<p>vicissitudes - that's not true. just look at the stats to a lot of the top schools, i would say it might be even about a 50/50 split between those who got in and whose schools reported ranks and those who got in but whose schools didn't report rank.</p>
<p>One of my school's valedictorians is going to Brown for engineering.</p>
<p>I just think this goes to show how anything can happen with regard to admission at top schools. I'm really surprised you didn't get into Stanford as the two legacies from my school had way lower stats than you, yet ended up in. Another was waitlisted.</p>
<p>For me, I was a valedictorian in Full IB with 2270 and rejected from Penn (wharton), dartmouth, stanford, and waitlisted at Duke (first choice), Claremont Mckenna, and Georgetown. I also have solid, although not amazing ec's. I'm now the one of the highest stat people to be rejected at my school. Just goes to show gpa and scores aren't everything. And hell, EC's aren't everything. Luck is something!</p>
<p>CollegeBound, check out Harvey Mudd. You may have a shot there.</p>
<p>gcards1: I was surprised that I didn't get into Stanford as well. Looking back, I think that one of my teacher recomendations was pretty weak - at least not nearly as good as it good have been had I picked a different teacher. But I didn't realize it at the time. </p>
<p>Given that it seems people have gotten in with comparable or lower stats, I was wondering if I might have better chances if I deferred my admission for a year, and applied again. I wouldn't be giving up my admission, so if I didn't get in again, I could still enter Brown '11.</p>
<p>cslaw: thanks for the recomendation about choosing courses, I will definitely keep that in mind if I decide to enter as '10.</p>
<p>Also, my school neither computes GPA, nor ranks students. So colleges would have seen a mix of As, A-s, and B+s.</p>
<p>Dude, I can't believe you're mad about going to Brown. I don't know much about their programs, since I never looked since I was never in that range, but why is Brown so much worse anyway? It's an Ivy League, so any program is good, right? It's a national university, one of the top, Ivy League, and offers engineering. It's not like it's an LAC with a 3/2 program or anything. </p>
<p>If you decide to defer for a year, that would be OK, I guess, it's your choice. I can't tell you that that's bad, but you don't know how frickin' lucky you are. Seriously. No one from my school has gotten accepted to Brown in the past couple of years, but we're all just a bunch of conformists, and Brown wants different, liberal people. </p>
<p>So, what are you going to do?</p>
<p>I was about to read this thread, then I realized that it * did* happen to me.
Except that I didn't get into Brown. Just a waitlist at Cornell.
Although I had a higher GPA and my SAT was just a little lower....</p>
<p>First of all, I'm not mad at getting into Brown. I'm just upset that I didn't get into Stanford and that I got waitlisted at Cornell. </p>
<p>The other reason I am considering defering a year, is that people I know who have done it have generally found it to be a positive experience. If I did defer, I would want to take the oppurtunity to try to get in to a slightly better school.</p>
<p>Actually, mostly I am annoyed that I messed up in how I presented myself to the colleges.</p>
<p>Ok ill pass on some advice that i was told from someone whos been through the application process. </p>
<p>For top 25 schools, the thrust of your application is not in your scores. This is more a condition for the adcom to read the rest of your app, if you will.</p>
<p>The adcom has a clear vision of what they want their freshman class to looklike, they need to know what you can bring to the school. If you cannot express yourself in the essay you do not bring anything to the school. </p>
<p>Likewise if you write an essay that presents an image of an undesirable student that focuses on how much better his grades are than anyone else or show a one-track mind geared towards learning but show no aspiration to use the education in a way that the school would be proud of, you will be extremely disadvantaged no matter how good your scores are.</p>
<p>Harshly put, the reality was that there was another stanford applicant, probably with lower SAT scores, that displayed a more desirable character in his application. Many people say that top25 admission is like rolling a dice, but its not, you cannot gain automatic admission by getting 2400 on the SAT.</p>
<p>Many Valedictorians get rejected from HYP every year, why do you think that is?</p>
<p>Peace</p>
<p>i can't believe you got waitlisted by Cornell. </p>
<p>Cornell engineering has a 38% admit rate... it shouldn't be too hard to get into. </p>
<p>btw, why didn't you apply to Berkeley if you're interested in engineering. are you oos?</p>
<p>No one should be confident about getting into Stanford. Stanford rejects more than half of perfect scorers - and guess what, most of those rejected have GPAs much, much higher than yours. </p>
<p>You should be glad you got into Brown, as they reject almost 70% of the Valedictorians that apply. I can't imagine how rare it is for someone with your GPA to be accepted, so appreciate the opportunities you have been given and perhaps you use them as a launching point to transfer if you so must.</p>
<p>you're disappointed u got into brown?? lol. if brown accepted me (i didn't apply) i'd be ecstatic. and 3.5 uw gpa is not low at all. obviously, the overachievers on this board will say so but it's not bad at all</p>
<p>Carl23, did you show a strong interest to attend those schools if they accept you?
Because if your don't show certain level of interest to those schools, it would be automatically reject no matter how good you are, esp. when you are an overqualified candidate.</p>
<p>Question--why did you apply to Brown if you don't like their engineering program? Just b/c they're "Ivy"? What about all the other great engineering schools in the country that would have loved to have you--and given you money as well?</p>
<p>Carl23 ~ Go to Brown. If you don't like it, then transfer. The risk that if you gap for a year, you will be rejected by the same top schools again, is very high.</p>
<p>It's hard to move on. I know this, as my son's story was similar to yours (2350, and 800's, and other great stuff, plus a 3.9). He missed all four of his top picks. He is also headed to engineering.</p>
<p>Grab the best option you have, and go succeed at it.</p>
<p>i can't believe you got waitlisted by Cornell. Cornell engineering has a 38% admit rate... it shouldn't be too hard to get into</p>
<p>One Statistic doesn't tell the whole story. Yes, the percent of accept is higher, but it's a self selecting group that applies. Bottom line, their SATs & GPAs are much higher, so the competition is tougher, despite the higher acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Don't take a year off. You've done very well at school, and seem motivated. I think you'd loose some of your "momentum", and unless you find the most amazing thing to do, a year can be a long time. There's also no guarantee that you would get into Princeton (remember, your HS stats will be the same)</p>
<p>Go to Brown. It might not be "the best" engineering school, but it certainly isn't the worst. It's a small enough program that you can make yourself known to the professors. </p>
<p>Forget about Princeton, and move on. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>