<p>besides all the requirements being important, what about extra stuff like additional writing samples, continuous letters to your interviewer etc.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>1 Interview If your completly strnage or your interviewer thinks that you would not attend the school your cooked…
2 Teacher recs what will the school recieve form you?
3 SSAT (measure grades between schools, how much is an A worht at school x vrs y?)
4 Grades (If you get good recs and a high SSAT but you have only B’s then how hard is your school, could it be better than the student who got a 60 on the SSAT and A’s?)
5 Essays (a good essay shows your commitment and how much you want to attend whatever school)
6 this is only somewhat of what yyou can offer to the school</p>
<p>What are some other factor you think can nudge a strong applicant’s file from the big pile into the little?</p>
<p>Already mentioned:
hooks, racial diversity, geographic diversity, parents’ college, sibling of current student, FA status, “holes” the school wants to fill.</p>
<p>I’ll take a stab at a few more:
-a letter from a trustee or well-connected alum. who knows you well. Don’t want to pi$$ off the big donors, do we?
-celebrity parent. Admitting movie star X’s son or pro. athelete Y’s daughter will help to bump up applications in the next few years.
-who interviewed you. If the admissions director really wants you you’re more likely to get in than the alum. interviewer’s pet. Of course, on the other side, if the top dog didn’t like you, your stellar grades and flawless recs. won’t help you.
-parental craziness. Purely something that will keep you out. Rude parents, pushy, humorless parents, attempts to bribe the admissions staff, etc… Who wants to deal with these people for the next 4-6 years?</p>
<p>What else can you think of?</p>
<p>Parents with mega $$$ - differentiated from celebrity parents. Might not raise applications next year but might lead to huge gifting down the road.</p>
<p>Not all schools want children of celebrity parents. The Overachievers talks a bit about that. It can be a hassle to have to have children with their own security guards at school.
Many elite prep schools do take bribes. They don’t really like to, but it’s the way things work. Of course, there’s a difference between personal bribes (probably could make them automatically reject an applicant) and school “donations” (could tip the scales).</p>
<p>bump for godot</p>
<p>personally i would not rank them all as top importance.
Sell what you have. =]</p>
<p>Also, if the school you attend now pushes you very hard, it could help…
And, personality. Not just your answers. Show your true self.</p>
<p>Bumping this thread - curious to see if people’s opinions have changed post March 10th. </p>
<p>My initial responses:
My ranking:
- Grades
- Teacher recs
- Interview
- EC’s***
- SSATs
- Essays</p>
<p>My thoughts now:
My ranking:
- Grades
- Teacher recs
- Interview
- EC’s***
- Essays
- SSATs</p>
<p>*** If you have an EC which fits a special need of the school, it can give you a big boost</p>
<p>Bottomline - The first 4 are the most important > gradess prove you can do the work, teacher recs show ability as well as character, a great interview can lead to your interviewer really championing you, and you need ECs - preferably more than one as these schools want doers and joiners</p>
<p>Wow creative1, exactly my point when I started this thread. Everyone judges each others chances on SSAT scores and imo and it seems yours, it just isn’t that important in the scheme of things.</p>
<p>I have spoken to friends who have worked in admissions offices, and you would be off the mark to think that SSAT scores are last on that list.</p>
<p>I thought that before and I feel even stronger about it now. If you’ve don’t have anything “special” to offer e.g. minority, strong sports or other ECs, etc, > sure - a great ssat score will help you, but more than any of the other items listed, I think schools will look past a less than stellar SSAT score. </p>
<p>This board focuses WAY too much on SSAT scores because the scores are easily quantifiable and therefore comparable across applicants. I think putting too much weight on scores is a huge mistake. </p>
<p>After going through the process with my child, I would put much greater weight on teacher recs and the interview than I previously thought and much less on the SSAT scores.</p>
<p>So, how would you rank things lintball?</p>
<p>Of course, we’re all biased by our own experiences.</p>
<p>What YOU would put a lot of weight on and what the admissions people put a lot of weight on may be different things. The reality is that they do not put a LOT of weight on any ONE thing, but they do look at grades/SSATs together as a unit. They EXPECT that a straight A student should have pretty good SSAT scores. It is when they don’t “jibe” with one another that they may look more carefully for the reasons why… that may come from teachers recs or from the parents statement. The school which I am most familiar does use the SSAT scores as a predictor of future success. I can not say this is true of ALL schools.</p>
<p>You can’t rank things, every applicant will be treated somewhat differently. Depending on their situation.</p>
<p>I still stand behind my original assessment as quoted below:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>lintball, using the ssat score to judge future success has nothing to do with whether or not they use it to accept someone. SSAT scores will not help the sit in the front of the TV kid, but great recs ec’s will more than make up for less than stellar SSAT scores. imo, there is way too much emphasis on SSAT and SAT scores when evaluating one’s chances for acceptance. </p>
<p>We are seeing a trend with more and more colleges turning away from SAT scores. imo there are better predictors than scores in evaluating prospective students.</p>
<p>prepparent, I didn’t say how I FELT one way or the other, I was only relaying infomation that I have gotten first hand from people who work in an admissions department of a prep school. Don’t shoot the messenger.</p>
<p>My guess is there are differences in how certain schools may weight ssat scores. We talked to schools (some of the most selective) who said ssat scores really weren’t that important of a factor.</p>