Mon 11 Jul 2016
How to Write a Chance Request at College Confidential
Posted by David Dudley Field '25 under College Confidential at 6:40 am
A regular part of the conversation at the Williams board on College Confidential is a “chance” request. A high school student wants the community to provide feedback on her chances of being admitted to Williams. Unfortunately, many of these students are uninformed about the reality of elite college admissions so they don’t provide us with the necessary information to “chance” them correctly. (They also generally provide a mass of irrelevant data as well.) To make the world a better place, here is EphBlog’s Guide to How to Write a Chance Request for Williams. (The same advice applies to most elite colleges.)
First, estimate your Academic Rating and provide the key evidence behind that estimate. (Back information here and here.) Tell us your Math/Reading SAT scores (and/or ACT), your subject test scores and AP scores. Just tell us what you will be submitting to Williams. We don’t care how many times you took these exams or about the details of your Super Scoring efforts.
We also don’t need to know about the details of your academic program. Just provide an honest estimate of your Academic Rating and some background on your high school. (Telling us the name of your high school can be useful, but is not necessary.) We don’t care about your exact GPA. (If you did not take the hardest classes that your high school offers, admit that to us.) The best clue about the quality of your high school record can be found in the quality of schools that similarly ranked students have attended in past years, so tell us that. The Academic Rating is the most important part of the process, so focus your words on that topic.
Second, cut out all the other cruft. We don’t care (because Williams doesn’t care) about all your clubs, activities, volunteer work, et cetera. Despite what your high school and/or parents may have told you, such trivia plays a de minimus role in elite college admissions. For example, your sports resume is irrelevant unless you are being recruited by a Williams coach and, if you are, they will tell you if you what your chances are.
Third, tell us your nationality. Williams has a quota against international applicants.
Fourth, tell us your race, or at least the relevant boxes that you will check on the Common Application. (See here and here for related discussion.) Checking the African-American box gives you a significant advantage in admissions, as does checking Hispanic, but less so. Checking the Asian box hurts your chances at Ivy League schools. There is a debate over whether Williams also discriminates against Asian-American applicants.
Fifth, tell us about your family income and parents background. Williams, like all elite schools, discriminates in favor of the very poor (family income below $50,000) and very wealthy (able to donate a million dollars). There is some debate over the exact dollar figures at both ends. Might Williams favor applicants whose families make us much as $75,000? Sure! Might Williams be swayed by a donation in the six figures? Maybe! Tell us whatever other details might be relevant. For example, Williams cares about socio-economic status more broadly than just income, so having parents that did not graduate from a 4 year college can be helpful. Among rich families, Williams prefers those who have already donated to Williams and/or have a history of supporting higher education.
Summary: Almost all of elite college admissions is driven by Academic Rating, albeit subject to three broad exceptions: athletics, race and income. In order to provide you with an accurate chance, we need the details concerning these areas. Don’t bother us with all the other stuff.
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17 Responses to “How to Write a Chance Request at College Confidential”
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Fake Sigh says:
I’m so mad at you Dave! How dare you state facts!
July 11th, 2016 at 9:33 amNan C. Drew, PI says:
There seems to be a lot of random spam on this blog unrelated to the blog posts addressed to a “Sigh”. Please improve the spam filtering.
On topic, it seems that the “strength of teacher recommendations” is a factor in the AR. I would assume that extracurricular activity and volunteer work come into play here.
Secondly, the Alumni Review article indicated that 44% of applicants with an AR of 1 were rejected or waitlisted. We should assume that higher rates apply to those with an AR of 2. I would assume that extracurricular activity, sports and volunteer work come into play here.
How else are they going about distinguishing those with AR 1 and 2?
July 11th, 2016 at 11:51 amEphblech says:
4b) If non-white, tell us about your ability to withstand 4 years of incessant trolling, disparagement, and insufferable self-aggrandizement of racist white colleagues who imagine their success derives from meritocracy while yours comes from favoritism.
July 11th, 2016 at 1:07 pmAlum says:
One Man’s Spam is another man’s insightful commentary
July 11th, 2016 at 1:25 pmAlum says:
Ephblech,
Back up your claims or prepare for the great John C. Drew to dismantle your argument. I won’t even write a rebuttals to your unsubstantiated mischaracterizations and insinuations because anything I say will pale in comparison with what Dr. Drew will come up with.
