Can more graduated seniors do "actual results" threads?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1921

Hi all so I figured I’d make an actual results thread, because I always thought those were the most informative and helpful posts on here. I applied to 13 schools, many of them reaches, so I hope this gives a wide range of people an idea about what they can expect

Here are some stats:
SAT: 2380 single sitting, 800/800/780 (but on the 4th try…I don’t recommend doing this)
ACT: 34 single sitting
AP tests: US history 5, US Gov 5, Comp Gov 5
SAT IIs: 760 US History, 740 English Literature, 700 Math II
Senior Year Courseload: AP English Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Environmental, AP Spanish Language, AP Economics
GPA: 6.41 through 3 years, 7.15 first half of senior year. school has a 7 point scale, where 6.5=a 4.0.
Class rank: school doesn’t rank. Top 10-15% at a competitive boarding school
Awards: National Spanish Exam: Gold Levels I and III, Silver Level II
School:
One of 13 students selected to travel to England for 2 weeks to take classes at the Caterham school
American History paper contest, 2nd place
Modern World History Paper contest 3rd place

EC’s: mission trip with my youth group- 5 years, 150+ hours
Soccer: 4 years (2 varsity), coaches wrote me a rec, we were 2nd in the state this year for our division
Track: 2 years varsity
School Paper, 4 years
Business Club: 4 years
Worked on and off as a referee since freshman year

White Male, OH, needed lots of aid

This is a brief overview…here are the schools with results:

Case Western Reserve: Accepted
Cornell: Waitlisted
Dartmouth: Rejected
Furman: Accepted
Harvard (EA): Deferred then Rejected
Miami of Ohio (EA): Accepted
Michigan (EA): Deferred then Accepted
Pomona: Rejected
Stanford: Rejected
Syracuse: Accepted
USC: Accepted
UVA: Accepted
Vassar: Accepted

So a pretty wide overall spread like I said…hope this was helpful, because I always wish there were more of these.

@gibby and @Falcon1 I remember you guys mentioned it would be interesting to see an actual results page from me given the whole SAT situation, so here it is :smiley:

1922

As an aside, I would agree with the above poster, and add that it’s good to find lower reach schools and matches that you will be just as ecstatic about attending, I’m glad I applied to so many schools, because I know I did my best, and it’s nice to have options… I’m choosing between USC and uva at the moment, plus accepting the wait list at Cornell… I love all three and am completely satisfied at the end of what was a long and stressful process. :slight_smile:

1923

DId you also get into UCLA?

1924

Beyond excited to finally post in this thread! Congrats to the Class of 2015 xx

Intended Major: International Relations

Accepted: Princeton, Wellesley, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins (Bloomberg Scholarship), Williams (early write), Tufts, Vassar, Northeastern (University Scholars), BU (Presidential Scholarship & Kilachand Honors)

Waitlisted: Harvard

Denied: Brown (deferred ED), Yale

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 35 (35E/33M/36R/36S) 12 essay
SAT II: 730 Lit, 720 US History
Unweighted GPA: not available, most likely >3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.71
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/305
APs: Lang & Comp (5), APUSH (5) Bio (3)

Senior Year Course Load: AP Macroeconomics, AP Calc AB, AP Lit, AP US Gov, AP World History, Spanish 4 Honors, Honors Concert Choir, typical PE class

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Scholastic Gold Key and Silver Key Awards for poetry, AP scholar, National Merit Scholar commended

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Model UN, 10 awards (President & head-delegate 2013-15, VP 2012-13); Student Council (President and BOE rep 2014-15, VP 2013-14); school musical in ensemble/dance company/minor roles (2011-2015); jazz/chamber choir, placed 2nd and 4th at two national competitions (Alto section leader); Class Council of 2015 (president 2011-13); NHS (VP); published poet (published 3 times with Creative Communications, 3 times in print and 11 times online with Teen Ink, twice with the Live Poets of NJ); Mu Alpha Theta

Job/Work Experience: Just an internship at a local historic site

Volunteer/Community service: Relay for Life team captain (3 years); tutoring biweekly through NHS; organizer of open mics, poetry slams, and movie nights at a teen coffeehouse in my town

Summer Activities: took Intro to IR through the Young Scholars Program at the University of Maryland – I highly recommend the program!

Essays: My common app essay is possibly the love of my life, my current AP lit teacher (who is also an English professor at NYU) raves about it any chance she gets. y advice for the commonapp essay is to choose any experience or moment that truly allows you to write your heart out! I really enjoyed writing my Why Wellesley supplement, and though applicants should follow the directions to write 2 paragraphs, there’s still room for personality and flexibility.

Teacher Recommendation: 10/10 from my AP Lang teacher (it honestly made me cry), 8/10 from my APUSH teacher

Counselor Rec: Didn’t read, but probably average

Additional Rec: N/A

Interviews: Always went well, especially good for Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, & Harvard

Supplementary Material (portfolio, etc.): Some poetry portfolios

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 100,000-150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation

Reflection:
Strengths: ECs, essays, ACT, rank/GPA, interviews
Weaknesses: SAT II’s, over-represented state, no huge awards, wish I submitted a music supplement, etc.

General Comments: This process was exhausting and emotionally draining…but I am so thankful for the opportunity it gave me to write about my interests and truly get in touch with what I want for my future. My advice for 2016 seniors:

  1. Start writing your common app the end of your junior year (aka now!) and perfect it until apps are due.
  2. Don’t apply anywhere you can’t see yourself going.
  3. Let many people whom you trust read your essays, but ony make changes that reflect who you are and what you’d really say
  4. Remember that none of your admissions decisions reflect your self-worth, and that the true accomplishments are the things you tell colleges as opposed to what they tell you.

