Accepted to Only 2 Out of 17 Schools - and What I Learned

Applying to College
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Hello College Confidential,

This entire college decisions season has been incredibly stressful to me. Of the seventeen schools I applied to, I have only been accepted by two. This is NOT a brag thread, nor to complain; I am sharing what I have learned from my personal failures, and how others in future years can learn from them as well.

My stats are as follows: 2350 SAT, 35 ACT, 800s on SAT Math II, Biology E, Physics, Chemistry, 5s on all AP tests I have taken (Calculus BC, Statistics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, English Literature and Composition, European History), a 4.4 GPA. I have over 600 hours of volunteer service through high school, am the Executive Vice President of a non-profit, have made AIME all 4 years of high school, and have a USAPhO semifinalist since the 9th grade. I self-taught myself coding in Java, Scala, Python, HTML/CSS, and SQL, and interned at a cloud-computing company. I received two silver keys in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition. I play the viola, the drums, and the piano. I programmed a GCode generator for 3-D printing alone.

I was rejected from: MIT, Stanford, Caltech, USC, UC Davis, Duke, Dartmouth, Harvard, UChicago, and UPenn.
I was waitlisted from: UCLA, UIUC, CMU, Cornell, Columbia
I was accepted to: UCB (with Regents’), UCSD

After speaking with multiple people and some former admissions counselors, they said my raw statistics and profile should have gotten me into at least one of the top schools I was rejected from. So what was wrong? Down below, I have compiled a list of every mistake I personally made and how that detracted from my raw statistics.

  1. I was not passionate enough in my essays. I had a private, paid college counselor who looked over all of my essays. However, she had way too many clients, yet I simply took every word she said as if it were the truth. In the end, I ended up writing essays that looked good to her, but that I did not truly accept in my heart. When writing essays, there needs to be a passion and a fire that is obvious to admissions. That can only come from you, not from a college counselor. For those hiring people to help draft and write essays, keep this in your mind; though you are trying to wow admissions, what wows them is not just the content; it's the passion that you display. This is a college that you want to go to; as such, show who you are.
  2. I did not improve throughout high school. Though I worked extremely hard in high school and achieved respectable results, I was never able to make it to the next level. I never made it to USAMO or camp for USAPhO. I never reached and got the gold key in writing. I never went out and took my knowledge and initiative to start my own company. In retrospect, I could have done all these things. I could have shown that I am able to use this knowledge to create. But I didn't, and I suffered for that.
  3. Going into a STEM field, I did not do research. Colleges have statistics, such as "50% of undergraduates have done research in high school." Many people like focusing on the 50% that haven't, including myself. However, remember that STEM fields like research more than other fields. That 50% is overwhelmingly composed of those who are majoring in those STEM fields. If you are not going into one, then it is fine not to research, but if you are, begin applying for programs, emailing professors, and finding those opportunities that you need. If you are unable to apply your knowledge to either a practical application or research, then colleges will dismiss you as just another applicant.
  4. I did not build enough connections. I mean being best friends with teachers. Do you know two teachers, one in humanities and one in STEM, who you can go to and talk about everything? Are you able to tell them about that concert you went to, the trouble with your best friend, your rejection from the guy or girl you like? If you cannot, then make sure to work for that. Find a teacher or two that you can really relate to and begin talking. Try to build those interpersonal connections. This is the only way that you can ask a teacher for a letter of recommendation that is sincere. I did not get into any of the schools that my english teacher had written a letter of recommendation for, yet the one school for which I only submitted one letter of recommendation (from my math teacher), I ended up receiving the Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship award. I noticed that this was because I had built up a very strong bond with my math teacher, but not so much with my english teacher, and those were reflected in my recommendation letters and thus my admissions.
  5. I was not active in the communities. If you really want to go to a school, follow them on social media. Email its admissions office for help, questions, etc. If you show that you actively want to participate in a community of a school, people in admissions are going to notice. There is a story on Quora of somebody who simply dropped into some Harvard classes while he was in high school, asked intelligent questions, and built up a network in the school of students and professors. By the time application season was around, a few of the professors were willing to write letters of recommendation for him, and he was already known at Harvard. He ended up getting accepted, despite his average scores. Show that you have interest, and the school will have interest in you.

For those of you considering college, please keep these points in mind. Even if you have something that looks great on paper, you need to be able to turn that into a show of passion and interest in what you do. Otherwise, colleges will simply not be able to see it, and you will be another average applicant.

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Thanks for all the advice! I have no idea how you didn’t make it into at least one of these schools… I’m a junior and these threads are legitimately scaring me…

About the recommendation letter, how can you make your relationship with the teacher seem genuine? I love all my core class teachers, but I’m only genuinely close with my Physics teacher. I don’t want my relationship with the others to seem (or be) contrived, but, like you said, I don’t want a stale recommendation.

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Begin by showing genuine interest in their class. Pick a humanities class that (at least somewhat) intrigues you, and ask questions, answer questions. You need to be enthusiastic. It helps if there are competitions or programs that you are interested in, or have some background you can connect with. For example, my math teacher majored in computer science, so I asked him for help on a few independent projects. For english, if I could have changed anything, I would have asked for help editing my Scholastic Art and Writing pieces. Then, I may have scored higher and built my relationship with my teacher (two birds with one stone)!

