I want to know what you think about my college decisions.
SAT: 2330
GPA: 3.81 at time of application, slightly lower now
AP: 8 5’s, 3 4’s
Senior Year Courseload: 5 APs and a handful of post-introductory undergraduate-level courses… considered very rigorous compared to the rest of my state, but about the average within the school I attend (competitive admissions-based STEM)
Awards and other stuff: excellent ECs, leadership, research internship at a major uni, some major state level awards in math and science competitions, robotics at national level
White Male
Income Bracket: 185k for a family of 5 (1 currently in college)
Hooks: none, but legacy at Georgia Tech
Admitted:
UNC Chapel Hill (attending, practically everyone from my school gets in)
NC State
Georgia Tech
UCLA
UVA
Waitlisted:
Harvard
Brown
Case Western
Rejected:
Cornell (applied ED)
UC Berkeley EECS
U Mich CoE
MIT
Caltech
Princeton
Do you think I could’ve done better? Was I just unlucky?
You should have applied to a few LACs (Amherst, Wesleyan, etc.) A male from an underrepresented state with your stats would almost certainly have gotten into a smaller college.
That was a rough go for you it seems. But with the reachy-ness of the ones left after you dismiss the costly OOS colleges that can’t have been unexpected. It is surprising you weren’t admitted to Case, have to wonder if they wanted interest as it is listed as ‘important’ on the CDS.
I think you made the best choice from what you have. Someone with your qualifications will do well as anywhere else. Are you remaining on waitlists?
I have almost similar stats as yours (2330 SAT, excellent ECs, all A+ grades in high school).
However, I don’t have the internships (in my country, opportunities are minimal, so maybe they kept that in mind).
I think getting waitlisted into Harvard was an achievement in itself. I know that it will be difficult to actually get a spot at the end, but you can always say that Harvard didn’t reject you
Also, I have no clue why UMich rejected you. You should have got in there.
Apart from these two, the others are no surprise. Caltech, MIT, Princeton etc are too selective. Unless one has a MAJOR hook (like a successful startup, a bestseller etc), almost everyone gets rejected.
P.S. If I were you, I would have chosen GeorgiaTech (for engg). Going by the academic reputation only though.
You’re a few months from graduating – a few more months and you’ll be in the whirlwind of your freshman year on an exciting campus. Let this go. Why are you asking internet strangers to comment on “you could have done better” or not?
Or admit that you feel entitled or jealous or hurt more than you should – but let it go; that’s the sign of maturity. No one will care. Each of the schools that admitted you have tens of thousands of disappointed rejectees – who would love to be in your shoes. Please get some great perspective – perhaps one percent of the humans on this planet will ever go to a post HS place of education. Count your blessings.
It’s a brutal world out there for college applicants. There are just too many terrific, accomplished kids chasing too few slots. You are fortunate to have such a desirable public option. My son’s stats were nothing like yours, but UNC-CH was his dream school. He (and his parents, to be perfectly honest) fell in love with it. He knew it was a big reach from out-of-state, and he was rejected. He might have had a decent shot as a NC resident. I don’t think anyone who can attend UNC-CH with in-state tuition should be disheartened. In fact, you are blessed to have such a great option, since it allowed you to reach very high with other applications knowing you were a likely admit to an affordable, world-class school.
OP, this year seems worse for a lot of kids. But I’m surprised you didn’t get into Cornell ED and Michigan. But you got into a lot of good colleges. Not terrible results.
@circuitrider, almost no LACs offer in-depth engineering, so they wouldn’t be good options for someone interested in engineering.
In any case, other than Case, the results aren’t terribly surprising (and Case cares about interest). Admissions is idiosyncratic/arbitrary to a large extent and strong academics just puts you in the running. Note that UNC is almost as tough to get in to as an elite private if you are OOS, so you are lucky that it is a fairly cheap in-state option.
@determined2300, rejection from UMich COE as OOS isn’t shocking. UMich is another public where there is a big difference between the in-state and OOS admit rate. OOS admit rate to UMich is in the 20’s. OOS admit rate to UMich COE is probably less than 20%.
@DrGoogle, rejection to Cornell ED also isn’t surprising. If you look at the Cornell ED thread, the results there seem very idiosyncratic (much more so than some comparable schools in ED), with lower-stats kids getting accepted and higher-stats kids getting rejected all the time.
The OP’s admission were on par with expectations for an unhooked white male applying for engineering. Most of the privates are lottery schools who need a reason a specific reason to admit you. You just didn’t give them that reason, and maybe Case has a bit of Tufts syndrome.
The OP will do fine at UNC-CH. It is a good school with similar opportunities that the schools that rejected him.
UNC-CH is a great school, and you’re attending for in-state price. That is amazing!
UVa and UCLA are also amazing schools that reject a ton of very well-qualified students, and you got in! That’s something to be extremely proud of, especially as an out-of-state applicant.
Think of it this way-the schools that you gained admittance to are dream schools for plenty of very intelligent students. You had some amazing options, and you have one great option that you can afford.
Most applicants don’t state whether they went for SEAS or not. At Harvard, SEAS is within Art&Sciences and all undergrads are part of Harvard College anyway.
