Chance an anxious, sad senior who got rejected from UCLA and Georgetown and is waiting for IVY DAY

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Cornell, Duke, Emory, NYU, Tulane, Vanderbilt, UC Berkeley, USC

Demographics:

Current Senior, Indian Male, CA, Medium-sized competitive public school (1800 students)

Intended Major(s):

Biology

ACT/SAT/SAT II:

34 (34 E, 36 M, 32 R, 35 S)

SAT Math II: 800

UW/W GPA and Rank:

UW 3.91, W 4.57, School doesn’t rank

Coursework:

Full IB Diploma program (HLs: English, Biology, History; SLs: Mathematics, Anthropology, Spanish)

Extracurriculars:

  1. Created a website that outlines affordable housing programs in my city (Recognition received from 2 of my city’s housing agencies) - ALL 4 YEARS

  2. Epilepsy research at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; Co-author/co-researcher; Name is on PubMed - GRADES 10-11

  3. Co-founder/VP of an organization that teaches robotics to elementary students from low-income schools - ALL 4 YEARS

  4. Varsity Baseball (Captain Grade 12, 4-year Varsity starter, All-League awards) - ALL 4 YEARS

  5. Speech and Debate (Public forum competitor, Regional champion, state qualifier) - ALL 4 YEARS

  6. COSMOS summer program @ UCI - SUMMER BEFORE GRADE 12

Essays/LORs/Other:

Pretty good essay writer (8.5/10);

Recs are strong (7/10); My Chem teacher and Spanish teacher both love me and counselor said she was blown away by ECs

2

Hopefully you have some other schools that you where you have already been accepted.

3

@Eeyore123 my top 2 rn at Boston University and UCSB

4

Rooting for you @throwaway15! Your stats and accomplishments are impressive, so hang in there.

5

@throwaway15 . . . when you get into medical school ~ 4 years down the road, all this will be a faint memory. I’m rooting for you too!

Edit: But you have a chance for Berkeley, Tulane, some of the others.

6

No need to be anxious if you’re already in at BU and UCSB.

If you’re aiming for med school, whether you get in will be up to you, not what undergrad school you go to, anyway.

7

Your scores and grades look fine. Very confused as to why you were rejcted at UCLA. Did you get into Berkley?

But it looks like you have some good options. Ivy day is probably going to be tough for you. Its almost impossible to get in during the RD round. But hoping that one of the others comes through for you.

8

Of the remaining 8 schools, you should be admitted to 3 or 4. If not, then probably due to not applying ED or financial aid need (if any).

9

I am in a similar position at the moment and can somewhat empathize. I guess at this point there isn’t much we can do other than hope and pray until Thursday. Good luck dude

10

@CollegeOdyssey2001 I appreciate the support. I’m just scared that I worked so hard to not get into any of my reaches

11

@firmament2x totally understand… I want my hard work to pay off for undergraduate though

12

@Publisher What 3 or 4 do you think? I did not ask for any financial aid (didn’t fill out FAFSA)

13

I know you’re not looking for retrospective advice. But as a full-pay student with high stats, I’m wondering why you didn’t apply binding ED (or at least EA) anywhere? Or even ED2? There are plenty of great schools that would have scooped you up in the ED2 round.

14

Best Guess: Tulane, NYU, Emory & USC–but you could be accepted by others or rejected by some of these. You are certainly qualified for all of your targeted schools.

15

You are a great candidate, but reaches are always iffy. While I think that you have a decent chance at any of these, they are all reaches, so “decent” still means that you are more likely to be rejected than to be accepted.

Since you are looking at medical school, as many will tell you, your undergrad college doesn’t matter all that much. BU is a top-notch school, and you would do very well there. Moreover, you would be able to be accepted to any medical school in the USA with a BS from Boston U. So you are already set to continue on your chosen path. That means that you do not have to be anxious.

I’ll repeat, Boston U is a top-notch, highly regarded university which rejects that vast majority of applicants. You don’t really need any other acceptances.

16

@throwaway15 . You have had a very impressive high school career. My son is going through the college application process as well. He has worked very hard and has a very well rounded application like you. He has been rejected from various schools as well. What I have learned from this process and try to impart to him is that college admissions is a crapshoot - so many qualified candidates and impossible to understand how admissions selects one person over another with the same resume. While it is hard to not see the reward for all the hard work, keep working hard and enjoy the college that is lucky to have you. Be proud of what you have accomplished.