Getting Rejected with High Stats

<p>Did they say they ACCEPTED 7400? Or something along the lines of “there were 7400 applicants to fill a class of 400 students.” In that case, a lot more were ADMITTED, however the phrasing makes it seem like only 400 were admitted. Almost all of the decision letters I saw (mine and my friends) worded it like that to seem more selective to the kids who got in and make them prouder/more likely to consider the school, and to make the kids who didn’t get in feel better because it seems more selective when they word it that way.</p>

<p>I think the newer here is lack of class rigor. If your high school offered a full slate of APs and you only took one per year, that can really hurt.</p>

<p>I got a 2280 on the SATs and am 4th out of 440. I sing, play the bassoon, volunteer as a science presenter, act, do science league, tutor, and raise Seeing Eye puppies. I was accepted to Northwestern, Gettysburg, Ithaca, UMD, and Washington College. I was rejected from Vanderbilt (understandable I guess) and waitlisted at Tulane (still ok, I guess) and Skidmore (???). So I know how you feel. I don’t understand at all. Waiting on Princeton, Brown, and Harvard.</p>

<p>Yep. I totally understand how you feel. I have a 3.8 gpa 1700 SAT and super good EC’s, two internships last summer, MUN president, i play the clarinet and have been for like 9 years, volunteer at the food bank yada yada yada… and I got rejected from Santa Clara University.
My friend with a 3.2 GPA, 1800 SAT and not as good of EC’s as me got in. At first I thought it was the sat score but does 100 points really make that much of a difference? Plus she doesnt take any AP’s honors classes… when I have taken about 9 through high school. I
t was just weird because I know santa clara’s average gpa is about a 3.7-3.8. i know it’s not all about GPA but it’s just weird… </p>

<p>I guess it was because she applied as a chem major and I applied as a business major which is significantly harder to get into, but it’s just annoying.</p>

<p>i dont see how they could reject u with those stats and accept ur frienmd</p>

<p>Were your stats way above average for those schools? What some schools are doing now is rejecting the top applicants because they know that they are not your first choice</p>

<p>Does the OP have safeties that he was admitted to? If so, what are they?</p>

<p>^yes, he mentioned getting into Cal poly.
Ok…to those who get into a school like northwestern and rejected elsewhere, my reasoning is also get over it. Not every school will throw the red carpet at you.
OP - I still think it is your UC GPA. There are only a few honors level courses that are weighted. I would clarify that with your schools GC. Here is the website again
<a href=“A-G Policy Resource Guide”>A-G Policy Resource Guide;
Again, if someone feels they were unjustly denied, you can always appeal (for colleges that allow it). Else move on, the right college will find you.</p>

<p>OP I have a strong feeling that you’re going to get into Berkeley. Please PM me if you do.</p>

<p>I hear that the UCs have recently been talking with each other and negotiating on who to accept, since schools plan to accept people that will plan to enroll.</p>

<p>So if you didn’t get into UCSD with those stats, it may be because Berkeley’s going to accept you.</p>

<p>That’s just a very, very, very shorthanded version of the real “plot” but still gets the point across.</p>

<p>Anyhow, good luck friend.</p>

<p>Haha dude don’t worry I’m feeling the same way…not going to go through it all but im valdictorian, 33ACT, All state athlete and won states in baseball last year, took all the AP’s my school offered with all 5’s except one 3…50+ hours of service, entrepreneur (started a couple small businesses), and im a full time amateur bodybuilder and i got denied by all the schools ive applied to…rice stanford and vandy… waiting on cornell dartmouth and duke but am anticipating denials lol… college is looking slim (yes i know my spelling is bad idc)</p>

<p>As to your question as to whether you’re alone in this - you’re not. I haven’t been accepted to any of my matches so far; I have a 4.02 GPA, 1st in my class, multiple APs (with 5s and one 4), 2220 SATs, over 750 on both of my SAT IIs…I am confused about it too. I’m wondering where I miscalculated.</p>

<p>a lot of people from my school with 4.0+ 2100+ were rejected from davis and irvine. it seems admission is crazy this year</p>

<p>Admissions really are crazy. I have a friend who got rejected from Stanford with a 5.0 GPA and almost every extracurricular activity possible. They just don’t make sense to me…hopefully everyone will get admitted to a school that’ll be a good fit, though.
I had multiple honors classes both of those years because only honors versions of required courses were offered at my school. But almost all of those were UC approved. Most of my AP classes this year are counting as elective credit, actually.</p>

<p>

@collegefailureha Did you apply to any safeties? Because applying to 6 extremely selective schools is not a great course of action.</p>

<p>“In the letter, they told me they accepted 400 out of 7400, so I’m just going off of that. I figured the admissions committee would probably have a pretty good idea about that.”</p>

<p>A small point, but that’s not what is stated in the letter. The letter states, in part, “the challenge of selecting a class of 400 from the more than 7400 applications…”</p>

<p>I think that Pomona’s yield rate is 40-50%, so they probably sent out offers to 800-1000 applicants and their admission rate is much higher than 6%.</p>

<p>@CountMounteCristo thanks for mentioning that. earlier in the thread i suggested that that may be the case but never found out the answer.</p>

<p>I had a 4.85, 2340 ACT, 35 ACT, 11 APs, cured AIDS, won the Nobel Prize in physics, 3rd in the nation in Siemens, won many distinguished skydiving competitions, did groundbreaking research on the inter-species mating habits of squirrels and sea crabs, and was rejected from College of Western Idaho Community College. </p>

<p>That was the only school I applied to, and now it is too late to apply anywhere else.
What do I do??</p>

<p>I asked my son about your situation since his GPA was not as high as yours but his ACTs were between 33 and 36, depending on the subtest. One strategy we discussed was making sure he was clear on exactly what the culture of the school was, and in any Supplemental Application, he made certain to address their particular focus. For example, if you applied to a Jesuit university like Santa Clara, there should have been something in your answers somewhere that addressed your fit with the mission. This does not mean you have to be Catholic, but you should understand the social justice focus is common to all Jesuit universities. The second was to make sure he applied to enough safety schools–real safety schools–to make sure he had some back ups he could live with. The third strategy was making sure he actually had visited the schools and made personal contact with actual students and admissions people. (He did that over a two year period beginning in summer after sophomore year.) My concern from reading several of the postings is the seeming lack of counseling you have regarding what are reach, target, and safety schools for you all. I also wonder if there is conversation about not just shooting for highly selective schools only. There are so many wonderful schools who would go crazy to have someone with your profile and who might provide generous scholarships if you were a fit. (LMU is one example. They really want quality stats, but the fit with the Jesuit mission is huge. You only have to look at their supplemental app essays to understand that.) I think the highly insane number of students applying to each university tells us all it’s a dog eat dog world and not likely to change any time soon. Keep your chin up. Tomorrow’s Golden Bear Day and Ivy Day and Purple Cow Day (Williams!).</p>

<p>lol yes i did but i was really hoping i wouldn’t have to use my safeties… ya feel me? haha and i more of a care free kinda kid so it’s disappointing but i don’t get hung up over things like this…i even went out and bought some mega millions tickets so in case all my colleges fall through i can win 500 mil on friday and not go anywhere! ;)</p>

<p>hahahahaha whoever this is is a genius…made me laugh super hard :)</p>