<p>So, I was rejected/waitlisted from most of my top choices. I was only accepted to UC-Berkeley, and UMich... and they were definitely not my top choices when I applied. (Sorry if that sounds bratty).</p>
<p>So you are saying UMich and UC-B were your safety schools? Then you are a very lucky kid - I don't care what your stats are - unless maybe you submitted your app early enough to UMich to allow for adding another school later?</p>
<p>There's definitely middle ground between "top choices" and "safety schools."</p>
<p>^^ I didn't mean that they were my safety schools... but more like match schools. Like what Student615 is saying. I also submitted my UMich application in the middle of January.</p>
<p>(For that matter, they could be reach schools, but still not top choices. If the OP is in-state for either Berkeley or Michigan, then this is a likely case. For example, many strong CA applicants use schools within the UC system for safeties. But since all of the UCs require the same application, most remotely competitive students, as long as they're already filling everything out for another UC, will just go ahead and check the boxes for Cal and UCLA. For states with such strong university sytems, most students who might possibly have any remote interest just apply because it makes sense to do so.)</p>
<p>OP, that's awesome man! I found out the same thing, being rejected from everywhere but UF and Rollins, and I decided to go to Rollins, which I LOVE! Plus they are giving me WAY more money than any OOS schools ever would lol.</p>
<p>I'm sure Michigan is a nice school, but it's the LAST place on Earth I would ever attend, because I was born and raised a Buckeye fan. That also helped me turn down UF lol. I'm sure you'll have a great time though, and Michigan's team will probably start out next year at #2 (behind USC)</p>
<p>I have pretty much the same story. I applied to eleven schools, naively thinking I would get into them even though they were all reaches for me. Well I ended up getting rejected/waitlisted by all of them except for my one safety, Bentley College. I just went up there last weekend and am in love with Bentley. It looks like an amazing school and I can't wait to go there. I would have never even considered it if I had gotten in anywhere else, but now I feel like I was meant to go there.</p>
<p>I have a funny story about why I even applied to Bentley. I wasn't even considering applying there until one day I got a postcard from them, you know like all the post cards you get from different colleges. This postcard said that if you fill it out and send it back you enter a contest to win an iPod. I thought what heck why don't I send it in, maybe I'll win. I had been filling out a bunch of other postcards too so I just sent it with the bunch. As time went by I totally forgot that I had even sent the postcard. Then one day when I came home from school there was a box in front of my house, it said on it that it came from Bentley College. I was like what is this, another stupid brosure or information thing. Then when I opened it, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had won the contest. I had a new iPod. This was the first contest I had ever won. After getting the iPod, I thought the least I could do is send them an application, and they could be my ultra-safety. I never expected to go there, but I was grateful so I applied. Now I look back and think, wow I only applied here cause I won an iPod. Not because of the great academics, the resources they have or anything, it was because of a stupid iPod. I guess marketing really works! Hahaha. :)</p>
<p>^ ^ ^
cool story</p>
<p>LOL. That was the best $300 Bentley ever spent.</p>
<p>That's pretty cool. Their marketing actually worked...</p>
<p>this thread is great. I got waitlisted/rejected at all my top choices this year. It came as a bit of a surprise because they were all schools that were pretty selective but I didn't really see them as reaches because of the level of achievement that I'm at, but I realized that some of them probably weren't right for me in the first place. I am happy and content to be attending one of my safety schools, a very nice private liberal arts college, in their honors program, with a very generous financial aid package. I'm still a little bummed about carleton, but it seems like the school I'll be attending is pretty similar to carleton in its atmosphere. otherwise I'm fine. I'm feeling a lot better now than I was 3 weeks ago. a lot of people like me (more specifically, females!) got kind of screwed this year, but I have a feeling this will all work out for the better. good luck to all of you!</p>
<p>mike hart does dat hiezman on dem hoes!!!</p>
<p>congrats, i wish i had applied i know sooo many people going there this year!</p>
<p>My D. confessed to me that she "felt like she had dodged a bullet" when MIT, her all along professed first choice, rejected her. She has always loved the social sciences, especially history and psychology, but this year as a senior she had to take a pro forma Senior Current World Events class to graduate and she was dreading it, but she ended up getting really turned on by analysing the...drumroll...Israeli-Palestinian conflict. NOT what you want your kid to fall in love with right? "Oh yeah kid, have a ball spending your career stuck in a quagmire!" </p>
<p>She applied to Notre Dame and really for the direction in which she is going it will be a better education FOR HER than MIT. She applied on a whim never having visited but knowing she wanted to get back to her Catholic school roots and her visit was incredible--she connected with the other students in a way she had never on any other campus visit, and it ended up being very strong in areas she wants to pursue.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I applied to a few reach schools based on the fact that other people wanted me to--guidance counselor, extended family--and I've always counted my blessings for being rejected. They were schools that I wouldn't have been as happy at, but also from which I probably wouldn't have been able to turn down acceptances. Thank you, admissions, for knowing I didn't belong there</p>
<p>Enjoy Michigan!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I couldn't have said it better myself.</p>
<p>Me too, theres more money floating around, its going to probably be alot more fun</p>
<p>Rejected from Vassar ED, Northwestern RD (top choices). Waitlisted William & Mary, Emory and Oberlin. Accepted University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). Realized there was a reason European universities wanted me ... I'm a star at what I'm good at; just average at what I'm not. In Europe I can study only what I'm good at. Decided not to write the "you're my #1 choice" letter to waitlist school and go with the flow. I'm on my way to Scotland and very excited. Can't wait to study Psych. at St. Andrews and am very proud of my choice. Upside: Am studying someplace I feel I will excell. Downside: Visits home will be limited. I'll miss Mom and Dad ;{</p>
<p>Forgot to add: Accepted Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence. Not my top choices.</p>
<p>I have a similar story. </p>
<p>My dream school was BC but I figured I wouldn't get in so BU was my "i'm 85% sure i'm going there unless i get rejected from BC" school........HOWEVER, I got a fat WAITLISTED letter from BU and my suspected reject from BC and Vanderbilt. I was heartbroken for 3 days and then decided to start considering my other options. I narrowed it down to Gonzaga, Univeristy of Puget Sound, and Santa Clara. Finally I decided to go with Gonzaga because they offered me the most financial aid and I could not be happier with my decision. I visited the campus adn it looks awesome. If I had gotten into BU I would have had a lot harder time making my decision and I wouldn't get any financial aid. </p>
<p>Sometimes it nice when the colleges narrow down your choices for you!</p>
<p>I have a similar story as well! My dream school was Hopkins, which I got into but with no financial aid. UMD College Park was my absolute last choice. I received $8000 a year from UMD (in-state), so I would just have to pay room and board. After visiting the campus and checking out the engineering kids, I'm so excited to be going there! :)</p>
<p>To the OP. I had the same experience with grad school. The right school accepted me...and it turned out for the best. I got into Kellogg and Chicago B-Schools and didn't get into Harvard and Stanford. </p>
<p>I went to Kellogg and it turned out to be the best choice because it's an awesome school and a great all-around experience with a new, fresh, smart attitude that other schools started to emulate only years later. Incidentally, while I was there, Kellogg was rated #1 by the Wall Street Journal...so it went from 6th or 7th to #1 and my "top" choices fell in comparison (not that ratings matter much - they are all great schools) The key thing is that the RIGHT school for me selected me.</p>