good number of kids accepted there each year. Her grandfather and some other relatives were deep pocket development alums. Yes, there is a building named for her grandfather and some fund also so named. The development department of the college welcomed her interest, encourage her application, and someone who personally knew granddad was in contact with the mom and her throughout the process.</p>
<p>BUT…she was NOT, strictly speaking a legacy. Yes, her grandfather and some other relatives, maybe a lot of relatives went to BC. But the definition of legacy was mother or father getting a bachelor’s degree from the school. Not grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts, siblings. So she was not legacy. She was also, not, strictly speaking development. It doesn’t matter what was donated 50, 20 or even 10 years ago, unless there is a potential of future heavy duty contributions and donations. And in this case there was not. The faucet was turned off, grandpa was deceased. Though there was some involvement by the development folks there, particularly personal attention from an elderly person who knew the grandfather personally, there wasn’t much if any clout there. Definitely, she was in a “party of interest” category, as many, many kids who apply to colleges are, but that is not a category with much if any punch, particularly at highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Looking at her very competitive all girls Catholic school naviance reports, she was outside of the circle of acceptance. Not far outside of it, but outside of it. Her grades put her in the top 20% of the class when the top 10% was pretty much needed for acceptance with half the kids in the top 15% getting accepted. Her SAT scores were within BC’s mid 50% range, but for kids accepted from her Catholic high school and really from any of the Catholic feeder schools to BC, her stats were bordering the lower 25%.maybe in there. The fact of the matter is that here in our area, the Catholic counselors know pretty well who is a good BC candidate from their schools and who is not. That she had some “pull”, possible legacy and development connections made it so that the GC felt it was worth a try, but without some oomph behind those special categories, it was not going to be enough, and the oomph was not there. Without that “pull” BC would have been an unlikely college for her. The super lottery ticket.</p>
<p>She did not get accepted. Big disappointment. A few years later, little brother applied from a boys’ Catholic prep school. Grades not as high, but difficult subjects, very, very high SATS, like in the high 2200, low 2300 range. He was accepted without going through any of the personal contacts. My friend was so embarrassed from the fiasco of her daughter’s application a couple of years earlier, that she did not make a big deal of son’s application and made no effort to contact any alums or development folks. Just another app in the bunch and this school has about 50-60 kids applying to BC each year with about 20-25 accepted and less than half of them actually attending. Son was one of those accepted his year, but he turned them down, preferring Holy Cross and Colgate. ending up at one of those schools. </p>
<p>Had the girl been right at the edge of the accepted line of those who historically get into that school from hers, she would have probably been accepted. She was not, so she was not. The young man was within the circle, and he was accepted with no special connection needed. </p>
<p>Around here, there are ever, ever so many people connected to someone at a college. They know someone important, had a relative give lots of money, worked at the college, have a close dear friend, godmother, business partner with an in. I think the most select schools could fill their classes with the “other” connected category, and are therefore selective in making the determination as to who fits into the legacy and development categories. The “friends of” category is not a strong hook at all.</p>
<p>There are kids I know from one of my kids school with mid 1300 SATS (out of 1600) and solid B, B+ averages who were accepted to Cornell’s Hotel School. I saw them clearly on their college info notebook. No special factors listed. However, my son who applied in that category as his first choice (there were two choices of schools on the Cornell app) was immediately rejected. The first rejection of his class that year since it was on a rolling basis. He did get accepted in the spring at the second choice school which is supposed to be far more selective, stat wise, so go figure.</p>
<p>she calls herself an average applicant?
1910 sats and “nothing below a b” despite cramming in prep classes
and she took “challenging courses” but apparently that only included one ap her junior year</p>
<p>and her ecs are below average</p>
<p>and this place is the school that my guidance counsellor said i shouldn’t go for since there’s so much competition in my school for it. despite my “mediocre” 2270 in sats, 8 aps, solid grades and wide variety of interests (wide being relative to hers, my ecs are actually BELOW average compared to all)</p>
<p>she needs to get out more
…talking about the harshness of the college process when she has a rocket ship and we all have boats and canoes</p>
<p>but then again, she was rejected so… yeah it’s a cruel world for all of us</p>
<p>Google is our friend.</p>
<p>It turns out that Arianna Smith is at Hobart and William Smith College, and on the Novice Eight rowing squad: [Hobart</a> and William Smith Colleges - Herons find silver lining at Head of the Genesee](<a href=“http://www.hwsathletics.com/news/2010/10/16/WSRW_1016100140.aspx]Hobart”>Herons find silver lining at Head of the Genesee - Hobart and William Smith Colleges Athletics)</p>
<p>good for her.</p>
<p>Serveral random thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Bad idea to publish very substandard stats and grasp onto 5 generation status as a back-door in</li>
<li>REALLY bad idea for Mom (I assume it was Mom) to write what I interpret as an embittered, entitled response</li>
<li>I AM going to assume a 3.5ish GPA, as that is the mostly likely context to the grade statement made in the article. So, 3.5 GPA, 1910 SAT, white female, advantaged social setting. Given this , had a less than 1% chance of admittance outside the legacy hook. Given the public nature of this admissions decision, the adcom had NO CHOICE but to deny her. Imagine the uproar from far more qualified candidates who were denied and the public debate had she been admitted?</li>
<li>Given her academic performance (implied GPA, given 1910 with professional prep), I’m sure her experience at HWSC is and will be far more gratifying than her experience would have been at Cornell. The adcoms did her a favor.</li>
</ul>
<p>A question was raised on about page 3 about how much advantage legacy status gives… just guessing here, but I am going to say that multi-generational legacy boosts GPA by .2, and SAT by 200 points. Single generation legacy by half that. Developmental admit probably a little more than that. If my estimate is close to accurate (+.2 GPA, +200 SAT), she was still well below the midpoint of non-legacy admits. A little less than the bump that URMs would typically receive.</p>
<p>My friend’s daughter is on that list and her son was the year before. Both parents, a grandparent and a building with their last name on it and really not the stats to get in. But they are smart and hard workers and both are doing very well.</p>
<p>
and I’ll bet they didn’t publish their “really not the stats to get in” in a Cornell magazine in advance of the adcom’s decision :)</p>
<p>A google search reveals she now attends Hobart and William Smith. [Hobart</a> and William Smith Colleges - 2010-11 William Smith Rowing Roster](<a href=“http://www.hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1900]Hobart”>Arianna White - 2010-11 - William Smith Rowing - Hobart and William Smith Colleges Athletics)</p>
<p>Interesting read. I agree with others that her article essentially made admission impossible. Given the overall weakness of her qualifications, the university certainly wouldn’t have wanted that kind of public hassle. The adcoms were probably scratching their heads wondering why she took that route - and under her mother’s guidance, no less.</p>