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Congratulations on your acceptances, you got into 2 great schools. Davis is the real outlier in the rejections. Our S experienced a similar result from them last year with stats like yours. They should have been your safety. The lesson we learned was that you can’t take anything for granted when applying to a top 40 school for CS/Engineering.

You are probably the record holder at your school for highest stats ever rejected by Davis.

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@OnlyBerkeley2020 , I congratulate you for owning it. You are possibly the only person I have seen who says “here is why I messed up” rather than “what did I do wrong.” I actually do think you are being a little hard on yourself. You can’t be a superman. To achieve all that you did and hit the mark perfectly with all the other stuff is nigh on impossible. Rest assured that much of your lack of accpetances is simply based on too many great applicants with not enough space. If anything, perhaps your essay wasn’t all it could have been, but as to the rest, you are what, 18? There is only so much an 18 year old can do. And also, congrats on the acceptances you have. They show that you at least had the good sense to apply to some schools you could get into. There are lots of threads around from kids who got in nowhere. You are going to do extremely well for yourself, good luck.

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Thank you for your comments. This season, I’ve had to kick myself so many times for NOT doing things. One thing I’ve noticed is in the moment, I always ask myself “Why should I do this?” and afterwards, it becomes “Why didn’t I do this?” That’s something to note for juniors and underclassmen as well: always ask yourself “Is there a good reason for me not to do ________?” If the answer is no, take the jump.

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@OnlyBerkeley2020 Great posts! The fact that you took time to reflect and give back to help others shows that you will be successful in college and life. Most adults do not display such maturity and humility. Congratulations on your acceptances!

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@OnlyBerkeley2020 I agree with Lindagaf, it shows a lot of maturity to take a difficult situation and own it instead of blaming others (which is, unfortunately, all too common on here). In the long run the reflection will pay off when you approach job/internship apps, grad school or whatever else you pursue. Congrats on your acceptances!

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Umm. Cal is a top school.

Personally, I have them as an Ivy-equivalent: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1682986-ivy-equivalents-p3.html

Your advice is useful, but you definitely are too hard on yourself. Instead of saying to yourself “I am blessed to get to go to a uni with faculty that is in the top 10 in the world and will offer me opportunities equivalent to an Ivy at half the price”, you dwell on your rejections to schools, many of whom would not offer you better opportunities than what you can get at Cal. I don’t understand that.

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What was your intended major that you applied to at each school? (and admitted to where you were admitted)

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Congrats on UCB and UCSD. Both are great schools. The way I see it the only mistake you made @OnlyBerkeley2020 was not applying to a wider selection of schools. The schools you chose are certainly among the top in the country but there are hundreds of fabulous schools that have your program, would’ve most likely given you lots of $$ and where you would be a star.

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@PurpleTitan My purpose here was not to dwell. I simply posted a self-reflection of what I did incorrectly, and shared it so others can learn from my mistakes. I apologize if it came across like what you mentioned; I’m very grateful to be able to go to Cal.

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@ucbalumnus
Physics: Duke, USC, Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia.
CS: Everything else

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For UCB, did you apply to EECS or L&S CS? (if L&S CS, you would be admitted undeclared)
For UCSD, were you admitted to CSE or undeclared?

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@ucbalumnus UCB L&S, UCSD CSE

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OnlyBerkeley2020–congratulations on your acceptances. Your grace and maturity inspire me.

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Be aware that UCB L&S CS requires a 3.3 GPA in its prerequisites to declare the L&S CS major:
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/csugrad/#petitioning

(Physics, math, and applied math just need a 2.0 GPA and/or C grades in the prerequisites to declare.)

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@OnlyBerkeley2020 - Congratulations on getting accepted to two excellent schools! I think it was very kind of you to put the lessons that you learned here in writing for future students, but I also think that you should be extremely proud of all that you have accomplished and not give a second thought as to the “could have, should have, or would have”. Best of luck to you!

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I agree with #3 and sort of with #1. I do think excellent natural writers have an advantage.

Sometimes, as was recommended on another thread, when a student intends to submit something negative that he has been told is great by a parent or English teacher, you need a referee. Or something hackneyed like yet another essay about how you want to be a a doctor every since you fell off your skateboard in 3rd grade and broke your arm or how your losing team won the pennant or about your OCD (while many incredibly successful people have it, not a subject MOST people should highlight in their essay.) Good consultant can stop that trainwreck. A really good one can do that but keep your authentic voice.

Not sure the other things mattered in your case. I think teachers are supposed to know the top students. Perhaps knowing them better helps. I think #2 is not applicable. I think you improved plenty. It is about as realistic as believing a 2350 v 2380 matters.

Interest is important but I do not think you have to stalk colleges.

I feel like there have been more of these threads this year, wonder if it was a rougher year. Congratulations on your acceptances.

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As someone who went through the process at the same time you did and (sort of) in the same position you are, I can say that your tips are spot on. The only difference between us is that I decided to apply to more safety schools–which to an extent seem to be a waste as I would not want to go some of them (I also had just a smidge more luck than you with top schools, but got rejected from many too). But again, whatever problems you saw with your app are the same I retrospectively saw in mine too. So Class of 2021 and beyond, take note.