Admissions Decisions Class of 2021

My daughter in an international student, got accepted (Fisher College of Business) with 3.8 GPA, SAT 1330 but many extracuriculars, sports, leadership and employment achievements and awards. However we’ve not received any scholarship notification. Does anybody know if financial aid decisions come together with the acceptance decision letter? Please advise if we should call the admissions and financial aid office?

Applied for Electrical Engineering early action.
3.58 Unweighted
4.41 Weighted
34 ACT
1 Alumni and 2 current 4.0 OSU students in my family
All As since 10th grade after a rough 9th grade in Latin.

Deferred and Waitlisted.
OSU took 6 months to tell me I’ll have to wait another 2. What a joke.
My hobby is building synthesizers for christ’s sake. What else do they want? Volunteer hours? Got those. Desire to learn? Uh huh. Good reputation among teachers? Definitely.

Safe to say the donations have stopped and I am going Case Western for now. Unless OSU comes back with a significant scholarship, my mind is made up. Case will be cheaper anyways.

@1999610 - What the actual hell indeed. Really.

@vikemom hehe

@lai18972 I think we were both victims of the same type of admissions procedure (whether its yield protection or whatever). There is no way you should have been rejected either.

I think all people who applied late with high grades and test scores are being rejected. Goodness knows what we could have done to sway this bizarre admissions office’s mind.

Result: Admitted
Submitted Date: 1/1/17
Acceptance Date /Time: 3/2/17
Major in: BioMedical Engineering
GPA (uw, w): 3.75, 4.10
SAT/ACT Scores: 33 (Sent ACT Only)
State (if domestic applicant): OOS (Illinois)
Extracurriculars: Decent amount consisting of Business, Government, and General School involvement stuff.
Essay: TBH I kinda wrote whatever I could because I had a ton of essays due that week and I guess they liked it lol

^OK, I eat my words. I have no idea what happened with my application.

Waitlisted:
Applied EA for business undecided
In state
My school didn’t rank but I was one of 75 out of 2300 kids who graduated with honors.
GPA 3.4 (was a 3.95 until my last year reasons explained in essay)
ACT 25
Graduated a year early (2016) at 16 years old.
First generation and LGBT
Extracurricular: Band, choir, theatre, an almost full time job and volunteer work.

So many people with better stats than me got denied? It makes me so confused? It’s the only college I want applied to. Does anyone know what my chance will be of getting into main campus since I’m waitlisted?

even though level of interest isn’t considered, would it increase our chances to get off the waitlist if we send an email to express our interest?

I have sent emails and they always respond “Interest is not taken in to consideration.” It can’t hurt to send one though. I am in the same boat as you

Any news that OSU may accept some from wait list this year?

I sent a “still interested” email after being deferred the first time and I got the “interest isn’t taken into consideration.” Response too. But it can’t hurt, as my stats are above and I’m mediocre in comparison to most, it was either that, or the fact I’m first gen (I heard they go easier on first gens?) that I’m waitlisted and not denied. But honestly no one understands how the acceptance/denial process goes. Good luck to us all.

@Hsgradco2017, I think you’re putting too much faith in this holistic approach. GPA and SAT/ACT matter the most, end of discussion. EC’s and leadership after that. Essays? Please, almost meaningless in overall picture. When you see people with 3.8 GPA’s or over 1400 SAT’s getting rejected you’re talking about the Top 25% of all admitted students. That’s the cream of the crop. There are other factors involved here.

And that person who said they were accepted with a 25 ACT, well they should thank their lucky stars…

@Oneiota - WOW! “thank their lucky stars?” That’s pretty elitist of you. Maybe it’s evidence that there’s more to admissions at OSU than “just” numbers - aka, a holistic approach? Not everyone with a 3.8+ or 1400+ is the “ideal” student at every university. Other things definitely come into play. I, for one, am glad they are taking time to look at all factors and level the playing field instead of making it a numbers game.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled “I got admitted” or “I was waitlisted” posts. Since that’s what this post is really about?

