I don’t think Villanova’s overflow has anything to do with it.
D has 1380 SAT, GPA 4.18 (max possible at school is 4.29), 8 APs, All State athlete, tons of ECs, ranked top 10 of 152… Bucknell = Waitlisted, UVA = Waitlisted, Lehigh = Waitlisted, Villanova = Waitlisted… very disappointed and somewhat confused…
@ljk3vb is this because your D asks for a lot of financial aid? I’m accepted at Dickinson, Sewanee and wailisted at Gettysburg and Franklin & Marshall. Colleges are just really random like that 
Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT : did not take
ACT : 29 (30 SS)
SAT II: did not take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a
Weighted GPA: 3.77
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 20
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (1), Psychology (2), Language (3), Biology (2)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Comp Science A, AP Statistics, AP Enviro. Science, Marketing
Visit: No.
Subjective: n/a
Extracurriculars: Student Government, Enviro. Club, Athletics, Mayor’s Council, Marketing Apprenticeship
Job/Work Experience: 30+ hours/wk
Volunteer/Community service: 300+ hours
Summer Activities: Internships
Interview: n/a
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Business Management
State: AR
Country: USA
School Type: Public Charter
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: < $40,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Low-income, HS Alumna attends
Reflection: I have horrible STATS but took advantage of every opportunity around! You don’t have to be best of the best! Good luck (:
Strengths: Minority, Many Extracurriculars
Weaknesses: ACT, AP Exam Scores
@ljk3vb I’m in the same boat. Now, waitlisted at CMU, Bucknell, and Lehigh. Bucknell and Lehigh were surprising because my stats were above the 75th percentile for those colleges and my EC’s proved I was more than a nerd lol. Penn and Cornell decisions tomorrow. Reasonably, I have no intentions of getting into either of those schools anymore. At least I’m accepted to a few second-tier schools like RPI, Case Western, and Drexel.
ACCEPTED
29 ACT
3.9 weighted GPA
@lijk3bv - What schools did your daughter get accepted to? With her stats, I would think she would have been accepted to one of those you mentioned. You should have her talk to her guidance counselor.
@allykay do you think being a minority helps getting in at Bucknell? I’m hispanic
@emilycollege UW gpa?
Son got his first rejection…1500 old SAT, 4.37 WGPA, 12 APs, 800 Math 2, 790 Spanish…engineering. We are kind of in shock. Luckily was not one of his top choices and has other great options.
How do you see your decision? Mine is not on the application portal
@allykay No question about it. Bucknell has fairly miserable percentages of Hispanic and African-American students. Something like 1/3 the number of the population at large. Doesn’t look good for them. You know Bucknell is desperate to get those numbers up. Showing lots of students of color on its website isn’t enough. A minority with reasonable stats has an awesome shot, I would think.
Remember, that students should not take a rejection personally.
Sometimes, it is a numbers game, and not how we might think of it (stats, scores, etc).
Choice of major can have some impact. For example, the University probably only accepts a certain number of applicants to engineering each year. Not all of them can be admitted.
And let’s not forget about athletics. Bucknell is Division 1 and fields 27 teams - from a student body of about 3,500 students. If you are not an scholar-athlete, getting an acceptance can be even more difficult.
If stats are too high they might waitlist you as well if they think that you have a low chance of actually attending the school.
Thinking its a financial reason… low EFC leads me to believe that they accept people that can write bigger checks before moving on to those who need more financial aid… have recently learned a lot about “need blind” and not to trust schools that use the term… D may not have a 1600 SAT but waitlisted at all 4 schools is a little curious. D has D1 offer to play sport but would pass on that offer for a better academic school. @MoronicAcid17 @lacrosse114
Yes… learned the hard way that finances play a large part in acceptances. @ambitious07
Accepted
GPA: unweighted 3.98ish and weighted 4.198 (APs are on a 4.8 scale and no other classes are weighted)
ACT: 34 (36E 35M 33R 30S)
SAT: 1520 (750 M 770 R)
SAT II: 780 M II and 740 Chem
EC: 4 years of marching band, leadership positions for 3 of those 4; 2 jazz bands, hockey/basketball pep band, show choir band, 1st chair at all-state band, math team 2 years, science Olympiad 4 years, NHS 2 years and this year am doing a tutoring coordinator, other volunteer and school-orientation activities.
Senior Year Courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Literature and Comp, AP Spanish, AP US Gov and Politics, Econ, band(top audition ensemble)
AP Exams: AP Stats (4), AP Chem (5), AP World History (4)
@ambitious07 My daughter has a 3.8 unweighted and a 30 ACT. She was waitlisted at 5 schools including Bucknell and accepted at 4. We asked for no financial aid so I don’t believe they want people writing a big check. In fact she was given a huge academic scholarship at one of the schools. I don’t think asking for no financial aid helps at all …didn’t help her.
@ambitious07 - can I ask what other schools she was wait listed? My daughter has a 31 ACT and 4.2 - was accepted at Bucknell and EA at Villanova but wait listed at Washngton and Lee.
@ljk3vb- Schools like Bucknell take almost 50% of their class in the ED rounds. These students are not waiting on financial aid packages, so in the regular decision round I don’t agree that the school is looking for people who can write the big checks - they nabbed them in the ED phase.