I was accepted to Penn which has been my dream since middle school! I was rejected by the other Ivy I replied to, Princeton, but no big deal to me hahaha XD
Stats:
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian
Demographic: South Jersey
Hooks: None
Income: Slightly upper middle class
Other: I’m gay
SAT: 1540 (superscored) 760-Math and 780-EBRW
GPA: 101.-something
Top 1% of class (dropped from valedictorian literally the last round they calculated class rank ;-
SAT II: Math II-740 Bio-M-710
Academically very weak technical/vocational high school
EC’s: 1st Violinist at a youth orchestra, New Jersey Science League 9th Place for Chemistry I (Team), FIRST FRC Robotics safety captain, Newspaper Copy Editor (only 9-10), NHS Vice President, Coordinator for a medical program at my school (I plan trips and presentations), STEM representative for my school, String Instrument Instructor, Acapella group section leader
@valsedeladieu I have no idea I’ve been stressed beyond belief these last few months, and I thought that I’d finally be DONE waiting after decisions. But nope! I guess I’m stuck in this horrific limbo for a few extra months
Your still don’t get it. Ivy’s reject 75% of valedictorians that apply. Being validictorian has NOTHING to do with why you were rejected.
Imagine a stack of 100 folders with the apps of really smart and really talented kids from all over the country and world. Only 5 folders get acceptances. Those 5 had a special something in their app that that school needed. It doesn’t mean the other 95 were not excellent candidates. There are great schools out there that want/need these other 95, but the other 95 seem only to focus on those schools that don’t need them.
@lhw1998@valsedeladieu and others who have wait lists… Move on to the schools that have accepted you. The chances of getting off these lists are lower than getting admitted! Be excited about your schools that are viable.
@suzyQ7@Orangebananapeel I was valedictorian and I was rejected/WLd everywhere as well. Trust me, once you’re in the top 10% or so, your class rank is meaningless. In fact, everyone from the top 10% of my school got rejected to every reach school they applied to. Some girl in the top 20% with a 27 on her ACT got into Princeton EA, but that’s only because she’s a fourth generation legacy whose family has donated over 100 grand (her grandma donated a building on campus). Grades aren’t a “hook” by any means - if anything, they’re expected of applicants.
@suzyQ7 I might be naive, but I’m still holding out hope for my waitlists. I really think I can make it off the waitlist if I write an incredible LOCI (even if it’s an unrealistic dream, i’m gonna go for it)
In my opinion, if you’re an unhooked applicant (meaning not URM/legacy/athlete/first-gen or someone with connections or from an underrepresented area) the only possible way of getting into multiple Ivies is to have a very strong focus in one field. Having that “spike” really helps. Stats don’t matter as much as you think. I got into Dartmouth even though I sent them a 670 on the Literature subject test. I got wait listed at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia even though I only sent them one subject test, my UW GPA is below 3.9, and I am not even close to being the valedictorian. There were several in my grade who have perfect GPAs, took harder classes than I did, have great leadership positions, and scored a 36 on the ACT and got flat out rejected at most of the ivies. There were even Intel finalists that got rejected from Harvard while I got wait listed. Why? I believe it’s because my application was heavily centered around one or two interests. Show admissions officers that you WANT to major in what you selected. Do everything possible to build on that interest. You cannot be the editor in chief of the newspaper while also winning a state science award and playing 3 varsity sports. It would be much better to be the editor in chief of the newspaper, an editor of a literary magazine, and a Scholastic gold key winner. As I said before, develop the “spike” and build your whole application around that. You can always switch your major once you’re in college
GPA: 3.89 on the 4.0 scale, 95.6 on the 100
SAT (didn’t send but was on my transcript): NEW 1300 (650M, 650V)
ACT: 31 superscored (35E, 26M, 31R, 31S)
Rank: 13/404
9 APs (only one 5 tho) and 5 more this year
Sucky public school
Pretty shocked to get into Brown. I only applied to the Ivies I liked and I think it helped me focus on the Brown supplements. Still, I may choose Pomona over Brown
@lhw1998@suzyQ7 still got to try, am I right? The fact is, I can’t really bring myself to just move on, since I’m low-income. And considering the only schools I did get accepted into are either no financial aid (OOS @ Berkeley) or just in-state local schools that aren’t even very reputable, I’ve pretty much shot myself in the foot HAHA
Accepted: Penn, Cornell
Waitlisted: Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown
Stats: 2330 SAT, 800/800 subject tests, top 3% of class, 3.93 UW GPA
I’m an unhooked ORM from a normal public school in an overrepresented state. Like @doorrealthe said, I think the main way to do well with ivies if you’re unhooked is to have a strong spike. I went very deep in an extracurricular that not many Ivy applicants are focused on (movie-making), which I think helped me stand out. Good luck to future applicants.
