Official Admissions Thread

<p>Hey kids, just thought we could join the gang and have one of these things.
Just delete the space between the brackets.
[ size=+1][ color=#228B22][ b]Decision: ___________[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT:
[ *] SAT IIs:
[ *] GPA:
[ *] Rank:
[ *] Other stats:
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Essays:
[ *] Teacher Recs:
[ *] Counselor Rec:
[ *] Hook (if any):
[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country:
[ *] School Type:
[ *] Ethnicity:
[ *] Gender:
[ *] Intended Major:
[ *] major strength/weakness:
[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b]</p>

<p>Decision: ACCEPTED!!!</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] ACT: 33
[</em>] SAT IIs: 760 US History
[<em>] GPA:3.68
[</em>] Rank:N/A
[<em>] Other stats: 4 USAP, 5EURAP
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: Pretty good
[<em>] Teacher Recs: decent to good
[</em>] Counselor Rec: pretty good
[<em>] Hook (if any): demonstrated interest (i visited 3 times)
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: Pennslyvannia
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity:White
[<em>] Gender:Female
[</em>] Intended Major: History
[li] major strength/weakness: weak grades, excellant extracurriculars[/li][/ul]Other Factors:
Pity, as many parts of my app were lost</p>

<p>I'm so phsyched!</p>

<p>*Decision: Deferred :( *</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 2220: 770 WR, 760 CR, 690 M
[</em>] SAT IIs: 770 writing, 770 literature, 680 math II-c
[<em>] GPA: 3.54 unweighted (possibly what killed me...? :/)
[</em>] Rank: My school doesn't rank.
[li] Other stats:[/li]- PSAT: 214: 80 WR, 77 CR, 57 M - Sent to Swarthmore and Vassar
- APs: Art History 3 (10), Spanish language 4 (10), US History 4 (11), Biology 4 (11), English Language 4 (11) (Arg, these could have been better, too)</p>

<p>[/ul]
Subjective:
[ul]
[<em>] Essays: I thought they were good before, if improvable, but now I'm having doubts. I think my main essay is the best. Well, I wrote it about asking my mom whether she was gay (she is), so I thought it was an interesting topic. Maybe too risky. The others are just ok. But I wrote them...who know. :/
[</em>] Teacher Recs: Dunno, I think they were strong (my teachers know me well)
[<em>] Counselor Rec: No idea, but at least ok...
[</em>] Hook (if any): Er, if this counts, I'm in Argentina on an exchange at the moment.
[/ul]
Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: Connecticut
[</em>] School Type: Public, but competitive. Highly ranked.
[<em>] Ethnicity: Caucasion
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Intended Major: Undecided
[</em>] major strength/weakness:
-Negative: I got a C in my 11th grade honors pre-calc class. :(<br>
-Positive: I have some independent studies on my transcript, such as a semester of painting and AP Art History in 10th grade (because I was bored in school first semester). Oh, I also have a legacy--Grandmother and great-grandmother (plus second-cousins but I didn't say anything about them).<br>
[li] My Space: I sent in a poster covered with a map of Patagonia and pictures of myself in tons of different places (on a glacier, with penguins, etc). It was cool-looking, but maybe I should have sent something with more substance?[/li][/ul]
Other Factors:</p>

<p>ECs:
All of my ECs except for a few go from 9 to 11 because I'm currently on a Rotary Youth Exchange year abroad so I had to stop most of them. I've been keeping up a few things here, but it's different--much harder to do the kinds of stuff US kids do. </p>

<p>Music
-member of church choir since 4th grade
-private voice lessons 9-11 (possibly starting again in 12 while abroad)
-State Western Regional Chorus participant (10-11)
-Member of two choruses in Argentina (one for adults which meets 2 hrs/wk, one for teenagers which meets something like 8 hrs/wk; Vassar only knows about the first since I just started the second) (12)
-my original vocal composition was performed by my select school chorus for the fall concert (11)</p>

<p>Theater- Couldn't do much junior year due to driver's ed, oh well
-Fiddler on the Roof, head of properties (9)
-A Midsummer Night's Dream, mechanical (lion) (10)
-Hook, Elaine (10)
-Anything Goes, ensemble and tap ensemble (10)
-Grease, ensemble (11)</p>

