<p>For those who would like to post stats and acceptances.</p>
<p>My S- AA/Hisp Male NY
GPA 93uw/101w
Rank 6/399 2%
SAT 2200 (720CR710M770W+10 essay), SATII 720 Physics 710 USH
AP Scholar with Dist. 9 APs (5,5,4,4,3 so far)
National Achievement Outstanding Participant
Good ECs Varsity sports + 3 great letters of rec.
In- Cornell ILR, Notre Dame, NYU, Binghamton, Fordham, Hofstra+
Full Ride- St Johns, Baruch CCNY Deans Scholar
Out- Harvard, Yale, Penn, Princeton, MaCauleys CCNY
Wait- Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown
Will stay on waitlist for C & D but going strong for Cornell .
Happy but not ecstatic 
Best wishes for all in class of 2013!</p>
<p>Congratulations … Cornell, NYU, Notre Dame are certainly great schools …but as a newcomer here I am really surprised that your son - URM + scores, ECs, GPA/rank - was not accepted by any of the other schools you list … are you aware of any weaknesses in his application that you didn’t mention that you could share? Can anybody else comment?</p>
<p>Accepted: Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Northwestern, UChicago, Tulane, Penn State, Pitt Honors College, Carleton, Case Western, University of Virginia, Bowdoin, WashU St Louis</p>
<p>Waitlisted: Yale, University of Michigan</p>
<p>Rejected: MIT</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2240 (800 R, 710 M, 730 W)
ACT: 30- not sent, taken sophomore year
SAT II: 760 Math II, 720 Spanish reading, (I got a 610 in Chem and I was so disappointed I didn’t send it)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 UW & 4.74 W at time of application (3.94 UW at end of year and 4.8088 W at end)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): no rank officially but application reflects 1/~155
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (self study, junior, noted on app, 4) AB sub (5), Lang (5), Bio (4), Stat (4), Gov (3, not sent/reported)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, Calc 3, differential equations, TA for Calc AB class, independent study calc 3, ap chem, ap physics b, honors psych, ap spanish v
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar w/ Distinction, some state science fair awards, some debate awards, some small time xc awards, etc
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): cross country (11, 12), track (10, 11, 12) science competitions (two of them for two years each), spanish club, volunteering at hospital, volunteering club, speech and debate, skiing club, NHS, etc
Job/Work Experience: brief summer job,
Volunteer/Community service: lots of volunteering
Summer Activities: classes at local college, distance running training, part time job
Essays: pretty good, I got lots of positive feedback from my admissions reps on my letters, and from friends and teachers
Teacher Recommendation: I expect they were good, from my very intelligent and thoughtful english teacher who i think likes me, and from my chem teacher who knows me pretty well and seems to like me
Counselor Rec: probably decent, she knows me relatively well
Additional Rec: sent a recommendation that reflects my interviewers comments from science fairs I’ve done, sent to Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton
Interview: they all went well. My harvad one had three interviewers. I interviewed for MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UChicago
Supplementary Material: just a resume, and I included a statement on research for Northwestern, Columbia, and a few others</p>
<p>State (if domestic applicant):PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public, decent but not very competitive
Ethnicity: half hispanic (mom) half white (dad)
Gender: male
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): 80-90k, middle class (they were all need blind)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): half URM, middle class, my mom didn’t finish college, my dad did very late in his life, both parents veterans (idk if that’s even a hook, but their jobs might make it obvious on the common app)
Reflection
Strengths: I’m sure the URM factor helped pushed me over the edge. My scores were admissible and pretty decent, and I had a good GPA with a tough curriculum. My interviewers also let me add details about myself that I wanted adcom to know and helped me get in I’m sure. I noted I exceeded my schools expectations greatly
Weaknesses: my math score (i’m a math major currently) and my lack of job or research depth (I’ve done both but not as intensively as others)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think my essay helped because it was amusing and they’ve likely spent long hours reading pretty bland essays. The URM factor surely helped and the fact that my scores are in the right range for them probably helped their numbers on both diversity and published SAT (they get to add a hispanic statistic and I won’t hurt their numbers). Hopefully my curriculum, recommendations, grades, and scores helped me too</p>
<p>Congratulations! That’s an impressive list of schools you were accepted into. My daughter is considering many of the same schools and wondering if you would be willing to share which offered attractive merit packages? Cost will be a big factor in her final choice. Thanks for any insight you can offer.</p>
<p>While pd may respond, they are not a very active member, so I will provide some info for you now:</p>
<p>need based FA only: Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Yale, MIT</p>
<p>merit of varying degrees: Northwestern, UChicago, Tulane, Pitt, Carleton, Case Western, University of Virginia, UMichigan, WashU St Louis</p>
<p>I’m not sure about merit (maybe others will comment, or just Google): Penn State, Bowdoin,</p>
<p>This type of information if readily available on the college websites. Also see the Resources sticky thread at the top of this forum for links to outside and NHRP scholarships.</p>
<p>Ailec,</p>
<p>JME: In terms of biggest packages of my son’s schools: (Family of 5 between 70 and 80K income)</p>
<p>Vanderbilt came out with the best aid for both need-based and for merit (full tuition) plus need (another 13K) so that our billed amount (tuition, room, board and fees) was about $900. No loans or work study in package.</p>
<p>Caltech was next in line. Billed amount was about $1400. No loans or work study in package.</p>
<p>Princeton was next with about $5400 billed amount. I think they allow outside scholarships to wipe away work study. No loans in package.</p>