And to the student with the 25 ACT score, CONGRATULATIONS!

@bucks724, if you read the thread in its entirety you would have seen a number of posts demonstrating OSU had a housing shortage, placed particular emphasis on class rank and was protecting its yield.

A 25 ACT score is roughly a 1220 on the New SAT. That’s well below average for OSU.

Please explain to the people who had a 32-35 ACT and didn’t get accepted the fairness of accepting someone with a 25. Nothing elitist about it, The numbers are the most important aspect of any application-everything else is secondary. To dispute that is either one being naive or ignorant. Your choice.

If YOU had read through this thread in its entirety, you would have seen several things:

  1. That I've virtually been reading and responding on this thread since day one.
  2. There has been discussion about housing, class rank and yield protection, all of which was out of place on THIS thread.
  3. You can have a HIGH class rank and a "well below average" ACT score and still be accepted.
  4. A 32-35 ACT is NOT the be-all, end-all to admission into OSU, fair in your eyes or not, it's HOLISTIC. NOT just based on numbers. Numbers, while important to some, are NOT everything.
  5. By arguing about this when the actual admissions back what I'm saying up shows I'm not the one that is naïve or ignorant. But by all means, continue arguing about it on a thread for ADMISSIONS into the Class of 2021.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. And again, to the student that had the “well below average” ACT score, CONGRATULATIONS. We are happy you’re here!

@bucks724 What other factors do you think is considered during this holistic review if not ACT or SAT? I have a 1450 SAT score. I am in two varsity teams, did research during the summer at a uni and several science camps at unis. I would consider my ECs pretty well tbh. I would be very happy if OSU did holistis review because I am confident about my stats. But still rejected for engineering. My GPA is also not low (3.8)

There is no arguing with @bucks724. He/She likes to hide behind this Pollyanna Holistic approach and rejoice in the fact someone with a 25 ACT was accepted.

When other factors are discussed beyond simple admission criteria they are inappropriate for this board. Comical arguing tactic. Dismiss what you don’t agree with and revert to the holistic approach.

Perhaps space in a particular major filled up early? Maybe they are protecting the yield? Maybe housing is an issue? Any and all of these could lead to more than qualified applicants being rejected.

Talk all you want about the holistic approach, it sounds like your one of those who got in with subpar scores and are defending it. You can have as many criteria as you like, GPA and SAT/ACT better be in line or the rest is just noise.

I’d love to see Bucks address lai18972 and those scores and EC’s.

I got waitlisted with a 3.3 and a 1410 SAT. Although holistic admissions might be considered foolish by you, OSU is a giant school that intended on decreasing their class size. The largest factor that isn’t GPA/SAT scores is fit, and every single prospective freshman knows this. As brutal as this may sound, students with 3.8 GPA’s and >1400 SAT’s aren’t uncommon applicants to a school like OSU, and if they went purely off of merit, they would have yield issues. Now just my speculation: in order to have a class that’s balanced with test scores and GPA within a range that OSU was looking for, a multitude of things must be considered. How many students with these scores can we afford to accept without lowering our yield? How many students with lower stats can we accept without lowering our admissions criteria? Is this unfair? Hell yes. But college admissions is a game, and ever single applicant is a piece of a bigger picture.

Another large thing that must be considered is housing at OSU. Yield is so important because they don’t want to be left with housing issues by May 1st. They are probably attempting to have a somewhat rough idea of their yield by approaching admissions with the idea that I stated before. In my opinion, “fit” is just as much of a quantitative concept as it is a qualitative one. While you may “fit” within the student body, atmosphere, and academic rigor of the school; you might not fit with the particular schools plans that the admissions committee had made at the beggining of the process. I’m not saying that I’m correct, I’m saying that this a way that I think things like might be caused by.

@afluffymuffin Yes, I will accept your explanation.

But explanations of students who are well qualified by hollistiic reviews getting rejected, and being told that they are not competitive enough. That is pathetic. Especially when they have been deferred and rejected/waitlisted.