Don’t be too discouraged by everyone else’s accomplishments. Even though you might feel it’s too late, since you’ve spent so much time developing your “well-roundedness,” take the time you have left before sending in your application to make yourself a better person. Heck, I was waitlisted at Harvard which is more than I could ever have imagined, and I don’t have a “spike,” my application is probably one of the most well-rounded you’ll see. In my essay, I explained how always striving to build a perfect college resume hindered me, but I also asserted that thanks to my mom always pressuring me to get a 4.0 and do sports and music and community service and take leadership roles, I’ve found what I truly love doing. Take whatever time you have left to, essentially, refine the things you’ve found yourself loving.
whoo you can also try and combine two of your ECs!! I think that I was, ultimately, hurt by not having any super deep ECs, but I used my essays to connect the ones that I did have. although I was only accepted to one Ivy (Cornell), I was awarded a research scholarship thingy there for what I did, and I think that I was a competitive applicant (I was also accepted to pretty much all the non-Ivy elites I applied to but WashU, including Vandy and JHU and Rice and Harvey Mudd). I definitely was more of a well-rounded applicant than one with a spike, and I did what I loved in high school.
@valsedeladieu I am in the same situation: waitlisted/rejected at every Ivy, and accepted to OOS schools with no financial aid and in-state schools that have both no financial aid and aren’t that great. I was thinking about taking a gap year anyway to develop a more balanced college list, so I might do that if I don’t get off the waitlist (which I probably won’t.)
Rejected at Every Ivy, Northwestern, Vandy, Duke, Emory, JHU. Was accepted Berkeley Regents for some reason. Still seems weird that I can be selected as top 1% of a top 20 school but not be good enough for 1-19
Rejected: Stanford ED, Harvard, Princeton, Penn (only applied to American schools as a reach)
Accepted: University of Toronto (CompSci), University of Waterloo (Software Engineering) (accepted)
Still don’t know: UBC
SAT: 2220 (ugh)
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.7 W, 96.1% average
AP: Junior year: 5 on CompSci A, 5 on Calc AB (School doesn’t offer BC)
Senior year: Bio, Physics, Chem, English, Psych (Took the most APs possible at my school)
ECs: Mine were extremely weak
Internship at local tech company
2nd Dan Black Belt, competition and instruction experience ~400 hours of teaching, ~400 hours of training throughout high school
School cross-country team (I went to provincials, but didn’t place)
Captain of school trivia team
Yeah deep down I knew I wouldn’t get in with these shitty ECs but I figured it was worth a try anyways.
Misc:
Asian Male, Canadian, essays I thought were quite good, especially for Penn. Great recommendations. Heavy tech/programming focus in my application. Would have needed financial aid.
Conclusion:
I kinda had to figure out everything myself (nobody from my high school has applied to a university outside Canada in the past few years). I think I gave it my best shot, although since universities here are far less competitive, I didn’t realise how much I needed to prepare, especially with ECs, until it was too late. At this point I am still kinda dealing with this intense feeling of failure. I’m dreading having to tell my peers when I go to school tomorrow.
I’ve been stressed beyond belief these last few months, and I thought that I’d finally be DONE waiting after decisions. But nope! I guess I’m stuck in this horrific limbo for a few extra months
