Can more graduated seniors do "actual results" threads?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1521

Applied: Cornell (Early Decision), Columbia, MIT EA, Carnegie Mellon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Buffalo

Accepted: Cornell (later withdrawed due to financial aid), Columbia (likely letter), Carnegie Mellon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Buffalo

Denied: MIT

Male
Filipino

Objective:

GPA: 93 UW,96 W
Class rank: 20/202
SAT: 2260 720 CR 800 Math 740 Writing
ACT: 35 Composite, 35 English, 35 Math, 33 Reading, 35 Science
SAT II: 700 U.S History, 710 Physics, 780 Math II
AP (at time of application): 4 on English Lang, U.S History, and World History, 5 on Physics B
Senior year courseload: AP Chemistry, English literature, Micro and macro economics, Calculus BC, Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and magnetism
Awards: AMC 12 School winner, RPI Medalist, All county band

ECs:
Academic league 9-12 (Captain)
Math League 9-12 (Captain)
Concert band 9-11 (section leader)
jazz band 11-12 (vice president)
national and english honor society

I think my essay was excellent and played a big role in getting me in, it was very well written and my GC thought it was great. REcommendations were probably good, the one from my english teacher may have been excellent because she really knew me well and liked me a lot.

Columbia later retracted the likely letter after I withdrawed my acceptance from Cornell. I was obviously very disappointed by the financial aid packages from Cornell and later Carnegie Mellon, whom I also turned down because of money, and I ended up choosing RPI because the medal, which is usually given at $15,000 a year, was offered for $33,000 a year, so it was a no brainer over SUNY Buffalo. Money is something that is VERY VERY important when applying to colleges and you want to make sure you apply to a good range of schools that offer scholarships and are very affordable to you. Now looking back, I show some disappointment over the college list,like I wish I applied to Cooper Union (full ride for every student who attends), Macaulay Honors, etc.

1522

Applied: UC Berkeley, USC, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Cal Poly SLO, UCLA
Accepted:UC Berkeley, USC, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Cal Poly SLO
Attending: USC w/25k in scholarships per year

GPA : W - 4.17, UW - 3.86
SAT: 2170
ACT: 32

Lots of sports, almost no community service, decent essays.

1523

Accepted: Middlebury (attending), Reed, Macalester, Kenyon, Whitman, Bennington, UW Honors program
Waitlisted: Vassar, Grinnell
Rejected: Pomona, Wesleyan, Carleton

White male from Seattle… ish.

GPA: 3.96 unweighted
Rank: 12/127 (I think? Or was it 15/130? Whatever.)
ACT: 30
SAT: 2030 (760 reading, 740 writing… <em>cough</em> 530 math <em>cough</em>)
SAT IIs: None.
APs: I took all three (three) offered – two of them were my senior year, so my schools didn’t see results.
Senior Courseload: AP US, AP Stats, Honors English (no idea what it was actually called… functioned as an AP, but didn’t have the name for whatever reason), Jazz Band, Philosophy (independently), Physics

ECs:
Founded/president of a club
Jazz Band
BBBS
Knowledge Bowl
EIC of newspaper
Other miscellany

Essays: I took all kinds of chances, and realistically, they were the reason I was accepted to such a cool bunch of schools. There is no other distinguishing feature on my application besides the writing – not just the essays, either. I tried to put my personality in every nook and cranny of every page. Kenyon gave me a generous scholarship/award for my essays. I spent a stupid amount of time writing the things – I won’t speak for their quality because I have a minor conflict of interest, here – but if time spent correlates to a high quality, they were fine.

To the anxious high school CCers: If there is one thing I learned from the process, it’s that personality is a huge factor in the admissions game. Granted, I applied to a mess of lib-art schools, but I think the advice stands regardless. You have to work to put your personality in every little bit of your essay and application. I’m talking about your written voice, your collection of ECs, your teacher recs – everything.

I took chances I probably should not have – I’m assuming it’s a big reason why my results are the way they are. Some of the admissions people likely thought my whole application was obnoxious. Regardless, I presented the most honest version of myself I could, and I have been specifically told that it’s the reason why I was accepted at Middlebury, Macalester, and Kenyon. I don’t really care to know how my results would have turned out had I played it “safe”, but I certainly have no regrets. I was honest, and I like to believe that because I was honest, I was admitted to my #1 school.

