My (semi-coherent) Admissions Story

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Hey guys!

I told myself I wouldn’t so this, but this is the only way I can think of to sate my college admissions obsession without endlessly annoying the people around me. So you guys get to hear my story!

First off, a little bit about me. In CC fashion, I’ll start off with some numbers and three letter acronyms:
SAT: 2270
ACT: 34
GPA: 4.46 W 3.92 UW

I go to a giant public high school in a reasonably well-off suburb in NJ. I always thought my school was pretty average, but we already have 5 kids going to Ivies just from the early round, and 3 more who got into Ivies SCEA, so I’m thinking that perhaps I underestimated us :P.

I do color guard, gymnastics, fencing, stage crew, volunteer at a horse farm, like to write, and uh, spend a lot of time on CC and Pinterest. Kind of a jack-of-all-trades, and we all know how great they do in this process.

My list:

Crazy Reaches (I do my best to pretend I didn’t apply to these):
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Brown
Stanford (eyes get large and mouth opens in awe)

Reaches:
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Georgetown
WUSTL
Emory
Middlebury

Matches:
Tufts (more of a high match)
UVa (high match)
William and Mary
Kenyon
USC
BU (more of a low match)

Safeties:
Rutgers
Alabama
American

Quite the list, right?
Trust me there’s a logic to it.
Ok, most of it.
Ok, maybe one or two.
Ok, maybe I’m insane.

Basically, I love California, so I applied to a bunch of schools out there, I love quirky schools (Tufts, William and Mary, Kenyon, Brown), so I applied to some of those, I’m thinking I would prefer an urban school, so most of my schools are at least sort-of near cities, and my parents and I like prestige so I applied to a bunch of those, plus the obligatory safeties. Throw in a few last minute apps to schools that either didn’t require essays or had deadlines after January 1st (Midd, Gtown, WUSTL) and you have a rough approximation of my list.

So, now that all the perfunctory stuff is out of the way, on to the story:

I started off freshman year blissfully unaware. I was really happy that since we lived in NJ, my family would get the in-state rate for tuition when I went to Princeton. :stuck_out_tongue: Seriously.

I grounded myself more in reality throughout the rest of high school, kicked butt on standardized tests, and started the long process of visiting schools. I visited something like 16. Yes, my parents were about ready to kill me.

I procrastinated big time on applications. I spent eons writing five separate versions of my Common App Essay, and short changed myself on the supplements. I compete in a varsity sport (Marching band lol) in the fall, so my time that I wasted in August ended up biting me in the butt - hard. I submitted my Rutgers app the day before it was due, and my UVa app the day it was due. The plan was to go ahead and send Stanford off REA, but I backed out at the last minute because of problems with a recommender and negative feedback on an essay. I really screwed the early round up - I had a plan, but it was executed poorly and I ended up getting the longer waiting time for RD coupled with sending few early apps out because I was planning on doing REA. I did make the right call in not sending to Stanford though - my essays weren’t ready on November 1st. I ended up rewriting two of them completely for RD, and I think they came out better.

With that mess behind me, you’d think I would have learned not to procrastinate. No such luck. I sent out one app in November - USC, the night before the scholarship deadline. At this point, I had a realization. My “Applied” column on my chart was looking a little spare. I still had 13 colleges to go. This was going to be one scary month.

December rolled around, and I hit the apps hard. Every day after school, I was working on essays. All in all, I wrote some 50 odd drafts and 30 or so unique essays. It drove me to the brink and back. At my parents’ request, I ended up ADDING schools last minute. I collapsed at 9:30 PM on January 1st. I had applied to 14 schools in one month, and the only application that fell under the wagon wheels was Rice. Not too shabby.

In January, I sent out a few last minute, half-hearted apps (cough Georgetown and American cough). The essays pretty adequately reflected that I had already mentally checked out of college application season and was in need of a break. Don’t have very high hopes for Georgetown. Shortly after all this, I was also deferred from UVa, which took some of the wind out of my sails. UVa isn’t a top choice, but I spent the next two months on pins and needles, fearing that it was a harbinger of what was to come.

