The Unbearable Lightness of Admissions

For college applicants, it’s the most wonderful, terrible time of the year.  Michael Winerip, a Harvard alum who conducts interviews with applicants, just published an article in the New York Times outlining the merits of candidates he’s met who got rejected. One “reject” had a 1560 SAT, conducted cancer research in the summer, and played two instruments in three orchestras. Other candidates had similar qualifications with similar outcomes. On the other hand, I had a client accepted at Harvard this year.  Although she was nigh unto a perfect student (35 ACT, 5.4 GPA, state-ranked lacrosse player, conducted field research on local honeybee populations), we (she, her parents, and I) were shocked when she was accepted.  Not because she wasn’t qualified, but because being qualified is only the beginning at a place like Harvard.  It’s been said Harvard could accept a full freshman class, throw all those applications in the shredder and take all the students next in line instead, and still have an equally qualified class: all with stellar grades, SAT/ACT scores, charities, research, etc.  It's still a lottery, albeit a lottery with a very high bar to entry.

This is my first real acceptance/rejection season as an Independent Educational Consultant, and it’s been a roller coaster (and it’s only about half over).  I was delighted with my two UVA and two Michigan acceptances; I was shocked and hurt by rejections from Boston College, Villanova, and, yes, UVA.  And if I sound as if *I* was the one getting accepted and rejected and not my clients, okay, I’ll own up.  It is personal.  I would never say “I got a client INTO Harvard” because I didn’t.  The client gets him or herself in, or, possibly, rejected.  Nevertheless, I have to wonder, “did I give bad advice on the direction of this essay or that activity list” (or, temptingly, “am I a genius for what I suggested for the Michigan prompt?”).  What’s frustrating is that we’ll never know exactly what combination of factors got someone in or kept them out. 

One trend I have heard anecdotally and seen with one of my own clients is a heavier reliance on transcripts than on standardized test scores. This client was rejected by a college where his SAT was well into the top 25% for freshmen at that school, but his GPA was in the bottom 25%.  It wasn’t abysmal (between 3.0 and 3.4), but the school (a small southern liberal arts college) didn’t believe his SAT made up for it.  I had toured the school this summer, and one of the admissions officers told me that the school had gone test-optional because, in her words, data indicated that the transcript was a much better indicator of student success there than standardized test scores.  Indeed, a recent study showed that a high school GPA is five times as accurate as an ACT score in predicting student success in college.   

So what’s the takeaway here for seniors (besides don’t let high SAT scores cause you to ignore your GPA)? Don’t take it personally, or at least don’t take it as an indication of your worth.  Maybe Vanderbilt needed another oboe player this year and not a flute player.  Remember, too, acceptance rates have been shrinking for the past ten years at the big names.  Harvard rejected the most students in its history this year.  An acceptance at a flagship state university these days is a huge accomplishment even for in-state students.  Some folks, you’ve no doubt heard, paid $500,000 to get their kids into a flagship; heck, for $500,000 you should get into Hogwarts!  Remember too, that one student’s “safety school” is another student’s dream destination.  I get a little itchy when a client petulantly says, “well, I guess I’ll go to State U if I have to” and I’ve just seen another client weep because of a rejection from State U.  It matters less where you go to college than how you go to college.  At any decent school in the country, if you engage with your professors, peers, and the material, if you put yourself out there socially, intellectually, and spiritually, you’re going to get a good education and have a transformative four years (and at a top ten school you can get almost nothing out of it if you sit in the corner, slide by, sit in your dorm, and don’t make the most of things).

What’s the takeaway for juniors, sophomores, etc.? In addition to all the usual stuff about grades, activities, and test prep, I say to build your college list in such a way that you have difficult-to-get-in dream schools, lots of middle range schools each with unique points of interest, and some schools that might be easier to get into but that have no less interest (see my last blog on list building for more on this). And maybe consider enlisting the services of an independent consultant (yes, such as me) to help navigate this maze and lead you to the best fit.  Call me today at 704 692 4559 or email davidreedparker@gmail.com and we’ll chat about your journey to college.