Confused

<p>Hi all. So tonight I found out that I was not accepted to Vandetbilt, my #1 choice school. Naturally, I am confused and hurt. I understand that the college admission process is tough, and that acceptance percentages are low, and that I am not the only one feeling this way right now. However, given the achievements I've gathered through high school and all of the strong application qualities I had, I am looking for some insight from someone. I am a National Merit Scholar Finalist, I have an ACT score of 33, took a rigorous course load all through high school, 5's on all my AP exams up to this point, several extracurriculars that I've dedicated 4 years to, and a desire to learn and serve and be a part of something. What am I lacking? What could I have done differently? </p>

<p>Are you Asian? If yes: subtract one or two point(s) from your ACT score. </p>

<p>This was not the kind if answer I was going for. But no, I’m not </p>

<p>According to their website, their average ACT score is “32-34”
Your ACT score is not considerably above average, so you can’t expect anything. But college decisions are very wierd. For example, one kid at my school got into yale, but got declined from WashU. It also depends on what major you applied to. I think Vandalbilt is known for arts and sciences or something, so it’ll be considerably harder to apply for those majors there. </p>

<p>NothingImportant, your generalization about Asians and ACT scores is not only very inaccurate in general in the top-college game, but is especially wrong in the case of Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt (and a lot of LACs) doesn’t have the ~20% Asians like Duke and Ivy schools have, and even goes to inviting Asians to their diversity programs. </p>

<p>Britt1101, I totally feel you. I got rejected from five colleges within the last 2 days and waitlisted at one. No acceptances at all this week. Plus my financial situation makes it so that the reach and match schools that I was accepted to will be unaffordable. 34 ACT, good class rank, dedication to extracurricular activities, some state- and national-level awards, rigorous class load blah blah. Sometimes we work hard for something, and can’t have it. To be honest, no one can really tell you what you should’ve done differently. Maybe had someone else read your file you’d have a CV scholarship. But most importantly, stop thinking about what you could’ve done differently and what might’ve went wrong. You can’t change anything at this point, so don’t think about what could’ve happened.
I cried twice yesterday after my Ivy rejections: it just seemed so unfair that I had done so much to get into one, but then ended up rejected. Getting hung up over it would kill me. So enroll at whatever college accepted you. Do your damn best there and make Vanderbilt regret that they denied you. </p>

<p>@nhdmaniac - ^^ great advice. I had a friend in HS with perfect stats and everything else. He was devastated by rejection from the Ivies. He ended up attending a well respected (but not top 20 U) with the attitude you described, got a 4.0, gained admission into JHU med school, and became a prominent physician. Not that the Ivy adcoms would’ve known, but in his heart/mind, he showed them that they made a mistake. </p>

<p>My daughter is in a similar spot: great tests, 4th in class of >500 in 3rd best HS in state (one “B” in French), awards, clubs (but no sports), 12 AP classes with all 5s to this point. She went to PAVE (the Vandy summer school/camp). She’s waitlisted at Vandy, Rice, WashU, Northwestern, Harvey Mudd, U Chicago and rejected at Caltech (last one was expected). All that’s left is the state backup school. She’s devastated and we’re bewildered. Well at least I’ll save some money on tuition…</p>

<p>I suspect the problem is that she doesn’t fit into any “bucket” - she’s white, from the suburbs, parents are middle class, she’s not a sports star. </p>

<p>The problem is today that perfect Ivy student who 10 years ago would have applied to maybe 2 schools applies to most of the Ivies and 3-4 of the other top 20 schools. They are accepted to all of the schools. This takes away the Vandy spot from the rest of the incredible students who did everything they could (other than whatever the unknown difference maker was). This awesome student either gets waitlisted or denied. Although it seems like all is lost, it is not. The hard work and rigorous courses in high school have prepared you for success at your final choice college and beyond. You are not looking for the best school, but for the best school for you: a great fit, happiness, success.</p>

<p>So one would think that since each of those perfect Ivy students can only go to one school, the number of people who actually go to the school after being accepted must have gone down dramatically. So does that mean that the chances of being accepted from the waitlist have gone up dramatically? </p>

<p>@nhdmaniac I guess we’re in the same boat then, and thank you for your intelligent commentary. And the thing is, Vanderbilt has been my top choice school for over a year now. I regret not applying Early Decision because I feel like maybe it would’ve made a difference. At the time I was afraid of not having options if I indeed got accepted ED, and the perhaps had a change of heart for some reason. I didn’t want to attend Vanderbilt simply because it is a great school; I loved the professor of oboe, I loved that there were opportunities for medical research on campus, and after visiting I truly did feel like it could become my home for the next 4 years. I was denied by Brown and Duke as well, deferred by WashU, and accepted into a good state school here in Texas, but I’m just not sure if it’s the place for me. I am applying to OU as well, since they have generous benefits for National Merit Scholars but at the moment, I remain hurt and confused, just as thousands of my peers do at the moment. </p>

<p>@Britt1101 this process really is a devistating experience for many of us. I know it’s hard not to take all of these rejections so personally when the applications are largely personal, but every year, people manage at their safety. On a new note, Vanderbilt does have a large transfer rate in relation to other top schools. Do your one year at the TX school or OU and get the best GPA and do some great extracurriculars and see if transferring works out in your favor. </p>

