Can more graduated seniors do "actual results" threads?

[falynweiss]

Johns Hopkins - Accepted - Attending
Penn State Main - Accepted
Villanova - Accepted
UPitt - Accepted

White Female, qualify for financial aid, my parents can’t afford anything

3.82 unweighted GPA
6.001 weighted GPA (complicated scale)
4 AP Classes- US Gov and Poli (3)(better than it sounds, I guess. I was the only one in my school to get a “passing” grade), Psych (4), AP Calc AB, AP Lit and Comp
I attend a little underfunded school in backwoods PA, although we have a good science program. I’m not sure how colleges would know anything like that though.

34 ACT
2070 SAT Superscore 640 math, I don’t remember the rest
710 English Subject test
630 Bio, I think?
650 History

I am part of a knitting club, co-captain of the debate team, and vice president of national art honors society

My essays were about my dad going to jail for the common app, debate for JHU, saving a frog for Villanova.

[jdubzzz]

This website has been of MASSIVE assistance to me, so I figure sharing my results is the least I can do.

Accepted:
-Vanderbilt (Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship) [Attending];
-Duke (with Likely Letter); also received Focus Scholar status, which apparently puts me in the top 1% of this year’s admitted undergraduates. However, they still didn’t offer me any merit money….
-WUSTL;
-UVA (Echols Scholar);
-UNC;
-Notre Dame;
-Washington & Lee (Johnson Scholarship Finalist–currently listed as an Alternate for that award, but received full tuition from a different scholarship);
-Emory (Oxford Scholar – Woodruff recipient - full ride);
-UGA Honors ($10k/yr Merit);
-Tulane ($32k/yr Merit);
-SMU (~#30k/yr Merit);
-Ole Miss Honors (Stamps Scholarship interviewee—never heard results lol)
-State Flagship (Full Ride)

Waitlisted:
Stanford

Rejected:
Princeton (Deferred SCEA–> Rejected)
Dartmouth
UNC’s Morehead-Cain Scholarship
UGA’s Foundation Fellowship

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2270 (Didn’t send)
ACT (breakdown): 35 Composite (35E/34M/35R/34S)
SAT II: 780 Math II, 780 Lit, 760 Bio M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.93UW; 4.55W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 8/183
AP (place score in parenthesis):

• Writing/Composition (5)
• Calculus AB (4)
• Biology (4)
• US History (4)
• Art History (3) [lol]

IB (place score in parenthesis): –

Senior Year Course Load: Hardest possible

• AP Literature/Composition
• AP Calculus BC
• AP Psychology (Self-study online)
• AP US Gov. and Politics
• AP Statistics
• Physics H (No AP offered)
• Religion (Required)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF; AP Scholar w/Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

• Varsity Swim (Captain)
• Student Council (Exec. Events Coordinator)
• National Honor Society (President)
• Mu Alpha Theta (VP)
• Science Bowl (Captain)
• Leadership Youth Seminar - Voted Political Party President
• Columnist for Major Newspaper
• Soccer (JV)
• Ultimate Frisbee (just for fun, I don’t actually think I sent this)

Job/Work Experience: Summer job working as a swim coach at neighborhood swimming pool

Volunteer/Community service: Organized $6200 fundraising initiative with the swim team I coach and the one that I actually swim for–major focus of numerous essays; numerous church mission trips (270+ hours logged)

Summer Activities: See Job Experience and Community Service above; Leadership Youth Seminar

Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9-9.5, on average. I worked insanely hard on these, and writing is definitely my academic strong suit. Essays are what got me what I got, in my opinion.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 8 or so, made me look like a pretty fun guy
Teacher Rec #2: 7–Generic, but nice
Counselor Rec: Knows me well–probably something like an 8
Additional Rec: 10. Principal of my school wrote me a solid 2 pages of incredible, beautiful praise…it made me cry.

Interview: All went pretty swimmingly; I’m a fairly conversational person

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yeah, not sure why though
Intended Major: Philosophy/Neuroscience; HOD at Vanderbilt
State (if domestic applicant): Fairly underrepresented state
School Type: Private, Catholic
Ethnicity: Sour Cream
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Just out of FinAid range
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m LITERALLY the definition of anti-hook, yo. Closest thing I got is my geographic location, and that doesn’t help much.

Reflection

Strengths: ESSAYS. I focused on some interesting/unique things (fundraiser, newspaper column, a philosophical novel I read, leadership seminar), dug really deep, and fine-tuned those babies to perfection. ACT, SATIIs, and leadership prolly didn’t hurt either.

Weaknesses: GPA–it’s not a 4.0. AP Scores are lowish. I submitted many applications at the absolute last minute (like, literally) and though it probably didn’t hurt me too badly, I could definitely have been more on top of it. Also, I’m white, which is never a plus.

General Comments:

In my personal opinion, essays are grossly undersold on this website and otherwise. They’re a much more critical part of the process than they get usually credit for. Pour your heart out on them and show these schools what you’re really about.

This whole college thing was a lot of work, but I’m happy with my results. Get out what you put in, I guess.

Lastly: Keep the faith in yourself! You CAN do it. Work hard, pray if you’re religious, and make sure to balance it all out with some fun and relaxation. Don’t sweat the small stuff; my stats are proof that you can get some nice offers with less-than-perfect grades and scores. Be genuine, be diligent, and be faithful that it all works out the way it’s supposed to. Hope this helps some people!