<p>Penn: Can’t totally remember but it was around 9-10K billed amount. Loans and work study in package.</p>
<p>MIT: Billed amount around 9-10K. Loans and work study in package. MIT allows 6K of outside scholarship to wipe away loans and work study. (Thus lowering billed amount to between 2.5-4K)</p>
<p>WUSTL: Wasn’t generous to my son but they do have top scholarships for those that they really want.</p>
<p>For schools that are merit-based, UT Dallas was the most generous with the McDermott Scholars Program which is full ride plus money for travel abroad and you can stack outside scholarships, so can come away earning money during college years.</p>
<p>Son accepted to Engineering Honors Program at Texas A&M University, College Station. </p>
<p>Rejected at Harvard & Wharton.</p>
<p>Freshman year, starting GPA 3.6 with 9.5 credits = bottom of the class</p>
<p>Refused transfer to alternative school.</p>
<p>Ending GPA 4.06 with 31 credits. Class Rank Top 25%. Number of credit hours earned top 2%. Graduated with High Honors on Distinguished Achievement Program (most rigorous in Texas). </p>
<p>NHRP Scholar.</p>
<p>National AP Scholar. (Approximately, 5% of students at his school received this recognition)</p>
<p>National Merit Semifinalist. (Top 2% of students at his high school received this recognition)</p>
<p>PSAT score 219 </p>
<p>SAT M, CR, W, Math II & Biology all in 700s. </p>
<p>10+ AP courses. Calc BC (5), Calc AB subscore (5), Macroeconomics (5), English Lang (5), US History (5), Biology (5), Chemistry (4), English Literature (4), Govt (4).</p>
<p>Earned A grade in AP Physics in senior year, but did not take AP Tests because he is certain he wants to repeat it in college.</p>
<p>Earned A grade in AP Computer Science AB, but test is no longer offered by College Board and was certain he wants to repeat the subject in college.</p>
<p>Weakness: Lack of support from counselors and administrators who felt he did not qualify to be at the school to justify a low assigned starting GPA.</p>
<p>Strength: Ability to rapidly overcome adversity and overcome deficiencies.</p>
<p>Perraziman, congratulations to your son! He will have a great college career at A&M.</p>
<p>Thanks ScienceGirlMom, son is looking forward to being at A&M. Once he knew he was accepted there he really was not interested in applying to any other schools. He knew he would have friends at A&M that he would not out of state and that was a big reason he did not want to go anywhere else.</p>
<p>He applied to Harvard and Wharton because I insisted he should apply to at least a couple of schools that required the SAT Subject Tests (since I had paid for the tests). lol. So, these were the two for which he said he was willing to leave the state.</p>
<p>I just saw this thread after being inactive for a while and decided that I might try to make a post to help the class of 2018.</p>
<p>My info:
Puerto Rican, not first generation, no legacy to any of my schools.</p>
<p>Academics:
4.0 GPA UW, class not ranked, but a tough school
11 APs by end of senior year: World History (5), French (5), APUSH (5), Chemistry (5), English Lit (4), Statistics (5, self taught), Calculus AB (5). Senior APs: Gov (5), Physics B (5), Calc BC (5), English Lang (5)
SAT: 740M, 750W, 760R
SATII: 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry
PSAT: 231
National Merit Finalist, NHRP scholar, Ventures Scholar, Opportunity Scholar, AP Scholar w/Distinction, Discus Awards Finalist, Phi Beta Kappa Book Award.</p>
<p>ECs:
Robotics 9-12: Team Captain 9-12, 1st place Worlds Award 2010 w/patent awarded for design, World Champions 2011, State Champions 2012, World Finalists 2013
Community Service 10-12: ~700 hours, mentored children’s robotics team, they won the State Championship and 3rd place Research Award at Worlds
Viola 9-12: Principal Violist 9-12, 1st alternate at regional competition, invited to state
Model United Nations 10-12: VP 11, President 12, Letters 10-12. Raised >$8,000 for charity at fundraising events
National Honor Society 11-12: President 12
Science Club 10-12: President 11-12
National French Honor Society 12
Tri-M Music Honor Society 12
Program Delivery Council: 1 of 4 student reps, work with teachers and parents to solve issues in the school community (bullying, cheating, etc.)</p>
<p>Essays & teacher recommendations factor in much more than people think, and test scores are the opposite. I tried to make the former as unique and high quality as possible.</p>
<p>Accepted: Stanford REA, Harvard, Yale, Duke, Rice, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, University of Miami, University of Washington
Waitlisted: UChicago, Princeton
Rejected: none
Attending: Stanford</p>
<p>Open to questions if incoming seniors have questions, but realize that I don’t check this account very often. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks entomom and sbjr, you’re right I’m not a frequent user. But, I actually have read several of the posts you two have made and I’m very grateful to have had the forums you two moderate as a resource.</p>
<p>But, as they covered, many of these schools are need-blind (meaning they do not consider your ability to pay when they admit you) and are full-need (meaning they reduce their tuition through grants which do not need to be payed back to a point that the FAFSA has determined is affordable for you). So, I would strongly encourage you and your daughter to consider these schools if she is an academically strong student as I’m sure she is if she is considering these schools. </p>
<p>Any specific questions you can feel free to personal message me sometime. I’m happy to help someone go through the same process as I did. </p>
<p>With regard to Bowdoin, they have quite nearly as generous of a FA package as do Harvard and Princeton. They are a good school to consider alongside them as it serves as a match school for the HYP-type of student that offers good money. </p>
<p>However, I was very pessimistic going into the admissions process and fully expected a series of cold rejections. So I would strongly suggest you have some strong safety schools where she can be happy, satisfied academically, and include those that might offer a good merit scholarship or generous financial aid.</p>
<p>Addendum: I am attending Princeton, by the way. I’m grateful to have been admitted to so many great schools.</p>
<p>@Sbjdorlo Thanks so much for the very helpful info. Hopefully , my daughter can receive packages that are comparable .</p>
<p>The new cycle has begun, closing this thread.</p>