Imagine you’re an admissions officer at a prestigious university. You have to choose between the two listed above.
Now the Well-Rounded Student Athlete does:
Varsity sports, like Soccer and Tennis
Volunteers at their local nursing home/hospital
Created a community service group among his friends, where they go out and help nonprofit organizations.
Student Council (President)
Model UN Club (helped get his school to start one)
Gets A’s, ranging from 90-100 (meaning him/her could have a 92 in a class, which in some schools is considered a B+)
NHS
Yearbook Editor in Chief
Takes Pictures for the school’s events. (Football Games, Festivals)
Gets an SAT score around 2100-2400 or an ACT score from 34-36
receives some awards for sports and honor roll.
and has 250+ volunteer hours.
DISCLAIMER: If you are described as the awkward reclusive genius, I don’t mean to offend you with the word awkward but what he/she does:
Doesn’t do sports, but is in clubs like robotics. Probably president of the robotics club.
Volunteers sometimes, but not as much as the WRSA. (Well-Rounded Student Athlete.)
Gets amazing A’s like 97-100 which causes them to kind of stay cooped up in their rooms and they study their butts off.
NHS
Takes a higher advanced classes than the WRSA.
Plays Violin and receives awards for playing.
competes in Academic Events and receives local awards in his school’s district. (Science Fair, Academic Meets)
Gets a perfect SAT score/ ACT score.
Valedictorian
and has about 150 volunteer hours.
Now these two “people” I just described are not real. OR are they?
Some people are both the WRSA, and the ARG, and that’s great. That’s really what I want to be. But being both the WRSA and the ARG is pretty rare. mainly they are split into two.
So I ask, which would you choose and why?
basically, the extrovert (WRSA) or the introvert that is super smart (ARG)
It’s not realistic to have to pick one or the other. With hundreds and thousands of positions open, you will find that they manage to choose some of each.
Definitely the WRSA. Schools want to see students who pursue what they love instead of staying home and studying all the time. Being involved in your high school is something that colleges want and will see in your essays.
Colleges can’t tell personalities by looking at resumes. Assuming that the “reclusive” student’s essays were well-written, he or she would have a decent chance, especially with some respectable awards.
“WRSA” type people are, more often than not, rejected from highly selective colleges.
The major problem with this exorcise is you’ve reduced the two students to a list. No college, especially the ones you probably have in mind, accepts applicants based on mere lists of achievements grades and test scores. Behind each activity, achievement, grade is intent, motive, and yes, their personality. What’s missing is what they did for each of these activities, why they chose them and the impact of their participation on themselves and the team/community.
That’s why there is the Common App essay and supplemental essays, including the Why Us? essay. That’s why some colleges have interviews.
Student #1 wins. A 92 average is a solid A- and 3.7 on a 4.0 scale. The test scores you laid out are no worse than the 97% percentile. Student #1 would be more rare than student #2.
No elite school views itself as a place for introverts.
Fortunately schools have more than one slot open so no choice has to be made. I’ve heard admission officers say that they look for a well rounded class not a class of well rounded individuals so there is no clear cut answer.
I don’t think these two “students” could possibly be competing with each other for the same spot- they are in totally different pools. Each will be competing with other applicants within his/her own pool. Who knows from school to school, year to year, how the different pools are divided but it sounds pretty remote that those two students would actually be in the same pool unless there was some cross over similarity such as legacy status.
Unless the first student is recruitable for those sports, why would the prestigious college take a student who has a B+ average over a higher-performing student? Other than sports and grades, they’re really not all that different.
At least at our moderately affluent public high school, the type A students were almost a dime a dozen. The type B were more rare, thus I would say, slightly more interesting to a school to explore more fully.
It all depends. You have to ask yourself a few questions. First of all, what kind of school are we? The answer to this will answer the next question, will this student thrive here because this is the school for them? Do we really need another violinist? Is our team for X sport already filled and is there a person out in our applicant pool who is better at playing this sport?
Take a look at my questions. I can’t really pit the two against each other. They’re sort of in their own sub categories.
I guess if, theoretically, they were pitted against one another, we would have to take a look at a few more things. What about their essays? Which one has expressed the utmost desire (or greater desire than the other) to attend my fine school? Which one is most likely to enroll? Which one is most likely to graduate should they enter my institution? I don’t want my graduation rates to go down, along with my ranking or highly academic reputation. #1 seems more fearless, like darn, they let their SAT slip a little bit just to get more involved in something they like; I don’t want 1,000 kids holed up in the library, where’s the diversity? Or…are we sure they aren’t padding? Does their essay convey to me that they actually have passion (can help with #2 as well)? Which science fair did #2 participate in? Do I have another Evan O’Dorney on my hands? Or do I have a future president in my hands (#1) who can go out there and lead, this adding more prestige to my school? Which one is more suited for my school? Do I have enough of one of these “types”?
I have no idea. Honestly, they represent the diversity of my campus, this representing the diversity of the world. I want different types. You know, if I am selective, why can’t I have them both?
This really is a pointless game, but since it’s started:
True, but student A does not have a B+ average. Nothing indicates what his average is. My HS transcript, FWIW, showed no difference between a low A and a high A, although, of course, the rec’s can be affected.
But, to hazard my guess, it totally depends on what the school is looking for that year, so the answer might be both, A, B, or neither. Who knows? Personally, without reading their essays, I would not even hazard a guess.
My school seems to have a lot of both of these types of students. Both get into top schools, but I’d give a slight edge to the ARG from what I see. (I’m definitely more WRSA)
I know people like to parse out every GPA point and every test score down to 10 points, but let me point out that there isn’t much difference between the stats on the two students presented.
GPA is indicative of future performance, but not so much when we are talking about mid-range 'A’s versus top 'A’s. That can easily have more to do with the individual HS or even the student’s home life and habits.
The SAT scores are a little different but not markedly. You could have a student who takes the SAT once versus someone who takes it multiple times in order to pump it up to “perfect”. The difference is not too far outside the standard error.
In short, the numerical differences are actually less determinate than the other aspects of the application. We know that colleges like to create a well-rounded class, but you will also see that they are really interested in having students who go out and do something and make a difference. In that respect, you might be better off going with the student who seems to have demonstrated a wider base of social skills.
Just because student B does not participate in sports does not mean that they are not competitive. The OP actually said that student B participates in academic and robotic competitions. It’s unfortunate that many people don’t acknowledge or value these clubs or teams and the effort required.