[Cascadian425]

Accepted:
Georgia Institute of Technology
Kenyon College (Distinguished Academic Scholar, $15K/year)
Middlebury College (Deferred Early Decision 1)
Carleton College
Oberlin College (John F. Oberlin Scholar ($15K/year)
Reed College

Waitlisted:
None

Rejected:
None

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 690/800/780/10
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II (subject, score): didn’t send
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.69
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Lang (5), AP US History (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, Calc/Stat, AP Gov, AP Environmental Science, AP Latin, German 2 Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Commended, Sewanee Book Award for Excellence in Writing, National Latin Exam: Magna Cum Laude, American History Scholar Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Junior Classical League, Secretary (9-12), Latin Honor Society (9-12), National Honor Society (11-12), German Club, Vice President (10-12), Environmental Awareness Club 11-12, Academic Team 9-12, National Institute of American History and Democracy summer program (12), Model Atlanta Regional Commission (MARC) for urban planning (11)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: intern at Trees Atlanta, conducted research project on the BeltLine
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details): 9/10,

Teacher Recommendation: AP Lang teacher, loves my writing (8/10) and German teacher, knows me very well (9/10)
Counselor Rec: Did not read, probably very good (9/10)
Interviews all went fairly well, especially the Kenyon interview.

Other

U.S. State/Territory or Country: GA
School Type: large, competitive private school
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: very high
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): None

Reflection
Strengths: ESSAYS (I displayed, yes, passion, an almost lethal amount of it…mainly about city planning and the environment), CR+W SAT scores, strong grades (for my school)
Weakneses: mediocre ECs, easy course load in 9th Grade

Wow. What a process. I’m surprised with my fantastic results, and all I have to say is this: work as hard on your essays as you possibly can, SHOW INTEREST (these are small liberal arts colleges, after all), and DO NOT participate in meaningless resume-fillers. (Having geographic diversity and unique interests helps, too)

Carleton College Class of 2019!!

[sinoue123]

Accepted: (Major - Philosophy)
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
University of Southern California
UCI Honors
UCD
UCSB Honors
UCSC
UCR
UMass Amherst Honors
UDub

Waitlisted:
Tulane
UCSD

Rejected:
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Wash U

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 690/710/760/10
ACT (breakdown): 33
SAT II (subject, score): US History: 700
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Psych (4), AP US History (5), AP Physics B (3)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: All AP (Calc AB, Physics C, Lang, Gov) (summer - econ reg)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar, (non academic) Girl Scout Gold Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Basketball (Frosh/JV/Varsity from 9-12), Science National Honor Society (11-12), Mu Alpha Theta (11-12), Girl Scouts (9-12)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: Community Helpline, counselor at a summer camp
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details): 8 or 9/10, i think my common app essay/ UC essay #2 was pretty strong, and my supplements for UMich were good as well

Teacher Recommendation: waived my right to read them, but i think they were pretty good
Interviews: none

Other

U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
School Type: large, competitive public
Ethnicity: Japanese
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 60k+ (but fluctuates bc my mom is self-employed)
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): None

Reflection
Strengths: for UMich, I’d say my essays; other than that I think I was just pretty well rounded (pretty decent GPA & SAT/ACT scores, lots of service hours and I committed to my ECs)
Weakneses: I got a lot of B’s (8 in total haha)

General Comments:
Probably the most stressful experience I have undergone, and I am SO GLAD its over. Overall I am very satisfied with my results, I was accepted into two reach schools and all my targets. I have not made a decision yet, and am trying to decide between USC or UMich.

To future applicants: start your essays early (i know you won’t but its worth a try). if you get a B or two (or 8 like me) it is not the end of the world, and you can make up for it through good EC’s, test scores, and essays. however, try to not get a C, esp. in your junior year (all of my friends who are having to go to their safeties/schools they didn’t exactly want to go to had one thing in common: they got a C in junior year). also i would highly advise to not apply to more reach schools than target/safeties. and do your research when it comes to supplements (the classic “why (enter school name)?”). for ex, look into a specific program and its faculty. for my umich essay I actually read a paper that the head of the Philosophy (my intended major) department wrote and talked about that. also put a lot of time into your essays in general. get tutors if you can, or if that is not an option then have a friend/teacher/parent or anyone who will be objective read your essays. a second opinion is very important. and finally, good luck!

[StressyMessi]

Accepted: UCLA (OOS), NYU, University of Rochester, Northeastern, University of Florida, University of Miami, George Washington University, Rollins College

Rejected: Columbia, Duke, UPenn, WUSTL, Cornell, Brown, Vanderbilt, UC Berkeley, UVA (OOS), USC, Tufts, UNC Chapel Hill (OOS)

Waitlisted: Boston University

Asian male
GPA: 3.44 UW, 4.01 W
SAT: N/A
ACT: 35
SAT II: N/A

AP classes:
-Calc AB - Not reported
-Calc BC - Not reported
-English Lang - 5
-English Lit - Taking currently
-Environmental Sci - 4
-Government (Comparative) - 5
-Government (US) - 4
-Macroeconomics - 3
-Psychology - Taking currently
-Statistics - Taking currently
-World History - Taking currently

Extracurriculars:
-House Captain - 12
-Euro-Challenge Team 10
-International Thespians Society - 10-12
-Math Team - 9-12 (10th Treasurer, 12th VP)
-Model UN - 9-12 (Director of Training)
-School play and musicals - 10-12
-Spanish Academic Team - 11 & 12
-Varsity Cross Country Team - 9-12 (Captain)
-Varsity Soccer Team - 9-12
-Varsity Track & Field Team - 9-12 (Captain)
-Yearbook - 10 & 11 (Graphic Design Head junior year)

Awards:
-National Honor Society President
-Mu Alpha Theta Vice President
-Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society
-Scholar Athlete Society
-Best Delegate at Brown University (Model UN)
-Best Delegate at University of Florida (Model UN)
-Third Place at University of Central Florida (Model UN)
-Third Place at Georgetown University (Model UN)
-2012 District Thespian Festival - Superior (5/5) on pantomime
-2013 District Thespian Festival - Excellent (4/5) on ensemble acting scene
-2014 District Thespian Festival - Excellent (4/5) on pantomime
-Cross Country’11-'12 Most Improved Runner, '12-'13 Coach’s Award
-Track & Field '11-'12 Most Dedicated Runner
-University of Rochester George Eastman Young Leaders Award
-2014 World Series of Innovation Finalist - Third Place

