Asian Male, CS
One of biggest states, mid-large public
3.9+ GPA, 1550+ SAT, top 10%, 15+ APs (all 5s)
ECs: Research (2 publications in pipeline), top 10-20 in state for my instrument, literature passion project, social technology research project, coding club president, JV tennis, other miscellaneous hobbies/summer camps
Awards: USACO Gold, 2x AIME, local CS competition winner, multitime state qualifier for my instrument, international music summer program invitee (cancelled for covid)
It seems to me that waitlists are quite fluid at most colleges this year. Along with a lot of hush hush calls and emails going out last minute to WL applicants to preserve yields maybe??
In our case, DS got an email last weekend offering him a spot for fall 23 at NC State. Wanted an answer by Monday or ASAP. He got another email on Monday. He was offered spring admission prior to the 2 emails.
He declined. Love the school that loves you back.
Roll Tide!
This is actually the norm this time of year - dribs and drabs with short decisions required. Remember that every kid who accepts a WL offer creates an opening at the original school, so your description as “fluid” is so apt! It takes a while for the music to stop.
I love these stories of kids deciding to stay put. It’s kind of great to get one more chance to confirm you made the right choice.
My results:
South Asian Male, first-gen and low-income, small charter school located in low-socioeconomic area of Los Angeles
3.86 UW GPA, 4.51 weighted, 5 AP classes and 2 honors classes
Top 9% ELC, class ranking 8/121
All schools applied to were test-blind
ECs: 300+ community service hours, 4 years varsity cross country and captain (won multiple LA-City section titles), 6 years Students Run Los Angeles club (have run 6 consecutive Los Angeles marathons so far), SWE at relatively big reverse engineering company for 4 years, link crew, student council, guitar, youtube with decent platform showcasing reverse engineering methods (8K+ subs with a few thousand views per vid), among other stuff…
Applied as undecided to all schools
Accepted:
UCLA - COMMITTED
UCSD
UCSB
UCSC
UCI
UCR
UCM
UCD
SDSU
Cal Poly SLO
CSUF
Cal Poly Pomona
Waitlisted:
UCLA - got off the waitlist on April 28, 2023
Rejected:
UC Berkeley
Note: Housing + tuition was nearly fully covered for me at all these schools. No, I did not receive any merit scholarships or any other types of scholarships. UCLA was my most expensive option, requiring me to pay 4.4K a year for housing + tuition altogether.
Takeaways: Not sure if I really have any. But I do have to say that I’m really happy that I got off the waitlist for UCLA. It was my dream school but once I got waitlisted, I kind of took it as a rejection (based on previous years acceptance rates off the waitlist…). I had great options even without UCLA in the picture, but I was still bummed out when I saw that I was waitlisted. Super happy with the financial situation as well - only have to pay 4.4K a year for both housing and tuition combined.
White/female
Public HS, Maryland
No Hooks
GPA: 4.0 (uw); 4.8 (w)
APs: 11
ACT: 34
ECs: Theater, newspaper editor, Quiz Bowl, advocacy work, p/t job
Major: Business /Communications (Public Relations)
Acceptances:
BU
NEU
Fordham: (27k merit)
UMD: EA, Honors, Banneker Key
Oberlin (30k merit)
Pitt: Honors, Tuition Exchange Award, (Full Tuition)
W&M: Monroe Scholar (In state tuition -father resides in VA)
UVA: (In state tuition-father resides in VA)
UNC
Occidental: 35K merit
LMU: EA; honors/32k merit
USC: deferred EA, accepted RD, (spring admit)
Tuition Exchange award (80% of tuition)
Rejection:
Harvard (RD)
She will be attending USC! Personally, wanted to keep her geographically closer and attend a school that was a drive not a flight away, but USC is her dream. (She wants to work in the entertainment industry.)
Takeaways–For the average excellent student, crafting a common app essay that is unique and makes you stand out, might make a difference. After spending way too many hours on a “safe” essay topic that just wasn’t coming together, my daughter scrapped it and started over. She decided to write about something that was personal/heavy and some might argue, a risky subject for a college essay. But because it was transformative and part of her narrative, she went with it.
White/Male
Mediocre Public HS, Massachusetts
No Hooks
GPA: 3.8 (uw); 4.2 (w) - rank top 20% of class
APs: 5 (4 in senior year)
SAT:1330 (didn’t submit to all schools)
ECs: Marching Band/Wind Ensemble (Tuba), All-State musician, Club/competitive Acapella, Eagle Scout, Taekwondo National Competitor,
Major: Bachelor of Architecture
Essays, good. Decent art portfolio.
Acceptances:
UMass - EA - (Arts & Humanities, rejected B-Arch)
Penn State - EA - (rejected B-Arch, offered Landscape Arch)
Auburn U - EA - no merit
Univ of Tennessee Knoxville - EA - $10K/year merit
Tulane University - EA, deferred to RD - no merit
Waitlisted:
Syracuse - RD - (this was #1 on list) - had done an online summer program with them, tons of demonstrated interest, interviews, etc. This one was a bit of a shock.
Univ. of Miami - EA, deferred to RD
Virginia Tech - EA
The options for B-Architecture programs came down to Auburn, U-Tennessee and Tulane. Comparing programs, environment and cost between Auburn and UTK, UTK was clear winner.
Decision between UTK and Tulane was much more difficult. Very different schools and even with need aid difference in cost substantial (but as a family we can make it work w/o hardship). Ultimately felt the support system at Tulane would allow for better outcome.
Interesting comment about the essay! My son did the exact same thing and will be a junior at USC in the fall. He worked for about 6 weeks on his Common App essay that he ultimately scrapped. Instead, in one afternoon he wrote out another essay that touched on a topic 99% of people on CC might have told him to avoid. He felt his original essay was too “safe” or “inside the box” and instead he wanted to share a personal, sports-related experience that like you noted, was transformative and very personal. I was worried that the topic was too heavy/risky and that it would lead to many rejections, but he was adamant that he wanted to use it and he did. He didn’t get into every school he applied to but he was accepted to his targets and a few reaches (USC, BC, BU, Northeastern, CMU, etc). Like goldilocks, USC was “just right” and he loves it there. Congratulations to your daughter! It’s hard to beat USC if she has an interest in the entertainment industry.
She is going to do a fall semester abroad at one of the programs that USC has an agreement with. (Leaning towards Switzerland, London or Prague.) The goal is to knock out some of the general ed requirements while also meeting other USC students. Hopefully, this will make the transition in the spring easier.