And now I’m here. 5 interviews, 20 applications, 11 standardized tests, and probably close to $2000 later. I’ve been accepted to The University of Alabama, Rutgers - Honors College, and just last week, I was accepted at WashU. I’m equal parts nervous and excited to hear back from the rest of my schools. The dream is Stanford, and the more realistic dream is Tufts. I’ll keep you guys updated as things progress, and maybe I’ll do a little advice thing when all is said and done.

If history repeats itself, next up should be American or Kenyon. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

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Good luck!

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Your admissions story made me smile. If I was your mom, I would not be smiling! LOL

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Great story. Nicely written. One minor quibble: I think Tufts is at least as much of a reach as are WUSTL, Emory and Middlebury and possibly all the other schools on your reach list.

Good luck; here’s hoping you get into a Crazy Reach!

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Wow.

Aim high. But at first glance, you are qualified so you are aiming in the right direction. A friend told my son that if you get rejected, it just validates that you HAVE aimed high enough, and it made him feel better.

I am guessing that financial aid is not that big a consideration for you - spending a couple grand just on application fees alone has got to be concerning, not to mention the fees for 11 standardized tests.

But you clearly have worked hard, and I liked your story. I don’t think you’re insane - just trying not to go insane while you wait.

Have you visited all, most, or some of these?

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Thanks everyone for the well wishes! I’m going to need every bit of luck I can get.

@3rdXsTheCharm‌ Yeah, my parents have been amazing through the whole process. We get along pretty well, so that helped things a lot, and they kind of “share the dream” so to speak, so they have supported me the whole way.

@CHD2013 That’s probably true. When I first made my list over the summer, I had someone on CC tell me it was more of a high match, but I do think that you’re probably right. Although, in reality, the classifications don’t really mean anything any more, it will just be “Schools I got into” and “Schools I didn’t get into” :stuck_out_tongue:

@3puppies‌ It’s funny that you mention that your son’s friend always says that, my dad actually tells me the exact same thing - that if I don’t fail, I’ll never know what my true potential was. You are correct about the FA, my family doesn’t qualify, and thankfully we have saved enough to be able to afford a fancy shmancy private school. I can’t even imagine doing all the FA paperwork for 20 schools, yikes. It was enough keeping my test scores and transcripts straight.

I have visited some of the schools. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Stanford, Tufts, UVa, William and Mary, BU and American, plus others that I ended up not applying to (Wellesley, Seton Hall, Swarthmore). I’ve spent a lot of time on the Rutgers campus, but my first official tour is next week. I also received a travel grant from WashU, so I will be flying out to St. Louis at some point to visit. Depending on what schools and how many I get into, I have a feeling the logistics of April could be a nightmare. I guess that would be a pretty good problem to have though. :slight_smile:

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So this weekend thus far has been a whirlwind. I heard back from Kenyon, Pomona and UVa yesterday - waitlisted at Kenyon and UVa. I wasn’t shocked about either one, although maybe a little surprised about Kenyon. I think it had a lot to do with not showing enough interest, as I never requested an interview or visited campus. With UVa, I’m mostly in awe of how long they’ve kept me waiting. I submitted my application November 1st, and if I get on the WL, I may not get a final decision until May, which is pretty crazy. I feel like they must be sick of reading my app lol.

Pomona was a rejection, my first, which hurt. No Ski-Beach days for me. From everything I’d heard, it really sounded amazing, the weather, the campus, the atmosphere, the whole Claremont consortium. I’m calling the admissions office on Monday, just because I have a suspicion there was a problem with submitting a minor form certifying that I’m not a delinquent, but with a <10% acceptance rate, I honestly think they would have rejected me, form or no form. The CA dream still survives with USC, and I guess kind of CMC and Stanford? I feel like it’s kind of foolish to count either of them.

Midd this morning was also a rejection. I didn’t really have anything invested in it (no supplemental essay, wasn’t a top choice etc.), so by itself, it wasn’t too crushing. Two WLs and two rejections in a row kind of hurt though.

Thankfully, after all that not-so-great news, BU came through! Accepted to CAS, which I’m super excited about. A good way to end my decisions for this week.

