<p>This thread is too funny. Well I HAVE only been on CC for a couple of weeks and what I’ve learnt is that the info here (especially in the What are my Chances thread), in combination with strategies of many students/parents at my D’s school only confirms that my D is doomed. Reasons as follows:</p>
<h1>My D did not start Kumon in 1st grade</h1>
<h1>My D will not be a val along with the 32 other students at her school.</h1>
<h1>She did not start Pre calc in 8th grade</h1>
<h1>She did not do Chem Honors in summer school before High School so that those pesky Science APs, not to mention AP Calc BC could all be completed by 11th grade</h1>
<h1>She could not handle AP Euro, AP Chem and AP Bio in the same year</h1>
<p>(sophmore) on top of several H subjects.</p>
<h1>She did not get accepted into RSI</h1>
<h1>She will get a couple of Bs (gasp) in this her Junior year after getting straight As in 9th and 10th but so what they didn’t include 4 or 5 APs so those A’s are worthless anyway.</h1>
<h1>She didn’t make NMF like those other 32 kids, and a possible commended just doesn’t cut the mustard.</h1>
<h1>She didn’t do the SAT in 8th grade and get a 2100</h1>
<h1>She’s done practice SATs in junior year and got one 2100 on a good day. Other test scores are too embarassing to mention.</h1>
<h1>She’s taken Ceramics for two years (what a waste)</h1>
<h1>She’s done independent research for 3 years but didn’t make International Intel</h1>
<h1>Her research is something she loves but marine zoology (on some obscure mollusk) just isn’t up to par with proving an obscure mathematical theorem or innovative cancer research or discovering a new galaxy or curing Parkinsons.</h1>
<h1>She doesn’t have AIME, USAMO, FBLA, TASP etc. all those required acronyms I hadn’t heard of until CC educated me in my profound ignorance and since she is no longer 11 years old, it’s just too late. Darn it, I should have put her in Kumon and intense tutoring in kindergarten like all those other parents did.</h1>
<h1>She doesn’t have 400 hours of community service because she took breaks during summer and watched too much Discovery Channel. What a disaster.</h1>
<h1>Her photography hobby, throwing pots at the wheel, visiting museums, exploring tidepools, exploring herself, finding out who she is as a person, and a ton of other activities are worth squat since time would better have been spent on self studying for 9 extra APs, SATS, ACTS, writing winning essays for international competitions, publishing novels, research papers, working in internships at research institutions, building clinics in Peru or Ghana, playing violin at Carnegie Hall, you name it.</h1>
<h1>she’s not a track or tennis prodigy, not URM, not legacy anywhere except at a Canadian university she has no interest in. Nor am I rich enough to fund a new building at Stanford let alone a garden shed in my backyard.</h1>
<p>She’s doomed. Asking for chances would just be public humiliation, a huge embarrasment never to be lived down.</p>
:o 
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