Princeton Class of 2019!

1925

Posting D’s results

Accepted: Notre Dame, William & Mary, G.Washington, Kenyon, Case Western, U.Maryland, U.Illinois, U.Wisconsin
Waitlisted: U.Chicago, Vassar and Williams
Rejected: Georgetown, Amherst, Princeton, Brown, Yale, Harvard, Stanford REA

ACT: 36 and a 35
SAT: 2040 (had to send to Georgetown and Stanford - we thought we had to,anyway - not helpful)
SAT II: Math 2 - 790, US History 740, E.Literature 750
GPA: 3.82 unweighted / 4.38 weighted
AP three 5 scores and 1 four score, taking five AP courses senior year
Class Rank: Top 5% at large public Chicago Suburban school

Legacy: No
URM: No
Athlete: No
State: Illinois
Family Income: >>$200K, applied for financial aid knowing we would not qualify

Recs: No idea
Essays: I think she did a good job providing insight into what makes her tick

ECs: President of Speach Team, Model UN. Youth and Government, Symphony Orchestra, Girls State

Strengths: Test Scores ACT not SAT, Rigor of Curriculum

Weaknesses: for Top LACs and Ivys not having a 3.9 unweighted is a liability. Might have applied to too many colleges and could have instead focused all her efforts on say three reach colleges. I think with the Ivy’s if you are not an URM, Legacy, Athlete and you failed to apply Early Decision - you are actually competing for maybe 40% of the available freshman spots. Lacking some truly unique talent like starting a successful business, winning a national contest or being genuninely gifted artistically, your odds are very slim indeed. We also think that she should have demonstrated more interest in the schools where she applied for merit aid - CWRU, SMU. I think to award a full-ride, the college wants to know that you are likely to come, not just fishing for money.

We thought a perfect ACT score would help her get into one of the top LAC’s or an Ivy, not so

1926

I literally just posted this but I’m reposting because I made my final college decision!

Attending: College of Wooster!

Accepted: Grand Valley State University, Loyola Chicago (17.5k), Michigan State, Case Western, Beloit (20k), Purdue, Wooster (24k), Kalamazoo (22k), URochester (11k)

Waitlisted: Denison

Denied: None

Major: Economics/Financial Economics/Business Economics (Statistics at Loyola)

Objective:
UW GPA: 3.4
Class rank: –
SAT: –
ACT: 32 Composite (26 Math, 32 Science, 36 English, 32 Reading, 8 Essay). 33 superscore with a 30 in math.
Course rigor / Senior Schedule: 7 APs total, but not most rigorous.
Awards: Nothing besides school sanctioned honors.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Theater, after school Honors Jazz Band, Creative Writing Club, Anime Club, and Champions for Life Club (which is hilarious to me since I’m pro-choice, lol.)

Job/Work Experience: McDonalds during junior year.
Volunteer/Community service: ~100 hours total at Vacation Bible School
Summer Activities: Work
Essays: My CA essay was very well written and well-received. I’d probably give it an 8. My Rochester supplement was bomb. I worked so hard on it. The rest of my supplements were good but not great in my opinion.
Teacher Recommendation: My favorite econ teacher wrote one of them, so I’m just going to assume that one was pretty personal. I also have a good relationship with my GC so that one was probably good too.
Interview: I only interviewed at Rochester and have to say that it went pretty well! I was a bit superficial at the beginning, but I began to let my true colors show toward the end. My interviewer and I both have the same kind of sarcastic humor, so it made it pretty easy to connect with him.
State (if domestic applicant): MI
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: < 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nope

Reflection: My app was reviewed extremely well. I was offered big scholarships to schools that genuinely want me to attend in the fall. I was even accepted to my dream school, University of Rochester. If need-based financial aid comes through for Rochester, then that is where I will be sending in my enrollment deposit. If not, Wooster and Kalamazoo are my other two fallbacks, both of which I would be more than happy attending (coughgofightingscotscough.) I’m a little surprised by the waitlist at Denison, but I’m socially not a good fit for their school, and I think they could see that through my extracurriculars and plain general demeanor. I would not have attended even if I was admitted, and I think they could sense that. Ultimately, I have 4 amazing options left, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

Strengths: Showed passion and a lot of potential.

Weaknesses: GPA and lack of awards.

1927

Accepted: Pittsburgh, Rochester, Case Western, UChicago (deferred then accepted)
Waitlisted: Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, WashU
Rejected: None
Major: Bioengineering/Molecular engineering

Objective:
Unweighted GPA: 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.5
ACT: 35 (English 36, Math 34, Reading 35, Science 36)
SAT I: 2270 (Math 720, Reading 760, Writing 790)
SAT II: Math2 770, Chem 770
AP Scores: Human Geo, European History, US History, Lang & Comp, Chemistry, Calc BC (All 5s)
Senior Course Load: AP French, AP Physics, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP English, calc 3
Awards: National merit finalist

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Piano, key club, scioly
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: ~100 hours at various local events
Summer Activities: Classes at local college
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Not great, didn’t spend much time on them except for my common app and chicago. Maybe 7-8 for those, 5-6 for everything else.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Didn’t read any of them. Not particularly close to any of my teachers but I think they liked me. 7-8?

Other:
School Type: Large public
Location: Midwest
Race/Gender: White/Male
Income Bracket: 100k
Interviews: None
Hooks: None

Reflection:
Strengths: GPA and test scores
Weaknesses: Pretty much everything else

Not quite sure what to make of all the waitlists, but overall I’m happy with how things turned out. Wish I had some sage advice to share, but honestly I’m just as clueless about the whole college admissions process as I was a year ago. Just do your best and try not to freak out too much. You’ll be fine. Oh, and while most of the people on this site are nice and helpful they also tend to be a bit overachieving and aren’t really emblematic of the entire applicant pool – seriously, don’t stress out over these results threads, you’ll just drive yourself crazy.

