Silverturtle's Guide to SAT and Admissions Success

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1501

<p>silverturtle: this is simply amazing. I am trying to find a matrix you had come up with where you could plug in values to get a feedback on acceptance rate at a college. Do you still have it? Is it posted somewhere?</p>

<p>Also, when you say legacy does that include only children of undergraduates or are graduate alumni kids also considered legacies? I am talking about colleges like Princeton and other HYPS-M.</p>

1502

<p>If your first generation, how much of a boost is that realistically? From a Harvard viewpoint:</p>

<p>Scenario One: “Hmmm…Both his parents are only high school graduates…moving on.”</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>Scenario Two: “Hmmm…Both his parents are only high school graduates…we’re going to keep that in mind as we continue reading his app”.</p>

<p>Which one is it?</p>

1503

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<p>In 2009 I wrote a chancing tool using Excel. I haven’t been releasing it lately, though, and in fact have been doing my best to suppress its dissemination. You can find it around if you really look.</p>

<p>I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but I have sensed that it does more harm than good. It tends generally to over-predict chances for highly competitive applicants but can sometimes under-predict for less qualified candidates – a sort of exaggeration on both counts. Last summer, I started work on a more aesthetically pleasing, better calibrated, and more helpfully guiding version. I haven’t released this one yet (mostly because I negligently left it on a computer that I don’t have access to right now), but when I do (I might try to link it with the book project in some way), I’ll certainly make it known on CC so I can get feedback. </p>

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<p>I mean legacy however the school in question means it. In some cases this means only undergraduate alumni; in others, a broader definition is used. I don’t know about all of HYPSM off the top of my head, though I am confident that Harvard observes the stricter, “Harvard College”-only definition of legacy. Try emailing the colleges to get clarification.</p>

1504

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<p>This sort of finer subjective question is hard to answer unless you find a widely experienced, candid admissions officer (a general problem that suggests the difficulties I have found in writing a successful chancing program). Based on the results I’ve analyzed, I have to say that being a first-generation applicant, while helpful in terms of contributing to a contextual picture of a applicant whose success exists despite his or her circumstances, is not in itself particularly significant, so the first mind-quote is probably closer to the reality.</p>

1505

<p>thanks silverturtle. You have a best seller on your hands… I hope you will publish your work. </p>

<p>My dad went to Princeton graduate school, but he has no buildings named after him! I wonder if Princeton will give me extra points for it.</p>

<p>I am an Asian from a very competitive region and any boost is a help.</p>

<p>I am curious - where are you going to college now?</p>

1506

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<p>I don’t know of Princeton’s legacy definition; but if being the child of a graduate alumnus qualifies, you would certainly be benefited despite not having a major donor as a parent. (In fact, having a generously donating parent falls under a different category of admissions hook, euphemistically called a developmental admit.) Legacy applicants are accepted at about four times the overall acceptance rate at Princeton, though this is partly attributable to merely correlational factors (i.e., alumni children are generally more qualified anyways).</p>

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<p>I am on medical leave from Brown.</p>

1507

<p>Silverturtle,</p>

<p>I have trouble downloading your Sat guide. Would you please repost the link?</p>

1508

<p>Yea same here. Couldn’t open link either for pdf file of the guide. Thanks</p>

1509

<p>Whoa!! Amazing Job man!! Thanks a ton :)</p>

1510

<p>You okay SilverTurtle? I hope your medical problem is not too serious.</p>

1511

<p>Silverturle</p>

<p>So Basically my school didn’t allow me to join Calc Club, NHS, etc because I didn’t “qualify” (like for example to be in Calc Club, you have to be in AP Calc). But I just finished reading your guide that said that colleges aren’t fond of people busting EC’s junior year to look good. </p>

<p>Will schools cut me some slack because of it?</p>

1512

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<p>This link to a PDF download continues to work for me: [Silverturtle’s</a> Guide to SAT and Admissions Success.pdf](<a href=“File sharing and storage made simple”>Silverturtle's Guide to SAT and Admissions Success). (As stated before, though, formatting problems persist.) </p>

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<p>Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks for the interest.</p>

1513

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<p>There is rarely a salient, specific gap in someone’s extracurricular history: Admissions officers will not notice the absence of your participation in any particular club, such as National Honor Society. They care about what you have done and what this shows about you, your interests, and your potential. </p>

<p>EC’s joined junior year have less indicative value along those lines because they are more likely to be joined to get into college rather than because of genuine interest and initiative independent of college admissions.</p>

<p>However, regarding the lack of qualification you describe: I do wonder what criteria are tripping you up and the context surrounding those issues.</p>

1514

<p>Why is this thread no longer stickied? It is still as useful as it ever was.</p>

1515

<p>^ Trinity explained here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13924484-post3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13924484-post3.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

1516

<p>Hey silver, amazing guide. May i ask what you scored on your SAT? (Assuming it was out of 1600 during your time)</p>

1517

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<p>Actually, when I took the SAT, numeral alphabets were a newfangled buzz, though they were gaining currency. My SAT score is in fact conveyed via a combination of force-variable rock thuds. </p>

<p>I took the SAT in January 2010 during my junior year and scored 2400.</p>

1518

<p>@Silverturtle: ROFL! And I thought you were some old dude sitting at a computer while knitting a sweater :)</p>

1519

<p>I’m kind of confused on this sentence here:</p>

<p>I looked up and saw a person stealing my burrito!</p>

<p>because can’t “stealing my burrito” be just a present participle that modifies person?</p>

1520

<p>Silverturtle, you are truly an inspiration.</p>

<p>Seriously, this is the most helpful thread I’ve ever seen on CC. </p>

<p>You provide solace to thousands of SAT-and-college-obsessed high schoolers.</p>

<p>Never stop :)</p>