Still got it wrong
**Decision: Waitlisted Emory University **
@robotrainbow Ugh… Rice was my first choice school but I got waitlisted there, accepted here. Congrats!
Decision: Accepted at both
Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t submit
[] ACT: 33
[] SAT II: 780, 730
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.83
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Chem 4, AB 5
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): None
[] Senior Year Course Load: 3 AP’s
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Specialized in CS stuff. Really cool
[] Job/Work Experience: Internet stuff. Made money off of it
[] Volunteer/Community service: Not that much.
[] Personal Statement: Pretty good.
[/ul]**Other /b][ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Ya
[li][ b] Intended Major [ /b]: CS[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type:
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket: Low
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): None
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Lots of cool, unique EC’s. ACT Score, interesting essays
[] Weaknesses: GPA, Course rigor
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? Waitlisted: Rice, UCD, UCSD (I don’t know)
[] Schools you were rejected from? Rejected: a couple.
[li] Schools you are waiting for? Dartmouth (LOL)[/li][/ul]General Comments: Be interesting. It’s a good way to cover your crappy course load/GPA. Thanks Emory for being one of the few schools that has taken a chance on me. If you future CC’ers have comparable stats, don’t count yourself in just yet. I’m probably just some bottom barrel student that got lucky. I felt the same way looking at UCLA and UCB accepted students and was rejected straight up. Stuff gets harder and harder every year and there’s no doubt that a bit of luck is involved in the admissions process. I may or may not be attending depending on aid. Hopefully they give me a lot!
@bonsly you are not bottom of barrel! Your essay must have been amazing. There’s something about you that they loved. Congratulations!!!
@Jillib T_T Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words. However I think we can both agree that my stats weren’t high compared to other admitted students. I’m really, really grateful that they liked me : )
To future students:
I didn’t write any sob stories btw. You don’t need 'em to get in.
Also, does anyone know the process for getting into the Emory 2019 facebook group? I asked to join twice and they rejected my request both times…
@bonsly make sure that your Facebook name isn’t something weird and is the same as the one you used to apply
Decision: Accepted to Oxford
Decision: Waitlisted at Emory
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2270 (800 CR 690 M 780 W)
ACT: 34 (34E 33M 35R 32S Essay:10)
SAT II: Biology E: 740 US History: 800 Literature: 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92 UW/4.46 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Lang Comp: 5, APUSH: 5, Psychology: 5
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP European History, CP Calculus, AP Spanish, AP Lit, Honors Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Creative Writing, AP Enviro
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Ranked in top 20 in nation for marching band
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Marching Band (Color Guard): Many regional level awards, top 20 in nation and winner of Esprit de Corps award
Fencing (4 years)
Gymnastics (3 years)
Stage Crew (4 years) - co-head of lighting
Fencing Club (3 years) (Treasurer and Founding Member)
Ski Club (4 years)
Peer Mediation (4 years)
some other misc. stuff
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: 100-120 hours over the last three summers at a horseback riding camp for children with disabilities
Summer Activities: College class in ASL at Rutgers, Volunteering
Essays: The class I created was about affirmative action at the Kamehemeha Schools in Hawaii. I thought it was a cool topic, and I never asserted my opinion one way or the other, but said that it was important to take everything into account, and everyone I showed it to liked it. Also sent it to UVa (waitlisted) and Pomona (rejected), so um, I guess it kinda worked? 8?/10
Common App Essay: About challenging people’s beliefs by being physically strong. It focused on my ability to do a lot of push-ups even though I’m a petite, nerdy girl. It was kind of humorous, and I spent a long time on it. Everyone who read it liked it. 9/10
Teacher Recommendation #1: Not sure. I picked this teacher because he saw me help out other students in his class, but it’s impossible for me to say if he wrote a lot about that in his rec.
Teacher Recommendation #2: I think this one was good. This teacher and I were kind of on the same wavelength, and I gave him a ton of supplemental information to pull from.
Counselor Rec: She likes me, but it was probably kind of bland. She has 239 other kids to worry about.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A
Other
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Very large public
Ethnicity: White, but chose not to respond
Gender: F
Income Bracket: >250k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I wish
Reflection
Strengths: Test scores (except SAT Math), marching band awards, maybe essays?
Weaknesses: Course load rigor could be better, only one substantial EC, the other kids who applied from my school were more competitive than me
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think my stats were good enough for Oxford, but I just didn’t have the extra razzle dazzle for Emory.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to Rutgers and the University of Alabama EA, accepted to WashU, Tufts, BU, and William and Mary RD; Rejected at Pomona, CMC, Stanford, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, USC, and Middlebury; Waitlisted at American, UVa, and Kenyon
General Comments:
I really couldn’t ask for more than this. I applied on a whim because it happened that I had already written the essay and I figured “Why not?” Getting admitted straight to Emory would have been ideal, but I’m thankful for Oxford, especially considering I demonstrated basically no interest. Congrats to everyone who got in!