<p>Clubs
-Gay-Straight Alliance (9, 10-treasurer, 11-co-president)</p>

<p>Language study (outside of school, obviously)
-German classes, 1 semester (11, thinking of starting these here too because private lessons are so cheap, but I'm not sure)
-Rotary Youth exchange year abroad to Argentina (12)</p>

<p>Sports
-Cross country (9)
-Outdoor track (10)</p>

<p>I've done a bit of community service, but not enough that I thought it was worth mentioning on my app for Vassar. Plus there wasn't enough space. Should I have?</p>

<p>Summer/Travel:
-Concordia Language Villages (4 wks in 2002, skipped two Spanish levels in school afterwards--went into Spanish 5 as a freshman and took AP as a sophomore)
-Putney School Summer Program, Painting and Songwriting (3 wks, 2003)
-A Tribute to Gilbert and Sullivan: Edwina, Buttercup, ensemble (3 week workshop, 3 hrs/wkday, 2003)
-RISD Pre-college Program, Drawing major (6 wks, 2004)
-Family trip to Latvia and Lithuania (1.5-2 wks, 2005)</p>

<p>Work:
-Pizza place, cashier/waitress (all of summer 2005, about 30 hrs/wk, except for the trip)
-babysitting (9-11, lots haha)
-help with my mom's business (sales, organization, etc)
I don't think I put anything about babysitting or working with my mom on the Vassar app. There wasn't enough space and decided that the stuff I had to leave off wasn't important enough that I had to send in a resume in addition to the app--too repetitive. </p>

<p>One thing that might also have contributed is that my Argentine school sent my grades in really really late. My family went on vacation right as school ended so that I really didn't have a way to stay on top of it when they were supposed to be sending them, and I couldn't go late because the next train wasn't for a week. I mean they really aren't used to sending stuff to US colleges, so it's really my fault for not being more on top of it for them, but I had some serious miscommunications with the director I think. I feel really horrible about this part because I feel that it was both my fault and out of my control, if that makes sense. :(</p>

<p>Anyway, if anyone has suggestions for safeties, I'd really appreciate them. All of the schools I've REALLY looked into have been comparably competitive and I'm worried...I'd love some ideas. </p>

<p>Congratulations to all of those of you who did get in. Hopefully I'll still get to join you next year...who knows. :/</p>

<p>Decision:Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 780 CR / 670 M / 680 WR (12 essay)
[</em>] SAT IIs: horrible! 670 lit / 630 math1 / 550 math2 (vassar says it considers only the highest two and in my defence, i fell sick during my SAT II, but they're still terrible :confused:
[<em>] GPA: we don't have our cumulative gpa calculated - but around 3.66
[</em>] Rank: 4/290</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: told by friends they were the strongest aspects - but then again, they ARE my friends
[</em>] Teacher Recs: from my Lit teacher, pretty good
[<em>] Counselor Rec: i had 2 because i changed schools in 11th grade. one was pretty good, i don't know about the other one.
[</em>] Hook (if any): couldn't have an interview but sent them a pretty file insead - made it very clear that i love the college</p>

<p>[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: Bangladesh
[</em>] School Type: private
[<em>] Ethnicity: southeast asian; bangladeshi
[</em>] Gender: female
[<em>] Intended Major: english and international studies
[</em>] major strength/weakness: leadership roles in almost all my ECAs/ low freshman, sophomore grades but good upward trend/ your space entry was creative</p>

<p>[/ul]Other Factors: </p>

<p>i'm an international student so we have A-levels here and i have the most rigorous courseload. i emphasized on my writing and mentioned that i want to become a writer. </p>

<p>MUSIC
* over 10 years of training in Indian classical music + Rabindrasangeet
* performed in school events
* sang on television twice
* won numerous awards outside school
* consecutively won the Certificate of Achievement in Music for 3 years in high school</p>

<p>DEBATE/ HOSTING:
* best speaker in semi finals in school debate in 9th grade
* runners up in finals in school debate – 9th grade
* participated in many interschool debates
* parliamentarian in winning team in EFA finals – 9th grade
* participated in 1st International Debate Workshop in Bangladesh 2004 – 11th grade
* parliamentarian in National Bangladesh Television English Debate championships in 2005
* nationally ranked as one of the top 5 debaters in Pre-worlds School Debate 2005
* general secretary of my school’s debating society
* was the emcee at numerous events held on national days outside school
* hosted the Edexcel International Conference in 2005</p>