1928

Accepted: Williams (deferred ED), Amherst (early write), Cornell, Wellesley, Oberlin, UVA, William & Mary, Case Western
Waitlisted: Wash U.
Denied: Princeton, Brown, Middlebury, Swarthmore
(90% chance of attending Williams)

Intended Major: Neuroscience & Russian

Objective:
W GPA: 4.2980 (no UW)
ACT: 34 (E 35, M 35, R 32, W 34)
SAT: 2200 (CR 690 M 800 W 710)
AP: Biology (5), Chemistry (4), Calculus BC (5), World History (5), Macroeconomics (3), Microeconomics (4)
Senior Schedule: APCS, AP English Literature, AP US Government, Honors Geosystems, Russian 5, Multivariable Calculus/Organic Chemistry, Research Mentorship

Subjective:
ECs: Speech Team (10-12, Co-Captain), American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras (7-12, viola), Neuroscience Club (9-11), Student Reporter at Local Newspaper (6-12)
Job/Work Experience: School Theater Technician (9-10)
Volunteer/Community Service: Lead Instructor of Russian Club at nearby middle school (11-12), Lesson Developer at a program aimed to get kids interested in STEM (10-12), Youth Council at an Emergency Teen Shelter (10-12), Volunteer Ensemble that performs at assisted living centers (6-12, Secretary)
Summer Activities: Chemistry Internship at Georgetown University (2 years)
Essays: Varied a lot by college, but I remember the Ivies and Williams essays being on the weak side. CA essay was pretty good, though.
Recommendations: Haven’t read them but I’m one of my Russian teacher’s faves, my neuro teacher’s rec and my counselor’s was probably decent, and the professor I worked under even offered to write a rec for me beforehand so I assume it was pretty good.

Honors/Rewards: National Russian Essay Contest (Silver 9, 11-12, Gold 10) Russian Olympiada (Gold 9-10, Silver 11) State level prizes in Speech Competitions, Article on internship published in an ACS-sponsored newsletter

Other:
School Type: STEM Magnet School
Location: South-ish? kind of on the border
Race/Gender: Asian Female
Income Bracket: < 30k
Interviews: Wellesley, Princeton, Middlebury, Swarthmore
Hooks: None

Reflection:
tbh I was worried I wouldn’t be accepted anywhere I thought all parts of my application were “weaknesses” because there wasn’t anything particularly special, but I guess that’s what a uber-competitive school environment does to you.

1929

Accepted: University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, Clemson, NC State, Georgia Tech (deferred EA, accepted RA), Vanderbilt (waitlisted --> accepted)
Rejected: MIT
Major: Mechanical Engineering or Nuclear Engineering

Objective:
Unweighted GPA: 3.81
Weighted GPA: 4.71
ACT: 34 (English 35, Math 35, Reading 29, Science 36)
SAT I: 2120 (Math 800, Reading 640, Writing 680)
SAT II: Math2 800, Physics 750
AP Scores: Statistics (4), Chemistry (4), Physics C (4 on both parts), English (4 on one, 3 on other), Calculus (5), Biology (4)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: All-state musician, Beta Club President, Athletics (Basketball, golf)
Job/Work Experience: Research Intern
Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours at various local events
Summer Activities: Research Intern (same as work experience)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Put a good amount of time/effort into most, I’d give myself a 7-8 (I’m not the best writer)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I didn’t read any of them, but my teachers seem to enjoy having me as a student. 8-9

Other:
School Type: Small residential, magnet
Location: Southeast
Race/Gender: White/Male
Income Bracket: 100k
Interviews: MIT
Hooks: None

Reflection:
Strengths: STEM academic ability, GPA
Weaknesses: Humanities

I am generally pleased at how my college search turned out. My only denial was MIT, which was really just a “well, I guess I’ll give it a shot,” I loved the school when I visited but didn’t think I had much of a chance. Everywhere else I thought I had a decent shot at, minus maybe Vandy (but I got in!). When it came down to it, financial aid packages played a HUGE role at where I chose to attend. So, after receiving a (nearly) full merit scholarship, the decision was easy.

Go Gamecocks!

1930

Accepted: Oregon State Honors College (3.5-10k/yr), Santa Clara (8.8k/yr), University of Portland (20k/yr), Gonzaga(16.5k/yr)
Denied: Stanford, Notre Dame, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, USC, Duke. I wasn’t waitlisted anywhere
Major: BioEngineering (UP is MechE + Biology, Gonzaga is Biochem) pre-med tracks

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1960 (630CR/720M/610W)
ACT (breakdown): 30 (28E/32R/29M/29S)
SAT II: 720 US History, 680 BioM
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/57
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language & Composition 4, APUSH 4
Senior Year Course Load: English 12 and Spanish 3 (both dual enrollment at cc), Physics, Religion 12, AP Bio, Multivariable Calculus

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council/National Honor Society (both VP), Varsity Football/Swimming/Track. Math Tutor, Outdoor Club
Job/Work Experience: lifeguard
Volunteer/Community service: a lot in tutoring, fire department, helping veterans
Summer Activities: lifeguarding, community service, sports, taking classes at community college
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9 on average, some were (quite) better than others
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): around 8, teachers still like me
Interviews: Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth. all pretty good

Applied for Financial Aid?: yep
State (if domestic applicant): OR
School Type: Private/Catholic
White Male
Income Bracket: about 100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I could have a hook for a hand, aargh

Strengths: GPA, 12 sport Varsity Athlete, loads of Community Service
Weaknesses: Standardized test scores for sure, no awards

For the Class of 2016 and on, try and find your match really early. I had decent scores, but I automatically threw myself into the pool of 50 or 60 something thousand other people trying to apply for the tippy-top schools. I realized too late that I wasn’t going to get in and it was too late for me to apply to schools that would be still very good, but that I could also get in and do well academically. My list is like 64% reach schools. I asked some admission officers from schools that I considered, but never applied to, and they said I would have had a very good chance of getting in. Find the school that best fits you and a place where you will do well.

