[Michael Blake]

My belief in the _value_ to students who earn FIRST Dean's List Finalist awards relating to _desirability_ to be _accepted_ into M.I.T. or Yale or "prestigious" colleges/universities has been shaken.

When you read the representations made by FIRST in this document:

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default...teria_2012.pdf

...and FIRST states, "Since its introduction in 2010, the FIRST Dean’s List Award has attracted the attention of prestigious colleges and universities who desire to recruit FIRST Dean’s List students" and the other things they say in the document in relation to colleges/universities [i.e. M.I.T./Yale], AND then you couple the representations made on the stage at the 2012 Championship Dean's List ceremony by Dean Kamen and folks from M.I.T. and Yale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature..._Wu_E#t=88 1s

...AND then there's NO SUCCESS in getting into M.I.T. or Yale (despite satisfying ALL the required academic metrics and subjectives) ... I've come to the conclusion that the value "pitch" of Dean's List to these "elite" college applications MAY BE _overstated_ and _over-sold_.


To the approximately 350 Dean's List Finalists out there (2010, 2011, 2012)... PLEASE help restore my confidence in FIRST and this award by posting your experiences/outcomes with M.I.T. and/or Yale... please provide _evidence_ to support the representations made by FIRST and Dean Kamen (in the video).

Maybe my family's experience is an outlier?! I'm hoping that's the case...

Hopefully, this thread can accumulate enough results/data to come to a conclusion on the efficacy of the award relating to "elite" college entry. I've talked to FIRST folks (intimately involved with Dean's List) directly on this and they have NO NUMBERS to share or measure on the success of Dean's List Finalists/Winners getting into these schools?!