DS22, parochial high school, Caucasian, TN
ACT 33, 12 APs, wGPA 4.05, uwGPA 3.7, top 20% of class
Varsity athlete, club athlete, lots of diocesan leadership, minor student government leadership
Applied to some schools for business (finance), some for engineering; minor in Italian
Accepted
Indiana U direct admit Kelley business (small scholarship) - attending and loving it
College of the Holy Cross (mid-sized scholarship)
Auburn (mid-sized scholarship)
Texas A&M (small scholarship)
MS State (large scholarship)
U of TN (mid-sized scholarship)
Catholic U of America (large scholarship)
Rhodes (mid-sized scholarship)
Baylor (mid-sized scholarship)
DS22
White male
Los Angeles private school
3.9 UW GPA
1530 SAT (780 EBRW, 750 M)
10 APs (didn’t submit)
National Merit Finalist
ECs - focused on data science; 3 varsity sports (offered recruit spots at two of his acceptances but didn’t commit; 3rd place at junior national championships)
Accepted
Williams (RD, after ED deferral)
Middlebury (legacy)
Carleton
Davidson (Belk semi-finalist)
Hamilton
Wesleyan
Colgate
U. of St Andrews, Scotland (CS + Philosophy)
U. of Georgia - Honors (EA)
U. of Vermont - Honors w/highest merit (EA)
@TonyGrace he had coach offers from Wesleyan and Hamilton for ED and was pursued by Carleton’s coach while waiting on RD. He was accepted RD to all three, so there’s a chance the coach interest helped.
Williams’ coach invited him to the team shortly after his acceptance, and he’s greatly enjoying his freshman year on the team. The coach reached out unprompted, so he was talking to admissions. We’ll never know if the coach helped tip the scales for my son after his ED deferral, but my take from his results is that, if nothing else, thoughtful engagement with coaches can only be a positive.
Not technically graduated, but my college search has wrapped up so figured I’d post.
Class of 2023
Homeschooled
GPA 4.0 unweighted
11 APs (3 senior year, all 5’s on exams)
1580 SAT
National Merit Finalist
“Average excellent” EC’s involving machine learning and quantum computing
Essays decently strong, told common app essay would either make AOs love me or not want to touch me with a 10-foot pole
1 recommendation very strong (from English teacher); other recommendation strong but generic (math teacher)
Computer Science major
Did not apply for need-based aid
Case Western Reserve University: Deferred EA, withdrew application due to minimal interest
Clarkson University: Accepted RD, $37k/yr merit, accepted to Honors Program, did not receive Ignite scholarship
College of Wooster: Accepted EA, $41k/yr merit
Juniata College: Accepted EA, $44k/yr merit
Northeastern University: Accepted EA, $7k/yr merit
Rochester Institute of Technology: Accepted RD to Computing Exploration, $24k/yr merit
Stevens Institute of Technology: Accepted RD, $33k/yr merit, invited to Pinnacle Scholars
University of Alabama: Accepted ~October; full ride due to NMF; accepted to Randall Research Scholars, Blount Scholars, Two Steps Ahead German program; waitlisted for EPIC scholars; made finalist on University Fellows but couldn’t attend finalist weekend
University of Connecticut (in state): Accepted RD, $10k/yr merit, accepted to honors program
University of South Carolina (attending): Accepted EA, instate tuition + $17k/yr (Top Scholar + NMF scholarship), accepted to Honors College
Ursinus College: accepted EA, $48k/yr scholarship (including Parlee Fellows specialty scholarship)
West Virginia University: Accepted ~October, full ride due to NMF scholarship + grades scholarship and some engineering specific ones, accepted to Honors College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Accepted EA, $24k/yr scholarship
Decisions are all in for D23, but she likely needs to do some re-visits before deciding.
Goal was Engineering with availability of ballet/dance on campus if possible.
White female, no hooks other than the Duke legacy.
All RD except as indicated.
Had interviews for 10 schools(all that offer them except Columbia)
1570(800/770 same sitting), max course rigor incl 12 APs ( all 5s so far including Chem, BCcalc, PhysC, Phys1, EngLit, USH, stat), 4.0uw, at or near very top of class (no official rank) at competitive private high school.
