I’m gotten rejected or wait listed at all my top colleges so far. My friends are getting accepted even though we have similar GPAs and ECs. I’m worried I’m going to end up at the wrong college and hate it. What should I do?
Sounds like a good time to fall in love with your safety.
If you can’t do that, and in two weeks you still don’t have an acceptance, there’s always a gap year. But there’s still two weeks.
You’ve applied to safeties, right?
I got accepted to safeties but I don’t feel like I did anything wrong. My counselor said my personal essay was fantastic and my grades are good. Am I just getting unlucky?
Recommendations matter as well. Your counselor wouldn’t have had access to your other recommendation(s). More elite schools also may be looking for specific things. If your ECs are too common maybe they had other applicants more qualified with the same ECs. Your friends may have had less common ECs. Showing interest in a school can sometimes matter as well.
If the schools aren’t need blind and you applied for FA, that can hurt you. You don’t mention your test scores, maybe there is an issue there.
I have heard several college application advisors say that admission to many top colleges is more like a lottery than an application. There is such tremendous competition that even qualified applicants are not accepted.
There are many schools where you will be happy and successful.
Your problem may be an inconsistant record. Some of your previous posts indicate a fluctuation in your GPA due to illness your sophomore year, and others say you have trouble breaking a 90 in “certain classes” and that you changed friends because the ones you were hanging around were getting much better grades than you were. I think your admission that your self-esteem is tied to your grades is important; it appears your college acceptances are too, and they shouldn’t be. As long as you tried your best, that’s all you can do. Assess your results based on the effort you put in, not someone else’s results.
You said your parents don’t have a lot of money. If you applied to a lot of expensive reach schools that don’t meet financial need, it’s better to be rejected outright. Congratulations on your current acceptances. If they’re true safeties, you’ll be happy going to one of them because that’s the definition of a safety: you can get in, it’s affordable, and you’d be happy to attend.
Which schools have you been accepted to and which are you waiting to hear from? Do you have any affordable options yet?
Where were you admitted so far?
Where else are you waiting for decisions?
Where were you rejected?