For top 10, esp. top 5,6,

soft qualities - such as essay, ref letters, passion (displayed), personality, the perceived "fit" with the school ... are the deciding factors.

At my kid's school, there are quite a few examples that the 2nd-tier (academic wise) students got into top 5, but 1st-tier ones were shut out from the top 5,6, or even top 10.

A boy with SAT 2400, Siemens regional, national debate, 3 scientific publications, music award, 3 leadership positions... very impressive (my kid said he is one of the best students at school - one of the top schools in nation).

So far he only got state U acceptance.  M, Caltech and even Chicago all rejected. EA Stanford was an outright rejection, not even deferred.

I hope he gets a few top picks next week.

所有跟帖： 

• 看来江湖越来越看不懂了。软指标似乎应该是在硬指标接近的时候起作用的。 -soundofsilence- ♀ (14 bytes) () 03/18/2014 postreply 15:42:26

• 你觉得问题在哪儿？他EC都有了啊。 -monochrome- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/18/2014 postreply 16:22:30

• essay出了问题？其他方面没问题呀 -牛市小刀- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/18/2014 postreply 16:29:48

• 我也搞不明白,照说essay作用有那么大吗? -beachlver- ♂ (274 bytes) () 03/18/2014 postreply 17:33:11

• 记得上来说一下啊。大家好奇心都起来了。 -monochrome- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/18/2014 postreply 19:28:28

• Essays, recommendations, interviews -greenbonnet- ♀ (27 bytes) () 03/18/2014 postreply 18:29:21