<p>The difference between successful college applicants and everyone else is “passion.” The parameters of “passion” are elusive, the exact recipe more closely guarded than Coke syrup or the Colonel’s ingredients. Only admissions officers are capable of recognizing and rewarding “passion” and only then if they attended institutions where they are not currently employed.</p>
<h1>infinity+3</h1>
<p>Anecdotal = statistical.
Corollary A: Definition of the problem and the variables doesn’t matter. Only the data do.</p>
<h1>infinity+4</h1>
<p>Everyone looks good in Armani. The exact same size, shape, style, and color Armani. Regardless of the prevailing climate or the event.</p>
<h1>infinity+5</h1>
<p>Mother was a troglodyte. There is no sane reason to avoid discussing politics and religion with strangers.</p>
<h1>infinity+6</h1>
<p>None of this applies to any person I’ve raised, known, casually encountered, or read about. Or my own self.</p>
<p>The difference between a 2290 SAT and a 2300+ Sat is HUGE. The former puts you in the semi-exclusive 2200-2290 club, but the latter deserves the uber exclusive 2300+ club. So there’s no exclusive club? Either semi or uber only? God forbid you only make semi, or worse (shudder) under 2200 which makes you what? an intellectual plebian, a commoner, an embarrassment?</p>
<p>“If you can’t self-study an AP, you are a worthless individual.”</p>
<p>Isn’t totally applicable.</p>
<p>Self-studying is practically unheard of where I’m from (I might as well have regarded it as an urban legend until I came on CC). Really, in our eyes, self-studying is what’s worthless and a “pansy, easy way out” compared to taking the actual classes offered at our schools, of which there is one for every AP test in existence.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>CC is actually a forum for fact-checkers from The Washington Post and data analysts from PIIRS. Fact checkers cannot abide personal observations–unless they are accompanied by a lovely Cosmo or two.</p></li>
<li><p>The children of CC posters are thrilled to be identified on campus as CC celebreties. Be sure to include all sorts of personal information about your child and your child’s school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As a follow-up to cheers’ post above- Your children especially enjoy it when you meet, in person, ON THEIR CAMPUS, a parent you have gotten to know on CC! The only thing worse is when you, a parent, meet up with a STUDENT on their campus who you have gotten to know through CC.</p>
<p>I’ve had a great time reading this thread the past few days!</p>
<p>I finally have a few to add…</p>
<p>x^n: Every kid needs to go to college, even if they aren’t interested in school. Being an auto mechanic [add in your favorite technical field here] won’t pay [though it would pay x-times more than that job as a manager as xyz department store] nor will it be ‘prestigous’ enough to stay a member of this family! </p>
<p>y^n: The only people who work trade jobs are those who had <1.0 GPAs and IF they took the SAT they scored sub 900 (old scale). </p>
<p>z^n: All kids are prepared for college at the end of high school. People just don’t work for awhile to figure things out.</p>
<ol>
<li>The children of CC posters are thrilled to be identified on campus as CC celebreties. Be sure to include all sorts of personal information about your child and your child’s school.</li>
</ol>
<p>Ain’t that the truth, cheers. LOL. Nobody could find our kids MOWC. WE were sneaky. Uh-uh. Nobody could see through our security. Couldn’t possibly be ID’ed. LOL.</p>
<p>Everybody on CC worth his salt knows that the acronym ECs really stands for Extraordinary Contributions. It has nothing to do with mere extracurriculars. That’s bunk and misleading since ECs are expected to include such things as publishing research, participating in the Tchaikovsky Piano competition, raising $100k for charity, being on an Olympic team, and such stuff.
Well rounded means that one must have made at least 5 extraordinary contributions, all showing passion of course.
Lop-sided means having done two of them, but in that case they must be of international acclaim where one has won the very top prize, with passion ofcourse.</p>
<h2>. University of Chicago is a safety school. Unfortunately, you will probably be shot right on the quad. Plus, it’s in the Midwest…otherwise known as the boonies.</h2>
<h2>. Harvard is my safety school because I’m a legacy. I plan to note on my application that if they don’t admit me, my parents will never donate to the school again.</h2>
<h2>. If I consider the ranking of a school, I’m a prestige whore and need to only look at fit. If I consider a school out of the top 20, I’m being unrealistic as to how prestige can help me get a job.</h2>
<h2>. You should analyze EC trends in students across the country in 8th grade to determine which EC will be a desired shortage area when you apply for college. Then take up that EC as your passion.</h2>
<h2>. If you’re from Kansas, you probably will get into a top 20 college because Kansas is underrepresented. However, since your schooling was obviously subpar (being in Kansas, after all), you’ll fail out of school the first year and end up at State U.</h2>
<h2>. Paying for your child to have a community service experience is soooo gauche. You should really wait until the White House calls your son/daughter and asks them to take on an important project for the good of the country.</h2>
<h2>. Only a 2350 and 4.3? No way will you get into HYP - ALL the applicants have at least that much!</h2>
<h2>. A 2350 and a 4.3? HYP will HAVE to take you - based only on those 2 stats, you DESERVE to get in!</h2>
<p>BTW, the grad student forum is so much more sane (usually) - I guess we actually do grow up less neurotic (eventually).</p>
<p>Actually, I hear that one way that the ad coms weed out candidate is that they automatically reject any one who sends in an essay containing the word “definately”. :p</p>
<p>= The only thing worse than attending Cornell is attending UPenn. Everyone out of the tri-state area will think you went to Penn State instead and will label you as a binge-drinking loser who attended a crappy state-school.</p>
<p>= The worst thing you could do is attend the following:</p>
<p>-St. Olaf
-Colgate
-Dickinson
-Purdue
-Butler
-Curry
-Kalamazoo
-Oral Roberts</p>
<p>= The worst thing you could do besides attending Northwestern is attending Northeastern. You might as well go to a crappy state-school instead.</p>
<p>= The emphasis that a school places in undergraduate research is the most important factor in deciding whether or not you should go there.</p>
<p>= All the good schools are in the northeast.</p>
<p>–Everyone’s child is either gifted or possesses a learning disability. A necessary corrollary is that no one’s child ever gets less than an A in school because he/she is only capable of getting a B or a C–the child is/was unmotivated, subjected to emotional trauma, screwed by a teacher, or the victim of the aforementioned learning disability.</p>
<p>–Everyone should want to attend a school where students can and do have frequent outside of class contact with their professors. All college professors, by definition, are social, erudite, and able to impart pearls of wisdom to students who want nothing more from their out of class time than to spend it with people 2-3 times their age (after all, we’re 2-3 times their age, and we’re their “best friends”). </p>
<p>–Students cannot receive appropriate academic stimulation unless everyone at their academic institution is on the same academic level. You can’t learn anything from academic inferiors. If there’s anybody at the school who is at a lesser level, they are inescapable–they will hunt your child down and turn him/her into a Greek loving party animal.</p>
<p>–If anyone asks for advice about suitable schools, it is imperitive to provide at least 2 names of small, eastern LACs, even if the poster has asked about midwestern State Us. They’ll thank you later.</p>
:p</p>