ZED456, which school are u in
Can people start posting their Duke acceptance stats? Notifications went out today and I’m really curious!
Act 31
7 aps several other honors, pre ap for those tested mostly 4s
Great ec’s with leadership
200+ community service
4years sport varsity all four years
Great letters of recommendation
Awards numerous including some national
Applied to university of missouri, univ of alabama, univ of arkansas, univ of texas, wash u, univ of houston
Accepted to all except still waiting on ut and wash u.
Full scholarships to ark, alabama, mu and not yet notified by houston.
crackerjaxx, this is the thread you’re looking for. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1583749-official-duke-2018-ed-results-only-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1583749-official-duke-2018-ed-results-only-thread.html</a>
NYU is notorious for being extremely stingy with Financial aid, that may be why.
Major: Computer Science
Applied: UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University SCS Early Decision
Accepted: Carnegie Mellon University (I got in Early Decision, so I’ll withdraw my Berkeley app and I hadn’t finished any other apps before now)
School Type: Public, good school district
Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Weighted GPA: 4.167
Class Rank 17/509
Race/Gender: White Male
SAT (CMU only considers superscore, but I took it twice):
Math: 790/770
Critical Reading: 670/800
Writing: 700/720
ACT:
Verbal: 34
Math: 33
Sci: 29
Reading: 34
Composite: 33
Writing: 29
SAT Subject Tests:
M2: 800
Physics: 790
US History: 780
AP Scores:
Calc BC and AB Subscore: 5
Computer Science A: 5
Physics B: 5
US History: 5
Current Year AP Classes:
AP Spanish Lang, Music Theory, Chemistry, English Lit, US Government
Extracurriculars:
Golf team 9th-10th grade
Jazz Ensemble Guitarist 10th grade (I played music for our school’s Hairspray production)
Played Guitar for my church 9th-10th grade
Math Tutoring 11th grade
Worked over summer before senior year
ACT Tutoring 12th grade
Hobbyist programming in C++ (with OGRE, Havok, and other libraries), Java, Lua, and BASIC 9th - 12th grade
Awards:
An AP Award.
Essays:
I wrote my general common app essay about how my experience overseas in a military family shaped me. I thought it was pretty good, but it probably wasn’t as polished as other essays.
The Carnegie Mellon essay topic was why I wanted to apply as my major and why Carnegie Mellon specifically. I had done my research, so I had plenty to say. I think I did better on this one.
Hopefully this helps. I’ve spent a lot of time on this thread, so it’s nice to give back.
Applied: MIT (Early Action), Carnegie Mellon (Early Decision, attending!)
Accepted: BOTH!!! WOW!
SAT: 2250 (770 Math, 720 Critical Reading, 760 Writing)
SATII: 780 Physics, 760 MathII, 790 MathI
GPA: 96.66%, no class rank
AP: Physics B (5), Spanish (5), Lit (5) (my school only offers like six APs, I self studied Spanish!)
Extracurriculars:
Technical Theater: Stage manager (12), Lighting operator (10-11)
FIRST Robotics: Captain (12), Coach (11)
Teaching Art Classes (9-12)
Physics Olympics: Captain (12)
Math Tutoring (10-12)
Facepainting (9-12)
Summer:
Summer@Brown materials engineering program
NC State materials science and engineering program
Essays: I SLAVED over my MIT essays until there wasn’t a dull moment. I was less confident in my common app essay, but I guess it worked!!!
Gender: F
Ethnicity: White
Oh my god, this has been the craziest day of my life! I do feel a bit sad that I have to turn down MIT which has been a dream for years, but I’m confident that I’ll have a great time at Carnegie Mellon. After all, I only applied early decision after thinking this possibility through. So excited for next year!!! 
Advice: I got into two of the best schools in the world by convincing those application readers that I’m smart and fun and would brighten up their campus. That’s all you can ever do. Good luck to future applicants!!!
Applied only to Syracuse School of Architecture ED (Accepted and attending fall 2014)
ACT: 28 composite
GPA: 3.7 weighted
School: Small private
Race/Gender: White male
Extracurriculars:
Cross-crountry: 9-12 (Captain senior year)
Lacrosse: 11-12
Jazz band:9-12 (piano)
Interned for 2 months at Architecture firm in Philadelphia
Completed two architectural summer college programs (only one was credit bearing)
Strong art portfolio
Strong essay
interesting
I haven’t heard back from all of my schools yet, but anything to help!
