Any Specific Reason Why I Was Waitlisted?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>Accepted: University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, UCLA, USC (Presidential Scholar 1/2 Tuition), Northwestern University, Harvard University
Waitlisted: University of Michigan, Cornell
Rejected: Stanford (REA), Dartmouth, UC Berkeley</p>

<p>Will Attend: Harvard, DUH</p>

<p>Reflection: Take a risk. Do what you love. Don't do things for college, do them for yourself. I never did anything in school solely to put it on my application. Also, be creative in your essays. I wrote my CommonApp essay about thrift shopping, which probably cost me admission at some schools, but it paid off at Harvard. I am so excited to go to Harvard next year. High school was great, but college should be even better!!</p>

<p>Harvard interview was not incredible, but I think I came off as someone very personable and easy to talk to. It was probably a nice change of pace from the student who focused solely on school and research. I like to watch TV, hang out with friends, go to parties, be a teenager, cause trouble, etc</p>

<p>Age - senior
Sex - Male
Ethnicity - Caucasian
$ Bracket -Middle
Intended Majors - Bio/Biomedical Engineering (or ChemE at schools that don't have it)
State - Illinois
School Type - Medium/Large Public (somewhat competitive)</p>

<p>Applied to: </p>

<p>Stanford (REA) - already applied
Harvard
University of Michigan
UW - Madison</p>

<p>UCLA
USC - already applied
University of Illinois - already applied
Berkeley
Northwestern</p>

<p>HARD STATS!
UW GPA - 3.99/4.0
W GPA - 5.21
Class Rank - 4/500
SAT - not taking
SAT Subject Tests - USH 740 (not sent), math II 780 (ouch) and biology e (750) both sent
ACT - 35 (33 E 36 M 34 R 36 S)
AP - Human Geography (5) USH (5) - Junior APs - AP Lang+Comp (5), AP bio (5), AP Macro (5), AP Environmental science (5), AP Comp Gov (5), AP US gov (5) - Senior APs - AP Physics C E+M, AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP European History</p>

<p>Schedule:
FRESH
Honors English
Honors Geometry
Honors Biology
CP Western civ (world history)
Engineering and Design/Piano I</p>

<p>SOPH
Honors English II
Honors Alg. 2 + Trig
Honors Chemistry
AP US History
Auto Mechanics
Spanish I</p>

<p>Junior
Spanish II
Pre Calc Honors
AP US Gov
AP Macro
AP Biology
English III
Honors Physics</p>

<p>English IV over the summer</p>

<p>SENIOR
AP Chemistry
AP Calc BC
AP Physics (will take both C tests)
AP European History
Spanish III honors
Music Technology</p>

<p>EC's
Soccer - Varsity since Freshman year, started every game, Regional Champions (9,11,12), All Conference, All Sectional (10,11,12), Team MVP (10), 2x most outstanding athlete (highest gpa for fall sports), all-area, chicago fire player of the week, academic all state (12), potential walk on (?) just sent recruiting info</p>

<p>Mathletes - 3 time individual regional champion, 3 time state qualifier, vice president (11), president senior year, 2 time individual conference champion, all conference, AMC12 school winner/AIME qualifier (108)</p>

<p>NHS president - 11,12</p>

<p>Scholastic Bowl - JV (9, 10, 11, 12) Capt. both years of JV team, capt. varsity</p>

<p>I played travel soccer for 8 years, went to nationals in florida twice, went to state championships twice, currently play for club team outside of school</p>

<p>Science Club member</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta Member</p>

<p>Honors/Awards/Etc -
Soccer All conference
academic all state
most outstanding player
Soccer all sectional
Soccer team MVP
Soccer freshman of the year
Mathletes multiple conference, regional awards, state qualifier
Mathletes all conference
AMC 12 - 108 (AIME QUAL.)</p>

<p>Summers -
I spend a lot of time volunteering for JDRF - juvenile diabetes research foundation because I am a type 1 diabetic. I participate in the JDRF walk to cure diabetes and I host a garage sale every year in which all $$$ goes to JDRF. Overall I have made over $10,000.</p>

<p>Rec's - one from history teacher was awesome, didn't read one from math teacher, also got supplemental one from soccer coach
Essay - took a unique angle on diabetes and soccer</p>

<p>Strength's - Soccer, GPA, ACT
Weaknesses - lack of big awards</p>

2

<p>I really have no idea why they wait listed you…maybe you were too good??? And thought you wouldn’t come. My goodness you were accepted to Harvard ����</p>