Volunteer service (621 hours):
-Summer camp counselor for 200+ hours each summer (4 years)
-Elementary school staff aide for 50ish hours (my school is private and starts later than the public schools here)
-Soup kitchen volunteer
-Organizing for America volunteer (Obama campaign in 2012)

Additional:
-Started a programming/coding company my sophomore year and did work for a multitude of clients, including the Florida Virtual School for one of their conventions until the end of the school year when most of our more experienced coders graduated and had no time to do work in college
-Playing piano for 12 years

Reflection:
Strengths: Leadership positions, definitely the volunteer service hours, Model UN success, and sports. ESSAYS AND LETTERS OF REC. Spending time on my Common App essay and being able to get letters of rec from teachers that really knew me (had one for 3 years and another for 2 while seeing both outside of classes for extracurriculars) definitely allowed for them to portray me in the most accurate light possible.

Weakneses: GPA! Getting a C in Calculus hurt my GPA a lot.

General comments:
I applied to a ton of schools to widen the net, but I could honestly see myself at any of the schools that I applied to. Lots of reach schools just because I wasn’t entirely sure if I held a candle to other applicants (GPA…), but all the work paid off with the UC application (hoping to SIR to UCLA next week). Even though I wasn’t admitted to a top-20 school or an Ivy, I’m very pleased with my results. You don’t need a 4.0 to get into great schools; they’re definitely becoming more holistic in terms of the admissions process. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t focus on your GPA as well, though. My advice is to supplement your coursework with extracurriculars that reflect your interests- for example, I am a social science-oriented student, and so my extracurriculars included Model UN and Mock Trial. Best of luck to the class of 2016 in all your endeavors.

[RedEyeMak96]

-Asian Male
-Small town in West Virginia

Credentials:

-Self studied many APs (didn’t send to schools)
-32 college hours during high school
-created a virtual curriculum at my school that is now used by other students
-31 ACT (33 Superscored)
-700 Math1 and 680 for bio
-student class president
-student council president
-varsity tennis and soccer 4 year starter and captain
-over 300 hours of volunteer work
-Summer before my senior year at Harvard taking microeconomics and world Religions (earned an A- and a B)
-stellar letters of recommendation
-Valedictorian (ranked #1 all four years)
-well liked by peers
-research authorship on a study through Harvard University
GPA: 4.5 (school didn’t weight before junior year)

Accepted for Pre-Med program Bio:

Georgetown Early Action (attending)

Case Western Reserve University (88 thousand scholarship)

Wake Forest

Tulane (108,000 dollar scholarship)

UVA

Wait listed:
Brown
UPenn
NYU
Johns Hopkins

Take away:
Georgetown’s 3 subject test is absurd. I didn’t send in a single one and didn’t get an interview and was still accepted in their early action program. Do not listen to colleges Super Score policy. If you are serious about a school aim for their 75th percentile scores. Interviews aren’t as important as the university makes them to be. Make sure you write to your specific counselor regarding your app. If an essay is optional do it anyways. Try to make a generic essay and manipulate it in ways that you can use it for different colleges. Work hard in high school. In the end, you are luckier than a large majority of the World’s population that have no hope of higher education. Also, in the USA there is no such thing as a “bad college”. College is what you make of it.

Hope this helps.

[anonymous26]

My daughter’s final “stats”:

Accepted: UNC-Chapel Hill (attending), Ohio State-Schlars program ($64k scholarship), University of Georgia ($37k scholarship), UT-Knoxville ($60k scholarship)

Rejected: Northwestern, Cornell

White female from NC
GPA: 3.9 UW, 4.7 W
SAT: 2150
ACT: 32

AP classes:
-English Lang - 5
-English Lit - Taking currently
-US History- 4
-Psychology - Taking currently
-Statistics - Taking currently

Extracurriculars:
-Class Secretary
-NHS (250+ hours of volunteering)
-JV soccer (2 years)
-worked a job 10-20 hours per week

Reflection: Doing research upfront and applying to six schools was wise as it limited a lot of stress. Not too surprised about rejections from NU and Cornell given the competition. Very excited to to UNC.

[NickP96]

Accepted:
William and Mary-will probably attend (out of state)
Richmond (tuition exchange scholarship)
Case Western (tuition exchange scholarship)
Franklin and Marshall (tuition exchange scholarship)
Pitt (in-state)
Penn State (in-state)
Kenyon (brother attended)

Rejected: UVA (out of state with double legacy)

White male from Pittsburgh, PA
School Type: Small private–all regular courses are considered Honors
Prospective Major: Econ, Political Science, or some other social science.
Unweighted GPA: 3.65
Weighted GPA: 3.8
Class rank: N/A (school does not calculate rank)

SAT I Scores: 1450/1600, 2200/2400
SAT I Math: 730
SAT I Critical Reading: 720
SAT I Writing: 750

SAT II Scores:
SAT II Math I: 720
SAT II Literature: 670

APs: Euro History (3), US History (3), Calc AB (3), Statistics (4), AP Language & Composition (to be determined), Macro Econ (TBD), Micro Econ (TBD), Psychology (TBD), Calc BC (TBD)

Senior Year Course-load:
Computer Science for Math and Science (one term)
AP Psychology
AP Economics (macro and micro were wrapped into one course)
AP Calculus BC
AP Language & Composition
Urban Research & Design (I think this is considered post-AP, but I’m not sure)

Extracurricular info:
*Student-led investment fund: Founding member, 4-year member, Managing Director and Executive Board in 10th grade, President and Executive Board in 11th and 12th grade (first non-senior and two-year president)
*Clean School Initiative member
*Summer internship at AlphaLab Gear, a company helps local start-ups, for one year.
*Summer job at an amusement park for one year.
**4-year summer volunteer at the local zoo and Carnegie Museum

Awards:
*AP Scholar (can’t remember exact name of it)
*National Merit Scholar semifinalist
*Team award at summer amusement park job
*National Spanish Exam honorable mention

Congrats to everyone here!!

