Hey guys,
I just recently got turned down ED2 by Lafayette College, the result came 2 days ago and I’m still emailing the admission counselor to ask about their decision.
Anyway, here are my stats:
1480 New SAT: 760 Math, 720 Reading and Writing.
Weighted GPA: 10th and 11th grade: 3.75; 12th grade: 4.0
Designated Major: Mechanical Engineering, Designated Minor: English
Honors and Awards:
National English Academic Competition - Second Prize (12)
National English Internet-based Competition - First Prize (11)
Regional English Academic Competition - Gold Medals (10,11)
Provincial English Academic Competition - First Prizes (11,12)
( I know it's all about English, cuz I'm an English major )
Work Experience: Part-time English teacher during the summer months following 11th grade
ECs: this is my strongest part I think
Varsity Basketball (11,12)
Volunteer teaching at an orphanage (it's more like the city child-care centre, but all the kids their were orphans)
School English and Music Club Founder - 42 members for the former, 32 for the latter
Annual Community Service Event that raised fund to support nursing homes within the province
Head of Student Council - Activity Team
Overseas Study Orientation Fair Counsellor
Founder and President of an organization that holds meetings and workshops on Entrepreneurship and Start-ups
Head Organizer (by popular voting) of the School Annual Halloween Party
Lafayette's essay: super creative and original
Also emailed 2 letter of interest
Financial need: can only afford 10k a year ( I think this hits me the most )
Not sure if it's true, but if your classmates apply for the same school as you, you are eliminating each other's chance. I heard that my classmate applied to Lafayette too, but never directly asked her.
SO FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR RESULTS HERE, ALONG WITH YOUR STATS, SO THAT WE CAN CURSE OUR LUCK TOGETHER.
@prezbucky my high school is a specialized one, meaning everyone has to major in some subject, I have asked my counselor and she told me all GPA is Weighted, so I really don’t know about unweighted GPA.
Your odds would have been better if you’d applied for an English major.
Are you an American citizen? (internationals are in a different pool).
Were you straight up rejected or were you deferred?
Holistic admissions mean a school like Lafayette is rarely a guarantee for anyone, no matter how great your stats are. Lafayette has an acceptance rate of under 30%, so it might be a match school for many people, but matches are not the same as a safety. Plus, the financial issue was probably a minus.
For internationals, being able to pay 10k or less is almost always an immediate deny unless there’s a super compelling reason to admit., something the student brings the school that no one else does. When the college has to provide 55k in institutional funds (no federal aid, no loans) it’s really, really, hard for internationals regardless of stats.
I think you misunderstand the US admissions system. First, as noted above, internationals needing a lot of aid have a very difficult time and you have stated that you are an international Asian male who needs a tremendous amount of aid. So no matter how great your academic stats are Lafayette is a reach. Lafayette College is a private institutions and does not have the resources to fund the education of every qualified international (or domestic) candidate .
Second, colleges, especially LACs practice holistic admissions which means that they look beyond academic stats. So a student who has somewhat lower stats may present an essay, recommendation, and/or activities that are particularly compelling to a college and they could get the nod over an applicant with say a higher SAT. If an applicant is a recruited athlete he/she would have an advantage in the admission process. If an international applicant is full pay that would also be a positive in terms of admission chances. Being that we can never see the full admissions file of other applicants, it is would be a waste of time to try to determine why one student is chosen over another.
I don’t think you will get any meaningful answer to your inquiry to Lafayette. You have excellent academic credentials and should move on and seek out affordable options where you can continue your education.
As a current International student at Lafayette, I would say that the school tries it’s best to bring as many international students to campus as possible. Financial aid definitely plays into our decisions and often be the deciding factor. The country that you belong to makes a difference as well. Also, from my interactions with the international community at Lafayette, I have found that international students tend to have higher stats than domestic students because of the nature of the competition. This is not to say that your stats aren’t great or aren’t above the 75th percentile it is just that the bar is different. At the end though, it all circles back to aid.
I would suggest that you try to seek out other affordable and viable options and wish you the very best with that!