I believe American and CMC are next. I’m not overly concerned about American - it’s hard to make a case for it when I have a big scholarship at Rutgers and acceptances at WashU and BU . Based on my other decisions, I don’t really see myself there in the fall. The essay for CMC was a little shaky, and I don’t think I’m the kind of student they’re really looking for (very little leadership), so I don’t have especially high hopes. Supposedly the RD acceptance rate for non-hooked students is ~3%, so I guess it’s good practice for Harvard and Stanford. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I really enjoyed reading your story. Your personality shines through and I’m with @3rdXsTheCharm‌ that if I were your mom, I’d be smiling. You write with honesty and humor and I believe that you will be a great addition to any school that is lucky enough to get you. Please keep us posted!

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This was great to read. As a fellow NJ senior in a similar situation and the same kind of parents but with mostly different schools, your story really rang true for me. And 3puppies’ advice, that if you get rejected, it just validates that you HAVE aimed high enough, really helped me after I got WL’d at one of my tippy-top schools.
Sorry about all the rejections you’ve faced, though at least you seem to have some options that you’re happy about. Best of luck, of course, in getting in to the rest of your schools, and don’t forget to have fun! You have a great writing voice.

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Thank you all so much - you have no idea how much it means to me that you enjoy reading my story! (I’d love to be a writer someday but shhhh, don’t tell my parents ;))

Sorry to hear about your WL, @crooly, I’ve always thought the WL can hurt just as much as a rejection. It keeps the hope alive just enough so that you can’t move on.

So, to update everyone, I have some new decisions to report:

A new WL. My mom told me I had mail from American, and I all asked was, “Is the envelope big or small?” Needless to say, it was small. This one really surprised me. I thought I demonstrated enough interest - I visited campus, was on their mailing list, and talked to a representative at a college fair. My essays weren’t stand outs, but even still, my SAT score was almost 400 points above the average accepted for my school. I’ve pretty much moved on though, I think that my other schools are better options for me. I hate saying that I was overqualified and the adcoms saw that because it feels like such a cop out, but it does feel like that a little bit.

Still very surprised by my WL from American, and waiting for USC’s decision with bated breath, William and Mary sent me a “Good Things” email completely out of the blue, and I was thrilled. I really feel like W&M could be a great fit for me, the personality of the school seems sort of similar to my own. Depending on how everything else pans out, I think it’s a serious contender.

Claremont, CA is also officially out for me. Rejected from CMC. This sounds strange, but I think they made the right call. CMC is super focused on leadership and pre-professionalism, and I’m not really a leader, and I don’t know what I want to do yet. I don’t think I would have fit in there - I probably would have spent all my time hanging out with the Pomona kids. So with that realization, this rejection kind of rolled off my back.

And then today, I heard from Emory, which I applied to kind of a whim. I was waitlisted at Emory College, which I don’t consider too shabby, and then accepted at the Oxford College, which I don’t consider at all shabby. I’m considering it 3/4 of an acceptance to Emory as a whole :P. Very excited about all the options that are shaping up for me so far, I have no idea how I’m going to be able to choose!

It’s a big day tomorrow - my Stanford decision is coming out 5 days earlier than I anticipated, and I’ve been trying (and failing) to get emotionally prepared for it. I am whole-heartedly expecting a rejection, but, hey, maybe during the fits of laughter after reading my application, they accidentally tossed it into the accepted pile. Whatever gets me to Palm Drive. USC also comes out tomorrow, so my future in CA will officially be determined tomorrow, which is both exhilarating and terrifying. I’ll be sure to let you guys know either way.

Not sure if it interests you guys, but I also went to my first accepted student’s day earlier this week. I spent Monday up at Rutgers learning about the new honors college, and was kind of unimpressed with everything, to be perfectly honest. No one knew what the new dorms would look like (they’re currently under construction, but they didn’t even have a floor plan or artist’s rendering to show us), and one of the deans actually fell asleep on stage while someone was talking! I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he had a long night, I’ve certainly been there plenty of times :P. They did give me an external battery for my phone though, so, y’know, I guess it all sort of balanced out.

