Things you've found give people a false sense of security about getting into college

Applying to College
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<p>1) Valedictorian. a 4.00 GPA or whatever your val has isn’t very different from anything 3.95 and above. It’s merely a title bestowed upon you. Same goes for salutatarian.</p>

<p>2) Legacy, this one is annoying. My friend said “if I want to get into MIT, I’ll have my grandpa sign something”. He has a good GPA (above 3.5 UW), in full IB, but he doesn’t do anything aside from that.</p>

<p>3) URM. I find this one the least true among everything, but I’ve heard some kids say “I’m hispanic, I don’t NEED to work hard to get into a good school”, etc. URM is a hook/leaning point, not an insta win.</p>

<p>4) Being in tens of tens of club. </p>

<p>Anything else?</p>

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<p>I disagree with URM, while its not an instahook, it definitely helps. Have you heard of any 2300+ URM’s rejected from any top schools?</p>

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<p>the majority of URMs get rejected. i do think people put way to much into its influence.</p>

<p>i would add SAT/ACT test scores to the list</p>

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<p>How do SAT’s give people a false sense of security? Many state schools even have specific formulas that revolve around the SAT. Academic index is 2/3 based on SAT!</p>

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<p>^^i wasn’t talking about state schools but more selective ones. but yes i guess test scores do give accurate security to some schools.</p>

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<p>I’ve seen many students overestimate the boost that athletic talent will give them in admissions.<br>

  1. I think it’s hard for some students to understand that being the best in a region in a sport does not mean that they are outstanding compared to the whole recruiting pool.
  2. There are some sports that have more power in the admissions office than others.</p>
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<p>1) Having students from your previous class year get into prestigious low-acceptance rate colleges as a indicator of next year’s chances. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen again, perhaps not to the same colleges but equally prestigious ones, but there’s no guarantee that this year’s class will have similar results.</p>

<p>2) Having a private college counselor.</p>

<p>3) Having recommendation letters from high status VIPs (congressmen, big time alumnus, highly regarded professor) who don’t really know you and just write as a matter of being a family friend (it’ll be obvious to the ad com).</p>

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<p>I agree with the SAT point. Some kids log on to collegeboard’s site, see that they got a 2350, and immediately think: wow, I guess it’s time to apply to HYPSM, Penn, Columbia…Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great score, but you’re not gonna succeed in a 7-part(recs, essays, course rigor, gpa/rank, sat 1, sat 2/APs, ec’s) process by nailing one single aspect.</p>

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<p>The legacy one is definitely not always true, same goes for the being-in-thousands-of-clubs one. Being valedictorian does help though, they shoudl already be pretty smart.
The URM thing really bugs me, but sometimes it is true.</p>

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<p>I agree with ChoklitRain. It’s always a plus to have these (except for the tons of clubs aspect; you want 6 quality ones) but most people cannot pull have fulfilling the rest of the “requirements” if you will.
The salutatorian had a college counselor and she only got into GWU. Which is great, but she got rejected by all the ivies when the college counselor told her Penn would practically be a safety (who the heck tells that to anyone???)</p>

<p>The valedictorian problem is that even though you have the highest gpa, itcould mean that all you do is stay at home and do homework; you might not necessarily have any other passion except being a “robot.”</p>

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<p>I’m not disagreeing with you, but how many URMs with 2300+ have you ever seen?</p>

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<p>Be in 6 clubs? I don’t see how you could dedicate a good amount of time to each while participating in other ECs. And unless you’re doing something significant like winning regional/state competitions for science olympiad or quiz bowl, clubs really don’t carry much weight.</p>

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<p>so do I have a false sense of security about getting into college? I have alumni connections to UPenn, will be valedictorian, and have a 2300.</p>

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<p>^ yuuuppp ^</p>

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You have to apply ED at Penn to make your legacy worth anything. And you would probably get in ED.</p>

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<p>Yeah… URMs with 2300+ scores don’t get rejected because there are, at least for African American students, usually only about 1700 students who get a 700 or above on one section - let alone all three - let alone 2300+.</p>

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<p>I think, at least for the very top colleges, test scores do people in. Perfect (or extremely high) scores alone can not guarantee anything close to an acceptance at these schools. </p>

<p>Someone also mentioned science olympiad: even national gold medals can’t guarantee anything. There was a junior last year from our school who won a gold and bronze, and he didn’t get into any of his top choices. Extend this analysis into other prestigous competitions (quiz bowl individual places, AIME/USAMO, etc.)</p>

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<p>^ so basically while URM isn’t a lock if you don’t have the stats. If you fit the stats of the top 50% of a school you are applying to AND are URM, you are a lock?</p>

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<p>"Be in 6 clubs? I don’t see how you could dedicate a good amount of time to each while participating in other ECs. And unless you’re doing something significant like winning regional/state competitions for science olympiad or quiz bowl, clubs really don’t carry much weight. "
Sorry, I should have said activities, not clubs. Gahh. But yeah, 6 quality/significant activities to fill the common app, not just a bunch of random clubs.</p>

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<p>nothing is ever a “lock” that’s the point of this thread</p>

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<p>I think I will go on a rant about this thread for a little while:</p>

<p>1) The thread says getting into college. I think being valedictorian is a good lock for most colleges. USNWR Rankings top 20 is only a small portion of the colleges in the US and the thread does say getting into college, not getting into HYPSM. For example there is the Texas top 10%, UC top 4%, even in Oregon if a student graduates and maintains 3.0+ they are guaranteed admissions. The list can go on, so I would have to say having a very high GPA or rank is not a sense of false security. </p>

<p>2) I don’t really agree with URM, URM is a sense of security. I am not saying that every URM that applies will be accepted into college, but URM on average do have lower test scores, GPA, so a qualified applicant will have a greater chance, so there is security in URM status. Just because its not 100% does not mean its false security. That is like saying investing more than $300,000 is a false sense of security, because only $250,000 is FDIC insured, most likely the bank won’t go broke overnight (maybe have to reconsider that with the economic recession, but meh), but its not 100%, there for is the security false. I don’t think so. </p>

<p>3) Test scores, having high test scores should give one more security about their chances at any school. A person with a 2300 should feel more confident than a person with a 1900, it might not be true, the percentage of 2300%+ accepted students is higher than 1900-2000 SAT scores, just look at the data, its not a false sense of security. There is security, its not just a 100%. </p>

<p>I think I could go on and on with the rest of things you listed, I mean legacy is a factor weighed in and therefore should give one a greater advantage and thus should be a sense of security. To sort of qualify my statements and yours, people take these small securities and assume they will be a huge advantage, that is not true. Colleges look for the entire package and thus these advantages should be taken with a grain of salt.</p>

<p>In my opinion a true false sense of security is the advantage in applying ED or EA versus RD. Most likely a person who got in ED would probably get in RD and vice versa, some exceptions do apply.</p>