In Retrospect: I Got 9 Bs and It Was Okay, Or: I Applied to 19 Schools and It Sucked (UCs, CMU)

Applying to College Admission Stories
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Thank you OP, that helps. My kids school is on a year system but both my kids had crappy AP Euro grades for a good part of the year and then my older one got a 5 and a 100 on the state test (which did get averaged in so she did ok). We will not discuss AP Chem which has few kids getting As but then half the class getting 5s which if they do not go to state school they do not get credit for anyway. Drives me nuts. Any reason only social studies does this?

I have nieces and nephews and their parents are looking for a sport. I posted on the athletic forum to see what options. Rowing has the best recruitment if you are tall but they are not. Second best odds are fencing 38% get recruited but the number of schools is not great.

I could see not wanting Cornell. You either like the hills or do not.

If you put in your Tufts application one minute before then I am not surprised at the outcome. Tufts REALLY focuses on the essays. More than any other school.

WUSTL really tracks interest so that is a factor as well. OTOH I had a friends kid who had a 2320 #6 in a large top school district, full pay, who flew out there, interviewed (really charming kid) and EDed and got deferred and rejected. Ended up at Cornell! So as much as you can generally say why, sometimes it is quirky.

How many days was SAT boot camp and any idea how much it helped? My K2 is very good at doing nothing so needs structure. Will have a few days after her summer activity so may look into it.

22

@SeekingPam, not true about AP credit.

May elite privates still give AP credit, though it may be limited in some way (limit on number of credits or you can only take full semester/year off if you have enough).

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Depends on the school. JHU you can graduate a year early with APs, certain HYPS, good luck.

24

OP, I get why you feel you are an Average Ecellent Student … There are so many kids with those scores and package it is hard to compete for the top 20! But, as you have found, there are a lot of “Average Excellent Schools” (20-50) where you can and did compete. And you have a great set of choices: Wow! Congrats!

PS, not reach heavy at all. You applied to 19, so even if 10 were reaches, it’s fine. Now whether that took up valuable time or not is a separate issue. But your list was fine!

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@SeekingPam, yes, it depends on the school. At HYS, you can definitely graduate a year early if you have the scores (and enough of them). You can graduate early (though possibly not a full year early) at many other elite privates as well.

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@dr0wning , this idea of “average” excellent has been interesting and open to wildly differing interpretations.:slight_smile: My assumption was that there are many kids like my D, who is of course my inspiration for average excellence. Her grades are not as high as yours, though still all A or A-, with a few Bs. Her SAT scores were in the 99th percentile. She has a total of 6 AP classes and 8 AP tests (she self-studied for one). 2 SAT 2s. Her ECs were two major clubs, musical instrument, volunteering, a minor internship, a few other things. No awards, no prizes. She has a modest social life, which is important to her. As it is, she is always busy, and I have no idea how kids like you fit it all in. Hats off to you, because IMO, you have achieved a lot. Anyway, the feedback seems to indicate that there are plenty of kids like you, who think they are average excellent, and plenty of kids like my D, who think they are too. As another poster pointed out, all of you average excellent kids might be rock stars in your own school, but when you are pitted against all the other average excellent students come application time, it becomes more clear who the exceptional kids are.

Again, for the benefit of readers, I know applying to all those UCs wasn’t extra work, but I do want to stress the significant cost factor. There will be people reading this who simply cannot afford to apply to 19 schools. My kid applied to 12, and four of those apps were free, yet I still paid over $400. Your parents must have spent around $1200. I hope that people reading this understand that if a balanced list is created, there is no need to spend that kind of money. Students can often get fee waivers if they sign up for emails, and some colleges have no app fee. You say that you weren’t really in love with some of the schools you applied to, so if someone wants to create an affordable and balanced list, they should try to stick to schools that are actually appealing in ways other than prestige. If a student does good research, it should be reasonable to come up with a list of at least two safeties, four or so matches, and a few reaches. 8-10 applications is a good number I think, and of course this can vary when people are trying to maximize financial opportunities. The key to getting in is to be sure that your stats are within the right ranges of the colleges you apply to. Of course, the more selective the school, the less chance of getting in, even if stats are very high for that school.