@butterfreesnd : Honestly, you seem to have gotten screwed by the increasing “randomness” of this process. Like look how you got into WashU (more selective than Emory and other schools you got denied or waitlisted from). You may have also, like you suggested, been screwed by the context of your HS. Who knows, but your stats were higher than the average admit, so likely many factors played a role, including potential to yield you which is probably low since you got into those other schools and WashU. High stats candidates for non-Ivy(especially HPY) selective schools, seems to be a grey area. Though admittedly, WashU and Vanderbilt tend to like high stats candidates more (but of course still deny and waitlist tons). Also, your EC’s were fine.
Thanks @bernie12. I was surprised by some of my results, (namely, my WL at Kenyon and American, and then my rejection at USC), but I’m not really sure how to interpret everything. I was very concerned about context, because, unlike a lot of students, my stats are much less impressive in context (10 APs is not unusual at my school, and we have kids with crazy ECs, like multiple kids that have played at Carnegie Hall, a girl who interns at a nuclear fusion reactor, the state debate champion, etc.). Accordingly, I applied to a lot of schools that are unknown at my school, like Pomona, CMC, Midd, but then got rejected at all of those too, so I don’t know what to make of it.
For Emory though, I think I just pulled the short straw. I consider Emory a reach-for-everyone school, and by definition I have (approximately) >33% chance of getting into a reach, so I was kind of bound to strike out with some of my reaches.
@butterfreesnd Well, though you did strike out with some places, you did get into some awesome ones and will no doubt go on to do well at wherever. As for your school. I see what you mean. Emory would, for example, be all over that debate champion lol (perhaps moreso than the nuclear fusion person, though we did get lucky recently and have a math whiz win a Goldwater. The kid is like Harvard level good, taking grad. math now as a sophomore. Usually it is nearly impossible for Emory and schools like it to yield someone like that unless they are a public school or similar in size to one. Often the most selective schools actively recruit those types at competitions and stuff and snatch them up). It’s all about the context of your school and the context of the school you are applying to. Like it seems to me Emory looks for different traits than many other selective schools (I think Stanford is the oddball in their peer group in that its SAT’s are very high, but not exactly like HYP-they are clearly looking for something much more than high MC test scores that results in their rather distinct environment in comparison to those 4…Perhaps creativity/innovation counts more for their applicants). Like, interestingly enough, this year’s scores and GPA’s were apparently the same as last year’s despite the larger applicant pool. Usually, selective schools (especially many of Emory’s peers) jump on that as an oppurtunity to just cherrypick higher scorers, but it seems Emory chose not to go this route (perhaps to avoid risk to the yield or maybe there is much more thought…). One can only imagine what they are looking for. As suggested, there is likely some randomness due to volume. The only conscience choice I see is to not become a stats whore school (this has its advantages and disadvantages obviously).
Decision: Accepted! and scholars finalist for emory
Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 35 C
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Chem (800), US Hist (780)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0UW and 4.39W
AP (place score in parentheses): Chem (5), US Hist (5), Calc, Gov, and Psych
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc, AP Gov, AP Psych, Anatomy H, English H, Spanish H
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): mostly dance things. i train and perform preprofessional 25 hrs/wk. Orchesis (president), science team member (overall high scorer), NHS, mu alpha theta, spanish honor society, ambassador’s club, jr leadership team, performer in school fundraiser show
Job/Work Experience: sub teacher at dance studio
Volunteer/Community Service: 150ish tutoring and working in soup kitchens
Summer Activities: went to 6 wk long ballet camps for past 3 summers
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): IL
School Type: Private Catholic
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
@butterfreesnd
@bernie12
Perhaps you mean nuclear “fission” instead of nuclear “fusion.” As far as I know, no one’s been able to put together a viable nuclear fusion reactor.
I think they mean fission as well…unless the person was doing research on fusion and such a possibility. Who knows…
@MyOdyssey and @bernie12, Perhaps reactor is the wrong term, but in Princeton there’s ongoing research into nuclear fusion, and this girl is an intern at the lab, I believe it’s this place? http://www.pppl.gov/ I’m not 100% sure, I’m not very friendly with her. The reactor (or whatever the proper term is) isn’t commercially viable though, strictly scientific and research based right now.
@butterfreesnd Princeton’s been doing fusion research for a long time since at least the 1980s when they had an experimental Tokamak fusion reactor design that never panned out because it took more energy to fire up the reactor than the reactor generated. That’s a nice internship your classmate got for herself.
@MyOdyssey, yes definitely a nice internship, especially considering she was accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and Cambridge lol.
Kind of late to the party, but…
Decision: Accepted at Emory and Oxford
Objective:
•SAT I (breakdown): 1680 (560 CR, 570 M, 550 WR)
•ACT: 24
•SAT II: None
•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.71
•UC GPA: ?
•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 15% ? Not really sure, since my school doesn’t rank.
•Senior Year Course Load: AP LIT, AVID SS, AP Calc, AP GOV, and ZOO 145 at local JC
•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Not much. Vice President for a club my friend started sophomore year, leader in Peer Leaders Uniting Students Club, and member of Interact Club.