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Also, even I’m starting to have trouble keeping track of everything, so I’m reposting my list, but in the spirit of this new phase of the admissions process, I’ve changed the categories around.

Accepted at:
WUSTL
Emory (Oxford College)
Rutgers
Alabama
William and Mary
BU

Waitlisted at:
American
Emory (Emory College)
UVa
Kenyon

Rejected at:
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Middlebury

Waiting on:
Tufts
Georgetown
USC
Stanford
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Brown

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It appears my CA dream is over. Early this morning, I was rejected from USC, which I am pretty bummed out about. I guess 52,000 applications and 2,700 spots will do that for you though. I remember thinking that my essays for USC weren’t anything special - I had a lot of trouble getting inspired by the prompts. Unfortunately, USC set the tone for the day.

I was rejected by Stanford. Oof, that still smarts a little. I know on a logical level that it’s not me, it’s a numbers thing, but it still hurts. I poured my heart and soul into my application, wrote and rewrote my essays, tried to project the right image, but alas, to no avail. I’m curious as to whether or not I was at least in the swim pool, but I guess it’s all kind of irrelevant now. Who wants to be a stupid old Tree anyway?

Ivy Day and Tufts are next, but my updates will probably come a little bit later, as I’m going to be on vacation this coming week. To any of you with decisions coming up, I wish you all the best.

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Hello guys!

So, I have (almost) my final results update.

I was on a cruise for the last week, and couldn’t check my email until we stopped in Florida, which happened to be Ivy Day, and the day after Tufts decisions were released, so I got 5 on the same day.

I will not be attending an Ivy League school this fall.

I thought typing that would be worse than it actually is, but honestly, after Stanford and USC, I kind of feel like I can handle any rejection. I cried after Stanford, and I would randomly just get depressed for a few days afterward that I wouldn’t be in CA next year. I actually just finally left the Stanford Applicants Facebook group today. It’s time to move on.

So after all that, I was really just detached from my Ivy rejections. The only one that stung even a little was Brown, just because I liked it so much, but even that wasn’t so bad. I already counted HYP as rejections, so confirmation of what I already knew didn’t really phase me.

But, I was VERY emotionally attached to my Tufts acceptance! puts on party hat and blows noisemaker I’m so excited to potentially be a Jumbo! I really loved Tufts when I visited, I could just see myself there, spinning my saber on the quad or being in the wacky Tufts Dance Collective. My only concern was that it seemed a little disconnected from the city of Boston, and that I really disliked the woman who came to my school to do an information session. I actually almost didn’t visit after I met her, which I guess shows how important it is to look past the superficial stuff.

Since Georgetown notifies by snail mail, and I just got back today, I won’t be getting my Georgetown notification until tomorrow, but I’m not expecting any great strokes. My Why Georgetown? essay was kind of lackluster, and I actually told my interviewer that I wanted to go to CA, so if Georgetown’s a WL I’ll be really lucky lol.

Hope all my fellow Class of 2019ers had a nice spring break, (or if your spring break is this week, have a nice spring break), and good luck with decision-making! April’s going to be crazy.

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@butterfreesnd‌

You should know that Tufts is not at all disconnected from Boston. My D is there all the time; the T is a quick and easy. And anyway, Davis and Harvard Squares have so much to boast on their own. And glad you looked past in iffy adcom. In my D’s case two years ago, it was the wonderful adcom specifically who sold her on Tufts; she promptly switched her ED school of choice.

Congrats on being a Jumbo!

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@gondalineNJ Thanks for the info! That’s very interesting, my tour guide at Tufts seemed to indicate she’d only been to Boston two or three times her whole first year, and the woman who came to my school seemed to say the same thing, but I guess maybe everyone’s experiences vary.

I have my FINAL final update for decisions. I was rejected from Georgetown earlier today. Not shocked, my one essay was kind of rushed, and I didn’t express much interest (not sure if that matters there). I also hadn’t received any emails from Georgetown on accepted students days or anything like that, so that was kind of a tip off. To be perfectly honest, I think my dad was more upset than I was. :stuck_out_tongue: The fact that my rejection letter came sandwiched between three admissions packets (Oxford College at Emory, Tufts, and William and Mary) and my visit confirmation for WashU certainly helped soften the blow.

