Can more graduated seniors do "actual results" threads?

Chance Me / Match Me!
801

Kind of intrigued by this site, so thought I’d post. Hope this helps. Applied ED to Carleton College, got in, went there, loved it.

Public HS in Missouri, that hardly sends anyone out of the state
Female, Caucasian
ACT - 35
SAT I Math - 720
SAT I English - 800
GPA - 4.0 unweighted, 4.6 weighted
APs - 5’s on Chem, Euro, US Govt, Comp Govt, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Bio, Psych, Calc AB, Comp Sci, 4’s on Spanish, Calc BC, Physics

Awards, that’d be National Merit, valedictorian (of ~325), a few scholarships
Extracurriculars, a little soccer, a decent amount of debate, a ton of band, some volunteer work, and jobs

Moral of the story: don’t stress out so much. I think I worried too much going into the process, and from the other side you wonder what all the fuss was about. Make sure you pick a school that matches you well (for me, a small liberal arts school with great science in a small town), and you’ll be just fine. I have now just started grad school and couldn’t be happier. So remember…breathe. It’ll all come out in the wash.

802

Jared, do you think it was your rank that dragged you down?

803

Oh man, I can’t wait to do this, say next May.
:slight_smile:

804

Year: 2004
SAT I - 1590
GPA: 3.7, 4.2 weighted, no trend, not ranked, public school that sent 18/350 students to Stanford
SAT II Math: 800, Writing: 800, French 800
APs: 8 5s
ECs: average quantity, below average academic focus

Accepted: Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD
Waitlisted, then Rejected: Stanford (ED)

Yep, I only sent two applications (UCs were all-in-one).

805

I applied in 2007 to…
-SCEA Stanford-
-Wharton @ UPenn
-MIT
-UC Berkeley
-UC Davis
-USC

State or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male

SAT I: 2390 (Math: 800, Verbal: 800, Writing: 790)
SAT II: Chemistry: 800, Physics: 800, Math IIC: 800, Chinese: 780
Weighted GPA: 4.33
Unweighted GPA: 4.00
Class Rank: top 10%, school does not rank
APs: 10, all 5s (AP Compsci A, AP Calc B/C, AP Chem, AP Bio, AP English Lang, AP Compsci AB, AP US History, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Physics C - Mechanics)
Courseload: most rigorous (first APs in 7th grade, Calc B/C in 9th)

Extracurriculars:
Future Business Leaders of America (9-12)
-3 national awards (1st + team captain, 1st, 2nd)
-4-5 state awards, 10+ local awards

Parli Debate (9-12)
-US rank ~15, int’l rank ~30

Essays: pretty good, long essays were excellent
Teacher recs: decent
Counselor recs: counselor suggested I would be rejected to all schools, refused to write rec, principal intervened

Other Factors:
-asian male strong in math and science
-3rd year grad - administration opposed my graduation
-poor leadership
-counselor suggested would be rejected to all schools
-did not pay for college counseling
-single legacy to Stanford

Results:
-Stanford: rejected
-UPenn: rejected
-MIT: rejected
-UC Berkeley: accepted (attending)
-UC Davis: accepted
-USC: accepted

Possible Lessons:
-leadership > GPA, SATs
-SAT scores mean nothing
-don’t skip your senior year
-don’t anger your counselor

806

test, what did your counselor have against you??? must’ve been pretty bad…

807

That’s what I was thinking haha

What on earth did you do that could cause him to destroy your chances at Stanford??

808

To test, Whhhaaaaaattttttt? wwwhhhhhhaaaaaaatttttttttt? That’s insane. Wow.

809

I definitely don’t understand how that happened. If u don’t like Berk u could definitely transfer to a VERY TOP school. Berk is an amazzzzing school tho so I’m sure u’ll have a great time. GL with college!

810

Accepted: UCLA (attending), UC-Berkeley, Brandeis, Boston College, Boston U, UCI
Rejected: Stanford

School Type: Public
Location: California
Race/Gender: Japanese and Caucasian
Unweighted GPA: 3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Class rank: top 3%

SAT I: 1410 (690 verbal/720 Math)

SAT II: 740 on Math II, 680 on Writing, 800 on Japanese

AP Scores:
English Lit:4
US History: 4
Gov’t US: 4
Econ: 4
Physics C:4
Enviromental Sci: 5
Stats: 4

Extra Curricular:
a lot and lot of music.
school musical, choir, church bell choir, piano, etc.
CSF (a tutoring club in california)
academic decathlon
youth church

yeah I didn’t have much, but I managed to make what I did have sound great
oh yeah and I got “accepted” to UCR and UCMerced, even though I didn’t apply, cuz of the ELC program

811

wow, test. that is extremely depressing.

