Who would a top tier college rather admit?

Applying to College
1

<p>STUDENT# 1
SAT: 2400, 12 essay (Single first sitting)
ACT: 36, 12 essay (Single first sitting, 36 in ALL sections)
SAT II: Scored 800 in EVERY SINGLE ONE of them (even the language ones)
APs: Scored a 5 in ALL of the AP exams that there is (self-studied for them in junior year)
GPA: B+ Average (easiest course load, never does homework, sits in the back of the classroom and sleeps during class, but because this guy is practically a genius pass all his tests with an A+)
Rank: Last in class (Highly competitive H.S.)
ECs: None.
Sports: None.
Essays: Spent one hour on it.
Teacher RECs: Pretty bad.
Counselor REC: Mediocre.
Income: Poor (on Welfare)
Special circumstances: Single mother home, has had a job to support his family since ninth grade, lives on a high income area hence the competitive school, but lives in a room with his mother.</p>

<p>STUDENT# 2
SAT: 2000, 8 essay (after several sittings and private tutor prep, 2100 super-scored)
ACT: 30, 8 essay (after several sittings and private tutor prep, 31 super-scored)
SAT II: Scored in the 50th percentile in the two exams he took.
APs: Scored a 3 in ALL of the AP exams that he took (only a few)
GPA: A+ Average (hardest course load)
Rank: First in class (Highly competitive H.S.)
ECs: Leadership positions in several clubs.
Sports: 3 Varsity sports.
Essays: Spent months on it.
Teacher RECs: Pretty good.
Counselor REC: Excellent.
Income: High income (250k)
Special circumstances: 3rd generation legacy, generous donations to school.</p>

2

<p>I would say student 2.</p>

3

<p>I don’t see a top tier college EVER getting such options as the two above lol.</p>

4

<p>Student #1 has no chance. Student #2 has much better chance if he/she is a strong enough athlete to be recruited or if “generous” donations are in the range to put the family name on the library. No top tier college needs a brilliant slacker.</p>

5

<p>neorobie, would you mind explaining why?</p>

<p>cortana431, maybe I exaggerated a bit, but it still could happen.</p>

<p>YaleGrandandDad, are you telling me that you would rather go to college with a “hard-worker” who’s had it easy in life than with a guy who’s a genius-slacker, but hasn’t had the opportunities that the “hard-worker” had?</p>

6

<p>the point of this being…?</p>

7

<p>This is an unlikely scenario. Seeing as the genius slacker is on welfare and from a single-parent household, chances are, he would have to have some level of dedication.</p>

8

<p>I honestly can say that I know a person like student 1
Sats were 2340
B+ average about 3.5
No genius but a great test taker I don’t understand why he gets an a on a test but a c in classwork ( he works hard in class )
Ok course load 5 APs rest were gt which are harder than honors but a little easier than APs. Anyway he got into everywhere he applied but Harvard and most gave him scholarships including Princeton. his only ec was varsity football for 2yrs and no hooks.</p>

9

<p>This is a deeply contrived question and, regardless of any great deliberation, will yield no insight to the admissions process.</p>

<p>I don’t even see the point…</p>

10

<p>something tells be your student b.</p>

11

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<p>I think that the OPs history demonstrates their point clearly: an interest stirring up CC discussion that compares one ‘class’ of applicant against another. Previously they picked the typical classes that bring up strong emotions in people, but this time ventured into the absurd.</p>

<p>Anyone else interested in feeding this thread further?</p>

12

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<p>Indeed.</p>

<p>Student One: Batman, 4.0/2378
Student Two: Chuck Norris, 1.8/1337</p>

<p>Who does Harvard pick? I promise this is not at all arbitrary and yields incredible insight to the process.</p>

13

<p>ABCDEFGHIJK123: so sorry! I think student #2 has a better chance as… hmm… Student #1 comes across as a naturally smart student that doesn’t try as much as he should. which kinda doesn’t make sense since it is given that he self-studied for those AP exams. (such unlikely situations but I’ll go with it) He seems very flippant and it seems like the teacher recs would definitely reflect that. No matter how smart they are, if they are going to have a bad personality I wouldn’t want them in the school. and with a 1hour essay (unless its perfect) I don’t think I see much special interest into the school. If I accept him, there is a high chance he won’t go.</p>

<p>Student #2 on the other hand seems to be hardworking and dedicated to trying(this is more so from his GPA and rank rather than sat score-since his family had the money to pay for those services). His ECs show that he understands the importance of teamwork and also his ability to be a leader. The fact that the teacher and counselor has good things to say shows to me that he has potential. You say he put a lot of time in his essays, this shows that he really cares about where he is going and wants to attend. If I accept him, i feel like he is going to attend -especially since he is a legacy.</p>

<p>but then again, I’m no admissions officer. and I did a lot of assuming.</p>

<p>and wow maybe I took this thread too seriously… but I thought this was an interesting game… like one of those riddles… hahaha</p>

<p>I feel embarrassed now. XD</p>

14

<p>They’d pass on both.</p>