I just want to thank everyone for reading, hopefully this helped you, or you at least found it entertaining, I know it was a useful outlet for me to express my feelings during this sometimes stressful process. I’ll probably keep updating with my visits, and then my final decisions and any words of wisdom I may have to pass on to the class of 2020 and beyond, but most of the excitement/anticipation is over lol.

To sum it up, here’s the final list:

Accepted at:
WUSTL
Emory (Oxford College)
Rutgers
Alabama
William and Mary
BU
Tufts

Waitlisted at:
American
Emory (Emory College)
UVa
Kenyon

Rejected at:
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Middlebury
Georgetown
USC
Stanford
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Brown

All in all, I ended with 7 acceptances, 4 waitlists, and 10 rejections out of 20 initial applications (Emory split into Oxford and Emory College). There were thrills, there were spills, and a few surprises thrown in there, but I’m a survivor of College Admissions, Class of 2019. It’s been one heck of a ride.

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If you could do it again, what, if anything, would you do differently?

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Great thread @butterfreesnd If it helps any, Kenyon had 7077 applications this year and only accepted 23.8%. As an urban person, you might not have liked it there anyway.

You have a terrific selection of acceptances from which to choose. And whichever school you pick will be very fortunate to have you!

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Congratulations on all your acceptances.
Can you keep updating the thread to explain how you cross out some colleges, what tips the scales toward some others, etc… until the ultimate decision?

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@arwarw Ooo, good question! If I could do anything differently, I would get accepted to Stanford. :wink:

But seriously, I’ve actually thought a lot about this, and I can really only think of two things. One is related specifically to my situation, and the other is more widely applicable:

  1. I would have applied to UCs. My family was full pay, so I think I would have stood a chance, and it would have been one application that gave me a lot more opportunities in California. I would have at least applied to UCSD (even though I'm not a tech-y person, so I don't know if it would have been the right fit), and UCLA, which has a fantastic program in one of my areas of interest (psychology), and seems to be located in a better part of town than USC. I don't know if I would have gotten in, but I would have had more chances at CA, if that makes any sense. Getting shut out of CA was bad for me psychologically, I think it would have been better for me to have at least one school in CA, even if I ended up turning them down.

I didn’t originally apply to UCs because I thought they were ridiculously and arbitrarily expensive, and I didn’t like the overstuffed classes and the low percentage of OOS students. The cost thing was stupid, because almost every school I applied to is ridiculously and arbitrarily expensive, but my other concerns are at least kind of valid. Still, I should have applied.

  1. I would have done a better job with time management. I think if I had spaced out my applications in August, September and October, I wouldn't have had some crazy nights near the EA deadline, and then again near the RD deadline. I did admittedly have a lot going on then, but I still could have done a better job with not procrastinating. That would be the major advice to pass on, don't procrastinate, because either you'll end up doing a half-donkeyed job, or you'll be up until 3AM the night before, quivering with anxiety and exhaustion as you try to finish that last essay you've been putting off.

But I wouldn’t have applied to less schools. I have a feeling a lot of people were thinking that might be the answer, but it was important to me to hear back from a lot of schools and never be left thinking, “Well, maybe if I had thrown out that last minute app to Middlebury…” Even though the odds of me actually attending Midd were slim to none, I didn’t really lose anything (other than the app fee) by applying.

@MidwestDad3 Wow, those numbers are crazy! I mistakenly thought my test scores and GPA would get me in, but I think at such a small school, they’re really looking for fit. I’m not sure if I would have liked it, the rural-ness of it was definitely a turn-off, but it seemed to be filled with a lot of quiet, introspective, writerly type people, which hits on part of my personality.

@MYOS1634 I will definitely keep updating this thread! I am actually in St. Louis right now, visiting WashU, but I am rather tired, so I will probably post my report either tomorrow or the day after.

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Thank you! Looking forward to it.