4.0 and Rejected by NYU?

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
1

Hello to anyone who may be reading this, I’m completely shocked and confused! I’ve applied to NYU as a transfer student from an out of state CC, have 60 credits and a degree with a 4.0 GPA, and got a big fat rejection letter in return. I applied to CAS Psychology and I was not expecting this at all. I was at least looking forward to being waitlisted…Some other quick stats:

Race: Black
Gender: Female
Languages: English, Norwegian, Spanish, Korean
SAT Scores: not submitted
IB Scores: 5 for HL Biology, 6 for SL Spanish, 5 for HL History, 5 for HL English
EC’s: Co-owner of a small business, worked as a salon coordinator for several years
Essays: Wrote about my love of cognitive science and artificial brains (MY PASSION)
Recent course load: Computer Science, Calc w/ Analytic Geo, Chemistry, Spanish
Other: Was a full IB student in high school but my GPA suffered junior year (3.2) due to some health issues which I cited in the application

Please, if anyone has any insight I’m all ears. What could I have done better? Do you guys think this is a mistake?

2

Sorry to hear that. No idea, but hollistic admissions strikes again. Maybe you needed too much aid?

3

@Lindagaf thanks for your reply, I actually didn’t even submit any financial aid information or documentation…

4

@eatmypaopu Maybe it would have been better to submit the SAT scores??? I’m not sure, but CC are difficult to transfer from.

5

You will never know the reasons. Hopefully you applied to a range of schools and have other good opportunities ahead of you.

6

I am sorry you got a rejection and it doesn’t mean you aren’t qualified, but no one is guaranteed or entitled to an acceptance. Admissions is a crapshoot and there are kids with 4.0 GPAs and perfect SAT scores getting rejected from all over the place. Also while college GPA and rigor are the most important aspects of a transfer application, they are not the only factors. A 4.0 doesn’t automatically get you accepted.

7

Yeah, I get that it’s not all about the GPA, I just figured that that AND my crazy passion for the program I’m interested would’ve had some effect. I just want to know where I went wrong so that my future applications can be more competitive. With that said I’m still glad that I got into UVA and William and Mary.

8

Congratulations! You have two amazing choices so your application must have been very competitive. I recommend that you forget NYU and move ahead with one of those schools.

9

lol who needs NYU when you have UVA?

10

I get that but there are thousands of other applicants with good GPAs and passion for what they want to study. In short, numerous qualified applicants are rejected simply due to limited space. There is nothing really to do except move on and accept that admissions is a crapshoot. I am assuming you are a Virginia resident. UVA is a top school and W&M is on par with NYU, not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper than NYU if you get in-state tuition. Either UVA or W&M is the future for you and your application to NYU is in the past. Good luck next year.

11

Thank all of you for your words of encouragement. It’s really making me feel better about this whole thing! :((

12

You should be feeling fantastic!!! In the end you can only attend one college and you have two wonderful choices.

13

Wow! So many interesting languages!

Sorry, I was so impressed I didn’t read the rest!

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@happy1 thank you!

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@studentathlete18 thanks!! It is quite an odd mix now that I look at it here, maybe they thought I was pulling their leg! I just really love languages.

16

@Dontskipthemoose you’re right it is a whole lot cheaper, I guess I just would’ve at least liked the option of getting to make such a decision, but I shouldn’t complain

17

Right. I personally rate UVa to be above NYU and W&M to be equal.

Transfer admissions is especially unpredictable because they’re only looking to fill certain slots of people who transferred away or quit.

If you’re in VA, you’re lucky that you had some excellent (and cheaper) in-state options you had a guaranteed pathway too.

Kids in most states don’t have luxury.

18

@PurpleTitan you’re so right, transfer admissions seems like a total toss up to me. But I’m not sure what you mean by guaranteed pathways and kids in most states :-/

19

Well, in VA, getting above a certain GPA in CC gets you automatic admissions to UVa.

Kids in most other states

  1. Don’t have in-state options as good as UVa or W&M at in-state prices.
  2. Don’t have guaranteed admissions to schools that caliber.
20

@PurpleTitan oooh you’re referring to the guaranteed admissions agreements? VA kids do have it made in that respect. Personally I didn’t bother with the GA because in addition to the GPA requirement there are a lot of specific course requirements they have, and I was just more invested in taking only the classes that interested me. The only other state that I know of that has something similar with their CCs is the TAG program out in California.