3

<p>Michigan was my first choice. Of course, I wasn’t banking on getting into Harvard. My brother goes to Michigan so I fell in love with the campus, the people, and Ann Arbor. Maybe I applied late? I applied on Jan 26 for the Feb 1 deadline.</p>

4

<p>lol this reminds me when i applied to schools and in my year everyone I knew (granted not a huge sample size) who got into cornell engineering got waitlist or rejected from princeton engineering. Everyone who got into princeton engineering got either waitlist or rejected to cornell engineering. funny</p>

<p>Its odd, but sometimes a few apps get odd results. Maybe they did not like an essay or looked closely at your app and something was off for them specifically. Or they felt the only way you would come here is if you got a scholarship and there were none left…</p>

5

<p>Yeah. Really weird. If you didnt have a brother attending I’d almost think admissions didn’t believe you would attend. It could only be the essay. Nothing else makes sense. Congrats on Harvard.</p>

6

<p>Sometimes schools waitlist top applicants to protect their yield. If the student accepts a spot on the waitlist and the school knows the student is interested then they may admit them.</p>

7

<p>Its truly ridiculous, can’t be explained. I thought that before you stated your brother is at Michigan…that makes it beyond Wow.</p>

<p>But you are going to Harvard so things turned out pretty great! Congrats!</p>

8

<p>Damn, that sucks. </p>

<p>Is Harvard a good engineering school though?</p>

9

<p>I plan to study biology at Harvard. I was applied to the College of Engineering at Michigan then planned to go into Biomedical Engineering.</p>

10

<p>For what it’s worth, I was placed on the “extended” waitlist at Michigan. I don’t know if it is any different than the regular waitlist. Is it something for preferred waitlistees? Also, I thought I conveyed pretty clearly my love of Ann Arbor and the university in my essays.</p>

<p>I also sent the admissions office an email asking if they could provide any insight on their decision. If I hear anything back, I’ll post it here.</p>

11

<p>You could always call and try to tell them your situation or appeal your decision (I’m not sure if Michigan does this). I have heard some teachers at my school tell other kids in a situation like yours to call, express that you really want to go there and you would even go to Michigan over Harvard (hint that you got into there, but don’t make it sound rude). I wouldn’t just email, I find it disconnects people from situations and doesn’t provide as good of result.</p>

12

<p>On the other hand, what happened at Cornell, Dartmouth and Cal (and disregarding Stanford)?</p>

<p>You wouldn’t change your mind if you got in Michigan, right? So it more you are just curious at this point?</p>

13

<p>Well, if Michigan is truly your first choice, I would consider sending a letter to UM. I’m pretty sure if you tell them that you’d drop Harvard for Mich, that’d place you pretty high on the waitlist.</p>

<p>But come on. It’s Harvard! Congratulations!</p>

14

<p>Yes, it is just a curiosity thing at this point. I could see rejections/waitlists at Cornell, Dartmouth, Stanford, and Berkeley. I thought I had a really good shot at Michigan, especially with my parents spending 40k+ a year for my brother to go there. However, I will be attending Harvard in the fall. I am just wondering if it was my essay, a late application, or some other outlying factor.</p>

15

<p>If I had to guess, I would say that maybe the essay threw the adcoms for a spin. Like you said, you took a risk. Harvard and Northwestern awarded you. Michigan possibly didn’t like it as much. I don’t think Mich was trying to protect its yield since you’re bother is a student there already.</p>

16

<p>As a person who lives in MI, U of M has really weird admissions. A girl at my school who got a 4.0 and a dec ACT got deferred and my friend who got a 3.65 and a 28 got accepted. I also have a friend who’s cousin got flat out rejected but got a full ride and 25k living expenses at MIT. So screwy.</p>

17

<p>A kid from my school actually got accepted. Rank 7, ACT 34, not much ECs, took hard classes though. Also COE. interesting, but i dont worry about it too much</p>

18

<p>My school had some odd results too. Several students in top 5% with 31+ ACTs were rejected/wait listed. We had one student outside the top 10%, maybe a 3.5 UW, with maybe a 27 or 28 (I forgot), accepted for LSA. He was unhooked too.</p>

19

<p>probably nearly the same reason you were rejected by Berkeley. Most likely they could smell it a mile away from your essay that you didn’t seem like a likely yield for Michigan since you’re stats are quite good. Tufts syndrome maybe?</p>

<p>Take it as a compliment.</p>

20

<p>Michigan is getting harder to get into for OOS students…and even harder for international applicants. The three student I know who are heading to the Ivy League from Dubai this year were all rejected by Michigan. As the applicant pool continues to grow, you can expect admissions to become increasingly selective and unpredictable.</p>