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Well said, LF (speaking as a 5 digit poster… )</p>
<p>Bel, yes, it starts with the magnitude of great applicants. But the filtering is not about elevating sub-stats kids. It’s important that top performers communicate that “more.” You’re not building just a classroom or competition team. </p>
<p>There’s no easy way to say it, but when you are facing down the 10k+ top students, not all of them show the strengths (outside stats) that build an interesting class that can function as a vibrant community.</p>
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<p>It may be that the adcom was impressed with your son’s particular service project and self-study initiative because in the context of all that was your son, that was compelling and interesting. That does not mean that Brown had a uniform “formula” where service projects plus self-study AP’s plus X scores = in. Different parts of an app may be compelling for some people and not for others. That’s how you get some 2400’s in and some 2400’s not in. That’s how you get some student body presidents in and some not in. And so on.</p>
<p>BTW I want to apologize if I’ve been too harsh! I really say a lot of things with a very questioning tone, and it comes across as harsh online, and I don’t mean to be. So my apologies to those I’ve offended.</p>
<p>Good! Yolo, now that you have found the TOS gospel, you might better understand what was wrong in your posts such as the 399, and consider the reaction it generated as an attempt setting a train on acceptable tracks.</p>
<p>First of all, I’m Yolochka, not yolo. Second, I’d like to point out that xiggi’s posts continue to run against the expectation of this forum “to be a friendly and welcoming place”. If moderators are fine with it, I’ll ignore her posts from now on.</p>
<p>And finally, PizzaGirl, even though you come out as abrasive sometimes, I feel you are a good person, not nasty as some other posters here. Please forgive my occasional teasing. The nastiness here is so contagious that I find myself occasionally falling into the trap.</p>
<p>You REALLY do not get it. This community is indeed welcoming, and has been for a long time. New members have the excuse of not knowing the basic rules. But not forever. Hope you realize your latest post defies -yet again- the basic rules on judging other members.</p>
<p>And, fwiw, we routinely shorten the names around here. TPG, LI, Jym, PG, QM, and plenty more. You see, I was trying to be inclusive, Yolo.</p>
<p>Yolochka’s posts are pretty tame compared to the insults and digs thrown around on this forum.</p>
<p>Overall and over time, the idea is to trade info, experiences and give place for questions. We get to know each other’s positions, perspectives and, to some extent, the value they can offer. I have zero issue with any poster occasionally “dishing it out.” The challenge, IMO, isn’t kindness. It’s in conveying what we mean and trying to understand the other guy’s perspective. This thread morphed from disagreement over whether Suzy was funny to personal attacks and not-nice accusations and labels. I often find it hard to accept the attitude that “I did it, but you’d better not.” Or “I was joshing but I know you weren’t.” Especially when it’s after the fact. And some cry foul while excusing their own words. Think about it.</p>
<p>TheGFG, what you write about your school makes me feel lucky about our school district. We had more rigid policies in the past, but now everybody is aware of the admission hurdles and they try to give kids opportunities to be competitive. The number of AP courses tripled and kids are encouraged to dual enroll at our local university. It’s incredible, but taking university courses is absolutely free for us, including the textbooks.</p>
<p>I don’t know what to suggest if even taking summer classes doesn’t help to accelerate. In the past, what some parents did in our district, they started with a private school (we have a few in the area, including religious schools), or sometimes transferred a kid to a private for a few years prior to high school. It’s easier to accelerate at a private school. Then they would transfer the kids back to public school. At high school level the placement is done based on classes the kid had prior to 9th grade, so having biology and algebra 2 behind would help to get into the fast track.</p>
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<p>Here’s the thing. If, tomorrow, all the elite schools decided to go back to pure numbers-driven, and they racked and stacked by SAT’s … so? So, you’re right, some of our (collective) kids might not get into “elite” schools and might only get into “excellent” schools. Oh well. If that’s how the system would work, then so be it. The schools can decide for themselves if they want holistic or numbers-driven. If anyone objects to either system, they can decide not to apply. These schools are merely very good colleges / universities. They are not the be-all-end-all, they are not “makers” of lives the way it is often depicted on CC.</p>
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<p>collegealum314, this is not about insults and digs. They are indeed occasional elements of this forum when tempers flare up, and also often attempts at humor that do not work that well. Most of us are have been on the giving and receiving end of the digs and quips. Most of us have been on different sides of debates, especially when politics were not prohibited on this site. </p>
<p>When the digs started flowing in this thread, I stepped aside. I did, however, point that questioning a member about her decision to hire an essay consultant was not appropriate. or endearing to paraphrase my words. And the same for a subsequent post that “invited” a long term member to … stick around.</p>
<p>I have been here a long time, and I have seen it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And, I make no apologies for pointing to what I consider poor behavior from a new member. And, fwiw, I do not like to see new members --with or without a prior history-- embark on questioning the posts of members who have been here for a long time, and this regardless of my own “interactions” with the “oldies.”</p>