<p>I actually saw that the middle 50% of scores (and to correct above, they released 33-35 as mid 50%) are actually higher than some Ivies - so trying to figure out what’s going on there and what Vandy’s trying to prove here! I was waitlisted at Vandy and Stanford and accepted to a few Ivies with 34/2300, NMF. To me, and I’m not trying to be spiteful because of the waitlist, this doesn’t seem quite right! </p>

<p>There are just so many qualified applicants. If Vanderbilt took everyone who had the scores and achievements to get in, they’d need a campus three times bigger. Some people just have to get kinda arbitrarily cut. Vandy has been skyrocketing in popularity so its national ranking hasn’t quite caught up with the jump selectivity. We get a new announcement every year about how much better the new class is than the previous one… Kinda makes us older students feel dumb!</p>

<p>The academic profile needed to get into Vanderbilt last year was higher than those at Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, UPenn, and JHU last year. The recent popularity of Vanderbilt continues and this year may bump up the academic profile needed for admission to HYPSM levels.<br>
I don’t know how they decide…maybe throw darts.</p>

<p>@pancaked I don’t think you can equate higher test scores to being a better class. We all know plenty of underachieving test takers. My cousin was a NMF and dropped out. When did we arrive at the point that 97% is not good enough? It’s going to take 4-5 years to see what happens with this arbitrary need for near perfect test scores. Let’s not kid ourselves, much of this is attributable to rankings and money. The ability to fundraise is crucial to these institutions. It is an arms race across the country, University capital investment is the only construction that occurred during the Great Recession. I have given it a lot of thought today. I know SO many kids from our mid market Midwestern city who did not receive an acceptance this week that were outstanding candidates. It does not make sense. I think being from our area may be a detriment. The students I know that made it in were recruited athletes or early decision candidates. If you are white and from the suburbs, this is the new reality, because having a 35 and having a high ranking GPA will not do it. I think we are going to see a whole new crop of hot schools in four years and these will be the schools that were considered second tier a decade ago. I feel bad for the people out there that didn’t know to look at some of the other wonderful options. </p>

<p>Our D had a 35 ACT, #1 in her class, took all of the highest level of classes, great EC’s. She was WL at Vandy, but did get into 2 other top 20 schools. She has a number of friends who had 34, 35 and even 36’s with all of the other requirements that were rejected from Ivies. We too are from the Midwest (about 3 hours from St Louis). Harvard takes pride in how many perfect score students and valedictorians they deny each year. It is good that society does not require an Ivie education to be successful. Everything goes in cycles. I agree with @stlbballmom that some of the schools that do not worship the almighty ROI on their endowment funds will become the schools of choice in a few years. </p>

<p>From my understanding, Vandy and most elite schools don’t weigh scores as much as the general public seems to weigh them. My BRACE adviser told me that Vandy in particular looks for someone with extreme dedication to things that they love. This seemed to work out in my case as I was accepted as a CV Scholar with a 2320 on the SAT and ranked 20 in my class of 1068. What I think helped me stand out with Vandy was my dedication to such diverse extracurriculars - captain of baseball team, founder of an autistic sports program in my community, captain of my debate team - as this is what I wrote about in my essays.</p>

<p>In my opinion, you should try not to fret about any rejections. It’s not about what school you go to. Rather, it is about what you make of the situation you are put in. Go out and be the best person you can be!</p>

<p>@vandyman96 I am also in a wide range of extracurriculars… I have spent 3-4 years of high school in most of them, and I wrote about them in my essays. Congrats on the acceptance and the CV scholar status. I appreciate the positivity, but honestly if you were in my shoes right now I don’t think you would brush off the rejection so breezily. </p>

<p>@Britt1101 - Don’t feel so bad, the competition was tough and well, gets tougher each year. I faced two straight rejections this morning - from USC and Vanderbilt. I thought I had a fair chance at Vandy too, since I had heard of stories of people with similar stats to me (32 ACT, >3.7 GPA, etc.) had got into Vandy. I do indeed think that the major you select plays a role, because I applied to the school of engineering which probably had more competition than other schools. It’s tough to say though. As they say, college admissions are a crapshoot. </p>

<p>Btw, what other schools did you get into? I’m sure you must be having a few options? Remember, a rejection is not the end of the world. You’ve got a long way to go, so let this go, pick yourself up and move forward. Good luck!</p>

<p>@collegedad1024 – I know your daughter (and you) must be disappointed, but that is one heck of an impressive collection of waitlists! She obviously does have what it takes to succeed at these schools or she would not have been waitlisted. If I were you/her, I would research which of those schools actually take a good number of students off of their waitlists, and target them. My son was waitlisted at Vanderbilt 2 years ago, but was ultimately accepted in early May. April was a very tough month for him. While the odds of getting off the waitlist are small, they are larger at Vanderbilt than some other schools, so check out the stats of all of them and make a push for those that seem more likely (some only take less than 10 off the list, so I’d cross any like that off). You should be able to find the numbers in the Common Data Set for each school. And at the same time, deposit at the school she is accepted at and go events for new students there so she feels good about it.</p>