1931

Accepted: Williams, NYU (CAS), Drexel (EA, Honors)
Waitlisted: Yale, Northwestern, Tufts, Babson (deferred EA)
Rejected: UChicago (deferred EA), Columbia, Princeton, Amherst, Claremont McKenna, Duke

Intended Majors: Mathematics & Environmental Studies

International Applicant, asking for a lot of FA

Objective:
UW GPA: 3.85 (I think, I don’t remember exactly)
SAT I: 2220 (740 CR 760 M 720 W)
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 750 French, 740 Literature
TOEFL: 113
Awards:
Winner, Prisewinner - National English Competition
Prisewinner - Regional Social Studies competion, Regional English competition, (after submitting application) Regional Economics Competition
Prisewinner - certain university-specific competitions in Social Studies and Econ

Subjective:
ECs: art, several academic, theater
Volunteer: senior year, 1.5 - 2 h/w
Essays: Some better, some worse. CA was pretty good, a few of the others were really good - I thought the UChicago essay was my best, but I suppose not.
Recommendations: probably very good, got them from my favorite teachers, who know me really well and in whose classes I work the most. Guidance councelor has known me since 7th grade, so I imagine that was a good one as well.

Other:
School type: public
Location: Moscow, Russia
Race/Gender: White, Female
Hooks: possibly the fact that there aren’t that many Russian students at American universities? I’m not sure, actually.

Reflection:
I thought I had no chance, because most colleges are need-aware for international applicants, and I need a lot of FA. Most people told me I should aim lower, try to get a full ride at a less selective college. But I think my experience shows that you can beat the odds. I suppose I wish I had researched the admission process even more before submitting my applications, but overall I’m still very happy with the result. Most likely going to Williams next year!

1932

Accepted: Yale, Penn (SEAS, Rachleff Scholars)
Waitlisted: Princeton
Rejected: Harvard (deferred SCEA), Stanford, MIT

Intended major: Bioengineering

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2320 (800M, 800CR, 720W)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chem, 800 Bio M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~95/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~10/100, but school doesn’t rank officially
AP (place score in parentheses): Chem (5), Bio (5), Human Geo (5), APES (5), APUSH (5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Duke of Edinburgh Gold, Won ICDC (DECA), ranked in top 100 for NACLO, National Biology Competition, various national math competitions

Subjective (grades and details in parentheses):
Extracurriculars:A somewhat obscure sport (3-12, 20 hours/week, have competed internationally), A science olympiad (10-12), DECA (10-11, Won at ICDC in 11th), HOSA co-founder and co-president (11-12), Math Club co-president (10-12), Equity Committee (9-12)
Job/Work Experience:
-Worked as a paid research assistant for a month
Volunteer/Community service:
-600 hours
-Volunteer with disabled people (10-12)
-Summer camp counsellor (10, 12)
Summer Activities: Program at university
Essays: Above average
Teacher Recommendation: Did not read, but should be very good (I’ve worked with them outside of class, they know me very well)
Counselor Rec: Did not read, but knows me VERY well
Additional Rec: From coach, excellent

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: Competitive Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): $120 000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Reflection
Strengths: SAT IIs, ECs/Awards
Weaknesses: GPA, Class rank (there was no official rank, but many top students applied to the same schools)

:warning: **You might notice that I don’t have any safety (or even match) schools on my list. I decided early on that it would not be worth it to take out the loans that would be necessary to afford a $60k+ price tag, so I only applied to full need schools. I did this fully aware of and okay with the fact that being shut-out was a very real possibility. **:warning:

Good luck to the Class of 2016 (and beyond!). I’m very happy with my results. I was lucky enough to check my acceptances first on Ivy Day, so the rejections barely stung. I also decided against picking a “dream” school/first choice until after my acceptances came in, because of the high likelihood of rejection. In my opinion, it worked well for me, because I did not become emotionally attached to any school.

1933

Made an account just to say this. Work hard for four years, yes, but be passionate about what you do. I have a friend with almost the exact same/slightly better stats, and he only got into UPenn. Colleges can tell when you’re just resume building.

Accepted: UGA, GA Tech, Emory (Oxford Scholar), Dartmouth (likely letter), Brown (likely letter), Cornell (likely letter, Tanner Dean Scholar, Meinig Scholar), Columbia, UPenn, Yale
Waitlisted: Stanford, Harvard, Caltech, UChicago
Rejected: Northwestern, MIT, Princeton

Intended Majors: IDK. I put a different one for each school

Objective:
UW GPA: 4.00
SAT I: 2350 (760 CR 800 M 790 W)
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 800 Chemistry
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/556
AP (place score in parentheses): Bio (5), Human Geo (5), Chem (5), APWH (5), APUSH (5), Stat (5), Lang (4), Physics B (5), Calc BC (5)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Student, National AP Scholar, Questbridge Finalist

Subjective:
ECs: Student Council (Class President, Executive Secretary, Exec Board for State Student Council), Relay For Life (Team raised $10,000), NHS (VP), Spanish NHS (President), Created a weekly newspaper, Scholar’s Bowl
Volunteer: About 200 hours a year, mostly at the public library.
Summer Activities: Presented a workshop at NASC and volunteered at the library
Essays: Above average; Common App was about coming out and figuring out my identity (culturally and sexuality)
Teacher Recommendation: Did not read, but I think they’re phenomenal (My Spanish teacher cried writing it)
Counselor Rec: Did not read, does not know me well.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yep
State (if domestic applicant): GA
School Type: Public
Asian Male
Income Bracket: about 75,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation, gay (?), muslim (?)