<p>And neither do I like to read the implication of my being … nasty. Ad hominem and all!</p>
<p>Judging by the PM’s I’ve gotten thanking me for challenging the negative labels thrown out on here, (and you can accept that I’m telling the truth or not), there are a lot of newer posters and a few older ones who have felt very intimidated and bullied by some of the old timers on CC. They are reading threads, but say they are afraid to post and are grateful I have the stomach for it because they don’t. It’s too stressful for them since they don’t feel that their point of view is welcomed, or their English skills will make their post unaccepted, etc. In addition, they feel certain posters can say whatever they want, no matter how mean, and it’s allowed because they’ve supposedly earned the right to do so by their long time status on here. This is not a welcoming atmosphere.</p>
<p>I have no problem with strong challenges to any idea. I do have a problem with calling people you really don’t know stupid or any variations of that sentiment. For example, I’ve been called provincial more than once on this thread. Yet, I have lived in 3 different states, and not all in the same region of the country. I’ve spent 3 years of my life in a non-European country, and as a US citizen worked for the cultural arm of a European country while in that other foreign country. I have visited various other nations as well, including Japan. As far as my current residence, my township has got to be one of the most diverse suburbs in the country. We have numerous Hindu temples and now cricket fields, and our public schools have off for Duwali. Our town is home to one of the largest mosques in the US, so our public schools also have off for major Muslim holidays. Our public library now has a significant collection in Arabic. There is a 3-story statue of Buddha in our township, and several small Buddhist temples. We not only have a synagogue or two, but we are home to the cemetery belonging to an Orthodox Jewish sect from a different state. You can find every variety of Christian churches as well, including Korean and Chinese. My own husband is from a different culture. And when it was time for my children to select a college, they both left their home state and went more than 5 hours from home. None of this is any guarantee, but I really doubt I’m the poster child for provincialism.</p>
<p>Now, carry on.</p>
<p>Sorry, theGFG. Didn’t mean for it to be taken personally. Some of my best friends IRL are only looking at colleges for their kids that are a short distance from here. It’s not a mentality I agree with … but it really doesn’t matter what I think, does it? Not my family, not my kid! Peace?</p>
<p>xiggi
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<p>This poster specifically asked not be have their name shortened to Yolo. It is rude and presumptuous and absolutely not inclusive to continue to do so. My kids have names people like to shorten…they ask that this not be done. It’s bad manners to continue when asked not too.</p>
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<p>The attitude of some long term posters who like to reiterate their long and obviously higher standing is also akin to behavior found at the popular girls table in HS. Or similar to when an older rooster puts the newbie in his place. If it takes a hen pecking well so be it.</p>
<p>But provincial is a word with various meanings, depending on context. Not always clodhopper or the other synonyms someone shared. When one is very literal, the pace changes. When the pace changes, we can lose some of the detail that was running, things get sidetracked.</p>
<p>I took provincial to mean regional focus. In contrast, who first called “bully,” accompanied by some critique- and who took up that baton? Was that fair? Kind?</p>
<p>This is the worst episode of the Paul Finebaum show ever.</p>
<p>Dietz199, please see it is not just “long term posters.” </p>
<p>I am fine being referred to as LF.
To be frank, judging by the pm’s I’ve gotten…</p>
<p>^^ point taken. Some just stand out more than others …maybe because one encounters their opinions and is confronted by their style more often due to volume of contributions.</p>
<p>That’s how I mean provincial. If I meant to say hick, I’d say hick. I grew up in the northeast and had no clue – seriously no clue – that there was anything remotely resembling civilization between the east and west coast. That was provincial on my family’s part. Then we moved, and learned quickly. But some people still don’t seem to know that there’s a big country out there. I’ve told already about the classmates of my daughter’s who think that the landscape of suburban Boston must be oh so foreign to her – like she’s never seen a Best Buy or a mall or a Cheesecake Factory or Panera Bread or something, as if the landscape isn’t pretty much exactly the same landscape she’s grown up around. A year ago, I was on a flight sitting next to two women from Brooklyn who had visited Chicago for a relative’s wedding and were actually amazed that it was a city with real skyscrapers and sidewalks and everything - it was clear from their conversation that it had never occurred to them. I have traveled a lot for my job. People are people everywhere. And honestly, like socioeconomic status is what is most similar. Upper middle class suburban Boston/NYC/Phila/Baltimore/Charlotte/Atlanta/Minneapolis/Chicago/St. Louis/Denver/etc. … it really is pretty much all the same lifestyle, with regional nuances.</p>
<p>“And, I make no apologies for pointing to what I consider poor behavior from a new member. And, fwiw, I do not like to see new members --with or without a prior history-- embark on questioning the posts of members who have been here for a long time”</p>
<p>I have been reading posts for a while, but I would never imagine my first post on this site would be about this issue. Is it what College Confidential is? Is there a policy that we earn the right to question some issues based on seniority? This seems so anti what the Internet is all about. There is only one thing I want to say about this, which is to quote the Grampa in Moonstruck “I am so confused!”</p>