1524

Why did I even bother clicking on this thread…sooooo depressing

1525

Applied: MIT (EA), Yale (EA), Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Boston U, SUNY-Stony Brook, Tufts U
Rejected: MIT, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown
Accepted: Boston U, SUNY-Stony Brook (Honors College), Tufts U
Attending: Tufts U for engineering physics

GPA: 3.82 UW, 4.15W (approximating here, my school doesn’t use 4.0 system)
SAT: 2290 (730 CR, 760 M, 800 W)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 Physics
APs: Only 1 at time of Application (was unlucky enough to get kicked from 2 APs my junior year because there wasn’t enough space for everyone =/ ) Music Theory (4)
Senior Year courseload: AP Statistics, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics C: E&M, AP US Government, AP Calculus BC, AP Literature, Biology Research
Rank: N/A

ECs:

  • Treasurer Sci-Fi Club
  • Volunteer at local hospital (350+ hours)
  • Independent research at NYU (musicology)
  • Bowling team
  • Music/Composition <<< My most important personally

Awards/Honors:

  • National Merit
  • QuestBridge Finalist
  • Semifinalist JSHS research symposium (statewide)
  • Finalist and Second Award in NYCSEF research fair (statewide)

Background:

  • New York City, white male, low income bracket, nothing particularly special

Recs: Probably good? I’m not sure haha
Essays: I worked REALLY hard one them, so hopefully they were as good as I wanted them to be (regardless of what the university thought!)

Advice: fdeb35’s advice is spot on. Present the most honest image of yourself that you can. Even if the college/university doesn’t like it, that just means you wouldn’t fit in, and fit is more important than anything in my book. Even though I liked the “idea” of going to Harvard or Yale or whatever, I’m not sure if they were for me, and I think that came across in my essays/supplements.

Also, I don’t really know if this is advice as much as a few words of caution, but be careful when choosing the colleges to apply to. I set my sights very high (way too high…) and that bit me in the ass a bit. BUT, I knew what I was getting into and what I set myself up for, so when I got all of the rejections I didn’t really mind that much. What happens happens. But this isn’t true for a lot of people; so just know your limits, know what your getting into, and don’t take things personally if they don’t work out exactly as planned =)

Good luck to the class of 2013 in their admissions!

1526

UChalpz1, you’ve echoed my thoughts exactly.

1527

So judging from this thread, my scores will either get me accepted to Stanford, or denied by the University of Maryland.

1528

Obviously you have a ton of initiative and smarts! Have you thought about starting a teen investors blog or website? My son did this when he was in high school. He included tips for teen investment, money management, etc. He reviewed articles and books and included links to other websites, like The Motley Fool. He received a lot of positive feedback on his website during college interviews. He was accepted by all of the schools he applied: Washington University-St. Louis, Georgetown, American, Cornell, University of Tulsa and the University of Dayton.

You could start a Twitter account to compliment your blog…try following some big investment companies and see if you can get them to follow you. Good luck!

1529

Can someone who got accepted UF tell me their stats?

1530

^^ <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-florida/1287339-official-uf-class-2016-decisions-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-florida/1287339-official-uf-class-2016-decisions-thread.html&lt;/a&gt;

1531

Race: Asian
School type: Public
Location: California

GPA: 3.7
SAT: 2150

Accepted: Most UC’s except Berkeley, LA. Got into SLO.

1532

Stats: SAT 2290
ACT 35
Valedictorian class of 160
Strong ECs: 15 Varsity Letters, tons of music, a lot of community service
Essays, hard to judge Recommendations should have been great

Waitlisted then denied: Princeton (not surprised), Williams
Accepted: Columbia BU with 15,000 scholarship, Fordham and Northeastern with full tuition scholarships, University of Rochester with 17,000 scholarship, Macauley Honors would have been free, and SUNY Stony Brook, not sure of merit aid

Choice: Northeastern in Honors College

Reason: Super opportunities, more to life than IVIES, and debt free at the end of Undergraduate education

Advice: Shoot high, but also look where you are slightly above average stats if Merit Aid is needed.

Good Luck!!!