[puremuddle]

Accepted (in chronological order):
Tulane (32k merit)
Case Western Reserve EA (25k merit)
UC Berkeley (Regent’s)
ASU - Barrett Honor’s (Full ride + 3k/year stipend)
University of Redlands (26k merit)
USC (half-tuition)
University of Rochester (17k merit)
Vanderbilt (likely letter)
Vassar
Brown

Waitlisted:
Rice

Rejected:
Oberlin College (I literally have no idea how this happened)

Asian female from CA
School Type: Large public; sports magnet
Prospective Major: Neuroscience
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.5 (10 -12 is 4.8)
Class rank: technically we don’t calculate rank, but the counselors have told me that I’m valedictorian.

SAT I Scores: 2210/2400
SAT I Math: 770
SAT I Critical Reading: 730
SAT I Writing: 710

SAT II Scores:
Math II: 790
Physics: 780
US History: 740
Chemistry: 770

APs: APUSH, English Lang, Chemistry, Physics B, Calc BC <-- 5’s; World History <-- 4

Senior Year Course-load:
AP English Lit
AP Physics C
Band
CP Gov/Econ (Scheduling would not let me take AP, but I got permission from the teachers to ditch class and self-study the AP curriculum - I explained this on the app)
AP CompSci A
AP Spanish Lit

Extracurricular info (main stuff only):
*Music, and a lot of it
*Activist stuff
**Founded a small company w/ friends; honestly just for the experience

Awards:
*AP Scholar (can’t remember exact name of it)
*National Merit Scholar
*Music Stuff
*Random school stuff

Recs:
*One from a teacher I’ve had for 3 years who absolutely loves me
*One from a STEM teacher that I felt was required because of my indicated major; probably not stellar because I was late to his class every day

Essay: Haha ummm well my parent threatened to not let me apply to colleges because phe hated it so much. Some of my peers loved it, and others didn’t know what it meant. I guess it was a risky essay.

Reflection:

If you truly like a program, apply regardless of whether you think you’ll get in! I didn’t apply to Yale because I assumed it would be a waste of money, but I really wish I’d tried.

That said, apply to a school that’s both a financial and academic safety (for it, that was ASU), so you know you can afford college if other things don’t work out.

Finally, don’t stress - this all doesn’t matter as much as it seems sometimes. Undergrad doesn’t really matter for jobs, anyway. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE.

[asiadude]

Accepted: UW(no compsci direct admit) , UCLA (compsci)

Rejected: Cornell, Stanford, Princeton, Dartmouth, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley, UPenn, Columbia
Applied for finance at UPenn, Princeton, and Columbia,
Computer Science everywhere else

SAT: 2340(770M,770W,800R,10E)
SAT II: Math II(800) Chem (790)
ACT: 36(but with a 9 essay)

GPA: 4.0 (Ranked top 3/550)
mediocre magnet school- my school has been getting significantly worse in past years
AP TESTS:
AB Calculus (5)
BC Calculus (5)
Stat (5)
Physics (5)
Chemistry (5)
Computer Science (self-taught) (5)
World History (5)
US History (5)
Eng Lang (5)

Currently enrolled in:
AP Biology
AP Latin
AP Comparative GOV
AP Eng Lit
Multivariable Calculus (through Johns Hopkins CTY)

ECs:

• Swim Team Captain (4 years Varsity)
• Principal Chair Clarinet (highest level school orchestra, pretty successful orchestra nationwide)
• Crew (3 years, didn’t really do that great but spent a buttload of time)
• Lifeguard (Past 2 years, coached the community center Summer Swim League this past summer)
• 250 hours volunteering at hospital
• Started Investment Club at school
• Presidential Scholars Nominee

Other:

• First generation American (moved here when I was 4)
• Chinese
• Income bracket 150k

Recs: 7/10 for both, I did well in the classes but I don’t think my teachers were very good writers.

Reflection:
I’m good at getting rejected!

[WS2020]

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1771892-nyu-stern-class-of-2020-early-decision-chances.html#latest

[gettingaclue]

(Daughter’s stats) - She was looking for warmer climate and academic rigor and we were looking for a balance of quality education and merit aid.

Accepted: Emory ($20,000 liberal arts scholarship - attending), Tulane (30,000 yr. merit) U Maryland (in state, 5,000 yr merit), Rhodes ($20,000 yr merit) American University (20,000 yr merit)
Waitlisted: Rice, WUSTL
Rejected: Brown (her best friend encouraged her to apply so they could go together - way too cold for her, so she was secretly relieved at the rejection which she expected anyway

Objective:
•SAT I: 2300 one sitting (800 CR, 720 M, 780 WR)
•ACT: didn’t take
•SAT II: 760 Lit 770 US history (or vice versa)
•Unweighted GPA: 3.71 - forgot her weighted GPA because it didn’t matter in the end
•Rank: top 7%
9 APs - 5 tests so far - 4 5’s and 1 4
•Most rigorous classes
•Major Awards: none - minor ones here and there for mock trial and dance competitions

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Director of art school’s theater co (elected position) responsible for all aspects of 2 full length plays, 15 yrs ballet, competitive dance team 8 yrs, acted in many school plays, Mock Trial, general school clubs and honor societies
•Job/Work Experience: counselor at a sleep away camp 2 summers - full time and overnight all summer
•Volunteer/Community service: assorted stuff - no big deal
•Essays: who knows…daughter worked hard on them but her topics were risky - about gender and sexuality - could have been off-putting
•Teacher Recommendation: who knows, teachers seemed to like her, but rec’s not likely to be: “Best kid ever!”
•Counselor Rec: likely generic - large school and counselor has a lot of kids to support and she didn’t know her well

