Every year as admissions decisions roll in, you’ll hear students and parents make bold declarations about why particular students did or did not get accepted.
“Her parents knew someone.”
“He didn’t have good test scores.”
“She had great letters of rec.”
“He didn’t take AP physics.”
“She’s a minority.”
“He applied to an impacted major.”
“Her parents are alumni.”
“He picked a major nobody else wants.”
Unless you’re hearing this information from a counselor or an admissions officer at the school who made the decision, the person sharing it likely has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
The only people who really know why a student did or did not get in are the admissions officers who read the file and ultimately made the decision. A high school counselor is sometimes privy to that information, too. Most other people didn't see the file. They didn't read the essays. They didn't see the letters of rec, or sit in on the interview, or hear the conversation between the admissions officers who decided.
Even admissions officers themselves can't always point to one factor that got a student in or kept him out. This is a complicated process, one that sometimes defies explanation to outside observers.
When you hear statements like these, dismiss them. Instead, look at reality—just about all of those kids got in somewhere. Five months from now, they’ll all be excited to move into their new dorms. And when that happens, none of them will be thinking about the theories behind their colleges’ decisions.