My point was that it’s not unheard of to get into a higher ranked school and get rejected from a lower ranked school, particularly when they are both top notch. I was replying in response to the person that was surprised with navi’s results.
Dirt McGirt, I agree.
pygo-- HOW did you not get into mit??? i’m applying and i have nowhere near the credentials you do
If he was applying to engineering then it was because Cornell has the top engineering program out of all of the Ivies. What did you apply to nev? Congrats on that acceptances!!!
Here we go…
Applied in 2004/5 (for college class of 2009)
Accepted: Georgetown (EA), Tufts, Brown (currently attending)
Rejected: N/A
School Type: Private college prep
Location: Michigan
Race/Gender: Jewish female
Prospective Major: undecided / political science / international relations
Unweighted GPA: 3.93
Weighted GPA: N/A (my school didn’t weight)
Class rank: 3rd or 4th (not sure exactly) of 64
SAT I Scores (I took the old SAT)
SAT I Math: 750
SAT I Verbal: 800
SAT II Scores
SAT II Math IIC: 790
SAT II U.S. History: 780
SAT II Writing: 740
Long-form Info
Extracurricular Info
Lots of drama stuff – big roles in straight and musical theater, did some directing and had leadership roles in organizations, somewhat successful at state level in Forensics
Lots of musical stuff, including participation in several choirs, starting my school’s a capella group, etc
Leadership role in Gay-Straight Alliance
Various other smaller school activities and jobs
Volunteering
Various small things but nothing huge
Work Experience
Office Assistant at an interesting project at our state University, working for a fairly well-known professor, for several years
Teaching assistant at my temple’s Hebrew school all four years of high school
Awards:
*National Merit Finalist
*National Spanish Exam – first in state a couple of times, finalist other years
*Various awards at my school including a number of writing awards
*Community Service Award for coaching forensics
*AP scholar of some sort… don’t remember what it’s called but I ended up with 6 5s (of the 6 APs I took).
Schools
Accepted: Harvard (Matriculated), Yale, Princeton
Deferred: (SCEA) Stanford
Waitlisted: Stanford
Rejected: Brown, Williams
Background
School Type: Private
Location: California
Race: Asian
Gender: Male
Major: English/Comparative Literature
Unweighted GPA: 3.79
Weighted GPA: 4.13
Class rank: 8 of 200
Hook
Born in Alsace. Fluent in French and German. Competent in Latin, Spanish, and Italian. The opposite of every Asian-American (interests are mainly in literature and languages)
PSAT Scores
PSAT: Math 77, Critical Reading 79, Writing 80 (237)
SAT I Scores
SAT I: Math 760, Critical Reading 800, Writing 800 (2360)
SAT II Scores
French 800, German 800, Latin 800, Literature 800, Spanish 760, Biology (M) 720
ACT Scores
ACT: English 36, Math 35, Reading 36, Science 35, Writing 36 (Composite: 36)
AP Test Scores
** Freshman-Junior AP Tests:**
- [<em>]AP Latin Language: 5
[</em>]AP French Language: 5
[<em>]AP English Language: 5
[</em>]AP German Language: 5
[<em>]AP Spanish Language: 4
[</em>]AP Latin Literature: 4
[<em>]AP French Literature: 5
[</em>]AP Biology: 5
Senior AP Tests:
[ul]
[<em>]AP Italian Language: 4
[</em>]AP English Literature: 5
[<em>]AP Spanish Literature: 4
[</em>]AP Calculus BC: 5
[li]AP Chemistry: 5[/li][/ul]
Awards:
- [<em>]AP National Scholar
[</em>]National Merit Finalist
[<em>]Scholastic Junior Essay Contest, 1st Place
[</em>]Finalist in the “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Explorative Narrative Contest
[<em>]Winner of School Spelling Bee
[</em>]Multi-Lingual Essay Contest, 1st Place
Activities:
[ul]
[<em>]Editor of School Newspaper, Journalism 4 Years
[</em>]Founder and President of Literary Magazine
[<em>]Published Poetry in the Claremont Review
[</em>]Symphony Orchestra, Violinist, 4 Years
[<em>]Tutor in French, German, and English, 4 Years
[</em>]President of the French Honor Society, 4 Years
[<em>]President of the Latin Honor Society, 4 Years
[</em>]Vice-President of the German Honor Society, 4 Years
[<em>]Treasurer of the Italian Honor Society, 4 Years
[</em>]Secretary of the National Honor Society, 3 Years
[li]Member of School Shakespeare Company, 4 Years [/li][/ul]
miracles, you are my hero.