Other
•Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes, but didn’t receive any, didn’t expect to but you never know
• Intended Major: Gender and Sexuality
•State: Maryland
•School Type: Public
•Ethnicity: white
•Gender: Female
•Income Bracket: 180,000
•Hooks: none

Reflection
•Strengths: test scores
•Weaknesses: GPA
•Reflection: Well, if we knew D was going to get 2300 we might have approached her high school process differently - maybe. Just clueless/negligent? regarding what it would take to get top merit aid and quite frankly never thought she might be in the pool for merit aid. Should have pushed her more to move B’s to A’s. Wondering if her taking AP math and science classes was a good idea (lots of B’s). Might A’s in honors classes have gotten her more merit in the end w/ a higher GPA - (honors/full ride at Emory?, Full ride at Tulane??) with a higher GPA? Who knows, but likely not b/c a lot of 4.0’s w/ all AP’s got full-rides. I know her 3.71 got her app tossed from the get-go from full-ride consideration. Yes, she could have gotten more merit at lower ranked schools, but we were also looking to have her in a academically rigorous environment. All in all we are pleased with results. Just tightening our belts for the next 4 yrs.

Advice: Do net price calculators! I found them to be very accurate. Talk to your family NOW about what they will contribute, read the common data set for each school to see where your stats place you within the pool of admitted students so yo can make good choices for reaches/matches/safeties. Focus on finding find a safety you love. D would have been happy at all her schools - except at freezing Brown. Best wishes to you all!

[adidinescu]

Final Decisions

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2110 ( 750CR / 690M / 670W / 8E )
[] ACT: 34 ( 35E / 34M /33R / 34S /32W+E )
[] SAT II: 790 Physics / 760 Math II / 720 US History
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.962
[] Weighted GPA: 4.692
[] UC GPA: 4.25 Capped
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/330
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro (5), English Language (5), Physics B (5), US History (5)
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Calc BC, AP Eng Lit, AP Psych, AP Art History
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none

[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Boy Scouts (10 years, Eagle Scout, numerous leadership positions, lots of service hours), Youth Group in my church (4 years, VP, lots of service hours), Acolyte Service (6 years, Captain), Water Polo (4 years, 3 years Varsity, Captain), Swim(4 years, Varsity 4 years, Captain, MVP, year-round club 2 years), Academic League Team (4 years, 2 years Varsity)
[] Volunteer/Community service: Included in my extracurriculars, it was an overlap of those activities.
[li] Personal Statement: Strong for the UCs, could have put a lot more effort into Common App stuff.[/li]
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[li]** Intended Major **: Mechanical Engineering[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[] School Type: Suburb Public, not underprivileged, but not strong either
[] Ethnicity: White, Eastern European Immigrant
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket: $100,000-$125,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.):[/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: ACT Score, dedication in my activities, a rather narrow, but involved participation.
[] Weaknesses: No major awards at state level or national level. No experience or work experience related to my major, not much initiation shown. My school also didn’t offer a whole lot of help. all of my knowledge came from here on CC. My Counselor knew very little, and I have no idea what she wrote in my letter of recommendation, but she knew very little about my accomplishments, but I did provide her a list of those accomplishments. I wish my school had more programs for me to have gotten involved with in order to place higher at the state/national level. I also didn’t have the initiative to start programs like Mock Trial or Speech and Debate at my school because I didn’t even know it was something I was interested in until my senior year.
[] Schools you were accepted to: SDSU, UCI, UCSD, and Macalester
[] Schools you were rejected from: Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, UCLA, UCB, Cornell, Penn, Michigan, Harvey Mudd
[/ul]
General Comments:
I accepted UCSD and I am going to be a Triton. I’m excited, but obviously frustrated because I did everything I was told to do by the people around me and even beyond that once I discovered CC and all the ambitious kids on here, and I still couldn’t even get into Cal Poly, Davis, or UCLA which are schools that seem like afterthoughts to most of the kids who regularly post here. I got scores I feel are respectable (other than my SAT Math, but I figured schools would look at the ACT since I did better on it, and I didn’t bother to retake and improve my SAT when I liked the ACT format better. Otherwise, I took the hardest classes available to me, did well in them, finished as Salutatorian at a school with only one Valedictorian, got 5s on my AP tests (which I know mean nothing for admissions), so I hope this is an indicator of how well I’ll do in college, even if I’m not going to the top school I chose. I would have rather gone to UCLA if I had gotten in, even SD’s ME program is comparably ranked, but alas, I tried and failed. I keep hearing comments about how the school you go to doesn’t define the person you are and that you need to take advantages of the opportunities available to you wherever you are in order to be successful, but its very frustrating seeing people I know with much lower scores, less ECs, and had put less effort into school than I go to schools that are overalled ranked better and carry a better name just because they applied for the CALS instead of engineering. I feel almost embarrassed to tell people where I’m going because I know they expected more from me, and I feel disappointed in myself. I seem to be cycling between being excited to go to UCSD and upset that I got rejected to so many places. This of course doesn’t get better when I see kids with similar or lower stats get into the same schools. I have a feeling that it was my essays that held me back since I really didn’t have a whole lot of people who would be objective and tell me what to improve read them. Who knows what will happen in 4 years, maybe I’ll go to grad school and have another shot to get in somewhere else.

Thanks for reading all of this rant, and to summarize: have someone read your essays that will be frank with you and tell you what sucks and needs to get cut or if you should restart. Also, make sure you write your essays way before you even apply to the schools so you have the maximum time to improve it. This is what I observed would have helped me the most beyond just being “smarter.”

[nnocnat2]

Hi! I’m Natalie! In previous years, I always found this thread very insightful. I hope my experience can help others beginning to go through the process!! Please message me if you have any questions or comments!!

