Sorry to go back a few days, but I wanted to address something that HK wrote:

Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
If you are given the choice, having only ONE seat available, and you can choose:

a) student with top grades and test scores, with a set of three or four possible majors, interest in a wide variety of activities and skill at most of them, and who has leadership potential and clearly pro-social behavior beyond his/her years, versus...

b) student with top grades and test scores, a clear obsession for the stated major, and who has a competitive win-streak and is a bit of a social misfit and loner.

Which of those two applicants is the better choice, really?
None of the kids that I know that attended the Ivies, MIT, Chicago, or Stanford fit category A. Most did not fit category B either. Almost every one was exceptional (i.e. nationally ranked) in at least one area, but with social skills that varied from excellent to almost non-existent.

Then again, none of these admits were athletes, poor, or from an under-represented minority, so perhaps my view is a bit skewed.

Last edited by mithawk; 09/21/14 07:09 AM.