I admire all the work that you put into your high school years, and am not trying to criticize you. I just want other “average” excellent students to have a realistic idea of what is possible.

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I will not say where they are going but after taking 8 AP classes with mostly 4s and 5s, my kid will get a grand total of 3 elective credits! WOOHOO! It will not get her out of any prerequisites. At a state flagship her friends will get almost a year including for 3s. When I went to college electives were the fun part.

One question, if you get credit for APs, wherever you go, does the AP grade go on your college transcript? What about the courses you did not get credit? Are those listed too for graduate school?

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@SeekingPam the AP scores did not appear on my transcript. The equivalent course was put on with CR notation but different schools handle that differently

29

@PurpleTitan I am told a friend’s son who took nothing but APs for two years with mostly 5s got 0 at Yale.

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@SeekingPam, back in the day, if I remember correctly, if an AP meant credit, it appeared on my transcript.
The policy (like many things) may vary by school.

In any case, it’s possible to graduate early from Yale, which does accept AP credits:
http://yalecollege.yale.edu/new-students/class-2019/academic-information/acceleration/table-acceleration-credit
http://yalecollege.yale.edu/new-students/class-2019/academic-information/acceleration/acceleration-credits-advanced-work-yale
http://yalecollege.yale.edu/new-students/class-2019/academic-information/acceleration/award-acceleration-credit-based-advanced

Of course, AP policy varies a lot by school. Many have limits (many LACs seem pretty stingy). But almost all take them to some degree.

31

@PurpleTitan if you read the first link, it shows what classes you get AP credit for at Yale. Basically almost none for the most common APs. No econ, no history, no stats or CS, no psych, no science except Physics C (which is not offered at some schools) AND you have to get credit for calculus by getting a 4 or 5 on that or no Physics credit. The only things you can possibly get credit for are 1 (not 2) AP English if you get a 5 on one of the two common English APs (either or not both), calculus bc with a 4 or 5 or AB with a 5, a few foreign languages (specific ones) and music and Art History (which many people do not take). Plus a lot kids take calculus again instead of getting credit so that is a no go. I know this kid got none and I also know he got mostly or all 5s junior year and he took every AP that fit into his schedule. He did not care, was happy to get in.

While there may be a way to graduate early at Yale, the scores you get on APs are largely irrelevant to that.

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@SeekingPam, fair point, it’s difficult to amass a lot of acceleration credits via AP at Yale, though it seems that a challenging HS is helpful as the main way to graduate early there seems to take classes beyond the introductory level freshman year.

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Yes if you notice I said the scores you get in AP are not helpful. As long as you learn the material in AP classes so that you can take an accelerated course load that is helpful but that can happen with dual enrollment or other types of advanced classes. Also from what I understand, since it is after all YALE, it is not that easy to take the accelerated courses. I know this kid who aced his APs was not having an easy freshman year despite being focused and not being a party animal. He is very happy.

34

Great summary of your high school & college application experience. Thank you for sharing! You are definitely more excellent than average! And, while some parents are saying that applying to 19 schools is too much, my son ended up doing the same. It is so hard to predict where “average excellent” kids will get accepted these days! What are "safe/target schools anymore? No one knows for sure until you get the decisions!

We preferred to have a wide list of possible options, because, in my son’s case, he just wasn’t as excited about our state schools as he was about others he saw. And, he was also having trouble picking his top choices, because almost everywhere we visited had amazing pros & a few cons. He picked an ED school, but then got deferred & eventually denied. A few other rejections & waitlists appeared at the end as well, so we were glad he had a variety of other nice options to be excited about. It gave HIM an opportunity to turn the tables around and make some choices in April, after the colleges had had the upper hand during the rest of the year. In hindsight, maybe 12-16 apps would have been a better number. But, four were UC schools from OOS, and at the time, it seemed a waste to not do at least a few of those after he had completed that whole long form.

We are a military family with old, old cars, but, education is a big priority, so we saved for it & are willing to spend $$ on it. Thank goodness we only had two children, though!

Thanks again for the college wrapup! Congrats on CMU!!! (Son was waitlisted there for Computer Engineering…)