College Decisions
Accepted: University of Georgia (IS), University of Michigan (EA), New York University (Regular), University of Southern California, and University of California Los Angeles
Rejected: Boston College (EA), University of California Berkeley
Waitlisted: None

ATTENDING: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES (UCLA)

ACT
Composite: 30
English: 33
Reading: 31
Math: 27
Science: 27
Essay: 11

GPA
Weighted: 3.97
Unweighted: 3.76

Class Rank:
51/483

Class Rigor
8 AP Classes: AP World History (3), AP US History (3), AP English Language (3), AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature, AP Spanish Language, AP Environmental Science, AP Macroeconomics
LOTS of honors classes as well

Extracurriculars

1. Elementary Sunday School Teacher
2. President of high school Habitat for Humanity chapter
3. Vice President of high school FBLA chapter
4. Yearbook editor
5. Member of National Honor Society
6. Member of English Honor Society
7. Member of Spanish Honor Society
8. Club Soccer (12 years)
9. High School Soccer (2 years)
10. Tutoring
11. Summer Swim Team

Work Experience

1. Sales Associate at consignment boutique
2. Babysitting

Awards
AP Scholar Award
Perfect Attendance Award (lol)
Coaches Award

Other
Applied for financial aid? Yes lol
Intended Major: English (pre-law track)
State: Georgia
School type: Large public high school
Ethnicity: Puerto Rican
Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Income: $250,000+
Hooks: URM
Mother’s College: New York University
Father’s College: Bloomsburg University

Reflection:
I’m not a perfect student. I don’t have a perfect GPA or perfect standardized test scores. I did, however, make up for it in my essays and extracurriculars. It is my belief that at these “elite” colleges, the objective statistics are what get your foot in the door. The rest of the decision depends on your ability to shine and be unique. With nearly all of my essays, I tried to take very different angles and I truly believe that this benefitted me in the long run. I also think that my involvement in various organizations/clubs in high school showcased my leadership abilities and activity. My “smart” friends used to always tell me that at the end of the day, colleges are looking for the “smartest” kids. I think that I am proof that colleges are looking for more than just a brainiac. They want well-rounded individuals.

With regard to my college journey, my decision to attend UCLA was unexpected. My first choice school was Boston College, but I my dreams were shattered very quickly after the early decision releases haha. For financial reasons, I declined my offers of admission from the University of Southern California and New York University. I was then deciding between UCLA, UMich, and UGA. I received the Zell Miller Scholarship at UGA which is ultimately a full ride and received no financial aid whatsoever from any other schools. Determined to attend college out of state, however, I crossed UGA off the list. Although I loved the two very different cultures of UCLA and UMich, there was something so spectacular about UCLA and I could’t picture myself anywhere else. I’m very excited for the future and cain’t wait to start school in the fall! GO BRUINS!!!

[d0texe]

Accepted (EA): Georgia Tech (w/ Dean Scholarship 20k/year)
University of Florida
FSU (full tuition scholarship)

Rejected: UNC Chapel Hill (EA)

Unweighted GPA: 3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.8
Class rank: 5/130

SAT I Scores
SAT I Math: 770
SAT I Critical Reading: 680
SAT I Writing: 690

ACT - 33
35 - Math
33 - Reading
34 - English
31 - Science

SAT II Scores
SAT II Chemistry: 740

AP’s:
Chem: 4
US History: 3
English Lang: 3
Calc AB: ?
English Lit: ?
All others were Dual enrollment or honors

Extracurricular Info
President of Science Club
Vice pres of Math Club
Vice pres of Senior class
A bunch of other clubs
Lots of tutoring, paid and volunteer
Certified web designer

Volunteering
400+ hours at soup kitchen and summer camp and tutoring

Work Experience
Paid tutor for math and science classes

Awards: School-wide awards in some classes
AP Scholar with something
Science and math award Junior and Senior year

Applied for financial aid? Yep
Intended Major: Chemistry
State: Florida
School type: Private Catholic
Ethnicity: As white as possible
Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Income: 150,000
Hooks: Talked about being an atheist in a Catholic school?

Reflection:

1.) I used to sit on this website for hours scrolling different threads about the schools I wanted to go to. In hindsight, I realize it’s not worth it to sit here and obsess over things like that. This website is helpful for finding out answers to difficult questions or seeking advice, but things like “chance me” threads are pretty pointless. Work your hardest and that’s all you can do.

2.) Do not pick a college based on prestige. Some people at the top of their class scroll ranking websites looking for colleges that are ranked highly. This is an awful way to make a college decision. Find a school where you would be the happiest. Consider the city, the environment, the types of people, and all of that stuff. College education, especially undergraduate, is not all about high ranking and prestigious names. The college decision is a major life choice that you will remember for the rest of your life. Find a place where you think YOU WILL BE HAPPY!

3.) Relax and enjoy high-school. Work hard but don’t obsess over this.

Any questions please feel free to message me!!!

[meritseeker]

Attending: Marquette (1/2 tuition merit - Jesuit HS award, honors program)
Accepted: Emory, Providence, Saint Louis U, Furman, Creighton
Wait listed: U Richmond

Jesuit HS in Northeast
3.75 GPA
34 ACT
National Merit Scholarship Commendation
National Honor Society

White male
6 APs

Average extracurriculars
Extensive community service
Spiritual leader

Supposedly we can afford to pay full price (but not putting retirement at risk!)

If we had it to do over again, I would not file for financial aid. Not convinced that our financial picture had no bearing on merit offers. Since we do not qualify, why bother? Can only hurt.