White female, competitive and huge public high school, PA. Rather high income family ($100,000+/year)
4.3 weighted GPA, 3.7 unweighted
29 ACT+Writing (32 English, 29 Reading, 28 Science, 27 Math, 8 Writing)
-Have taken well over 10 honors classes and 2 AP’s
-Top 10% in my class of 799 students
ECs:
-sporadic joining of school sports teams (earned 2 varsity letters)
-school newspaper
-gender equality club
-volunteer service: help children with autism in playing soccer & at my local library
-had a summer job as a junior counselor at a day camp
Excellent letters of rec, I made sure to get my two favorite teachers and my guidance counselor has said I’m one of her best students.
I have a lot of confidence in my essays, highlighting my activism in the volunteer spectrum. I related it to developing a positive outlook on life and being thankful.
So far, I’ve heard from 4 schools:
West Chester University of PA- accepted (no word yet on possible scholarships)
Drexel University- accepted (no word yet on possible scholarships)
Quinnipiac University- accepted with an $18,000/year scholarship (total of $72,000)
Hofstra University- accepted with a $25,000/year scholarship minimum and invitation to join their honors college
Applied: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor only
Accepted: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor xD
Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): N/A
[</em>] ACT: 30
[<em>] SAT II: N/A
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): The ones I’ve taken up to junior year: Chem (4), Bio (4), World History (4)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: 6 AP’s: Microecon, APES, Lit, Physics C Mech, Calc AB, Psych
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): KLAA 1st place chemistry competition, AP scholar
[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Tutor, teaching aide for ESL students, hospital volunteer, NHS member, church, environmental club, lab rats club, science team member, and many community service hours
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: babysitter, hospital volunteer
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: About 70 hours not counting first two years of HS
[</em>] Summer Activities: Nothing besides hospital volunteering
[<em>] Essays: Decent in terms of how well-written they are but excellent in content (I talked about experience with war and being raised in Christian family in Iraq)
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: 2 rec letter, one very good and the other was EXCELLENT
[<em>] Counselor Rec: She always tells me how proud she is, so I assume very good letter
[</em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[<em>] Interview: N/A
[</em>] Supplementary Material: Very good essays (one about why I chose LSA and the other about my Chaldean/Assyrian community in the US
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Michigan (however I was considered out-of-state due to being a permanent resident)
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): N/A
[<em>] School Type: Huge suburban public high school, ranked top 5% in the nation
[</em>] Ethnicity: White, Middle Eastern
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): <$25,000, definitely an FA candidate
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not sure what is meant by this, but war victim I guess
[/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Cultural background, high GPA, essays, rec letters
[</em>] Weaknesses: lack of good EC’s
[li] Why you think you were accepted: My essays and background were definitely my selling point. Of course, it helped that my test scores were a match and GPA was 4.0
[/li]
[/ul]**General Comments: ** This forum is full of nasty people who will discourage you from applying and give you heart attacks every day with their own concerns. Believe in yourself and put your heart into the application. Show them what you’re worth, why you’re special, and why they’re your top choice.
Accepted: Harvard (most likely attending ), Ohio State University, University of Michigan
Still Waiting: University of Virginia, Duke, University of Pennsylvania
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2250 (Writing 780 | Critical Reading 750 | Math 720)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (Math 34 | Reading 35 | Writing 35 | Science 34 | Essay 9)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): US History (800), Math Level II (800), Chemistry (780)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 12 of about 300
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (5), Statistics (4), US History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): None yet
Senior Year Course Load: IB Physics HL, IB Math HL, IB Bio HL, IB English HL, IB French SL, AP US Government and Politics, PhysEd
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semi-Finalist, National Hispanic Scholar, Latino Leadership Award
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Varsity Tennis (Captain) (won two team state championships), Youth Group (Leader), National Honors Society (President), French Club (President)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: Run the Race (working with inner-city kids who are victims of domestic violence), Fruit of the Vine (ministry to the homeless)
Summer Activities: Oxford Tradition by Oxbridge Academic Programs (four weeks at Oxford University taking two courses of your choice; I took Medical Science as my ‘major’ and Creative Writing as my ‘minor’) the summer before my junior year, internship at a local hospital the summer before my senior year
Essays: I wrote about my experience living in different countries and my experience in Oxford and what that taught me about diversity; the tone was fairly serious. For Harvard’s optional essay, I wrote about how I sing all the time as a sort of stress reliever; tone was super relaxed and fun.
Recommendations: I didn’t read them, but I’m assuming they were good because I picked teachers with whom I have good relationships
Additional Rec: None
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper-middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I don’t really think I have any…
Reflection
Strengths: I think my essays were strong. Both my english teacher and another trusted adult didn’t like my common app essay at all and suggested I use a different essay I had already written, but I felt really strongly that I just needed to share that essay if I wanted the admissions officers to really get an idea of who I am, and that worked out for me!
