OP- Please take note as evidenced in this thread…The unwritten rules on CC apparently stipulate that you can’t express disappointment unless you are rejected by all schools (or “good” schools as determined at random by the respondent). Then and only then can you be justified in expressing frustration under the guise of “I am hurting” and “the system is rigged”.
Additionally you will be accused of being “entitled” if you don’t express joy at getting into a school that others kids where rejected by. “What is wrong with you my kid is on the wait list so you are an ingrate…”.
Lastly you are obligated to be apologetic if your scores are lower than the stats of any individual poster, friend of poster or loved one that has been rejected by a school you have been accepted by. " I know someone with higher gpa and ACT than yours and Vanderbilt was her dream school".
Cut the kid some slack…yes he/she is a kid. Parents here taking a shot at a kid because they are disappointed. Self awareness folks.
OP- You actually displayed great maturity, introspection and took personal accountability when you wrote…
“Remember to keep your expectations grounded and know that your success isn’t determined by what school you get accepted to - that’s up for you to decide.”
You set your sights high and it paid off huge, congratulations!! All great choices and I love that you aren’t blaming others for your negative outcomes. With that in mind give yourself credit for the positive ones, you deserve it!!
What confuses me, though, is your later post that you decided not to attend Vandy due to finances. Was this something that you could have identified prior to to application process? The other top schools probably wouldn’t have given you any more, leaving the question of whether you were destined to go to GT regardless of the results and your applications were essentially For Amusement Only.
Anyway–I think the lesson is to really, really try to focus on the impact of finances before the application process, because it sounds like you wasted your time applying to Vandy, and possibly a couple of others on the list.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP has clarified/apologized for the headline, so enough with the dogpiling, please. A post that begins “Not to pile on, but…” needs to be rethought.
@RayManta Yes, I ran net price calculators or program equivalents for all my schools. For Vanderbilt, they did not provide the financial aid we were expecting. I know the calculators aren’t 100% accurate, but Vanderbilt was expected to be about 5k/year more than GT/UGA instead of 15k/year. We may have been able to restructure and get a better package, but I was already pretty set on GT. It just made the decision clearer I guess.
For the other schools, they were mainly on par or better than Vanderbilt in terms of calculated price. There were a few, HYP, that were significantly cheaper. In fact, Harvard essentially matched GT/UGA, but, again, that was from the calculated price and not actual financial aid packages.
How did you develop that list? It’s not just the Sat2 scores, but the AP: super tough to apply to tippy tops for STEM, with the 3 in AP chem and calc BC and a 4 in calc AB. I think we probably told you this, along the way. On top of that, where are the STEM ECs and why LoRs from Lit and psych, not STEM?
But hey, I agree you have 3 wonderful choices. That’s your win.
The lesson for others is the need to carefully self match. That’s more than solid SAT1/ACT and gpa. Or what you want or where you think you can thrive.
In fact, I don’t see anything wrong with a list being top-heavy as long as it includes realistic matches and safeties also. Applying to ten top schools thinking you may get into only one or two of them is a valid strategy, provided you have the necessary qualifications - just because an element of randomness and uncertainty is so high.
Vanderbilt and GaTech are good schools. Think you should have applied more about Vanderbilt level.Had no chance at HYPS. You show not much in ECs and didn’t submit subject tests. Maybe you intended to go to GaTech due to finances unless you somehow got into a top Ivy or something.
OP, you learned a lesson the hard way. (We all do.) You shared it for the benefit of other future applicants. (Nice of you.) Now it’s time for you to congratulate yourself on some very good acceptances. Time to get excited about all that lies before you. Time to look forward. Congrats, and enjoy. You will have the time of your life.
@Jleto18 I’m impressed by how you’re handling your disappointment and thinking about helping others based on your experience. I’ll be rooting you on and hope you will update perhaps next year after you’ve settled in at GA Tech, a great school. Thank you for sharing your story with us.
You did fantastically, especially someone who applied to only extremely selective or impossible schools. Anything below 10 % is improbable and functionally impossible. It’s a crapshoot for any school with an admit rate below 20%. I do hope people get the message. I made my rockstar student kid apply to 3 true safeties (admit rates of 50-60%) out of 14.
I don’t see anything wrong with how you handled the Admissions process. You could have been accepted to a lot more schools, had you applied to less selective ones, but what would have been the point? Once UGA accepted you early, you were set with your safety school and you should have only applied to schools you preferred to that one.
First congrats on a great outcome! I’m going to disagree on your stats being subpar for the elite schools. They were fine. Plenty of 5s, solid SAT and outstanding GPA. Where you fell down, I think, is possibly he execution of your essay. As others pointed out, you applied for STEM but didn’t have much of a STEM narrative and your testing “weaknesses” were in STEM. The elites probably had many stronger STEM-focused apps to choose from. Had you indicated an interest in studying lit or somehow wanting to marry your obvious love of lit with civil discourse, you may have had a couple more offers of admission. But GT is a great school as are UGA and Vandy, so you did well.