[soccerboy10]

Accepted: UCSB Honors, UCI honors, UC Davis, UCSD, UCLA, Rice University
Waitlisted: Rice, University of Chicago (loved that school and they broke my heart), Swarthmore, CMC, Middlebury, UCLA, Georgetown
Rejected: Duke, Ivies (didn’t apply to Cornell), Amherst, Williams, Carleton, Bowdoin (accidentally submitted an essay about how much I wanted to go to Brown so yeah…), Stanford EA (dream school, in the end probably unrealistic), Pomona, USC (idk about this one the people who got in from my school had significantly fewer achievements and significantly more money), UC Berkeley, University of Chicago

Objective:
•SAT I:didn’t take lol
•ACT: 34
•SAT II: 680 WH, 710 Chem, 720 Lit
•Unweighted GPA: 3.86 after Jr. year 3.8 after first semester senior
Weighted: 4.3ish
•Rank: 19/495
11 AP’s-2 5’s and 4 4’s so far
Major Awards: Named Best Student Leader in Senior class, bunch of similar awards, NHS, CSF all that stuff

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Mock Trial (10-12): Achievement award at the county competition, two time MVP
Robotics (11-12): Head of scouting and strategy, director of community relation, team qualified for the world championship
Science Olympiad (9-10): 3rd and 5th in the state, tons of medals at regional competition
Soccer: Varsity letter, picked for a nationally ranked soccer team, played for travel teams ranked top ten in state 9-10, and then the nationally ranked team Jr. year
•Job/Work Experience:
Referee of youth soccer: named youth referee of the year in the city during my Senior year
Custodian at gym in exchange for membership so I could train for the soccer season
•Volunteer/Community service:
Children’s Hospital: 150 hours
Special Education department: 100 hours
Key club: 100 hours, Service Coordinator for ten schools and 500+ students
•Essays:
Common App/one that everyone got: 6/10, I liked it a lot and wrote it about Children’s Hospital because that was the most meaningful experience to me but I guess it’s not unique
Supplement: 9/10: Wrote about an indoor soccer tournament I started to connect the diverse area that I live in and how overcoming racial and ideological barriers was important to me
•Teacher Recommendation: one genric one, one 9/10, didn’t read the third one
•Counselor Rec: Idk she loved me but has like 100 to write so i’m not sure whether or not she personalize it

Other
•Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
• Intended Major: Poly Sci and Econ
•State: Cali baby
•School Type: Public
•Ethnicity: white
•Gender: Male
•Income Bracket: 40kish
•Hooks: lol I’m the least hooked person to ever be born
Interviews: Chicago was fantastic, the dude called the admissions office and told them he was done giving interviews because I didn’t get in, others were all very good except Penn I completely fumbled an answer and made it sound like I got through high school by cheating when I meant to say that I was strongly opposed to cheating and that I didn’t think I would have succeeded had I cheated. Duke was kinda strange because the guy was the most pretentious person I had met in my entire life and tried to convince me that I should go to Duke specifically over Stanford which was funny because that turned out not to be a problem I had to worry about lol. I honestly don’t think that interviews count for much.

Reflection
•Strengths: idk
•Weaknesses: grades murdered me I think
•Reflection: I think what killed me with a lot of the top schools (Ivies not HYP, Duke, Chicago, Georgetown, LAC’s, Berkeley) was that I was 19th in my class. The thing is that I took AP Chem and Calc Bc while probably 15 or so of the kids ahead of me took AP Stats and AP Environmental Science instead and padded their GPAs while I actually took the hardest classes possible and got a couple B’s in those classes while the other kids got A’s in AP Bio etc… Should’ve started at Children Hospital freshman year, shouldn’t have done key club, should’ve done debate instead of mock trial, should not have taken Calc BC or Chem, should’ve applied EA to Chicago instead of Stanford because it was more reasonable and EA makes a bigger difference there.

Advice: Take the easiest schedule that will pad your GPA as much as possible. Kid from my school did it and got into Columbia, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown which was way better than what everyone else got. Kids, look as good as you can on paper because from what I can tell the “holistic” admissions process is colleges way of justifying letting in less qualified URM’s. And before you accuse me of being a bunch of stuff that I’m not, I have a friend with lower test scores, lower GPA, only played tennis, and whose dad owns a huge company in town and was accepted at Columbia, Brown, Georgetown, Berkeley, and USC but guess what his ethnicity was? Black. I can understand admitting kids based on socioeconomic status because it’s a totally different experience but simply admitting a kid because his skin is darker than mine when I have in fact had a much more difficult life and my parents make less than 1/20th what his does is ridiculous in my personal opinion. After you take out legacies, recruited athletes, URM’s, Trump’s and Obama’s kid, there not a lot of room left for the typical public school middle class kid at the top colleges. I got lucky and got a WL call from Rice but idk what I would’ve done otherwise, high school would’ve felt like a big waste and I would’ve felt screwed. Good luck to everyone and I hope my experience is an anomaly.

[akollengreth5819]

Indian Male (as in from India), public school, upper middle class. Both parents had bachelors degrees.

GPA: UW 3.44 W: 4.10

6 APs- scores in []
APUSH [2] English Lang[4]
Stats[3] Psych[probably 5]
English Lit[probably 5] Calc AB[probably 1 or 2]

SAT best one sitting- 2030 (710CR, 700M, 620W)
SAT Superscored- 2040 (710CR, 710M, 620W)

SAT II:
Math I: 700
Math II: 680

ACT best one sitting- 32 composite (31E, 32M, 31R, 32S, 7W [28E/W])
ACT Superscored- 33 compsite (33E, 32M, 34R, 32S, 7W [28E/W])

E/C:
Spanish Club- 2yrs
Beta Club- 1yr
Habitat for Humanity- 2yrs
Local Cultural group (fairly large, approx 275 families)- 5yrs (grades 7-10 as regular volunteer, 11th as venue overseer at events, 12th as co-chair)
Have a job as a cashier
My total community service hours was close to 250+ hours

Applied (Economics Major): Purdue University- West Lafayette, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, University of South Carolina, Ohio State

Accepted: Purdue University (offered 4 year/$5,000 Presidential Scholarship), USC, NC State (attending)
Waitlisted: OSU
Denied: Chapel Hill

[jamesk2014]

Hey, how’s it going people that are nervous about the application process, before I begin I’m gonna et you know that where you go to school isn’t everything, your sanity is worth more. No matter where you go to school you will run into brilliant and less brilliant people. (Like I know a few people that got into Harvard and Stanford and Vanderbilt but turned it down because of the campus feel or financial reasons). I always promised myself I would make a post on this thread and I’m finally following through, excuse me if some of my high school stuff is fuzzy. Currently a finance major planning on minors in American Government and English.