•Job/Work Experience: UCSD Scripps Oceanography Internship during summer
•Volunteer/Community service: Approximately 100 hours as Youth Ambassador in my city, almost 200 hours helping catechism classes at my local church, ~50 hours volunteering at the library, and ~30+ hours helping in a coalition speaking against substance abuses that advocates to local high schools and my city council.
•Essays: I think my essays where the strongest part of my application. I spoke about my father’s diagnosis with a rare disease and how it devastated my family, and how it took us a while to move forward. Also, how that ties into my wish to become a doctor.
•Teacher Recommendation: I would say pretty dang good for one (AVID teacher), and just pretty good for my other one (math teacher). I knew them very well, so I trusted them completely with my recommendations.
•Counselor Rec: She’s awesome! So I’m sure it was great!
Other
•Applied for Financial Aid?: I’d die without it.
• Intended Major: Undeclared
•State (if domestic applicant): California!
•Country (if international applicant):
•School Type: Public. Not that amazing, but maybe a bit above average?
•Ethnicity: Hispanic
•Gender: Female
•Income Bracket: 42,000 for a family of six
•Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): URM & first generation
Reflection
•Strengths: My essays, recommendations, and pure luck. Mainly luck.
•Weaknesses: GPA and test scores. For sure!
•Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly Pomona, and others.
•Schools you were rejected from? Rejected at USC, Scripps College, and UCSD. And I only cried once! haha
•Schools you are waiting for? None.
General Comments: I’m still so confused at why I got accepted. I’ve read some of the other comments, and y’all are amazing!! I applied through Questbridge, and I’ll be visiting Emory through Essence of Emory this Thursday! I was kind of scared of posting my stats, but here they are!
@ukwlove : You can survive and even thrive at a private school with an 1100 (this idea of needing to be near perfect for admission is honestly just BS unless you are talking about some really difficult STEM school, and even those have the resources to help you succeed. Honestly the SAT scores are not used for the “meritocracy” so much as they are for rankings. I’m sure most academics know that literature suggests that the correlation is not perfect and hardly even good for that matter as it is a test that clearly benefits those who go to/can afford prep companies because it is so predictable to experts. Completely different skills are tested in a rigorous college classroom setting). The GPA is the main thing you have going for you and usually correlates best with college performance (usually the correlation of SAT’s falls off after freshman year) and your EC’s are actually pretty good. You did fine considering your circumstances. Also, you had a rigorous courseload. Try to come and enjoy Essence. If you can, take the opportunity to actually visit classes (especially some of the science courses since you are pre-med) as opposed to getting drowned in the events that were meant to lure you.
Decision: Accepted at Oxford College with Emory Achievement Award Scholarship
Objective:[ul]
[] ACT: 33
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/615
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Mostly 3’s, few 4’s and 5’s.
[] Senior Year Course Load: 4 AP’s, most rigorous class schedule
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction
[/ul][ b]Subjective:**[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Captain of speech and debate, president of diversity club, city youth advisory council, volunteer clubs, CA Girls State, RYLA, etc.
[] Job/Work Experience: None
[] Volunteer/Community service: 4 years of hospital volunteering, peer tutoring, etc.
[] Personal Statement: Ehh, was very rushed, probably what got me rejected from Emory College
[/ul][ b]Other**[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[li]** Intended Major **: Biology[/li][] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: F
[] Income Bracket: middle class-ish
[/ul] b]Reflection**[ul]
[] Strengths: EC’s, leadership, commitment, and ACT
[] Weaknesses: Essays
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to?: Accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB (Selected for honors program), UCR (Chancellor’s scholarship), Temple (full tuition), ASU (presidential scholar), waitlisted at Case Western
[] Schools you were rejected from? Northwestern, Duke, Emory College, JHU, Rice, Vandy
[/ul]General Comments: Will be attending Berkeley in the fall, GO BEARS! 
I missed the Emory Scholars deadline but still got a 15k/year merit scholarship to Oxford, which is amazing but still not enough financial aid for a private school for my family. So for future applicants, don’t worry, it will all work out in the end, I thank Emory for giving me the opportunity.
This entire profile is very rushed and not detailed, if you need help or more info don’t hesitate to ask me! I hope this will help future applicants!!
@chelmain: You got into Berkeley but not Emory…that’s weird even if you are from California. I can see UCLA, but I thought UC Berkeley and Emory kind of selected similarly or that one is more likely to get into Emory than Berkeley, but I guess the two just select for different things outside of stats (maybe those other private schools wanted more AP’s or something).
@bernie12 I agree, it is weird. I was really hoping for an Emory College acceptance too… I think what made the difference was my personal statements. My essays for Emory were quite rushed since I was trying to make the Emory Scholars deadline, but missed it by a few hours. (In hindsight, I should’ve just waited to improved my essays more instead, haha) For the UC’s, I restarted all of my essays and spent a lot more time on it. But who knows! The college admissions process is very unpredictable. Berkeley was a pleasant surprise.