Engineering research
State/ regional Academic and EC honors/awards; school awards
Performing arts(mostly pre-pro ballet with other dance forms about 20 hrs per week, including many years of professional performance experience; orchestra w leadership)
Community service
School club leadership
Accepted: UPenn VIPER (Engineering/Arts&Sci Dual degree program) Duke (Pratt Engineering)
Northwestern(McCormick Engineering) WashU St Louis (McKelvey Engineering)
Wake (full COA Signature scholar)
UVA(Rodman scholar) Davidson (Belk nominee)
(FWIW as asked in another thread:The acceptances for her HS were a mix of likelies(3), match(2), Reach(2)).
She worked hard and put everything into it, but we definitely know luck is a big part of it as well.
White student, queer and Jewish (both clear in application). Applied RD with interviews wherever offered, SAT score, and undecided major, except where indicated.
SAT 1510 (800ERW/710M same sitting), ~3.95 unweighted GPA, 4 AP exams with three 5s so far. Rigorous courseload at private prep school. Fewer APs than some classmates – took many interdisciplinary courses. Regional and state writing/journalism awards, strong ECs.
Accepted:
Boston University (Wheelock College of Education, Kilachand Honors College)
Clark University (EA; merit $$$)
Occidental College (merit $$)
Pitzer College (test-blind)
Portland State University (rolling admissions)
Sarah Lawrence College (EA; merit $$$)
Tufts University
Vassar College (didn’t hear back about interview)
Waitlist:
Haverford College
New York University (Gallatin School of Individualized Study)
Pomona College
Denied:
Swarthmore College
Brown University
Now to decide between Oxy, Pitzer, SLC, Tufts, Vassar. DM me if you’ve got advice!
Congrats to all the posters on their amazing results! That represents a lot of hard work paying off. Well earned.
For any prospective students/parents reading this, just know that most of these posters are way above typical. CC attracts a self-selecting subset of the college bound population, that is further self selected by those who post their results.
A good illustration of this skew played out in the recent UC Berkeley Portal Astrology, when the collective accurately predetermined who would be offered admission based on clues on the Berkeley website. Polls were conducted to see how many people were getting various outcomes (before decisions were posted) and the outcome theorized (correctly in hindsight) to represent acceptance had about a 35% result in the poll, despite that being almost 3x the rate of people that Berkeley accepts. It was hypothesized, accurately, that the delta was due to disproportionate participation on CC from strong candidates.
african american female from pennsylvania
major: cognitive science/psychology
gpa: 4.0 unweighted, 4.371 weighted (ap classes are weighted as 4.5 instead of 5 at my school)
rank: top 5% (school does not rank)
8 APs, 11 honors
ap scores
ap human geography- 5
ap gov and politics- 5
ap language & composition- 4
ap music theory- 4
extracurriculars
•chamber singers (advanced choir)- social activities coordinator & tenor section leader
•girl up- president
•leo club (volunteer club, 110 volunteer hours)- treasurer
•4 years of theater at school
•theater internship at school district’s middle school
•job- birthday party host and ride operator at a children’s adventure park
•songwriting
•volunteer sunday school teacher at church
•national french honor society
awards
•1st chair at pmea all-state choir
•national african american recognition scholar
•editor’s choice award from teen ink magazine
•ap scholar with honor
accepted: university of pennsylvania, university of michigan, university of delaware (honors + full ride), pitt (honors + $$$), umd, penn state
In the hopes it helps next year’s parents—S23’s stats are 3.75u/4.1w, 1480 SAT, 9 AP courses–AP scores not sent, good (but not great) ECs including 4 years in both varsity sports and band, leadership in many activities & at his paid summer work (ex. Section Leader in band). Submitted major was neuroscience; white male from good Ohio public high school.
Thoughts? Both acceptances and supposedly “need-based” financial aid were unpredictably and varied widely. He was also eligible for a Tuition Exchange (TE) grant some places.
Acceptances:
Hamilton College [Jan term]: with FA = COA $37K
Trinity College: with FA = COA $16k
Conn College: $30k merit + FA = COA $35K
Fairfield University: TE (replaced $23k merit) = COA $17K
John Carroll University: TE (replaced $25k merit) = COA $15k
Xavier University: $25k merit = COA $34k
Waitlisted: Wesleyan & Kenyon Rejected: Bowdoin, Middlebury, & Boston College
Hamilton was one of his favorites from the beginning, but it looks like he will be attending Trinity College. The combination of the absolutely amazing financial support (far under what our FAFSA estimated), plus having one of the strongest neuroscience programs among his options has really sealed the deal for him.
