I write this as a frustrated parent whose “S” was waitlisted at Bucknell, Lehigh and Lafayette (strong interview according to “S”) and did not get accepted at Villanova. HS Guidance counselor thought Buknell would be a TARGET school and the others may be reach schools because of low acceptance rate.
Here are my “S” stats: 1480 SAT; 770 Math 2 Subject Test; Unweighted GPA: 3.6980 and Weighted GPA: 4.7915
Honors Algebra 2,; Honors Pre-Cal and AP Cal A/B; AP Physics and AP US Government
National Technolgy Honor Society, National Honor Society and Social Studies Honor Society
4 years Swimming (3 Varsity letters and 1 year Captain); 4 years Lacrosse (2 Varsity letters) 2 Years Football; 1 Year Cross Country
Eagle Scout.
HS Recommendations from Math Teacher and Wood Tech Teacher as well as Guidance Counselor.
Did not apply ED to any of the schools bc need a Financial Aid package. Applied to the Engineering School at all 4 schools; Mechanical Engineering (liked that Lafayette and Lehigh were offering new accredited programs in Biomechanics/Bioengineering respectively).
Was wondering if admissions people, parents or fellow students at these school could provide me with some understanding as to why he was waitlisted at Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette and didn’t get into Villanova. I just don’t get it an either does my “S”. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank You.
Bucknell’s acceptance rate is less than 25%. They actually have the lowest acceptance rate of all these schools.
Your GC was just flat our wrong in saying this was a target, especially for engineering!
I’m surprised that he wasn’t accepted at "Nova but I would have put the other schools as reaches (for nearly all students, not just your son).
The only thing that jumps out at me in terms of stats is lack of rigor but that could be a function of what’s offered at his HS, which shouldn’t be counted against him. Not sure where his lower grades were but the 3.7 GPA could be an issue if the Bs were in STEM classes.
I’m so sorry and hope that your son also had some safeties on his list that he can get excited about.
I am so sorry for you and your son. I know this is a stressful process. I agree with the above poster…Bucknell has the lowest acceptance rate of the schools you mentioned and should not be considered easy to get into for ANY student. All of the schools on your list are highly competitive and selective. I hope your GC had him apply to some less competitive schools. I am thinking there are 2 things possibly at play here. First (and I do not mean this to sound offensive…your son’s stats are outstanding and both you and he should be proud)…but it sounds like he doesn’t have an “X” factor. To put it bluntly, sure he has great stats, but so does every single kid who is applying to those schools. What does he have to set him apart and make him stand out?? Again, I am not saying this is the case, but trying to help you shed light on what happened. Secondly, he might have been the result of yield projection. I am thinking specifically for Lehigh. May daughter’s friend just got into Lehigh the other day and her stats are not nearly as good. I think she got like at 1220 on her SATs. (She did not get into Bucknell though.) But she made it clear that she would attend if admitted. Your son’s stats are actually higher than Lehigh’s mean. So they may have thought he was using them as a “safety” in case he didn’t get into a better school. Again, this is just what comes to mind when reading situations like yours. I hope he got into a school that he is excited about.
It seems you may have misconstrued the meaning of “target.” This term commonly applies to colleges at which an acceptance is reasonably likely, but at which a waitlist or denial should not be unexpected either.
I think your son undershot. Did you look at Naviance? Did you visit the schools? He sounds like a very accomplished young man. This must be tough. What are your safeties?
Your S’s profile certainly aligns with these schools, but in the RD round they are all very competitive as they fill a large portion of their class in the early round. You don’t list a language class. Did your S take 4 years of foreign language? Schools do look for that. And most schools look for recommendations from a teacher in a core academic subject, so the rec from the wood tech teacher may have been discounted.
Your S needs to work the wait lists hard now. Send a letter of continued interest with any updates since the apps were submitted. If 2nd semester grades are good, send those. Make it very clear that he is very interested in attending. Good luck.
Probably waitlisted because he did not apply ED to Lehigh, Lafayette or Bucknell and did not apply EA to Villanova. May have been placed on waitlist because financial aid funds went to others & his stats & ECs suggested that he would have generated acceptances.
If he had applied EA to Villanova–assuming Villanova still offers EA–your son would have received an early wake up call that would have alerted him to add schools to his list.
P.S. It is fine to apply ED if in need of financial aid. If financial aid package is insufficient, then ED is not binding.
Also, because all of your targeted schools are in Eastern Pennsylvania, your school counselor should have encouraged your son to add a couple of safeties and a couple of publics ( Penn State & the University of Pittsburgh, for example).