<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE:</p>

<ul>
<li>raised funds for flood victims in 9th grade</li>
<li>organized a fund raiser in neighborhood to collect money for the treatment of a child suffering from polio</li>
<li>treasurer of school’s community service club – 11th and 12th grades</li>
<li>raised funds in school wide food sale for a children’s ward in a local hospital – 12th grade </li>
</ul>

<p>WRITING/OTHER CLUBS:</p>

<ul>
<li>contributor, school yearbooks – 9th and 10th grades</li>
<li>essay got commended by the royal commonwealth society in 10th grade</li>
<li>Associate Editor of school newsletter – 11th grade</li>
<li>Editor-in-Chief of school newsletter – 12th grade</li>
<li>member of Brine Pickles, a creative writer’s group</li>
<li>recently was the youngest playwright to have a play staged at the British Council, Dhaka</li>
<li>founded the first ever A level yearbook in my school (we have over 650 A level students in all the batches). Editor-in-chief of the yearbook.</li>
<li>chief coordinator of the school’s reading club, which I founded</li>
<li>completed a photography course from the South Asian Institute of Photography in 12th grade</li>
</ul>

<p>ACADEMIC/ NON ACADEMIC HONOURS</p>

<ul>
<li>won the Certificate of Achievement in Economics in 9th grade</li>
<li>won the Certificate of Achievement in English in 10th grade</li>
<li>won the Daily Star Nation Builders of Tomorrow Award (given to candidates getting 6 A’s or above in their O levels) for 8 A’s.</li>
<li>chosen by the school to be the Closing Assembly Speaker for the Class of 2004</li>
<li>chosen by the class to give the speech at graduation</li>
</ul>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE</p>

<ul>
<li>executive feature writer of Rising Stars, the most popular weekly supplement of a national English newspaper (average circulation figure of 50000)</li>
<li>tutured a middle school student in 11th grade</li>
</ul>

<p>to seole:</p>

<p>i'm so sorry about your decision :(:(:( someone needs to chat with you for 10 minutes to understand how great you are as a person. i really hope you'll still be there in the class of 2010. we'll chat as soon as you come online. <em>hugs</em></p>

<p>Thanks, kee, I appreciate that. Well, there's always EDII.... :(</p>

<p>Decision: ACCEPTED!!</p>

<p>Stats: [ul]
[<em>] SAT: 2130, 730 V 690M, 710CR
[</em>] SAT IIs: 610 literature 660 french
[<em>] GPA:school doesnt do gpa but around A-
[</em>] Rank: no ranking
[<em>] Other stats:
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays:excellent, i think. they were very quirky and fun and ME.
[<em>] Teacher Recs: math teacher's was amazing apparently, history teacher told me his was "glowing"
[</em>] Counselor Rec: probably really good because she adores me
[<em>] Hook (if any):
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: I live in Moscow, Russia but I'm a US citizen living abroad. I've lived abroad all my life ranging from London, Prague, Bangkok and Taipei
[<em>] School Type: private
[</em>] Ethnicity:US citizen but mother is filipino so "asian american"
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Intended Major: Chinese / Anthropology-Sociology
[li] major strength/weakness: good recs, quirky fun essay. my your space was another college essay i wrote for bard that i thought was very good. i've lived abroad my whole life, so that's a pretty interesting factor. i've done lots of theatre (on stage and off stage) and been to 2 major IB TAPS conferences in thailand and china, did a theatre movement workshop under the famous shukin school in russia, 5 MUN conferences, one i have chaired and another i recieved a best delegation award. i met famous a russian author in a school project. went to film school, stayed with a french family abroad for 4 weeks, went to israel and did community service in a children's hospital and then community service in boston at an old age home with israeli teenagers. editor of the school literary magazine... uh what else? my vassar essay was so weird. NHS member, secretary.[/li][/ul]
Other Factors: i really loved vassar.</p>

<p>expatella, when did you live in london, and where did you go to school. it's just that i used to go to ACS Hillingdon... just thought that would be an amazing coincidence</p>