Anyway, I was an above average student in the graduating class of 2014 from a top 15 public high school, located in a Columbus, Ohio suburb. I’m a white male and my family income is roughly 200,000k. I didn’t apply to Ohio State because it was too close to home, I would have gotten in because I was in-state and my grades were above there standards. I was born in the Dallas area but moved after kindergarten we still had friends in the area so I was allowed to apply, also my Dad got his MBA at SMU.

Accepted: (Attending) Southern Methodist University (SMU)(EA) BBA Direct, Founders Scholarship ($15,000/yr ); Miami University (OH)(EA), $5,000/yr? (I think it was that much)

Rejected: Vanderbilt (ED), Georgetown (EA), USC (RD)

SAT took 3 times 1st: 1850, 2nd: 1860, 3rd: 2000, Super score: 2000- 750M, 600R, 650W

SAT ii: Math 2: 680?, American History: 720, Lit: 580

ACT took twice 1st: 26, 2nd: 31 breakdown- 33S, 31M, 31R, 28W, 10 on the essay

AP tests: Sophomore year- APUSH: 4, Junior year- AP stats: 4, (I also took two ib classes junior year I unceremoniously dropped), Senior year- AP Calc AB: 3, AP Gov: 4, AP Lit: 3, AP Comp Sci: 1 (LOL), and I didn’t take APES

Grades: Upward trend at my 7th semester that colleges actually looked at - Weighted GPA: 4.000 (Ikr- but actually), Unweighted (school didn’t really give it out) 3.65 ish. Rank 84/305 based on weighted GPA.

EC: 4 yrs Hockey, CO-founder and vp of investment club- 2 yr, Senior cabinet, OMUN best resolution, NHS, Key Club-2 yr, Over 150 volunteer hours- most were from in school, I was a scholarship winner for this Dayton University investment conference, I went to Germany for a month, I feel I’m missing 1 or 2 things here, but yeah. Became a thespian second semester of high school but that doesn’t count because it wasn’t on my applications.

Essays: meh, but my teachers like me alot, I wrote one about not drinking while in Germany because of my strong moral compass (lol), I ended up joining a dry christian fraternity, so I guess it continued.

Hooks: not really any hooks, I did a lot of work that focussed on finance and investments, also going to Germany.

Reflection: I love where I am and wouldn’t have it any other way. I am rubbing elbows with really wealthy people, and with my major connections are what matters. The system for applying is stressful and you kids will be fine, even if you don’t go to an ivy league school you can do well. Most schools also will put a high sticker price and then give you scholarship money to make it affordable so don’t let the sticker price ever hold you back. Have fun do well, life’s too short to get stressed out, make lots of friends along the way, and stick to your values. Also I got into SMU and I just knew that is where I should go, I didn’t even apply to a few more schools I was thinking about because sometimes you just know.

[cheese123211]

Accepted: Stanford (attending), Princeton (SCEA), University of Texas (Business Honors Program)
Waitlisted: Duke, Rice
Rejected: Harvard, Yale, MIT

Objective:
•SAT I: 2360 single sitting (800 CR, 800 M, 760 W)
•ACT: N/A
•SAT II: Math 2 - 800, Physics - 800, Literature - 780
•Unweighted GPA: 4.48 (School doesn’t do unweighted GPA)
•Rank: 28/1525
•APs: Human Geography[5], World History[5], Calculus BC[5], European History[4], Statistics[5], Computer Science[5], U.S. History[5], English Language[5]
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, Computer Science 3 Honors, AP Music Theory, Band, AP English Literature, AP Economics(Macro+Micro), AP Chinese 4
•Major Awards: State level music awards, National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Marching Band(Section Leader), Orchestra(Principal Bassoon), Environmental Club(Founder+President), Computer Club
•Job/Work Experience: N/A
•Volunteer/Community service: Environmental Club, Various events throughout city, Band events
•Essays: Thought they were ok - I could’ve spent more time on them but I felt they accurately represented the kind of student that I wanted colleges to see me as.
•Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t read, but I wrote each of them a page on what I had done in the class and the lessons I learned, which hopefully helped greatly with the recs they wrote.
•Counselor Rec: Probably pretty good as well. She gave us all a large packet with a bunch of questions to fill out.

Other
•Applied for Financial Aid?: No
•Intended Major: I put Environmental Engineering on my Stanford app because I thought it would fit better with my application. I’m not completely decided but I might do computer science or economics.
•State: Texas
•School Type: Public
•Ethnicity: Asian
•Gender: Male
•Income Bracket: 300k
•Hooks: None

Reflection
•Strengths: Relatively unique ability to play the bassoon well, leading to a good arts supplement
•Weaknesses: I really could’ve improved my grades, as my class rank was not up to par with many other students who were applying to the same schools. Thankfully my bassoon pulled through for me!
•Reflection: It is of the utmost importance to have your entire application resonate with a singular THEME. For example, in my essays I talked about how I used my music to inspire those around me and help them grow as musicians and leaders. I connected this topic of inspiring others to my clubs, such as founding environmental club, and other essays. Overall this painted the picture that I would be a stellar musician on an underrepresented instrument as well as someone who would be a positive influence on those around me.