Emo Kid Stressed Out After JHU Rejection

Applying to College
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Hi y’all. As ivy day draws closer, I’ve become so anxious about decisions. I just need someone who isn’t biased to tell me - do I even have a chance at getting into an ivy? My stats feel so low compared to some of the posts I’ve read on here. I’m trying to mentally prepare. Thanks in advance!

Here are the schools I applied to:
Oberlin
NYU
Smith College
Brown (PLME) - top choice
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Boston University
I’m already into my safeties.

Demographics

  • Gender: Female
  • Race/Ethnicity: White
  • Residence: Massachusetts
  • Income Bracket: upper middle
  • Type of School: competitive charter school housed within a public school
  • Hooks: none

Intended Major(s): Pre-Med/Biology, visual arts (medical illustration)

Academics

  • GPA (UW/W): 3.91UW/4.57 W

  • Rank (or percentile): 12/310 (everyone’s GPAs are a hundredth of a decimal apart)

  • # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 11 APs, 1 Dual Enrollment, rest honors (AP Human Geography, AP Chemistry, AP Art History, AP Statistics, AP Seminar, AP Lang, AP Physics I)

  • Senior Year Course Load: dual enrollment ENG, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, AP Research, AP Computer Science, VHS Latin (outside of school)

Standardized Testing

  • SAT I: 1420 (750RW, 670M) - I know this isn’t amazing but I submitted anyway because I figured I can’t be penalized for it if its a test optional year - district average is also 1110 and schools receive this information
  • AP: AP Human Geography (4), AP Chemistry (2), AP Art History (5), AP Statistics (2), AP Seminar (5), AP Lang (3), AP Physics I (2)
    *note: I only submitted AP human geo, ap art history, ap seminar. My school was fully virtual my entire junior year and I lost my stats teacher halfway thru the year - we had a sub from winter break thru exam season

*Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Varsity Cross Country (fastest girl on team; team captain)
  2. Varsity Science Olympiad
  3. Model United Nations
  4. Tri-M Honors Society
  5. job (20 hrs/week)
  6. classical piano (weekly lessons since age 6)
    I also included an art portfolio you’ll have to trust that I am somewhat talented! I do realism, mainly anatomical studies to align with my major and portraiture :slight_smile:

Awards/Honors

  1. Mayoral Recognition - COVID-19 volunteer work
  2. AP Scholar with Honor
    Published work in research journal

Letters of Recommendation
AP Calculus Teacher - my calc teacher loves me but she didn’t write it until the weekend before my first application was due! Her letter of rec is super important for me because my AP Calculus BC grade is my only B - so her letter of rec was an explanation of that. She promised she emphasized that it is a super hard class and I put the work in. She also highlighted that I’m 1 of 6 people enrolled in the class. This teacher is notorious for good recs though!

AP Chem/Capstone Teacher - my fave teacher, she’s had me since sophomore year. She only writes recs for her AP seminar/research kids so I bet it was great.

Principal - he knows me very well because I’m very involved with my school district. With that being said, he can’t reflect on how I am in the classroom nor does he know any of my passions so I doubt this was good. I asked primarily because I knew being the only kid to get a letter of rec from him would look good.

Neighbor - this was probably the best and most holistic view of my character. He was able to reflect on my character outside the classroom, my passions, and praised my academics. He is also very well known and respected in my state so I believe that this letter of rec was highly important.

Interviews
Harvard Interview: I LOVED this interview. It was super late which gave me false hope (December). We talked for about 2 hours, and connected really well. My alumni interviewer was a neuroscientist so as a pre-med student we had a ton in common.
Princeton interview: I actually knew my interviewer, so this was a bit awkward.

Essays
Commonapp - about my self-expression (i’m an emo kid lol) and how I got my school district’s dress-code changed. Tied it into my ability to advocate for myself and data collection.

Decisions
Acceptances:

  • University of Massachusetts Amherst Honors College (EA)
  • Rutgers University New Brunswick (rolling)

Deferrals:
Harvard University (REA)

Rejections:
Johns Hopkins University (EDII)

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Hey, do you have a list of all the other universities you applied?

Or do you literally want opinions only about the Ivies (other than your REA Harvard)?

If you applied to Cornell, did you apply to Arts and Sciences or one of the other Cornell colleges like a biology program through the College of Human Ecology or CALs?

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hey! just updated the post to include the list of schools I’m waiting to hear back from. Most concerned about Brown PLME - top choice and an incredible reach! I’m already into my safeties but really would love to get into a T20 school. Thanks in advance!!!

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You may get in somewhere else since stats and other things are with in range. Your essays may carry some weight for you. Remember, all of those low acceptance rate colleges have a low probability of acceptance for everyone, not just you. I know it is hard. Focus on the positive options you have.