1533

High School:

GPA: 3.8ish UW, over 4.0 W
Rank: 26/600
SAT: 1820 (CR: 570 M: 630 W: 620)

Took all honors/college/ AP classes

Senior year: AP English, AP Macro, College Calc, AP Physics, College level (SUNY) Spanish

Applied: Johns Hopkins, WashU- STL, Northwestern, Northeastern, NYU, St. Louis University, UBuffalo, St. John Fisher College, LeMoyne College

Rejected: Hopkins, WashU, Nwestern, Neastern, NYU (devastating… I know)
Accepted: SJFC (almost full ride) LeMoyne (full ride) UBuffalo, SLU(large pres. scholarship)

E.C.'s:
-Student Gov. VP (4 years)
-Key Club (4 years, Liasion Freshman year, Treasurer Soph. year, President Junior + Senior year)
-NHS: (3 years)
-NJHS: President
-Student Member on School Education Team (SET)
-Volunteered at facility dedicated to helping people with eating disorders
-Over 400 volunteer hours
-Worked a min. wage job all 4 years, about 12-20 hours a week
-Volleyball
-Lacrosse

  • XC (Freshman year)
    -Karate (6 years)
    -Several invitation only leadership conferences

Not all of my E.C.'s

Essays + rec’s…

My essay was really well written, I spent months writing it. It reflected a personal medical struggle that changed me to be who I am today.

I won class teacher’s pet… believe me… my rec’s were good.

White female, coming from Upstate NY, very low income family.
WARNING! As great as it sounds to get into a name brand school…please do yourself a favor and spend some time searching for a financially and academically safe back- up that you can SEE YOURSELF ACTUALLY GOING TO. I didn’t apply to Fisher, UB, or LeMoyne until AFTER my rejections because I assumed I was going to get in to one of the schools I applied to first. MY school I am going to was a last minute option and it feels terrible to be going there. I wish this on NOBODY. Due to severe naivety and poor guidance, I did not know that my SAT’s would impact my acceptance decision so severely. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR! Find a great back up and don’t pick too many reach schools. The rejections can be hard to handle when you know how hard you worked in high school.

GOOD LUCK 2013!

1534

Applied: Clemson University, University of South Carolina
Accepted: Clemson University, University of South Carolina
Waitlisted: n/a
Rejected: n/a

Instate upper middle class white male

GPA: 3.96+ UW
Rank: Top 15% of so… but only because the high school I moved to junior year was very enthusiastic and open about AP… while I had never even heard about AP before that. They went by weighted so I was screwed
ACT: n/a
SAT: 1990 (650 reading, 670 writing, 670 math)
SAT IIs: n/a
APs: 5 on Psych, 4 on Calc AB, 4 on Stat
Senior Courseload: AP Stat, English, Forensic Science, Guitar II, AP Calc AB

ECs: n/a

Volunteering: n/a

Leadership: n/a

Jobs: n/a

Advice: Read more on this website… I didn’t until senior year and it was too late for me because I knew absolutely nothing about college admissions other than: get As, do the SAT.
But at least I already had good grades [have been getting straight As my whole life, was in GATE in elementary/middle (Gifted and Talented), was selected to be in the top 8 of my grade in math in 4th grade]. I didn’t even know about APs until junior year (my old school did not even tell me about them… and I was a straight A student and in GATE… ???). As for ECs: I thought only stupid people needed them to get into their college of choice… I thought straight As would be good enough for those of us that are intelligent. And why would I want to go to school any longer than the actual school day?
I guess it’s for the whole “well rounded individual”… except I have no idea how someone who does school, 5+ APs in one year and 10 ECs actually has time for a life, family, hobbies, friends, relaxation, sleep. No offense to anyone on this website, don’t respond.

Important: Hard work and brains are not what colleges want. It’s devoting your whole life to your school and completing the ridiculous requirements they look for in admissions.

1535

That’s actually terrible advice (your last paragraph). Colleges do want hard work and brains, among other things. Not “devoting your life to school” or “completing the ridiculous requirements”. Hard work and brains can help you achieve those "ridiculous requirements. The best thing to do is try your hardest/best and not stress about meeting some arbitrary “requirements” on a paper; you’ll be a lot happier and you’ll do better than you thought you could.

1536

Who are the best “chancers” you came across in your CC life?

1537

@lolwot: Did it ever occur to you that people are only able to fulfill the “ridiculous” requirements USING “hard work and brains”?

1538

Where’s my like button?
@StoryQurl
I don’t know how to quote but I second your point!

1539

I wonder when is the results season… I’ll probably have chanced a few more hundred more students than I already did (and I must have chanced 300+ students)

1540

You have pretty good scores so you might get in.

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