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Career Resources
Being family friends with the Dean of Admission
You got off easy. I had to suck the dean off
I think you are looking for college confidential.
That forum brings up bad memories. It reminds me of WSO but for getting into college. It might literally just be that.
GPA and test scores are only a small fraction of what colleges consider, especially more competitive target schools. These schools are looking for an interesting applicant with a passion represented by a good essay that reflects why you want to go to this school specifically as well as quality ECs (quality > quantity).
But I'm sure you know that already.
The real trick to getting into target schools is: applying to a shit ton of them. Yeah I know this is unpopular and will probably get MSed, but hedging your bets is the only way to get an advantage. I applied to 16 schools (including Ivies and other top 20 schools), and I was going to apply for more, but I got incredibly lazy after writing so many different essays. At a certain point you start repeating yourself and I straight up copied many essays. Just make sure you change the school name! I know this seems obvious but after writing and editing so many essays, I ended up misplacing ONE reference to ONE school for another school, so it can happen.
Also, apply to a variety of acceptance rates. Don't think of it as applying to colleges, think of it as a huge statistical lottery where you apply to acceptance rates. Apply to a bunch of ultra competitives (40-50%). Note that these brackets are a rough sketch for me, your stats will definitely skew your chances one way or the other. The only way to really know what a school is to you is a combination of average SAT/GPA the school takes and College Confidential posts outlining ECs and essays. Note, however, that all this evidence is anecdotal. Kids with mediocre ECs and good scores get into Ivies all the time, and kids with great ECs and great scores get rejected a lot of the time. Your chances correlate with your stats/EC quality, but there's a HUGE amount of competition. As such, with so many qualified applicants you get so many rejections. Again, it's a lottery. Hedge your bets.
If you get free applies or have scholarship opportunities, take them. I applied to over 20 scholarships (local and state level) and got rejected from them all. Applying to this many schools can get expensive (I spent $1000 on apps alone, would've been more too if I kept applying). It did pay off. I got into two targets (UVA and Georgetown) and a number of semi-targets.
Just make sure when you're applying you have several (5 or more) schools in each category of competitiveness. Ultra competitives (
You should be able to apply for fee waivers at most targets/all ivies. I applied to 32 schools and paid $0.00.
My parents knew some Rick Singer guy that made me a "football player" lol
I go to a target, and I would just stress what above commenters have said. It's disheartening, but you do have to realize that there are many, many more qualified students than there are spots at "prestigious" schools. So much of it is luck, and a lot of it is also privilege. A large portion of my class comes from top-name private schools from all over the world, and just as many come from other smaller private schools across the country. The barrier to entry for public school students seems much, much harder to me (4.0, valedictorian, first-gen, local leader, plays multiple sports and is student body president, nationally ranked for something, etc). The admissions process is not fair at all.
Being admitted or denied from some of these places really, really doesn't say as much about your personal achievement or greatness as you think it does in high school. I went into the process secretly feeling like I deserved admission to a top school. Now that I'm at one, I've realized that I'm not special, I'm just really damn lucky (in many, many respects). I do think that prestige can help you get ahead in life, and if you happen to get your foot in the door, that's a great opportunity. But, there are successful and smart people everywhere.
In high school, a great friend of mine turned down an offer from a top school to go to a no-name, local six-year med program. I thought he was nuts, and I gave him an earful for it. Now, I have more respect for his choice than almost anyone else. He's happy, has no debt, and will be a doctor before most of our peers even apply to med school. Sure, if you know you want to go into IB or something, maybe the name of your school matters, but even that- who knows. I'm going to a top BB next summer, and even though there are hundreds of alumni from my school on the street, the two people who helped me most were both people I happened to cold email from non-targets- no tie to me at all.
Make a list of schools that only has places you would genuinely be happy to attend (safety or reach). Be realistic with your expectations, and no matter where you end up, keep working hard and be proud of (and excited for) the doors that do open for you.