Follow a clueless ORM's journey

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Hi everyone! Follow an ORM’s journey in the mysterious world of college admissions!

Growing up attending an unranked medium size public school with two immigrant parents who did not know much about US college admissions, College Confidential has been a lifesaver. I hope that this post will help those of you in a similar situation. Consider this my way of giving back (:

Objective:
GPA: 4.0 UW, school does not do WGPA
ACT: 34 Composite (35 E, 33 M, 35 R, 34 S)
SAT IIs: 790 Literature, 690 Math I
Class Rank: Valedictorian out of 383
APs: Human Geography (5), World History (3), United States History (4), Chemistry (3), Statistics (3), Literature, Environmental Science, Latin, Calculus AB
Awards: NM Commended, AP Scholar w Distinction,National Latin Exam Gold Medal 3x, multiple national Top 3 finishes at National Junior Classical League convention, State Champion in Roman History 3x,

(As you can see, standardized testing is not my forte. I am hoping that colleges will look at my application in the context of my school (ACT average is a 20, very low AP Exam pass rate)

Subjective:

Junior Classical League (Latin Club)
-one of seven national officers (12)
elected to serve national organization of 50k members
-state officer (11)
elected to serve state organization of 2k members
-local president (10, 11, 12)

violin
-played since I was 5
-joined a local state university’s symphony when I was 11. promoted to Assistant
Concertmaster since sophomore year. (4 hours/week for 7 years)
-All State, Midstate
-multiple violin gigs

Multicultural Club
- founder and president (11)
club grew to the 2nd largest in my school

community service
-volunteered every week at a nursing home (9-12)
-tutored beginner Latin students (10, 11)
-accompanied church choir every week on violin (6-12)
-accompanied a local choir (9-12)

Recommenders:
Latin teacher - he’s taught me for 4 years and he’s my Latin club sponsor. didn’t read
APHG teacher/Multicultural Club sponsor - she’s like a mom to me. she let me read it 9/10
Junior year English teacher - i loved her class. didn’t read
4. former Latin teacher - taught me over the summer for four years
5. violin teacher/college professor - taught me for 8 years
6. mentor from the national board -

Common App Essay: about my story as an 11-year-old in a college orchestra, and my growth throughout the seven year period

Where I applied:
Major: Classics (I intend to go to law school)

EA:
Harvard (SCEA) - Deferred
University of Michigan - Deferred
University of Virginia - Accepted, did not get Echols
Purdue University - Accepted, received Trustee’s 16k/yr
University of Alabama - Accepted, received Presidential 25k/yr

RD:
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Emory, rejected from Scholars
Johns Hopkins
NYU
Princeton
William & Mary
Tulane
UPenn
Vanderbilt
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale
(I applied to a crazy amount of schools - mainly because I applied to mostly reaches, and because I did not have anyone to ask for advice. My schools does not have a Naviance, and has never sent anyone to an Ivy before. Most students attend my state flagship, so I “shotgunned” because I had no idea where I had a realistic chance of being accepted.)

I will continue to update this throughout this process. Hope this helps!

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Mid-March Update!

Accepted:
-University of Alabama - Presidential Scholarship
-Purdue University - 16k Trustee’s, Stamps Scholar (full ride + 10k stipend)
-University of Virginia
-Vanderbilt University - early notification through MOSAIC, Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship (full tuition +6k stipend)
-William and Mary - likely postcard + early notification email + Monroe Scholars Program
-Johns Hopkins University - 14k Hopkins Academic Success Award

Waitlisted:
-WUSTL (rejected from scholarships)

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Wow, congratulations! It’s going to be an embarrassment of riches.
Are they flying you out to visit?

Thoughts…
Purdue is a National powerhouse for Engineering but not a good pick for a classics major. If it’s your only affordable choice it’s ok but hopefully you’ll have other affordable choices.
Vanderbilt sounds like the best value - strong for classics, great scholarship/ scholars program.
It’ll be very hard to choose!

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In addition to the above comment, here’s an Ivy Day update (:

Accepted:
-Princeton University
-Dartmouth College
-Cornell University

Waitlisted:
-Harvard University
-Yale University
-Columbia University
-Brown University
-University of Pennsylvania

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@thesoutherngirl
Going to Jersey!!! Congrats

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Wow, Congratulations!!

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Final Update (in addition to the two above): All my results are in! Lots of waitlists, but surprisingly no rejections.

Accepted:
-Emory University
-New York University

WL:
-Duke University
-Tulane University

Thank you everyone!

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@thesoutherngirl - please let us know what you decide! Good luck!

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Wow, that’s an impressive list. Have you begun to narrow it down? What are your personal pros and cons for the top schools?

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Committed to Princeton!

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@thesoutherngirl Huge congrats that is awesome. Are you full pay or receiving any need based aid from princeton?

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Congratulations!!!
How did you end up choosing (this process is very useful to current Juniors and future seniors)

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@MYOS1634 Choosing is so different for everyone, so I’m not quite sure how much this will help anyone but I was personally stuck between Vanderbilt and Princeton. Vanderbilt was a dream school of mine for forever, and I almost did ED1 there, so it was definitely a top choice. I stayed at Vanderbilt for a few days for MOSAIC and had a great time, but there was just something lacking that I couldn’t exactly put a finger on. I attended Princeton’s 2nd Preview, sat in on a couple classes, and it just felt right. I would recommend to seniors to visit the campuses again after getting admitted and going with your gut.