<p>If admissions were based solely on GPA and test scores it wouldn’t take three months to get a decision back. But GPA and test scores are typically all we find when we look up a particular school’s class profile. Therefore, it is to be expected that some applicants will compare their stats to those published by the schools and get the premature idea that they’re a shoo-in. But as many have said, and as your high school counselor should have explained, highly selective schools are looking into more than scores when putting together a well-balanced class. Sometimes that means that applicants with higher scores get rejected or waitlisted, while applicants who have scores that are lower but still within the school’s range are accepted. And this is not because of any kind of syndrome, but because these schools have the luxury to choose from a sufficiently large and superbly qualified pool of applicants in their quest for the “perfect” mix. Fortunately, highly qualified applicants who, in turn, have applied to a sufficiently large and carefully planned list of schools will, too, end up having the luxury to choose from a number of great offers.</p>
<p>The problem with this kind of thread–and I have seen it pop up in connection with other schools, especially WashU, and to a smaller extent Swarthmore and Pomona–is that it appears to belittle the achievements of those of us who either have been admitted, or have children who have been admitted to these schools. And this is why it comes across as arrogant…</p>