Reflection:
College acceptances are, in the end, completely random. My advice is to try your hardest at everything, be passionate about something, and everything will work itself out. Yes, I know I got into a shit ton of colleges, and people would kill to be in my place, but I didn’t sit around for four years in HS. HS was the four hardest, longest, and (currently) greatest years of my life. These colleges don’t expect you to cure cancer or develop a new mathematical theorem. While doing those things wouldn’t hurt, they are looking for students who will be able to survive the rigors of their college. And if you’re reading this in the future wondering if you should apply to a selective college, do it. You can’t be admitted if you never applied. If cost is an issue, most selective private colleges offer crazy financial aid. I’m going to be paying a fifth of the cost of my public state university if I go to Yale. So, my advice from my crazy college journey: Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

1934

Intended Major: Neuroscience/Bio/Psych (not really sure at the moment)

Accepted: UNC Chapel Hill (I got into their Honors College too), Furman, Appalachian State, North Carolina State University, Queens University of Charlotte, University of Pittsburgh

Waitlisted: Vanderbilt, Emory, Davidson (I blame being waitlisted at Vandy and Emory on my weak Questbridge app that I forwarded to them)

Denied: Johns Hopkins, Yale, UPenn, RPI, Columbia, Duke

**I will be attending UNC Chapel Hill. I got a full ride from them and Honors Carolina perks (pretty nice)

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 31 composite (34E, 27M, 34 R, 27S, 33 Eng/Writing and 10 on the essay)
SAT II: N/A (big mistake I know)
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.1
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/350
APs: Not AP. I’m an IB Diploma Candidate which means it’s AP on steroids and I basically take 7 “APs” each year. But if you must know I take AP enviro and AP Stats in addition to my IB courseload.

Senior Year Course Load:

  • IB Diploma candidate (basically the equivalent of AP but more or less a little crazier). An IB Diploma Candidate must take all 7 IB classes (equal to taking 7 AP classes).
  • IB Psychology
  • IB Theory of Knowledge
  • IB Mathematical Studies (1 & 2)
  • IB English (1 & 2)
  • IB History (1 & 2)
  • IB Biology (1 & 2)
  • IB French (Must go all the way up to French 5)
  • In addition to these IB classes I also take: AP Environmental Science, AP Statistics, and Symphonic Orchestra (I’ve been playing the violin since 6th grade)
  • I’ve never made anything less than an A (my school has a 7 point grading scale in which an A is a 93-100)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  • Gates Millennium Scholars finalist: Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It’s a full ride to college - any college of my choosing. They choose 2,000 finalists out of many. (2015 - still waiting to hear results at end of April)
  • APIASF finalist (2015 - also waiting to hear results)
  • Science Olympiad Medals: Awards for achievements in various realms of science. 1st place gold JV division for Disease Detectives (2013) and Anatomy & Physiology (2014), 2nd place silver JV division for Bottle Rockets and Write it/Do it (2012), 3rd place bronze JV division for Disease Detectives and Bottle Rockets (2014), 2nd place silver Varsity division for Anatomy & Physiology (2015), 4th place copper Varsity division for Disease Detectives (2015)
  • High School IB Psychology Award: Award for excellence in International Baccalaureate Psychology (2014)
  • Quill and Scroll/ASNE Sweepstakes Winner: Award for News Writing category story “New spoon design on track to shine” (2014)
  • Quill and Scroll/ASNE National Winner: Award for Sports Writing category story “Rugby player forgives, wishes he wouldn’t forget” (2014)
  • SIPA Award: Award from Southern Interscholastic Press Association for 3rd Place Sports Feature story “Rugby player forgives, wishes he wouldn’t forget” (2014)
  • NSCMA Award: Award from the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association for 1st place Sports Article in Large schools “Rugby player forgives, wishes he wouldn’t forget” (2013)
  • High School Outstanding Reporter Award: Award for exemplary dedication to the East Mecklenburg Newspaper “The Eagle” (2013)
  • United States Achievement Academy Scholarship: Award for outstanding achievements and excellent performance in school (2012)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars:

  • Scholarship chair of NHS
  • President of French Honor Society (French Club)
  • Science Olympiad
  • Academic WorldQuest
  • Diversity Club vice president
  • Staff writer for school newspaper
  • Student government sophomore year through senior year (Sophomore class VP, Junior class treasurer)

Job/Work Experience: I teach and tutor kids but that’s about it

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Central Carolina Medical Clinic Volunteer
  • 500+ hours of tutoring and piano teaching
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Read to children at Quaker School
  • Tutor ESL kids in math at my school
  • Miles Against Melanoma

Summer Activities:

  • Central Carolina Medical Clinic Volunteer
  • Nursing home volunteer and translator

Essays:
-Common App essay was rather risqué and in the style of the famous NYU essay but I had fun writing it and would give it a 9/10
-Supplemental essays were all fabulous aside from Hopkins, Davidson, and Duke.