(for D)
Accepted: Cornell, Harvard, Princeton (attending), Yale (SCEA), Rutgers (Presidential Scholar 4-years full).
WL/Deferred: none
Rejected: none
Suburban public HS, Chinese-Am.
GPA 4.7/wt, 4.0/unwt, Co-Valed.
SAT I 2340, SAT II 790/760/760.
Multiple national writing awards, bio research published at NIH, USABO semi, NMS Commended, Governor’s Award in Arts.
Accepted: Amherst, Columbia (College), Cornell (CAS), Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Penn (Wharton), Williams
Rejected: Princeton
unweighted GPA: 4.0
weighted GPA: 4.4
SAT I: 760 Math, 800 Critical Reading, 800 Writing (2360)
SAT II: 800 Literature, 800 Math IIC, 780 Chemistry, 760 US History
AP’s: 5 Music Theory, 5 US History, 5 Chemistry, 5 Calculus AB, 5 English Language
AP Scholar with Distinction
Professional orchestra, awards, poetry, literature/music competitions
composer, tutor, random stuff
No school clubs, no community service. Yeah, it’s possible. Be who you are!
lionheartop2, you give me hope! I love you! (platonically)
accepted: UofArizona(full ride), Arizona State(full ride), Harvey Mudd College, USC(full tuition, attending)
rejected: Stanford(EA), Dartmouth
female, caucasian, public school
majoring in engineering
GPA(UW): 3.85
SAT: 790M, 800V, 800W
SAT2: 710Chem, 770Math2
AP: Calc AB 4
IB: Psych SL 7, Math SL 7
Full IB diploma
National Merit Finalist
Various math/science awards
4 years varsity cross country and track
various running awards
science olympiad, knowledge bowl, NHS
essays: about running
Are you running for USC, I_am?
EDIT: This thread really makes me wish I applied to the Ivy League schools. Not because I would have attended (I just wasn’t interested in them when I saw them, I guess) but just to see what could’ve been. I guess I’ll always have that hanging over my head.
I_am, why did you turn down U of Arizona with a full ride for USC? I was under the impression that U of A was one of the top public school engineering programs in the country…
You do have good stats and some nice awards and the orchestra thing is impressive. But no involvement in school or community? I would think that would be the kiss of death in elite admissions. What is your hook?
hook?
the person’s hook was a 4.0 UWGPA and perfect SATII’s and a near perfect SATI.
As I’ve said before, community service is overrated. Clubs are common but are still valuable. It seems to me that lionheartop2 is just an individual with a creative personality. I think that’s what is important.
I think the orchestral involvement is unique, and my hat’s off to lionheartop2 for the great scores. And I don’t mean to detract from his/her accomplishments in any way, but it is true that many applicants have excellent stats. I’m just surprised that school and community involvement didn’t seem to matter…I thought they were important and even necessary for top admissions.
Anyway, this is a helpful thread and I don’t mean to hijack it!
Actually, I didn’t have any community service, and I came out alright.
This is just one person. Don’t let yourself down by not doing community service and EC’s. Even if my community service didn’t help I’m still proud of all the stuff that I did and the people that I helped. I also met a TON of friends in EC’s and sports made me feel great. Do them anyways! lol
Well, my point is that you should do what you enjoy, instead of being so occupied by what “looks good for on an application.” finale, lionheartop2, and miracles might be exceptions, but they’re damn good applicants, obviously. Just because they didn’t have community service doesn’t mean it isn’t important, but don’t think that not having it is the “kiss of death in elite admissions” like some of you CCers feel.
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