812

That’s not leadership at all?
Your counselor was jealous :stuck_out_tongue: - what angered him?

813

Accepted: Duke (now attending), Dartmouth, Georgetown, Rice, University of Chicago, University of Virginia, SUNY Binghamton (scholarship)
Waitlisted: Cornell, Harvard, U-Penn, Brown (none took me off, :frowning: )
Rejected: Columbia, Princeton

School Type: Public
Location: New York
Race/Gender: Caucasian
Prospective Major: Undecided, a possible pre-med or pre-law student
Unweighted GPA: 3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.1
Class rank: Don’t know but around Top 10%

SAT I Scores
SAT I Math: 800
SAT I Critical Reading: 760
SAT I Writing: 720

SAT II Scores
SAT II MathIIC: 800
SAT II World History: 770
SAT II US History: 770
SAT II Chemistry: 740
SAT II Physics: 740
SAT II Bio M: 700
SAT II Spanish: 620

AP Scores
SOPHOMORE YEAR
European History:4
Calculus AB: 5

JUNIOR YEAR
English Language: 5
Calculus BC: 5
Spanish: 3
Biology: 4
US History: 5

SENIOR YEAR
Chemistry: 5
Physics B: 5
English Literature: 4
US Government: 4
Statistics: 5
Psychology: 5

Extracurriculars
Qualified for AIME junior year and senior year
(108 AMC, 2 AIME… 97.5 AMC, 3 AIME)
Secretary of Junior Class, didn’t hold position senior year
Quiz Bowl
Volunteered at local hospital
Tutored students in math for National Honors Society

814

What is so shocking to me, reading these responses, is that these kids get rejected anywhere! I’m living in a world of geniuses!

Test! What’s the real story here? Sounds like your counselor had a real axe to grind with you.

815

well, mondo
i’m going to venture that it was your ec’s that got you at most of the ivies.
but duke’s a sweet deal.

816

It’s funny because my guidance counselor acts like I’m a viable candidate for the ivies, being in the top 1% of my class, but when I read these posts I realize I don’t have a fighting chance. All these years of hard work to culminate to settling for a second tier school… I’m driven to insane dreams of “if only I had started preparing for the SATs in 8th grade, if only I had took up some unique sport like fencing, if only I had the money to spend on expensive violin lessons and music camps, if I only had traveled to Africa to fulfill my community service requirements…” ahhh, excuse my rant, but every time I go on CC, I become overwhelmed with grief! At my school, I’m considered smart, here I consider myself merely average or belowaverage. <em>sigh</em> Again, I apologize for my rant. Resume posting your impressive credentials. :slight_smile:

817

You realize, of course, that CC represents a very lopsided view of reality (and some of the posts on here are probably fictitious) . And even if you were the most impressive person posting on here, it is no guarantee that you would get into the ivies…nobody really understands why they make the admissions decisions that they do. Cheer up!

818

yep, i agree. CC (and this thread in particular) has gotten me soo depressed about my chances for college

819

When you first come onto to CC, you stress out. If you’re normally a laid back person, you freak out. If you’re me, you get so nervous you throw up. But once you get past the hump, you see that these peoples profiles, fictitious or not, all attest to something truely cool- we can do SO much more than we believe we can. A few months ago, I looked at all the chances boards, and printed the profiles of people who were great at art, drama, debate- all the things I love. I compiled a database(i.e. I stuck it all in a binder) and looked at it and combed through this website. I made a “junior year agenda” with everything I wanted to achieve this year- I even put in ridiculously competitive contests, stuff I never thought I could get done. This time last year, I NEVER would have thought it was possible to be elected president of any club for me, or to win a trophy at a debate meet, let alone three at one tournament. But I have. And the beautiful thing is that I have potential for alot more than that.

So basically, stop griping
stop complaining
get busy.

820

Greatttt post and amazing job!