You have been accepted to two excellent options. Are they affordable for your family?

At UMass, you can take classes in the consortium to expand your experience. You will have access to excellent art classes and be able to knock out all of your pre-med classes.

JHU just rips the bandaid off and does not defer or waitlist as many as other colleges. It is ok. Maybe you will go there for grad school or med school.

Where else did you apply? The Ivys are all very different. What did you like about other colleges that you may be able to find at UMass or Rutgers?

Edit - I see your edited list. Smith is your best prospect on there, but UMass is less expensive and gives you access to Smith.

The Brown Med School track is highly selective and may not be in the cards, but if med school admission is a top priority start finding out as much as you can about the supports available for you in the colleges you do get into so you make the most informed decision.

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First off congrats on all your accomplishments, you should be very proud of what you done and I’m sure that will carry over to college in whatever you do. Try not to be stressed, the chances for any unhooked applicant to get into Harvard or Princeton is a stretch. T20 is only an arbitrary ranking.

If you’re thinking about medical school, Rutgers has an accelerated BA/MD program. I know you can get admitted out of High School, but I believe you can apply after your first year as well. The nice thing with UMASS is you can take classes at Amherst and Mount Holyoke whick might provide some nice options with visual arts classes

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You edited your post while I was typing so that now I can see which schools you applied to.

U.Mass Amherst is very good for premed. The difference between U.Mass versus Harvard for premed might be smaller than you think. I do understand that Harvard and other highly ranked schools get a higher percentage of their students into medical school. However a great deal of this, some might suspect possibly all of this, comes from the type of students that Harvard accepts in the first place.

You are a very strong student. If you do attend U.Mass, then you will walk into premed classes on day 1 very well prepared. However, you will discover that the other students in your premed classes are stronger than you might expect, and in general are also very strong. You will discover that premed classes are academically very demanding. Of course this would also be true if you were to attend Harvard as a premed student.

I think that you will do very well regardless of which university you attend. However, expect your classes to be challenging wherever you end up, plan to work hard in tough classes, and I expect that you will do well.

I do think that you are competitive for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia. However, so are probably 80% or perhaps 85% of the other applicants, and many spots go to legacy students, athletes, and URM students. Your chances are a bit better at Brown. I do not know much about Oberlin, NYU, or Smith.

My best guess is that you will probably get accepted to BU. I would not call it a safety but I think that your chances are good. However, if you are full pay at BU, then it is not obvious to me that it will be worth the price compared to U.Mass Amherst. I think that I would only go to BU over U.Mass if your parents can pay for both BU and four years of medical school with very little debt and very little pain, or if BU offered you enough aid that it would not cost any more than U.Mass. Being “upper middle” class both of these seem unlikely to me.

I like your ECs. To me it looks like you did what was right for you, and did them very well.

I agree with this. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

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You have great accomplishments. You got into great schools.

Why an Ivy? Is it because of the word “Ivy”.

I think you are being way too hard. You’ve done the best you can - and the Ivy’s turn down plenty with your status and 1500+ SAT / 35/36 ACT.

I wouldn’t say that TO doesn’t penalize you. We don’t know the acceptance rates of TO vs. non TO but the few schools that publish the test does help.

You applied to schools with single digit acceptance rates and it’s great that you “reached” for these…more power to you.

You should hold your head high for applying - but know up front it’s unlikely you were getting in - and I say that to everyone and anyone.

Interesting to me is UMASS and Rutgers. UMASS I get - in state - but Rutgers (huge) doesn’t fit the overall mold of the others.

I know it’s tough - but you signed up for it - my guess is you get into one or two more (Oberlin and Smith) - but we are not AOs here.

Either way, you have a wonderful home for next year already - so the rest are icing on the cake.

Congrats for even applying to these - no easy feat - and you’ll be fine either way because you, not your school, is what matters.

btw - going to medical school - your GPA and MCATs will matter most, not your undergrad - so you’ll be fine!!

Good luck - go take a walk tomorrow, stay off this website - it’ll all be over soon.

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Pathnottaken, this is my second encounter with you: you are absolutely amazing every time you reply!

I would much prefer Umass over smith - especially given that I would be in the honors college. In hindsight, I only applied to Smith to have a few mid-range schools on my list. Umass is essentially free for me and has excellent resources - research opportunities given the connection with the med school, pre-med advisors, etc etc.

Public schools are just so focused around test scores, college acceptances, etc these days that it is hard to remember the vast benefits of attending an affordable state school for undergrad. Thank you for reinforcing, and believing in me, kind anon! :slight_smile:

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Thank you for your kind words and input - I cannot express how appreciated it is. :smiley: It is just frustrating to see hard work not pay off immediately - its certainly a rude awakening as I enter adulthood haha. No matter where I end up, I know I’ll make the best of it. With that being said, the satisfaction I’d feel if I got accepted in a prestigious school is tempting. The BA/MD program is precisely why I applied to Rutgers! You are also right about UMass - I knew about Amherst, but not Mount Holyoke - thank you!