FWIW: My nephew applied two years ago to Villanova & was rejected as a serious Catholic, URM, Eagle Scout, 31 ACT & 1450 SAT and offered geographic diversity. (I never saw his application, just heard about the result.)
Thanks Everyone!
Your responses were helpful. My son was accepted at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, NJIT, TCNJ, Union College and Quinnipiac. All very good schools! He visited all of the schools he applied to except for the 2 definite reach schools of John Hopkins and Northeastern. We were aware of the competitive nature of these schools due to their low acceptance rates. However, we did think he had a reasonable chance of getting accepted into at least 3 of the schools (Lafayette Bucknell and Villanova) as his stats (GPA and SAT scores are at the top of each school’s respective range.
Another parent also said that the schools may have placed him on the waitlist because they thought he applied to them as safety schools and was not serious about attending their respective school Seems like that did happen and that is just not fair for a college to make such a presumption. I believe this is where my frustration comes from.
His number 1 school was Olin School of Engineering, a reach school that emphasizes creative engineering thus was the reason he asked his Wood Tech teacher for a recommendation (today he wondered if that was a mistake). His stats were on the lower range particularly the GPA (Olin looks for a 3.9). My son took 3 years on Honors French and we thought the “it” factor was his rank of an Eagle Scout (only 4% of scouts earn this rank).
Are all 4 of his acceptances places that would work financially? Those are some great schools! We originally had RPI on my d19’s long list but crossed it off because it wasn’t going to be affordable (could tell from the NPC). It was hard to cross off though because it looked liked an awesome place for engineering.
The OP mentioned applying in the RD because of FA and this could have played a big part in the WL as well. Working the wait lists might not yield great results if there’s high need there and will likely result in disappointment regardless. I don’t think these schools are considered super generous.
My S19 did not apply to Lehigh but the other three. Wait lists at Bucknell and Lafayette. In at Villanova. Stats are almost identical down to the Eagle Scout sans the athletes and a 34 ACT. My running notes don’t have acceptance rates but the act ranges in the following order from the CDS:
Its completely normal to feel frustrated and to wonder what went “wrong” but the truth is that nothing really went wrong. You have excellent acceptances to wonderful schools that are highly regarded. I don’t know much about the NJ schools, but my daughter will be attending Union and she absolutely loved Quinnipiac. It would probably have been her choice if she had not gotten into the program she wanted at Union. She is a high stat kid like your son (34 ACT, 3.98 unweighted GPA). I’m writing this to let you know that your son will not be alone as a motivated high achiever at any of these schools.
You can certainly push to get the wait lists, but since those are rare, I think it would be great to start celebrating the success that you have.
Honestly, you should be rejoicing that your son didn’t get into those schools…you will save thousands of dollars and avoid huge debt—— all while your kid goes to a school for mechanical engineering which will offer him the same opportunities and same starting salary upon graduation. RPI is a good school, no doubt, but you should send your kid to TCNJ (especially if you are instate)as it offers the best bang for your buck out of every single school on your list. You should cross NJIT off the list as your kid will be subjected to LARGE freshman classes and he will basically be a prisoner on campus, unable to walk more than 2 blocks off campus without being in a dangerous high crime area. Remember, any merit money that Lehigh, Bucknell, RPI offers is contingent on a 3.0 which is difficult to attain in engineering while TCNJ even at full price will still be less. Don’t get caught up in the elitist attitude on this site. Focus on limiting debt!!!
I completely understand your surprise at these results. Last year my daughter was waitlisted from Bucknell and Lehigh. She had 1550 SAT, three subject tests with the lowest score 720 (forget the score of the two others but they were higher than 720), all honors and 6 AP classes, 4.0 UW GPA/4.98 W GPA from the top-ranked public school in our state with one significant EC and with strong teacher recommendations (per her guidance counselor). I am also a Lehigh alum.
She placed herself on the waitlist for Lehigh and although she was given a spot off the waitlist very early on she didn’t take it as by that point we had decided that it wasn’t worth paying 70G per year for a Lehigh degree when we could pay 35G per year for a University of Maryland Honors College degree. That decision haunted her all summer and she just could not get herself excited about going to Maryland. But fast forward and she is so incredibly happy there now so in the end it all worked out for her/us.
I have also seen friends with high-stat high-school seniors this year get waitlisted or rejected. It is truly a wake-up call that being a top academic student who is otherwise well-rounded just isn’t enough to guarantee acceptance to even these excellent but not top-tier (reputation-wise) schools like Lehigh and Bucknell.