<p>Decision: ACCEPTED</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 730CR, 690M, 650W (8 Essay) or 640W (10 Essay)
[</em>] SAT IIs: 740Spanish w/o Listening, 790Math2c
[<em>] GPA: 3.62 unweighted, 4.0 weighted
[</em>] Rank: my school does not rank
[<em>] Other stats: --
[/ul][ b]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: Good? Who judges these anyways?
[<em>] Teacher Recs: I didn't look, but I chose a teacher who loves me.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Don't know, he liked my brother a lot more than me. Haha.
[<em>] Hook (if any): Depth over breadth in activities.
[/ul]
Location/Person: San Francisco*[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: California
[<em>] School Type: Private independent
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Intended Major: Language in Literature
[li] major strength/weakness: Math and Spanish[/li][/ul]
Other Factors: Spoke with the fencing coach, and am going to participate in fencing next year.*
[br]Good luck everyone! I sent this in to show that not-geniuses can get in too! :)</p>

<p>Fjord - haha i attended your competitor school, ASL in St John's Wood. i was there from 6th-8th grade.</p>

<p>congratulations lockeshadow! :) i don't know how to fence but i'm really looking forward to learning it at vassar.</p>

<p>FJORD!!!
Yay for my trophy wife!
You're the best.
CONGRATS!!! Again and again and again.
Perhaps I shall joineth you.
:-*</p>

<p>No one else on the board got deferred?</p>

<p>Wow, that makes me feel extra-great. </p>

<p>(Don't worry, I'm trying to move on...writing to admissions officers at other schools...doing research...rereading and rewriting all of my essays...etc...but arg, I can't stop thinking about Vassar. It's like a really bad breakup or something--not that Vassar ever agreed to go out with me...)</p>

<p>seole: few people have the courage/ mindset to post stats after getting deferred. also, this year, the vassar ED thread has been rather empty - don't feel too bad. SAT-wise, you're definitely the highest scorer we have here! :)</p>

<p>i know you're doing great with your RD applications! that's the spirit! meanwhile, vassar will, hopefully, realise what a gem you are... very soon! <em>keeping fingers crossed for you</em></p>

<p>expatella, i almost went to ASL and lived in Hampstead, as well as was there in 8th grade, we might know some of the same people.</p>

<p>onaryblacksnow:
dude, you best join me, as how else will you avoid the freshman 15</p>

<p>Decision:ACCEPTED!!!</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 770 CR 690 M 690 W
[</em>] SAT IIs: 760 US 750 LIT
[<em>] GPA: my school doesn't calculate them
[</em>] Rank: ditto
[<em>] Other stats: 5 on the APUS
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: everyone loved it, including the Vassar rep.
[<em>] Teacher Recs: very good
[</em>] Counselor Rec: I'm guessing good...she likes me...
[<em>] Hook (if any):a passionate and engaging personality? I also live on Vassar ave. hehe so it's meant to be.
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: PA
[<em>] School Type: Independent all-girls college prepatory
[</em>] Ethnicity:white as white can be
[<em>] Gender: female
[</em>] Intended Major: Art History (/anthropology/theater)
[li] major strength/weakness: my grades average around an A-, but I go to a very difficult school. My essay and recs. were really strong. I'm very commited to and passionate about my activities and my interest in art history. [/li][/ul]Other Factors:
Run varsity cross country and winter track. Sent in art slides and supplemental recs. from art teacher, theater director and art history prof. from my class at columbia last summer. I sent in a lot of recs. come to think of it...Kept in close contact with my vassar rep. and showed a lot of interest. Had a really wonderful interview.</p>

<p>Read this if you have been accepted. Regarding a scholarship
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/nyregion/03scholarship.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/nyregion/03scholarship.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>everyone here has such high verbal scores!!!!!! :( it seems that vassar tends to accept people with very high CR scores and lower math scores. i am the opposite- my math score is 50 pts higher than CR. what can i say i just dont like the questions they ask. i overthink them. im really worried now!!!!! :( im not sure if the people on here are just the really amaing people, because that could be the case. i just dont know anymore!! aieeeeeeee im going crazy from this, but i mean it's too late now of course, to do anything about it ahhhhh.....</p>

<p>orca, you shouldn't worry about it. a 50 point difference shouldn't matter all that much. besides, if they already have people with high verbal scores, i think they'd like some people with higher math score. to kinda even it out, you know?</p>

<p>ehh sighhhhh i guess... thanks kee, i certainly hope you're right. :)</p>