Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Getting into a competitive school

Idly browsing while recovering from a hard day's morel hunting and saw this:

link

I found the link an interesting argument in support of a pointier candidate.

The argument presented makes logical sense to me and I was hoping that others, particularly those who had attended Ultra Competitive schools or (even more relevantly) recently sent a child to one, would share their perspectives on the argument.

Interesting link.

The part where I would disagree with his analysis is the statistical tabulation of World-class vs Strong. The challenge is this is a highly subjective demarcation. In my experience/judgement the World-class percentage of any of the classes is much smaller. I would say closer to 10% of the class rather than 50% of the class. I would agree for that pool admission rate is 90+%.

The strong pool is where all the struggles are. Given that there are all kinds of strong students with perfect A's etc who have not invented the next great thing yet. This is where the struggle is.

Also note this statistics leaves out all the special interest groups: Alumni etc.

I thought it was an interesting point-of-view and it left me to question whether our idea of what "well-rounded" means has changed much over the years?

I think in order to get in Harvard one needs to be well-rounded AND have a big spike. But my question is: honestly, what bad things will happen to you if you don't get in Harvard?

Looking at the author's profile, I think he would have been accepted into Harvard even if he was just well rounded and not have a spike. His application was phenomenal.

And I think it's worth considering whether, if one needs to change oneself to be admitted to the college of one's choice, that college will actually be good for one's long-term development.

What I do like about this author's perspective is its emphasis on pursuing your passions, and choosing supplementary activities based on their internal value, and not their external value.

Almost completely unrelated... but we found 6 morels growing in our front yard today!

I read this and kind of laughed. Hemingway never went to university! Twain, Poe, Melville, Dahl, and many other writers never went to university (ie. any university, never mind one of the elite ones) - AND they're not exceptions. The list goes on and on across numerous fields - which many parents tend to forget.

The biggest myth is that Harvard, MIT, and other top ranked universities are the be all and end all. Nothing is further from the truth.

Even a top, world-class pediatric neurosurgeon who barely graduated high school went to a community college - http://nymag.com/nymetro/health/features/12470/index1.html; Harvard would never have accepted him with his kind of track record. He just wasn't groomed for it so to speak regardless of his potential and his eventual career success.

IMHO, Harvard has absolutely no interest in accepting and/or mentoring regardless -- UNLESS there is a well-defined, well-demarcated track record of achievement and success - usually set by exams and test scores and usually through certain schools and/or teachers. Otherwise it's too big a risk for Harvard or MIT. They want 'evidence' of a student's potential -- a paper/digital trail -- that makes a candidate stand out from the pack.

Zucks went to Exeter - a well documented feeder school for Harvard and regarded as the top, or one of the top, prep schools in the country - certainly one of the most exclusive, prestigious schools in the US.

Gates went to Lakeside, another private, exclusive school.

Absolutely this ^^^^^

I have always loathed even the thought of the charade of excessive numbers of resume bolstering extra curriculars.

That is a very lucky find!