<p>I don't know what's wrong with me. My essays were fine, my SATs decent (2080), I'm a minority, attended Governor's School, leadership in extracurriculars, 3.96 GPA...and yet I was rejected at every college I applied to except Virginia Tech (and even then I was denied from their engineering program). My friends are all shocked - all of the ones who applied to the schools of their choices (including UVA, which I also applied to) were accepted and it looks like I'm the only one in my situation who was denied. Tech is my last choice, and I don't want to go there knowing that I'm not good enough for anywhere else. Besides, I don't like the school.</p>
<p>Anyways, I'm wondering what to do. Maybe others are in my situation - stuck with options that they don't like. Hopefully you can give some advice to me and anyone else in that scenario.</p>
<p>I’m not in your exact situation but finances are forcing me to go to my state school (UMD) instead of my first choice (Georgia Tech). I’m sure the feeling of disappointment is the same. </p>
<p>I dealt with it by researching the school I had to go and writing down everything I liked about it. I ended up falling in love with it. Virginia Tech is a beautiful school. Maybe you should try visiting the campus? </p>
<p>I already visited Tech…I like the food (hahaha, and that’s about it as I have to go to a community college over the summer if I want to do engineering). From what I’ve heard, taking classes at the Math Empo generally stinks, and I’m afraid about going to school in Blacksburg. I already live in the middle of nowhere and absolutely hate it (used to live in the DC area, and had to move to Southwestern VA). Hoping Tech will be somewhat different, even though it’s rural.</p>
<p>Well the campus is a bit secluded but obviously since it is a large school, there will be activities on campus, and parties since the sports (mainly football) aren’t too bad.</p>
<p>Current students told me, when I visited, that math empo isnt too bad unless you are unwilling to put in any effort, and it is only for lower-level math classes.</p>
<p>I’m Hispanic (and a girl, but that really isn’t a minority), Math 660, Critical Reading 720, Writing 700. Applied to UNC Chapel Hill, UVA (Arts and Sciences), Stanford, and VT.</p>
<p>You are a very strong applicant but from what I can see from previous posts you applied to two very selective schools, UVA and UNC (OOS), where “anything can happen”. What was your Math section score on SAT I and Math and Physics scores on your SATII? It may have been your course rigor. I don’t know your specifics, so I’m just speculating. If your intended major is Engineering, you really are at the best school of the three, in my opinion. VT has a really good, highly regarded Engineering school and you will probably look back on it some day and be glad that things worked out the way they did.</p>
<p>Edit: I just saw mom2collegekids post and think it was probably your math section score as I alluded to above in my 1st paragraph.</p>
<p>Course rigor was pretty good. I took every AP and DE class offered at my school and Gov. School (they didn’t offer AP or DE in 9th and 10th grade, but I ended up taking 7 such courses in the two years that they did). Jshain, my last post has my SAT scores…it was probably the math part because I took it before 11th grade. My Math SATII score was 690. Didn’t take Physics SATII.</p>
<p>Many people believe “things happen for a reason”. Even if you are not one of those people you will find that, if you can adopt this philosophy, it will help you better cope with life’s pitfalls. I’m a parent, so I’m giving you some “fatherly advice”. I also saw a quote on College Confidential a while back that really stayed with me:</p>
<p>“Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out”.</p>
<p>I’m a little surprised UVa did not take you. I’d talk to your GC and double-check that everything about your application was in order. But I suspect you were up against too many other strong applicants from your HS for UVa to accept all who were qualified.</p>
<p>I’d have advised you to apply to more schools. If those were the only ones, your strategy was too thin and top-heavy. You had one very long reach (Stanford), another reach (UNC OOS), an apparent match that did not work out, and a safety you don’t like. Nevertheless, you could do much worse than VT.</p>
<p>From my high school? Only a few applied to UVA. And yes, looking back I agree I should have applied to more schools. The fact of the matter was I couldn’t visit any others I was interested in (Pitt, University of MD, etc) and visited a few that I didn’t like even more than Tech, like Penn State. Yeah, I could have visited after getting the acceptance letter (though with my luck with colleges, that’s highly questionable) , only my parents will not let me miss school, and my weekends are usually booked. I’d rather go to a school I’ve visited than go into one completely blind.</p>