July 11th, 2016 at 1:32 pmJohn C. Drew, Ph.D. says:
I served as an admissions interviewer while I was a graduate student at Cornell. As far as I could tell, test scores were — by far — the determining factor for getting into Cornell. (FYI: Cornell is in the top ten of colleges with the most billionaire alumni.)
I disagree about the clubs, activities and volunteer work. These factors are extremely important for applicants with lower scores and lower grades. To make these factors work for you, however, you need to be careful.
When you report on them you need to show early signs of focus on your most important interests and priorities. In particular, you need to demonstrate that you set and achieve your goals. Leadership roles in your selected activities are very important too, but this leadership cannot be about position only, you need to show how you led your group to produce results.
Race is a huge factor and I have seen discrimination against Asian applicants. This discrimination was largely disguised by the suggestion that Asians with outstanding test scores have focused too narrowly on academic achievement in math and thus are too constricted/boring to be successful at the most elite schools.
In general, it is important to contradict the stereotypes around your race. This means white students need to be interested in and frequently visit Africa. Black students need to have white interests like golf or chess. Asian students need to pretend to be artists or hiphop dancers. Latinos must portray themselves as rocket scientists. The point is to confuse the admissions committee so that they cannot label you as typical for your race.
Finally, it is extremely important to signal your support for liberal politics. This means you need to delete all references to your Christianity, anti-abortion activities, Trump campaign work, support for law enforcement or role as a youth pastor.
The bottom line, however, is still test scores. This means that your best bet is to practice taking the tests.
July 11th, 2016 at 4:09 pmAlum says:
John C Drew = Hero
July 11th, 2016 at 4:27 pmDick Swart '56 says:
John,
It is a pleasure to read you in clear concise English giving useful advice.
I know you have strong political views, but at times they seem to jump in and obstruct your points with strange digressions and references.
It is always nice to get the point simply written or said. As the late Dr J. Vernon McGee said “I always put the cookie jar on the lower shelf”.
July 11th, 2016 at 8:26 pmlol@john says:
John, congrats on speaking out of your ass again. I got into Williams (class of 2020) with explicit references to my Christian faith and with stereotypically white interests as a white male. I did majority white activities. Perhaps Williams isn’t just seeking to persecute white people or Christians, but rather you perpetuate that in hopes of justifying your termination.
July 14th, 2016 at 5:16 pmRegards,
An actual college applicant and proud Eph
Alum says:
lol@john is Adam Falk
July 14th, 2016 at 6:30 pmEph '20 says:
Just to chime and add another datum re the whole Williams-as-den-of-atheism-and-iniquity: we do, y’know, have a chaplain here. Church isn’t mandatory but religious life isn’t so dead that students are forced to worship in their closets. (At least, not that I’ve heard.)
Also, as someone of occasional faith, I found the little mailer that the chaplain’s office sent out very touching. Crazy I know, but, perhaps John is polemicizing a bit too much on irreligion at Williams.
Just my 2 cents.
July 15th, 2016 at 1:29 pmephblech says:
@Alum: I’m still waiting.
July 15th, 2016 at 5:23 pmAlum says:
Ephblech,
John C Drew just destroyed your opinion with an insightful analysis.
Let’s not pretend that you didn’t get pwnd
John C Drew = Boss
July 15th, 2016 at 7:44 pmephblech says:
Alum, lol@john and Eph ’20 are describing the real world. Not only did John C Drew not take down, pwn, or even address my argument, but his oft-repeated narrative is in fact an example of it: he didn’t get tenure at Williams because….affirmative action.
July 16th, 2016 at 8:47 amAlum says:
Ephblech, your inability to even address John C. Drew’s argument and your sophomoric interpretation of its meaning is evidence enough of your pwnd-ness
John C Drew -1000000 > Ephblech
July 16th, 2016 at 9:29 amEphblech says:
Alum=JCD
July 16th, 2016 at 10:05 amAlum says:
Ephblech = unoriginal = lame = Adam Falk
Ephblech is Adam Falk
I rest my case.
July 16th, 2016 at 1:38 pm