The downside of honors

amdgmom
Mon, 22 May 2006 07:58:07 +0000

Packmom,

In my limited experience with state systems - 2 kids, 1 system - the reason they don’t leave a lot of room for writing is that they admit mostly by the numbers (class rank, GPA & test scores). Our flagship school even kindly provides a grid on its website so that you can estimate your chances for acceptance. Half of the on-line application is devoted to verifying that you deserve in-state tuition. The “essay” is a short answer to the question “Why State U?”

So, if your system is like mine, the adcom probably doesn’t pay nearly as much attention to the activities/honors as the privates do. S1 was admitted to the second-most selective state school by the numbers; he had few activities and no honors. S2 was a more complete applicant, but I don’t think he would have been admitted to the flagship without the right set of numbers.