Teacher Recommendation: I cried reading both of them. So 10/10

Counselor Rec: Eh I dunno but she did help me through a lot of tough times, especially when I was battling depression

Additional Rec: Peer recs were stellar 8/10

Interviews: All went well except for Yale

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): NC
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian American (looks even worse)
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Below $40,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation, female, low income

Reflection: I don’t know if anybody is gonna read this but I’m going to pour my heart and soul into this so I hope somebody sees it. REVERSE DISCRIMINATION IS RAMPANT. Okay, I’m just kidding, well only partially kidding. I can almost guarantee I didn’t get into the bulk of the schools because the odds were stacked against me and there are so many lovely people out there who are qualified or over qualified who still don’t get in. My test scores kind of suck but I am an awful test taker and I was suffering through depression my whole junior year. If you can take SAT IIs you need to take them. They may not be required but they are highly recommended and I never took them because of my money situation. I suppose my race plays a bit into my decisions as NPR claims that ivies were looking for any minority with a 29 ACT and an income below $40000 and they would most likely make the cut. Well, that’s me. Only even the collegeboard doesn’t consider Asians as a minority anymore. My test score is definitely the weakest point of my application and I was hoping holistic admissions made up for it. I didn’t waste my time through high school at all I worked my butt off. I didn’t procrastinate and did my homework weeks ahead of time so I could manage my extracurriculars. In the IB program they require 250 hours of community service throughout all 4 years of high school so it isn’t optional. I had an oral presentation every week and 7 essays due at the same time. I still haven’t made a B in my life. I’m very disappointed that I will be attending UNC Chapel Hill (and their honors college) and I know that some people dream of that but I never did. I lived at UNC and took some classes and it just was not right for me. Everybody in the coveted top 20 at my high school ends up at Chapel Hill. A part of me is glad for the security that Chapel Hill is familiar and I know people there and a part of me is just angry that I couldn’t have gotten into Emory. Most of the time I feel like I worked really hard for nothing and that maybe I only got into UNC because I’m an in-state kid anyway and I could’ve afforded a few B’s. After all I have a friend with a 3.0 GPA and a 1500 SAT score that got in. Maybe I didn’t deserve it. But my point is - YOU DEFINE WHO YOU ARE NOT THE SCHOOL YOU ATTEND! I can always transfer from UNC next year if I really can’t stand it or maybe I’ll even get off the waitlist. But I’m glad I applied to all those universities. They don’t have spots for every qualified applicant but at least I tried. You must always try. College is a business, merely a game - you just need to know how to play it right and I wish I did.

1935

Accepted: Air Force Academy, UVA, VT Engineering, AFROTC Type 2, UColorado Boulder
Rejected: Cornell, UT Austin

Will be attending Air Force Academy which was the 1st choice.

Intended major: Engineering, Air Force

Objective:
ACT: 32 composite (31 Math, 33 English and Sci)
SAT II: 740 Math II, 760 Bio M
Weighted GPA (school does not supply UW): 4.27
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5%

Subjective (grades and details in parentheses):
Volunteering: EMT squad, Red Cross, etc.
Sports: Wrestling, football, lacrosse
Job/Work Experience: more than a year in Target
Other: Northern Virginia resident, so in-state for UVA/VT
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Reflection
Strengths: Volunteering, high fitness scores helped with military applications, most difficult STEM schedule
Weaknesses: AP scores (no A’s)

1936

Accepted: Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Caltech
Waitlist: MIT

Major: EE/CS
Race: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: High
School: Public

SAT: 2350
SAT II Math 2: 800
SAT II Chem: 800
SAT II Bio (Molecular): 790
ACT: 35

GPA: 4.83/4.00
Rank: 1%

APs (5 on everything): Calc AB/BC, Bio, Chem, Physics B, English Lang, Euro, USH, Compsci
College Credit: Statistics, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations/Linear Algebra
Current classes: AP Physics C, AP Gov/Econ, AP Lit, AP Chinese, IB Compsci HL

Volunteering: GS Gold Award
Sports: Aikido, Black Belt, 1st Dan
Work Experience: Interned at Caltech Kavli Nanoscience Institute
Other: Science Olympiad National Champions (current team captain), National AP Scholar, National Merit Finalist

Notes:

  1. Great numbers won't guarantee everything. A lot of it is luck, too. Many equally qualified fellow students were rejected from the same schools. Some got into some schools but not others (example: Harvard but not Stanford, Caltech-Stanford-MIT but not Harvard). Who knows - a reader might be having a bad day, or the app right before yours was absolutely stellar and made yours look average in comparison even though it wasn't.
  2. Public universities like the UCs are rather numbers-based. For private universities, especially the <10% admit rate ones, however, essays are VERY important. You don't have to kill yourself over it, but you want to include at least one standout essay in the batch of ~4 that each school makes you write. You should also tailor it to each specific school. For example, most of my Caltech essays were average, but I had one extremely quirky and witty one that I knew the people there would enjoy. Same with Stanford (obviously the "witty" factor wasn't the same brand as Caltech, but you get the idea). MIT, I reported the exact same numbers, but I was just applying for fun, and my essays were pretty mediocre.
  3. Don't spread yourself thin. I know a guy with great stats who applied to 20+ colleges and got into only one mediocre one - his last choice. I saw his essays afterward; they were terrible. He was way too stressed out to write properly. If he had just picked 5 schools and poured his heart and soul into every one of them, he could have done better. If you're aiming for top universities, best bet is to apply to between 5 and 15. If your stats are great, then that 5% Stanford/Harvard/Yale acceptance rate is actually around a 20%, once they throw out all the guys that have no chance. After that, it's pretty much the roulette table. I had an initial list of ~11 schools; I ended applying to only 5 because I got early admit and didn't see any point in stressing myself any further.
  4. Most importantly: don't pick a school because of its overall ranking. Look deeply into extremely specific fields of study. There's no purpose in getting bragging rights for four years, and then be miserable for the rest of your life. For example, Caltech is a top-ranked engineering school overall, but it lags far behind UC Berkeley for compsci. Harvard has a great brand name for many things, including liberal arts, but is actually ranked below Georgetown for English majors.
1937

