Ethnicity a big factor?

<p>So the college admissions process is over for most of us (certainly is for me) and it left me thinking/wondering...</p>

<p>I am 100% Mexican, and therefore a minority. I applied to Harvard, Williams, Tufts, UF, UM, FSU, USF, Tulane, Tufts, and UNC Chapel Hill. I got into UM, Chapel Hill, FSU, USF, and Tulane. I got wait listed at Emory. I did not get into UF, Harvard, Williams, or Emory.</p>

<p>Harvard and Williams are #1 over all and liberal arts respectively, so I can see why I got rejected. But then there is Tufts, which is ranked 27, tied with Chapel Hill. I got into Chapel Hill but not Tufts. I also got wait listed at Emory, which is 18, and therefore higher than Tufts and UF. I did not get into UF, with is 48. </p>

<p>My question is: Does the fact that I'm a minority and some schools take more URMs than others explain my decisions? Is there any correlation? I was surprised I got rejected to UF and yet I got accepted to Chapel Hill and wait listed at Emory.</p>

<p>Any feedback would be appreciated.</p>

<p>What are your stats?</p>

<p>SAT: 1990 (1310)
GPA: 4.3 weighed, 3.52 unweighed (not counting senior year) ~4.5 weighed, ~3.63 unweighed (counting senior year, which isn't over yet)
National Hispanic Scholar Finalist
AP Scholar with Distinction
Moderate EC's, moderate community service, travel soccer for 5 years.
Will graduate with 9 AP's</p>

<p>Anything else I should include?</p>

<p>mmm, your stats are at the lower end of the what Tufts and Chapel Hill accept, so I wouldn't be too surprised that you weren't able to get in to Tufts.</p>

<p>Chapel Hill thinks you are a good and highly qualified applicant though, so congrats.</p>

<p>Armando: it's difficult to speculate because you hopefully know that most of those schools take a holistic approach to your application. Many factors were in play for the adcoms' decisions for you. However, your free reliance and use of the various ranking numbers also displays a rather short-sighted view of their relative quality of education and overemphasis on the ranking number. Go over to the Parents forum and look at the thread "College Rankings Revolt".</p>

<p>Do you think you could tell the diff among an 18th, 27th and 48th schools based on someones' list?</p>

<p>Congratulations on UNC-CH. I think you did really well to be admitted there especially if you are coming OOS.</p>

<p>I think what hurt you as far as Tufts, Harvard and Williams is the GPA. While you would have gotten a wink on the SAT scores, the GPA reflects what you have done in the classroom over the past 3 years. </p>

<p>In addition, keep in mind that the URM pool is becoming more competitive with many students bringing comprable scores to their counter parts. One URM students that I helped with her applications who has just been admitted to Williams, is a first gen college student, low income, low performing high school, but she is ranked #10 with a 98.87 gpa and 1470 SAT score (and her stats are lower than my D's was the year she got admitted to Williams and Tufts 3 years ago).</p>

<p>As T26E4 mentioned that the more selective schools on your list take a more holistic approach to admissions as they are looking to build a class based on their institutional mission , so how they feel you "fit" in them could also be a factor in whether your application gets moved from the admit to the deny/waitlist pile.</p>

<p>I think the SATs may have been a factor, but I am only speculating.</p>

<p>First of all, drop the whole rankings thing - US News and World report is pretty meaningless. For example, Stanford is ranked NUMBER SEVEN!!!! Jesus, Stanford must be a crappy school! Remember, though you are a minority, it doesn't mean you are the * only * minority applying to these top schools. Consequently, the highly competitive nature of this year's admissions process is likely the culprit.</p>

<p>Yeah there's plenty of minorities applying to all of these colleges. To me your EC's seem kind of mundane... but there is no need to despair! All the colleges you were accepted to are really amazing, congrats!</p>

<p>Which round this you apply to for UF? UF Accepts 40% of its class from Early, 40% from Regular, and 20% from late. The late one is VERY VERY VERY competitive. </p>

<p>Are you a first-generation college student? It's not just being Mexican, it's being disadvantaged as well. </p>

<p>What about ECs? "Moderate" ?</p>