Weaknesses: I didn’t really have anything spectacular. I haven’t invented anything, started a company, done incredible service projects, done cool research, won any awesome awards/prizes, etc.
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Honestly, all that seemingly annoying advice about ‘be yourself’ is SO SO true. Be yourself, SHOW PASSION!!! Show a high-level of self-reflection in the essays; the only way to SHOW someone who you truly are is by first KNOWING who you are!!! Anyways, LOTS OF LUCK to those applying and a MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to all those who got in to their schools of choice!! And no matter what happens to you in this process, just know that no matter where you go to school, if you work hard, you will go far!!
Here’s info from my DS, graduated from HS in 2013.
ACT - 32 (superscore)
SAT2: Chem 750, Phys 750, Math 2 720
Large public HS on Long Island, NY - WGPA 4.0, top 5% class rank
No major awards but consistent commitment, leadership, and recognition in ECs in music, sports, community service; excellent recs.
Intended major: BME
Accepted with merit scholarships
Tulane
Miami
Maryland (honors)
UMass (honors college/safety)
Accepted (no merit)
Lehigh
Waitlisted
RPI
Denied
Hopkins
Attending: University of Miami. It’s great to be a Cane!
Loyola university of chicago or UIC anyone?
Rather embarrassing considering the other schools into which people got accepted, but here it goes…
Applied to
- George Mason University EA for Computer Science => Accepted
- Northeastern EA for Computer Science => deferred (along with 100 something other students from my high school, 5 were accepted of which 1 is attending, other 4 used as a safety)
- Purdue University EA for Computer Science / Security => No Response as of yet
- University of Massachusetts Amherst EA for Computer Science => No response as of yet (With all probability deferred because of the number of people from my school who applied. 38 people attended last year and more the year before.)
- Rochester Institute of Technology ED for Game Design and Development / Comp Sci. => Accepted and attending
My Stats (rather poor to say the least, especially compared to my friends…) -
- GPA - 3.35 with all Accelerated, Honors, and AP classes
- Course Rigor and School both very high (really good public high school)
- SAT -> 2120 (650 Writing, 800 Critical Reading, 670 Math), Literature 690, Math I 700.
- Heavily involved in Percussion, both marching and concert. Multiple awards. Spends about 20 hours a week in rehearsal and at home on average. 7 Years.
- Plays Fiddle (Irish / Scottish), participated in Regional Competitions. 2 Years
- 5 years of Experience on Piano and Guitar.
- Volunteer at Church almost every Sunday as a Sunday School Shepherd.
- 1 Summer as a CIT at Summer Camp in Maine for 2 months.
- Decent essay. Showed steady improvement in grades in Junior and Senior year of High School (Freshman and Sophomore year brought my GPA from a 3.9 to a 3.35). Bottom 50% of class.
Rather poor academic performance, but not awful. Hope this helped some of the people in my situation!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Have a merry Kwanza, Happy Festivus, or just have a great Holiday!
Industrial Design
GPA: 4.0
SATS: 2220
Pratt: EA ACCEPTED WITH SCHOLARSHIP OF $21K
Virginia tech: ED ACCEPTED
Scad: accepted with two scholarships
Kansas, Arizona state, auburn, Illinois, Ohio state: accepted EA with scholarships.
Applied: Cornell University (College of Arts and Sciences), University of Texas-Austin, UC-Berkeley
Accepted: Cornell University, UT-Austin, had to withdraw from Berkeley due to binding Cornell ED
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2390 (790 CR, 800 W, 800 M)
ACT: None
SAT II: 800 - World History, 790 - Chemistry, Literature, Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (5.09 W)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 12/625
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), European History (5), Calculus AB (5), US History (5), English Language (5), Chemistry (4), Statistics (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): None
Senior Year Course Load: Honors Anatomy and Physiology, Honors Organic Chemistry, AP English IV, AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus BC, AP Macroeconomics, AP US Government
Subjective:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Fiction published in 2 major international literary journals, coauthor of nanomedical research paper, National YoungArts Foundation Winner in Writing, National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, Scholastic Writing Regional Winner
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): A lot of work with literary journals (Prose Reader), Science Bowl Club (Vice-President), writing articles for an international figure skating magazine, running an international figure skating blog (Founder & Editor-in-chief), Piano (some state awards, but nothing earth-shattering), National Honor Society & National English Honor Society, regional literary newsletters and magazines (Editor-in-chief)
Job/Work Experience: Literary journals, freelance journalism
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer at local hospital, assist at figure skating competitions, various small events through NHS and NEHS
Summer Activities: Iowa Young Writers’ Studio (the nation’s most prestigious pre-collegiate creative writing program; basically the RSI of creative writing); Bard College Young Writers’ Workshop (three weeks of experimental creative writing; internationally known, but not as distinguished as IYWS); internship/research at major hospital the summer before senior year
Essays: I loved my Common App – I chose the “tell your story” one, and wrote about how the word “you” changed my writing career. For the Cornell supplement, I pretty much spent 650 words gushing about Cornell students’ activism, their creative writing concentration, Vladimir Nabokov, and astronomy. My voice lent itself very nicely to a “serious but imaginative” persona.