FINALLY THE COLLEGE PROCESS IS DONE AND I GET TO POST IN THIS!! Gonna keep it kinda brief though, mainly cause I can’t really remember most of the subjective stuff…

Intended Major: Applied to different schools for different things-- some for engineering, some for pure science (biology & chemistry)

Accepted: Stanford (attending-- go card!!), Cornell (CAS), Berkeley (Engineering undecided), UCLA (Engineering undecided, Regents!), UCSD (Bioengineering), UC Davis (Chemical Engineering)

Waitlisted: Columbia (engineering), UPenn (engineering, I think?), Johns Hopkins (BME)

Denied: MIT, Princeton

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2310 (750CR; 800M; 760W, 8E), only took once
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Math2 800; Chem 780; USH 690 (last one not sent to every school)
Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.70
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/~180
APs: AP Biology (5), AP Chemistry (5), AP English Lang (5), AP Psych (5, self-studied); APUSH (5); AP Euro (3 whoops)

Senior Year Course Load:
AP Physics C: Mech
AP English Lit
AP Gov
AP Spanish Lang
Honors Religion (req’d)
Honors Music Theory
Orchestra
English elective (semester 1); free (semester 2 cause senioritis)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing CC-level major tbh
-AIME qualifier
-USABO Semifinalist
-National Merit Commended
-AP Scholar w/Distinction
-TEAMS competition national qualifier (well my school’s team)

**Subjective: **

Extracurriculars:
-Youth orchestra 3 years, section leader, earned service award
-Instrumental Duets/Chamber performance
-Science Research 2 years
-Biology Olympiad, founder/president
-Mock Trial 3 years, captain, outstanding performance county award
-Math Club 4 years

Job/Work Experience:
-Basically just tutoring; also brief paid internship for my research mentor

Volunteer/Community service:
-Tutoring underprivileged children in community
-Volunteer at local hospital

Summer Activities:
-Science research & writing research paper
-Math class at UC Berkeley
-Volunteering

Essays:
Common App: 8/10? Probs a bit verbose, but really showed my awareness of privilege and general world around me
UC: basically a (much) less polished version of my Common App essay, and another one written last-minute at 3am…
Supplements: Stanford’s were unique, really reflected my voice (mainly cause my apathy/pessimism let me write whatever I wanted basically), and had consistent themes (basically wrote way too many essays about the same things but I guess they liked it?); Princeton’s additional essay was awful (written like 45 minutes before the deadline whoops); Columbia/Penn/Hopkins/Cornell were pretty much the same, just swapped out school names

Teacher Recommendation: Both teachers really liked me, I think (I was one of their top students), so probably pretty good. I read one of them (from my AP Lang teacher), and she basically made my personality sound 3842x better than it actually is (so thanks!)

Counselor Rec: Didn’t read, but probably pretty good

Additional Rec: Written by my research mentor, didn’t send it in for every school, but great as well-- focused on basically my work ethic and the research I did over the summer

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Parochial
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Umm female-ness? More anti-hooks than hooks tbh…

Reflection:
I could write pages but I’ll keep it short. I never expected to get into Stanford, although it’s been my dream school for years (along with MIT, but I realized shortly before I got rejected that it’s not longer a good fit for me anyway). If you don’t want to apply somewhere bc you think you won’t get in, don’t think that way. Just apply, cause honestly you never know! I’ve been reading the stats/accomplishments of people who got waitlisted/rejected, and I feel like objectively I don’t measure up at all. But if you really follow your passions in high school-- doing things for the sake of doing them, because you truly enjoy doing them, not bc you need the grade or the title on paper-- and incorporate your passions into your essays, then you’ll be all set-- adcoms will accept you at the place(s) you’re meant to be.

TL;DR Don’t do things (solely) for the sake of getting into college. Do them for yourself, because you enjoy them, because they make you feel happy and fulfilled. No matter where you go to college, you’ll be able to follow these passions, but if all your main ECs make you miserable, even if you get into HYPSMC, then you’ll have a much tougher time in college despite the brand name.

1938

Applied undeclared to these schools:
Accepted: Boston College, Providence College , College of the Holy Cross, Wellesley College, UMass Amherst, Wheaton College, Northeastern University, Smith College, Simmons College, Clark University
Waitlisted: Wesleyan University, Oberlin College
Rejected: Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Brown

Just copying and pasting my previous post here because I’m too lazy:

A little context on my school: It’s a small , private, Catholic all-girls school that doesn’t have a whole lot of opportunities class- or EC- wise because of its size. We don’t participate in NHS or anything of that sort. There is only one AP class offered, AP calculus AB. The highest level at my school is Advanced and the other level, the lower level that the majority of the students are in, is Honors. Some classes are only offered at an honors level. My school also recently changed its policy on A’s vs A+'s; it no longer gives out A+'s, which doesn’t really matter in way of GPA.

GPA: 3.87 UW on a 4.0 scale (It’s a little low because I got all A-'s freshman year, but since then I have been getting almost exclusively As- I had a 4.0 average junior year)
Senior year coursework:
AP Calc AB
World Literature Advanced
Spanish IV Advanced
Psychology Honors (it is an intro course, so there is only one level)
Physics Honors (it also only has one level, but you are only allowed to take the class if you have proven proficient in math)
Shakespeare Advanced
World Religions

I take seven classes, as opposed to the vast majority of the senior class; they only take six classes. I also took seven classes my junior year, which is a little less rare than seven classes senior year but I was still in the minority there. (I’m just hoping that schools see that I challenged myself as much as possible given my limited opportunities haha!)

