Teenager accepted by all 20 top-ranked universities he applied to — with full scholarships

https://www.msn.com/ ^ | 4/2/18

[BBell]

A high school senior from Houston, Texas, was accepted by each of the 20 top-ranked universities to which he applied — and was offered a full scholarship to every single one of them.

Michael Brown, a 17-year-old student at Lamar High School, went viral after he was caught on camera screaming in glee upon learning he was accepted into Stanford University in December.

Little did the teen know at the time, but his excitement would increase by a factor of 20 in March when he was also accepted into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and the University of Michigan, among other prestigious colleges.

But what did it take for Brown to pull off his flawless clean sweep?

To start, the high schooler has an impressive 4.68 grade point average and an SAT score of 1540 out of 1600. His ACT score, a 34 out of a possible 36, proved to be just as excellent.

[arthurus]

The name of his mother would suggest there are considerable family resources there.

[Go Gordon]

My first thought on seeing the headline...no way this kid is white.

No, he's Brown.

[rb22982]

Some school systems an AP class is a 5.0 but 5.0 or 6.0 is the normal for AP for an A these days. Not every class has the option of Honors and even fewer are AP eligible. It actually makes sense as a C in an AP class is harder to get than an A is in the regular non honors/AP classes.

[Bringbackthedraft]

At an Ivy, you rub elbows with the leaders of the future. That exposure is priceless. ...................... They have a Leadership major? I thought only the Academies taught leadership. We don’t elect leaders, we elect celebrities and BS’ers.

[Maverick68]

I’m not gonna crap on this kid...congrats and good luck, young man!

[rb22982]

IB and AP are effectively the same thing. "Most colleges give credit for AP exams and higher-level IB exams, but not all give credit for standard-level IB exams......colleges don’t automatically consider AP or IB harder or more impressive on a transcript. Since IB is a rarer program, they can’t penalize students for not taking it. Plus, there are huge differences in how both AP and IB courses are taught and graded at high schools across the country." link

[rb22982]

That's not why they made honors classes 5.0 and AP classes either 5.0 or 6.0. It was to encourage people to take the harder classes. If you get the same 4.0 for the very tough college course as you would for the easy class designed for IQs around 90, and you were worried about college entry, why take the much harder course and risk getting a B-D instead of an easy A?

Grade inflation didn't take off until about 15 years ago and has really picked up in the last 5.

[Boogieman]

"Michael Brown, a 17-year-old student at Lamar High School..."

He always wanted to go to college!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You just agreed with me! Why did they have to encourage people to take harder classes? Because the regular classes had been so dumbed down to get minority scores up and provide them more self esteem.

Instead of maintaining academic rigor in the core classes, they used the fig leaf of “honors classe.” Then there weren’t enough minorities in Honors, so they dumbed those down.

After the original honors got dumbed down, they needed a way to challenge the bright kids again so the whole “Advanced Placement” idea was born. Now it is being dumbed down. Wash, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.

I have close connections to K-12 education and this is what my relatives have witnessed in multiple parts of U.S. All this crap is driven by 1) catering to the lowest common denominator and 2) the insane idea of judging schools and teachers by how much their test scores improve.

BTW, “Grade inflation” is WAY older than 15 years. It’s been complained about for at least 50 years and probably a lot longer than that.

[rb22982]

It wasn’t dumbed down - the amount of knowledge needed to mentally stimulate someone of average intelligence (90-110 iQ) isn’t as much as someone with above average intelligence (120-150+). The AP classes are taken nearly exclusively by above average intelligence.

[Hieronymus]

In some ways it makes sense, but it makes it much harder to compare knowing just numbers and a few classes. It should suffice to evaluate the AP class by the mark on the AP exam—who cares if the person got an A in the course if they pulled a 3 on the exam. Post AP scores on the transcript and stick to the old-fashion 4.0 system. Anyone looking at the transcript and seeing lots of general whatever should be able to evaluate what the 4.0 is worth.

[central_va]

Isn’t making a big deal about him being black a little embarrassing for blacks? Is it that out of the ordinary for a black person to have brain?

[Hieronymus]

I’ve heard that things started going down hill during or just after World War I.

Here is a link to a Cornell Entrance Exam from 1891.
It includes sections on Latin, Greek, German and French.

https://archive.org/stream/questionpaper8908corn#page/n149/mode/2up

and here is a link to an FR thread discussing the exam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3266426/posts

[rb22982]

It is significantly easier to assume an AP class is worth 1 or 2 pts more than a traditional class than do what you suggest.

[rb22982]

Keep in mind AP and IB classes are suppose to be college level - far above high school classes in general. My experience ~20 years ago was that was definitely the case and actually harder in some classes (computer science and calculus in particular) than what I went through in college. I skipped nearly 20 hours of classes in college and that was when they offered far fewer AP classes in most high schools than today.

[Architect of Avalon]

Thank you for the information.

[Hieronymus]

It is significantly easier to assume an AP class is worth 1 or 2 pts more than a traditional class than do what you suggest.

---

AP Classes vary significantly in quality. I had a hell on wheels American History teacher who, in my year, produced a class with six fives and two fours. Five people in the class didn’t take the test, but I’d bet that they would have pulled at least threes, and in most other classrooms in the country would have pulled at least a grade higher than they were pulling in that class. Did I mention we were all juniors? My English class, taken as a senior, wasn’t as good—but in hindsight, what was I expecting, the second coming of Chaucer?

AP classes are more valuable, but not all values need to be distilled down to and reflected in a grading system. Your suggestion would have allowed my fellow co-salutatorian and myself to leapfrog the valedictorian, but life has effective ways of doing that in the long run. As the perennial chant for Ivy-league schools who are loosing get—”That’s alright, that’s OK, you’re going to work for us some day.”

Adding AP scores to a transcript wouldn’t be that much of a problem—transcripts come in all shapes and sizes and have room for all sorts of extraneous garbage. If you don’t bother to take the test, that says something of what you think of your preparation.

A basic 4.0 system allows one to evaluate quickly how someone has done in the courses, and then look at the courses. Then look at the SATs and the essays. SATs and essays generally trump GPA where I come from. Having a bunch of random pseudo-4.0 systems is an invitation to pay even less attention to the grades.

I should mention that I’m chairman of an admission committee at a small Canadian college, which does receive a fair number of American applications.

[Hieronymus]

I thought the only other veteran of Mr. K that I am aware of on the forum should be pinged to this thread—would that your father could weigh in.

[Osage Orange]

Fair enough...........

I stand by mine.......

[Osage Orange]

Fair enough...........

I stand by mine.......