Teacher Recommendation: Both were from teachers who know and like me very well. One was from my English teacher, who witnessed my maturation as a writer in her class. The other was from my math teacher, who I had for two years and whose lower-level students I tutored.
Counselor Rec: I don’t know her very well, but from mandatory conferences we’ve had, she knows that I like to challenge myself academically.
Additional Rec: I had one from the editor of one of the literary magazines I work for. We’re personally acquainted, and she saw how much effort I put into the magazine. Later, I also forwarded the (generic) YoungArts recommendation letter to the Cornell admissions office.
Interview: Alumni meeting
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper-middle class, no FA
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
Reflection:
Strengths: High GPA & scores, intense focus on intended major (English)
Weaknesses: Lack of in-school ECs, some aspects of my application might have seemed a little generic, “model minority” expectations
Why you think you were accepted: I wrote heartfelt essays that stressed my fit for Cornell’s English department. Also, my transcript looked pretty good. It also probably helped that I kept up a correspondence with my regional admissions officer.
General Comments: Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Find something you love to do, and do it well. Use the essays to distinguish yourself – write something honest and unique that the admissions office will remember, and explain why YOU absolutely deserve to attend that school. And don’t neglect your grades! Every college admissions officer will admit that the transcript is the single MOST IMPORTANT part of any college application, so don’t let academics fall to the wayside.
A little off topic, but if you guys want a system that does this I recommend parchment. Sign up and create a profile, and you can view past profiles of people who applied to different schools: you see their general stats and EC’s. Very useful for me so far
Applied ED to Rochester Institute of Technology. Terrible freshman grades, but As and Bs thereafter with a B+ overall average (I completed HS before applying), 3.39 GPA
Location: Rochester, NY
Major: Advertising Photography, BFA.
Private University with award winning programs in Photography and Engineering, of all things. I think it also houses one of the most innovative/thorough Gaming Design and Animation programs as well.
Scores:
SAT I = 450M, 610W, 730 CR, 8 Essay. 1790 Cumulative.
ACT = 17M, 22S, 29E, 34R, 8 Essay. 26 Composite.
Awards:
Published multiple times in TeenInk Magazine (one of which was the cover photo).
ECs:
Drama for 3 years, photography for 7 years (started at 15, I am 23).
Small photography business working with local agency models who were signed with agencies such as CLICK and Element.
Recs:
1 Recommendation from a professional photographer who taught me everythign I know about studio lighting.
Essay: One essay, I chose “Why do you want to study this?” as my topic, and it was fairly solid, in my opinion.
Portfolio: I also sent in my established photography portfolio.
Applicant info:
State of Residence: GA
Ethnicity: White.
Gender: Feeeeeemale.
Income Bracket: Lower middle class, single parent home.
Hooks: Older student (took one year off of school after graduating, and when I was ready to apply, my mom went through a series of unfortunate health events-- blood clots, gall bladder, and severe head trauma, one after the other). <em>Lots</em> of Real World Experience in the area of study.
Accepted to Dartmouth Early Decision
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2390 (790 CR)
ACT:
SAT II: 790 (Math 2, World History, Latin, Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):96/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):about 9/320
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s(Calc BC, Latin, World, APUSH, English Lang, Physics B)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: APGOV, Physics C, Multivariable Calc, English Lit, Political Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with distinction
**Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model Congress (Secretary) DECA (made national competition) Religous Group (secretary)
Job/Work Experience: Sleepaway Camp Counselor
Volunteer/Community service:One service trip
Summer Activities:Sleepaway Camp
Essays:Very good
Teacher Recommendation: Probably good
Counselor Rec: Didnt really know my counselor that well
Additional Rec: Read it, it was very good
Interview: Didnt go poorly, but not well either
Supplementary Material:
Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):NY
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender:Male
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): No FA
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Legacy
Reflection[list][<em>] Strengths:grades, test scores, legacy[</em>] Weaknesses:ECs[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Great test scores[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:Legacy