<p>Has this scenario happened to anyone you know? Say there was this one senior who everyone thought was going to get into the top colleges (great grades, extracurricular, liked by everyone, etc)... However, he is rejected from most if not all of his/her schools including some matches/safeties and is forced to go to a mediocre state school or "average" school...</p>
<p>Does anyone know anyone to whom this has happened?</p>
<p>Double (actually three) posts (ignore this one, not sure why they duplicated as I sent only once)</p>
<p>Double post (ignore this one)</p>
<p>Ignoring your qualifications that state schools are mediocre and others are just average, what you mention is usually something that has happened every year to some who have visited these boards and in some of those cases the student got into no colleges because of the failure to apply to a true safety (e.g., contrary to what some statistically high students may believe, a true safety does not include ANY college that accepts less than 50% of its applicants)</p>
<p>This happened to quite a few people on here (CC)...not sure what happened in each case exactly, but many weren't well-rounded and spent too much time working on that "perfect SAT" score and founding pointless clubs and stuff like that instead of pursing their passions (imo).</p>
<p>bump...........</p>
<p>Yes, there are posts like this on CC. Nothing to do with princessbell's post, the top schools are so competitive that there is no predicting. Then the matches/safeties look at certain applicants and figure that they are not going to enroll so they don't take them. Why do you ask?</p>
<p>cuz everyone acts here that they are DEFINITELY sure they will get into an ivy league... Are there ppl here who get rejected from every ivy they apply to?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Are there ppl here who get rejected from every ivy they apply to?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes. Usually their participation on CC diminishes considerably after admission decisions are announced in April.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Has this scenario happened to anyone you know? Say there was this one senior who everyone thought was going to get into the top colleges (great grades, extracurricular, liked by everyone, etc)... However, he is rejected from most if not all of his/her schools including some matches/safeties and is forced to go to a mediocre state school or "average" school...</p>
<p>Does anyone know anyone to whom this has happened?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Heh, yes, I know someone this happened to.</p>
<p>Me.</p>
<p>In all fairness, my state school is not "mediocre" or "average", it's not yet at the top of the rankings but it's an excellent school that's quickly climbing the ranks.</p>
<p>I had one of the highest SATs in my graduating class, great recs, ECs, etc. But my freshman and 1st semester sophomore grades were what really hurt my application. Every top school I applied to rejected me.</p>
<p>I'm glad to say though that I'm doing great at my state university (I am a sophomore now). I love it here, good friends, things to do, etc. Academically, I'm doing very well too. I'm in the honors program here, which actually has quite a few people who are "Ivy-caliber" students. I'm doing excellent in my classes. I've come to realize that there probably is not a huge difference in the education I'm getting here and what I would have gotten at an "elite" school; I know because I've got a bunch of friends at elite colleges and we've talked about this stuff now and then. And I'm also paying about 1/3 what I would have paid at a private top college.</p>
<p>Search on these boards for the story of Andison. No better example than that.</p>
<p>Yup. This person was disappointed because instead of the Ivy school of their choice, they had to attend U Chicago <em>shakes head</em></p>
<p>Just don't apply to all Ivies or all competitive schools, and you'll get in somewhere.</p>
<p>It happened to the salutatorian of our hs a year ago (2006)--he applied to H,Y,P,MIT and Ohio State Honors. He had the usual grades, scores, and ECs of all the students who were accepted he just didn't offer the schools anything particularly unique or different and he was unlucky to be shot down all over, especially as he was so sure he would get in that he didn't apply to anything under the Ivy's other than OSU. He got rejected at all except OSU Honors.</p>
<p>What was really hard for him is that others in the class did get in to these schools. Maybe their passions shown through better, maybe their applications positioned them better, maybe better recs or intervieews? who knows....</p>
<p>He is doing fine on a free ride at OSU, getting a lot of great opportunities. His parents, though, are still very bitter.</p>
<p>To avoid this, find a school with rolling admissions as a safety. Be sure you can love this safety and apply in the fall. Then, you'll have that one in the bag before you apply anywhere else. </p>
<p>Do not apply only to the ivies! There are so many great schools out there that offer a top-notch undergrad experience whose names are not on the tip of everyone's tongue.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Are there ppl here who get rejected from every ivy they apply to?
[/quote]
</p>
<p><em>laughing</em> I did.</p>
<ul>
<li>A happy MIT alum</li>
</ul>
<p>I've known people who everyone assumed would be attending Harvard, Yale or Princeton but ended up being rejected by all the Ivies. However, in the three cases I am familiar with those students were smart enough to apply to excellent and challenging non-Ivies (Carnegie Mellon, U of Rochester, Kenyon) so that they did not have to settle for the local state school at the last minute. There are a lot of great colleges and universities between the Ivies and the "fifth tier" state colleges.</p>
<p>Mediocre state school? No. Often times they'll settle for colleges just a rank below Ivies or an honors program with lots of $$. If you've done well in high school you will be rewarded. This is coming from someone who goes to Jian Li's school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Mediocre state school? No. Often times they'll settle for colleges just a rank below Ivies or an honors program with lots of $$. If you've done well in high school you will be rewarded. This is coming from someone who goes to Jian Li's school.
[/quote]
so there is no such thing as an outstanding student (all As in 10 AP classes) who is all around great getting rejected from ivies and the competitive non-ivies and having to settle for something like northeastern or arizona state university?</p>
<p>Not if you carefully select what schools you're going to apply to. That's why there are reaches -- and Ivies are reaches for everyone -- targets, and safeties.</p>
<p>You need to realistically assess your chances.</p>
<p>^But I know someone who got accepted to only 3/20 schools and got rejected from reaches, matches, and safeties and ended up attending a safety.</p>