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Seems like a lot of stretches. Test optional is so tough. Many just don’t include unless scores are really high. Did your guidance counselor suggest including APs with scores below 4?

Try not to worry over the next few weeks. Wherever you land, you’ll do great.

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Hi there! Thank you so much for your input and kindness. I cannot express how comforting your words are to a stressed-out HS senior!

UMass is certainly above BU in my book given costs alone. In hindsight, I only applied to BU because I wanted some midrange options if I did not get into the honors college at Umass (did not have my decision that the time). Especially considering I’ll be going for my masters and med school - Umass is essentially free.

Public schools are just so focused around test scores, college acceptances, etc these days that it is hard to remember the vast benefits of attending an affordable state school for undergrad. No matter where I end up, I know I’ll make the best of it. With that being said, the satisfaction I’d feel if I got accepted in a prestigious school is tempting. The pressure around “name-brand” colleges makes me lose sight of that - especially two weeks out from decisions. Thank you for reinforcing, and believing in me, kind user!

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Hi, thanks so much for your kind words and input!!

First off, Rutgers was on my list because of the BA/MD program. The location was also a factor when adding Rutgers to the list!

Public schools are just so focused around test scores, college acceptances, etc these days that it is hard to remember the vast benefits of attending an affordable state school for undergrad. No matter where I end up, I know I’ll make the best of it. With that being said, the satisfaction I’d feel if I got accepted in a prestigious school is tempting. The pressure around “name-brand” colleges makes me lose sight of that - you are sooo right about the connotations around the word “ivy”.

I’m going to log off once I finish replying to everyone, and hopefully I won’t be back until my decisions are out. I wish I could sleep through the next few weeks, haha!

But seriously – thank you so much for your thoughtful comment to my silly thread. Have a great night :slight_smile:

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Congratulations on your current acceptances, especially U. Mass Honors! I can also tell that you’ve got a good head on your shoulders because you see the amazing value and opportunity that U. Mass represents. I too suspect that you’ll get a couple more acceptances (if I had to bet, Oberlin, Smith, & BU), but already have really nice options. I’m confident you’ll do well wherever you land. Best of luck to you!

P.S. You may want to change your username if it is the same as your name IRL. And yes, @Pathnottaken writes some wonderful posts!

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Absolutely! 80% of my list are complete reaches, but I’d rather get rejected than never know! I wound up including my score because colleges receive the information surrounding my school and my score, although low compared to other applicants to the schools I’m applying to, is one of the highest from my school (silver lining of going to an urban public school?).

Guidance told me to share all of my passing scores, but I felt weird sending in my singular 3 because I genuinely did not expect such a low score on that particular exam. I have a 750/800 SAT score in reading and writing and got a 5 in AP Seminar, which requires very similar writing skills to that of ap lang. That was my reasoning behind not including the score.

I’ll definitely make the most of wherever I end up, but I’d be nice to get a great acceptance just to see the hard work pay off, yknow? Especially given the pressure from teachers/family/etc to get into “name-brand” schools.

Anyways, thank you so much for your input and kind words! I hope you have a great night :slight_smile:

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I really wish the best for you. My own child also got accepted to UMass Honors and I think it’s a great option. My student is waiting on a lot of schools and has some great options. Factoring in the cost, is important especially if you plan med school.

Don’t stress. It’s going to be a great couple of years, starting college, post Covid and learning all about yourself. All the schools on your list can get you where you want to go.

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Hiya! Thanks for the kind reply! :slightly_smiling_face: Umass is certainly undervalued. The name may not be equivalent to harvard, but i see a lot of opportunities for me if i go there. it is my top choice if i don’t get into brown. and omg, thank you for that info! I’ll figure out how to change it. – didn’t even realize because i made the account using the google sign up haha. Again, you are appreciated!

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congratulations to them! I wish them the best as well :smiley: I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they get into their top choices !!!

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@CC_Mike Can you reach out to the OP? I think she wants to change her user name. She didn’t realize it was showing her actual name. (Hoping I have that right).

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First, that is amazing! Congratulations. Fastest girl on varsity? Awesome!!

I am glad that you applied to the colleges you listed. You never know. Why not your application? You are competitive in most.

Good comments above and so, I won’t repeat.

Here is the upside: the wait is over in approximately three weeks! Good luck!!

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thanks for your kind words!!! Thats how I feel too - i’d rather be rejected than never know my potential. Just anxiety-inducing now that the decisions are so soon. have a great night, and you are so appreciated! :slight_smile:

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