Would you want to have only the top 2000 nation wide sat scorers work for you? They feel as though it's random because they don't have a clue of what any admission officer is looking for. Bottom line is it's tough even for the ballpark candidates, and people should not feel compelled to hang their hat at a particular school. After all, we ARE talking about academics.Quote from jem:
boom - that is the distinction I was not making.
The applicants are high... but I am telling you that the admissions are skewed.
I have 4 kids so I have been tracking this for a while. I have been told time after time by kids that the top kids in their class often do not get into the top schools. When I first was hearing this I figured the top kid must have had some flag in his record. But, I sense a pattern.
I would say at least here in CA that many good students almost feel admission to Ivy and other top schools is close to random because the top of the class is not automatically going to a top school.