<p>Edit: By the way, my guidance counselor said I had a good shot of getting into all the schools I applied to, and didn’t need to apply anywhere else. I guess this goes to show that my school system doesn’t know what they’re talking about.</p>
<p>Oh boy. Your GC is not online to defend himself/herself, but IMHO that was bad advice. You never had a great shot at Stanford; very few students do and your scores were a bit on the low side for them. UNC is notoriously tough for OOS applicants. Now, if UVa received few applicants from your school, I’m more surprised they did not admit you.</p>
<p>I’ve heard great things about VT from recent students and their families.</p>
<p>I have to take an engineering class at Virginia Western so that I’m not stuck on a waiting list for that class at Tech spring semester. They don’t offer it in the fall for people not starting in engineering, and then you still aren’t guaranteed a spot in that class for spring semester. After that, it’s recommended that you stay over the summer to take the second engineering class which people who start out in engineering normally take in the spring. The way I’m doing it, I can be a Civil Engineering major by spring semester and won’t have to spend the summer at college between freshman and sophomore years. Besides, it’s not like I have anything better to do this summer.</p>
<p>I am taking AP Calculus at the moment, so being calculus-ready isn’t an issue.</p>
<p>As for finances, I have a lot in my bank account reserved only for school - I can pay for all four years at Tech, plus some grad school.</p>
<p>Edit: tk21769, I’m really surprised about UVA too, as are all my friends and teachers. I’m just wondering what I did wrong. Everything was in order when I sent in the application.</p>
<p>I agree that you applied to not enough schools and too many reach schools. My s and I sat down months ago and arrived at 6 schools that made financial, goegraphic sense, toured them and were realistic about which schools were saftey, reach and fit schools. The predictions were perfect. both reach schools, oos, waitlisted. Both fit schools, accepted, both saftey schools, accepted with honors and scholarships. He is going to take the saftey school with honors choice. Too many students get poor or no advice as to where they fit academically with many schools. A student may be the chosen one at a given h.s. but when you are talking ivy, stanford, ucla, ucb, ect. It becomes rarified air. Given a student has solid ec’s and essays, you have to be realistic about where your test scores and gpa fits with a given school. My d is a senior at UCSD and sees the top students come in from small h.s. under the cal. elc program, and get crushed academically in 1 quarter. Both my kids came from a large, top rated public h.s. where a 3.77 gpa got them ranked 29th% but both had 31 act’s, 9 ap’s and are doing great academically. Va tech is a great school. Look forward and be positive.</p>
<p>Take a look at NYU poly. Fantastic engineering program. Sort of unknown by most applicants ( very well known by those in the field). Currently has rolling admissions.</p>
<p>popeyoung5, I was told that Stanford was “a bit of a reach”, that I’d get into engineering at Tech, into UVA, and into UNC. Visited the schools, thought I’d get into VT and UVA, waitlisted at UNC, and I was pretty sure I’d get denied at Stanford. I’m just not sure why UVA denied me - I’m in the top percent of my school, and in the top of my region. As for financial and geographical feasibility, a lot was open to me.</p>
<p>IMaag4, will take a look ay NYU Poly. Thanks for the suggestion!</p>
<p>Hispanic and female and wanting to go into engineering? Start doing some research on STEM grants, scholarships and awards. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields are getting a lot of funding right now and they all want to attract more women, especially minority women, to the field. Maybe you can take a year off and work and apply for some killer scholarships that you can refer to in your essay next year. You need to make yourself stand out from the crowd and taking a year off to work and apply yourself to applying for some prestigious awards would further your cause at the school you want to attend. I think you should gear your essay toward being a female in a male dominated field and what you have to offer. A lot of college essays sound the same and I think students don’t realize that what they say in that essay can sometimes make or break their chances all other things being equal. Good luck!</p>
<p>Anyways, what we have to address this situation at this point:</p>
<p>Deal, and hope you’re happy
Take a gap year - get a job and then apply for a better school for the following year
Hope that there are other schools you can apply to.</p>
<p>Also, what I’ve learned:</p>
<p>Don’t EVER LISTEN TO FRANKLIN COUNTY GUIDANCE COUNSELORS - THEY KNOW NOTHING</p>