High school seniors who post college acceptance reaction videos want to share their joy of success with the world at large for reasons of their choosing, but the sobering reality is that these public displays of victory come from a minority. To many who do not belong in that minority, such videos can feel like someone just wants to ‘rub it in’.
The short answer is no. Chat-based AI bots make for great publicity videos and have their place in shaping how we learn in the future. However, when it comes to composing essays, what they do is basically surveying a vast trove of existing content and then create sentences by pattern matching.
Not all elite colleges observe if applicants take additional action besides applying to show that they are already interested in becoming students of a given college. However, there are several, such as Dartmouth, Duke & Northwestern, that supposedly pay some degree of attention. While applying early is the strongest sign that an applicant really wants to join the student body, there are a few other ways to demonstrate interest:
The quest for admission into any elite college carries a low chance of success for most applicants, while demanding a significant investment of time and emotion. So, it is natural to ask if it is worthwhile. The answer is as varied as the person answering it and is still much debated. Because our journey did come to a successful conclusion, we believe the following reasons is why it could be worth it to some:
Typically, when evaluating applications, the admissions staff of an elite college do pay attention whether an applicant has family members who are alumni. MIT, Caltech and Johns Hopkins are exceptions. What is considered legacy even varies between colleges, with factors like:
