College Admission Is Not Random

College Admission Is Not Random April 13 There are some who argue that college admissions is a crap shoot. Theyre wrong. College admission is not random. Theres an article in The Washington Post by Valerie Strauss entitled, Can we stop obsessing on the Ivy League? that we figured wed draw to the attention of our readers. In this piece, Ms. Strauss states, College admissions have become something akin to a crap shoot. It used to be that college admissions counselors could predict which students would get in where. Now they can’t. That is definitely, 100% not true. We aim to correct misconceptions on our college admissions blog and in this quote, weve got two misconceptions: 1.) College admissions is certainly not a crap shoot and 2.) College admissions counselors can certainly predict with good accuracy which students will get in where. We do it all the time at Ivy Coach. College admission isnt random. Does the A student with perfect SAT scores always get into Harvard and Princeton? Absolutely not! These students quite often are rejected from schools like Harvard and Princeton because their applications arent strong in other areas. Does that mean admission to Harvard and Princeton is random? No! A strong hook, great essays, terrific letters of recommendation these are variables that too factor into a students application. To suggest that college admissions or highly selective college admissions is random is misleading and erroneous. And, yes, we sure can predict if a student will get into a school like, say, Duke. With top grades and ACT scores and an essay about learning what its like to grow up poor through a service trip in Uganda, it is our prediction based on this evidence alone that this student will not gain admission to Duke. And, yes, since the grades and ACT scores are top notch, our prediction has everything to do with that terrible choice for an essay topic. Showing interest in a university is also a variable to account for. If a student never shows interest in Dartmouth and Dartmouth believes the student will get admitted to Harvard, there is a very good chance that student wont get into Dartmouth, in spite of getting into Harvard. Dartmouth wants students who have intentions of matriculating as this positively impacts their yield statistic. This all contributes to our larger point college admission isnt random. Its not a crap shoot. And its quite easy in fact to predict if a student will get into a certain highly selective college if you account properly for all variables. And, at Ivy Coach, we take into account all variables. While youre here, read about how Ivy League Admission Isnt Random.