Decimated 4 years ago....History repeats?

Graduate School
1

<p>This is gonna be a long post, please bear with me. I really appreciate your input!</p>

<p>Four years ago (2006) as a senior in high school, I applied to 17 schools and I was completely destroyed on the admission front. To illustrate the disaster that was, I show you this post I made at that time. </p>

<p>
[quote]
I am from Conneticut, kids in my school got their acceptance letters already except for me. So I am pretty sure that I am REJECTED (note: referring to Colgate).</p>

<p>I am completely crushed now and lost all of my hope, the two people who got in (Colgate) have worse stats than me and their course load are not even nearly as challenging as mine, this is probabaly all because of my international student status and my request for $$$$$$$$$$</p>

<p>Here is my stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 2150 (730M,720CR, 700W, i started learning English less than 4 years ago)
SAT II: 800 Physics, 800 IIC, 730 Chemistry
GPA: 3.8 UW, (I go to a well-known and very competitive prep school)
Rank: no ranking
Classes: AP physics, AP Chemistry, Multivariable Calculus, (I think i have one of the hardest schedules at my school), 5 on AP Cal BC, 4 on AP US History, AMC: 112.5 AIME: 5</p>

<p>Decent EC's: prefect (like in Harry Potter), math team, physics team, foreign affairs association,volleyball captain,.....</p>

<p>I applied to 17 schools, i got in only two of them, and out of these two acceptances, one doesn't mean anything to me except as a piece of paper</p>

<p>Princeton-deferred then rejected
Yale-rejected
Penn-rejected
Duke-rejected
MIT-rejected
Northwestern-rejected
U. of Chicago-rejected
Brandeis -rejected
Colgate-rejected</p>

<p>Carleton-waitlisted then rejected
Colby-waitlisted then rejected
Macalester-waitlisted then rejected
Williams-waitlisted then rejected</p>

<p>*A state university in the top 50 in the Big 10(not Michigan)- accepted with decent financial aid
Washington U in St.Louis- accepted (i cant go, because they don't offer me any financial aid assistance)</p>

<p>Of the 17 schools, my college counselor listed Brandeis, Colgate, Colby and Macalester as my safety because she told me people from our school, with stats much worse than mine, have got in. This turned out to be true. Unfortunately, she didn't know how much financial aid I asked for.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There are three reasons that I can think of that would explain this fiasco 4 years ago. </p>

<ol>
<li>I sucked: The ivies and the likes of MIT, Duke were long shots for me to beging with.</li>
<li>My peculiar financial situtation as an international student: My family could afford 3 years of expensive boarding school in New England, yet we couldn't pay for college. In fact for all the financial aid applications, my parents put down that they could only pay $5000 a year. Basically I was asking for a free ride at all those schools. This must have seemed really strange for those admission offices. Unfortunately, that was the reality. </li>
<li>Crazy conspiracy theory: very unlikely, but this is the possibility that's quite bothering me now (I am anxious and paranoid aroud this time of the year, what can you say?). Read this post I made earlier</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/849618-am-i-schizophrenic-what.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/849618-am-i-schizophrenic-what.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Now, I am a senior in the state university mentioned above, the only school that <em>accepted</em> me and I am having a little deja vu. I have applied to 15 graduate programs in a physical science field, with the majority of them in the top 25 and one in the top 40. My credentials are a little better this time, relative to my competition: </p>

<p>GPA: 3.88 overall, 3.96 major; GRE: 800/690/4.0, Q/V/AW; Strong subject GRE (at least considered so for people with UG education in the U.S); Solid research experience in a department ranked top 10 in the field, one publication in progress; Good LORs expected</p>

<p>But I cant help but be thinking that history may repeat itself again. How likely is it that I will be rejected from everywhere, again? The thing is that I still don't quite understand how I did so poorly in the first round. I am banking on the hope graduate admission for an international student is much different from undergraduate admission.</p>

2

<p>If you did your homework and applied to schools that were a good fit with your research interests, I doubt you’ll get rejected across the board. But it’s possible you might only get 2 or 3 offers. Almost all the top science grad programs offer full funding if accepted, so if you get in, I doubt you’ll have to worry much about that. They have so many funding venues such as NIH and NSF that the top programs usually don’t want for money. Remember, with the recession applications to graduate school have increased severely. I only applied to 3 schools (one I applied to two departments… so technically 4 applications), but in my case, those were the three that fit, had money, and have space with the advisers that I want. I <em>might</em> apply late to Tufts, but that’s unlikely at best.</p>

3

<p>Could you elaborate more on “physical sciences”? Different areas have different levels of competition. Do you know if your programs have already notified applicants?</p>

<p>If you have done your homework, as punkybugsy says, then you should be fine with those stats, provided that your letter writers are enthusiastic about you and that you have pursued undergraduate research. I hope you have applied to programs that are open to international students and to at least a few that are larger (more acceptances).</p>

<p>Although your grades and GREs are definitely competitive with the top of the pool, your LORs, your undergraduate research, and the fit with each program will be the deciding factors. If you haven’t pursued any undergraduate research, then your chances at PhD programs in the sciences will be slim. The good news is that a year off working in a lab will strengthen your application considerably for another attempt next year, if necessary.</p>

<p>As for your stalker, you should be fine, especially since I doubt he knows what your plans are and where you have applied. Unless you have indications that this guy is still interested in you, then you can assume he has moved on to another target. Having once had a sociopath attached to my own life, I know your worries, and I know how he could sabotage your applications. Even knowing the malicious cleverness of such a person, I highly doubt he will get a foothold in the graduate admissions process. Any rejections will be because of the usual factors.</p>

4

<p>If you’re accepted to a physical sciences program (assuming Ph.D), you will be funded 100%, from my experience, so no it doesn’t sound like your situation will repeat itself.</p>

5

<p>I think he is more afraid of the rejections.</p>

6

<p>The OP stated he thought his rejections stemmed at least in part from lack of financial resources. I am just pointing out that this is a non-issue in the sciences generally, and so he won’t be rejected from “safeties” simply because he cannot pay tuition.</p>

7

<p>Don’t PhD programs wave your tuition altogether? In fact, they pay you for the research that you do. As for Masters, I don’t know very much beyond merit based fellowships.</p>

<p>Anyways, since it’s already out of your hands, I encourage you to simply chill out and wait. You have our support.</p>