UMass Amherst doesn’t have to give any merit.
There are plenty of students who wants to attend.
Except for 3 colleges, the rest of the colleges cost way more than UMass, even after all those scholarships I listed. You never know what the bottom line is until you’ve applied, thus the 19 applications.
UMass was a real contender for my son, with the affordable (not cheap) in-state cost.
Princeton has an unoffical motto “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity.” At first I was worried that every single essay and every short form question that he answered was in one form or another related to his intended major, I was afraid it would be one dimentional - but he found a way to tie each response back in to who he was and what his passion was. My only advice is be yourself…if you are passionate about something, show it/talk about it. Good luck with your applications!
Thank you for including how many APs are available. When I see a student has 10-16 APs in here, all I think is that my kid’s school only offers 12!
Your context is so helpful!
We are OOS and both UMASS Amherst and the Boston campus came off our list. Doesn’t seem worth the price for OOS. Our own flagship is more appealing.
Thanks for posting and congrats on such great acceptances. I am a 23 parent, did you apply to all schools EA/REA/Regular? Can you list the application period for each of your acceptances?
DD22
UW GPA 3.91 (all classes)
UW GPA 3.88 (5 core classes only)
SAT 1510
White
Public Magnet Program STEM, VA (not NOVA)
Financial Need
7 AP/3 weighted Magnet courses post AP level - end of junior
plus 4 AP/ 2 weighted Magnet courses post AP level - end of senior
ECs - Officer state level club (first of her HS); Regional Latin Club (multiple cities) Chair of committee; President Robotics Club (1st place in district competition); President German Club
NHS member, tutoring in Chem & Japanese; Japanese/Latin Honor Society
Major: Biology & Japanese Studies
Rejected:
Duke
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
USC
Tufts
Admitted:
CMU
UVA EA
Chapel Hill
UofRochester (scholarship)
William&Mary (attending)
Washington&Lee
UIUC
Syracus (scholarship)
Fordham (scholarship)
Clemson
Virginia Tech EA
Miami University (scholarship)
Waitlisted:
Middlebury
Emory (both campuses)
Georgia Tech EA
Brandeis
CWRU EA
Northeastern EA
Hi sure -
Rejected:
Harvard (RD)
Yale (RD)
UNC (EA)
Northeastern (RD)
Waitlisted:
American (RD)
UPenn (RD)
Amherst (RD):
UVA (EA, deferred, then waitlisted)
Cornell (RD)
Wash U (RD)
Accepted:
Georgetown (deferred EA, accepted RD)
Columbia (RD)
George Washington (RD)
University of Michigan (EA)
Princeton - attending (RD)
Thank you for this info. Could you share how much Rochester offered for the non-need scholarship?
Dean’s scholarship 14K annually for all 4 years.
1560 SAT submitted
GPA: 4.2333 W, 4.0 UW
40 college credits
2 APs
Computer Science
Full pay
Rejected
Williams RD
Accepted
Northeastern EA, Dean’s Scholarship $20,000
University of Rochester RD, LGBTQ+ Pride Scholarship $10,000
Worcester Polytechnic Institute EA1, WPI Presidential Scholarship $23,000
Illinois Institute of Technology EA, Henry T. Heald + Housing + STEM Scholarship $27,000
Rochester Institute of Technology, Presidential Scholarship & Performing Arts $18,500
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology EA, Rose-Hulman Merit Scholar $25,000
Drexel University RD, Dean’s Scholarship $19,500
Clarkson University RD, Clarkson, Scholarship + SAGE Reward Scholarship $38,066
Case Western RD (attending), University Scholarship $29,000
Brandeis RD, Justice Brandeis Scholarship $20,500, Wait-listed for QBReC fellowship
Lehigh University RD
Pitt Rolling (initially wait-listed)
Wait-listed
Cornell University RD
CMU RD
Hamilton RD
University of Chicago RD
Grinnell RD
Georgia Tech EA2
Haverford College RD
Northeastern’s Dean’s is per year?
Hi – HS class of 2019 here, hope it’s still useful. Some of this is poorly remembered, so take it with a small grain of salt maybe.
GPA: 3.90 UW, 4.42 W
ACT: 34
AP Scholar with distinction, 8 APs taken (~20 available)
ECs: NHS, advanced choir (officer), annual musicals (ensemble & featured roles mostly), Latin Club (president), certamen, literary magazine (co-president), voice lessons, Girl Up, philosophy club, medaled at solo/ensemble festival, medaled at JCL conventions
Volunteer: did some volunteer work at my church – leading hymns, roadway cleanup, hosting homeless families. tutored English to refugees for a few years.
White, female, no demonstrated financial need
Major: English & Classics
Rejected
Yale
Northwestern
Waitlisted
UChicago
Dartmouth
Vassar
Accepted
Beloit (w merit - ~20,000?)
Lawrence (^)
Bryn Mawr (w merit - ~10,000)
Smith (^)
Carleton College (attending 
)
all were RD
What are your stats and class?
Thank you!
Nevermind, I see you listed the information above.
Only got as far as some EA results, withdrawing as got into ED…
GPA: UW 3.85, Magna Cum Laude, Caucasian male in extremely competitive public high school in NY
SATs: 1430, taken once
4 APs (school doesn’t allow APs before Junior year, limiting their availability)
ECs: Intern for State Senator, founded an environmental club, tutored a Ukranian student in English remotely, president of Mock Trial, Tae Kwon Do black belt
Essays: Fairly strong, probably 8/10. Not winning any literary awards but probably better than the average.
Only heard from a handful of schools before having to withdraw due to ED:
SUNY Geneseo: Admit EA with $14k total merit
Drexel: Admit EA with $9k per year in merit
Clark University: Admit with $26k per year in merit
George Washington University: Admit ED with $15k per year in merit
Yes, all merit awards amounts including Northeastern’s Dean’s Scholarship were amounts awarded per year. (The only award that was unclear regarding annual renewal was University of Rochester’s. The school was at the top of my kid’s list but it was just too expensive and the scholarship amount was very disappointing, especially if it were just for the first year.)
I hear you. That’s why we took Rochester off the list, too.
You are allowed to use recs from relatives? I thought this negatively impacts chances.
DS22
Florida, suburban public high school
White
1370 SAT
3.94 UW GPA
4.6 recalculated core weighted GPA
High school weighted was 6.3 (not sure out of total #)
23/517 class rank
Edited to add
9 AP and the rest honors classes
Varsity athlete and captain
Lots of EC’s and volunteer work 150+ hours
Applied for business
Accepted
University of Florida (attending)
University of Georgia (scholarship)
Clemson (scholarship)
Florida State
USF(scholarship)
UCF (scholarship)
FGCU (scholarship)
Rejected
Notre Dame (legacy Father and Aunt/Uncles)
-In hindsight should have applied TO, but he sent scores during junior SAT day