This summer, I took an online course from the Scripps institute at UCSD about climate change; it was a graduate-level course and I got an A and am eligible for college credit in it.

Test Scores:
ACT:
Composite score: 33
Subscores:
English: 36
Math: 32
Reading: 36
Science: 29
Writing: 10

SAT IIs (I had to submit them to to Dartmouth):
US History: 720
Literature: 730

AP scores: (I took these despite not taking the actual AP class)
Lang and Comp: 5
APUSH: 4

Extracurriculars:
-I am student council president and have been on the council all four years
-I ran varsity indoor track and outdoor track sophomore and junior year. (named to conference all-star team junior year for spring track)
-varsity math team soph, junior, and sr year- freshman team frosh year
-Oxfam (there is a branch at my school)- all four years
-Friends of Rachel (club committed to spreading kindness throughout community)- soph, jr, sr
-History club junior and sr year
-Health and fitness/yoga club vice president- jr, sr year
-PANDA leader (prayerful activities club)- soph, jr, sr year
-I have played the piano at an advanced level with a private teacher for over ten years
-Guitar ensemble soph, jr, sr

Volunteer experience:
-I volunteer in the mental health department at social services at a health center for those with lower incomes and I go there two hours per week; have been doing this since junior year
-sophomore and junior year I periodically volunteered at the nursery at a UU church in my area
-I volunteered at the Special Olympics when it came to my school freshman and soph year (it hasn’t come back since then)

Jobs:
-I work as a lifeguard and I have been working since junior year: I work about 15 hours per week in the summer and 4 hours per week during the year (I only have time for one shift haha)

Essays: My CA essay was dope
Teacher Rec: I think that they were both good. I picked classes in which I struggled a little at first, but improved over time. One of the teachers writing my recommendation actually tutored me for SATs/ACTs, so that one was definitely good.
State: MA
Ethnicity: Iranian, born in US
Gender: F
Income bracket: 120k

Strengths: ACT and leadership positions as well as a wide variety of ECs, plus my essay, as mentioned before, was dope
Weaknesses: GPA

My results were generally what I expected. I did not think that I would be accepted to Wellesley- I thought I’d be waitlisted- but I’m thrilled that I was accepted! Conversely, I thought that I would be accepted to Oberlin, but I showed no interest in the school (it was a random addition) and didn’t interview, so that was probably what stuck me on the waitlist. I also expected to be waitlisted at Wesleyan and I knew I’d get rejected from Bowdoin and the Ivies. I think that if I had applied ED to Wesleyan, I absolutely would have been accepted. I’m not too beat up over the waitlists/rejections, though! I’m currently deciding between HC and Wellesley and I’m very excited about it!

1939

Accepted: Wesleyan ED2

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): didn’t send
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): uw: 92, weighted: 96
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): do not know
AP (place score in parenthesis): none until senior year (international student)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Comp Gov AP Stats AP Enviro AP Sr Lit Honors 3 Spanish

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Founder of self-esteem blog and workshops at elementary schools for 3 years
freelance writer for 5 other feminist blogs for 3 years
VP of GSA
Stage Manager for school plays
VP of International Club
tour guide for my school
independent fundraiser for eating disorder non profits (made over 4000$ in fundraising)

Job/Work Experience: 3 internships at eating disorder and female empowerment non profits, 1 of them I got a government grant pay
Volunteer/Community service: at least 5 - 20 hours a week
Summer Activities: internships
Essays: Prompt: the failure prompt: talked about my first rejection for a feminist blog as a writer
Teacher Recommendation: they were so nice!!! read them after i got in, they were both insanely good, more than I deserved
Counselor Rec: excellent
Additional Rec: nope
Interview: yes, went super well
Other
State (if domestic applicant): n/a canadian
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: american elite prep school
Ethnicity: white
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: >200 000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): full pay international? that’s gotta help

overall: Very pleased and excited to be part of the class of 2019 at Wesleyan!

1940

Excited to be finished with the application process

USC- Denied
Boston College-Accepted
Washington St. Louis-Waitlisted
Georgetown- Denied
Duke- Denied
Vanderbilt- Waitlisted
Villanova-Accepted (5k scholarship and honors program)
UC Berkeley- Denied
UCLA- Denied
University of Washington- Accepted (7.5k scholarship)
UC Santa Barbara- Accepted
Lehigh- Waitlisted
University of San Diego- Accepted (25k scholarship)
Wake Forest- Waitlisted

White Male, I do not qualify for financial aid but my parents can afford these options

3.92 unweighted GPA
4.2 weighted GPA
4.36 UC GPA
4 AP Classes- 4 on AP Lang, haven’t taken other AP tests yet (Calc AB, Government, Spanish Language)
4 Honors Classes- Chemistry, Pre Calc/Trig, Anatomy/Physiology, Spanish 4
Our school counselors tell us that our school is looked at highly by colleges but I don’t know if that is necessarily true.

34 ACT (Only took once)
2140 SAT (750 CR, 710 Math, 680 Writing)
2170 SAT Superscore (750 CR, 740 Math, 680 Writing)
740 Math 2 Subject Test
590 Chemistry Subject Test (i know…)
Awaiting English Subject Test Results

I umpire, babysit, tutor, provide athletic training, and am president of a club which fundraises and donates equipment to Bay Area sports programs that need help.

Attending Boston College. Go Eagles!