Official Decision Thread: Class of 2013

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

<p>Stole this from another thread. Just copy and paste, and as you fill in your info, remove the spaces in between the brackets and it should format correctly.</p>

<p>Good luck everyone!</p>

<p>[ size=+1][ color=#228B22][ b]Decision: ___________[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT:
[ *] SAT IIs:
[ *] ACT:
[ *] 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>

2

<p>Decision: _Waitlisted</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:</p>

<p>[ *] SAT: 610 (CR) 670 (W) 690 (M)
[ *] SAT IIs: Math II-740 Math I-690 French-620
[ *] GPA: School doesn’t have
[ *] Rank: Top 2%
[ *] A- LEVELS (place score in parenthesis): Math (A), Economics (A), Business Studies (A), Literature (A), Geography (B) and French (B).</p>

<p>[ *] Other stats: Extracurricular Activities (place leadership in parenthesis): East African Tour Choir 2008-2009, Book Club -Years 12 and 13 (President/Founder), Swimming - Years 8 to 13, All Round Sports; soccer, basketball, hockey, volleyball - Years 8 to 11, School Magazine Committee - Years 10 and 12, School and Church Choirs - Years 8 to12, Dance Club - Years 8 to 13 (Choreographer), School Prefect and Class Captain - Years 9 to 11, Debate and Public Speaking
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at an orphanage for abandoned and HIV+ children.
Major Awards: Edexcel High Achiever; Other School Academic Awards.</p>

<p>[ *] Essays: Awesome! Everyone that read them thought they were great.
[ *] Teacher Recs: Awesome!
[ *] Counselor Rec: Awesome!
[ *] Hook (if any): Probably everything about me.</p>

<p>[ *] State or Country: Kenya and Uganda
[ *] School Type: IGCSE - British System. Very competitive. Classmates got into Cambridge, LSE, ICL etc
[ *] Ethnicity: Black-African
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Intended Major: Geology
[ *] major strength/weakness: Weakness: SATs and the fact that Amherst does not have my transcript yet.</p>

<p>Other Factors: I got a nice letter!
Applied for Financial Aid: Of course.
Income Bracket: Low.
Strengths: Essays.
Weaknesses: Test Scores (which I didn’t study for and which coincided with my final exams), No outstanding extracurriculars.</p>

3

<p>[ b]Stats:</p>

<p>[ *] SAT: 610 (CR) 670 (W) 690 (M)
[ *] SAT IIs: Math II-740 Math I-690 French-620
[ *] GPA: School doesn’t have
[ *] Rank: Top 2%
[ *] A- LEVELS (place score in parenthesis): Math (A), Economics (A), Business Studies (A), Literature (A), Geography (B) and French (B).</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities (place leadership in parenthesis): East African Tour Choir 2008-2009, Book Club -Years 12 and 13 (President/Founder), Swimming - Years 8 to 13, All Round Sports; soccer, basketball, hockey, volleyball - Years 8 to 11, School Magazine Committee - Years 10 and 12, School and Church Choirs - Years 8 to12, Dance Club - Years 8 to 13 (Choreographer), School Prefect and Class Captain - Years 9 to 11, Debate and Public Speaking
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at an orphanage for abandoned and HIV+ children.
Major Awards: Edexcel High Achiever; Other School Academic Awards.</p>

<p>[ *] Essays: Awesome! Everyone that read them thought they were great.
[ *] Teacher Recs: Awesome!
[ *] Counselor Rec: Awesome!
[ *] Hook (if any): Probably everything about me.</p>

<p>[ *] State or Country: Kenya and Uganda
[ *] School Type: IGCSE - British System. Very competitive. Classmates got into Cambridge, LSE, ICL etc
[ *] Ethnicity: Black-African
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Intended Major: Geology
[ *] major strength/weakness: Weakness: SATs and the fact that Amherst does not have my transcript yet.</p>

<p>Other Factors: I got a nice letter!
Applied for Financial Aid: Of course.
Income Bracket: Low.
Strengths: Essays.
Weaknesses: Test Scores (which I didn’t study for and which coincided with my final exams), No outstanding extracurriculars.</p>

4

<p>Are decisions out? I thought they were coming out on Tuesday.</p>

5

<p>Big envelope for D today when I got home!</p>

6

<p>Posted for D
Decision: <strong>Accepted</strong>_______
[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT:670 CR 690W 780M
[ *] SAT IIs:800 MB 710 USH 710 MII
[ *] ACT:N/A
[ *] GPA:4.65W 3.99 UW (one A- in all of HS)
[ *] Rank:3/214
[ *] Other stats:Three sport athlete X 4 years. Captain of all 3 sports (for 2 years for two of them). President of NHS and class VP. Science award 2 times for highest average in Bio and AP bio in school.
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Essays:excellent - was complimented by ad officer at Wes via e-mail
[ *] Teacher Recs:excellent
[ *] Counselor Rec:excellent
[ *] Hook (if any):recruited athlete
[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country:MA
[ *] School Type:small public
[ *] Ethnicity:white
[ *] Gender: F
[ *] Intended Major:Environmental studies/Spanish
[ *] major strength/weakness:rigorous schedule - grades & GPA. Weakness CR SAT and W SAT
Oh my gosh she doesn’t even know yet and will be so excited!</p>

7

<p>It’s nice to see how none of Amherst’s prospective students knows how to do the format correctly.</p>

8

<p>REJECTED</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT Reading: 680
[</em>] SAT Math: 780
[<em>] SAT Writing: 730
[</em>] SAT Total: 2190
[<em>] SAT II: Math IIC – 800, Chemistry – 710, Biology E – 760, Chinese with Listening - 800
[</em>] TOEFL (if applicable): 115/120 (29,29,27,30)
[<em>] ACT (if applicable): N/A
[</em>] AP/IB taken/scores: AP Calculus AB – 5, AP Biology – 5, AP Chinese Language and Culture – 5, AP Chemistry – 3 (@#$%^!:mad: had not covered “acid and base” and “redox” and “solubility” – got killed on the test)
[<em>] GPA weighted (if applicable): N/A Probably 4.68
[</em>] GPA unweighted: N/A Close to 4.00 UW, 4.68 W
[<em>] Rank or % estimate (if applicable): Top 3%
[</em>] Academic Awards: Subject awards, Math Contests, AP Scholar with Honor, Yada Yada Yada
[li] IB Predicted: 41/45 (English HL 7/7, Geography SL 7/7, Biology SL 6/7, Chemistry HL 6/7, Mandarin HL 7/7, Math HL 6/7, TOK 2/3)</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: I had two versions of my Common Application essay. One was on me reading an encyclopedia. The other was on my first-hand account of rural-urban migration of the village where I grew up.
[</em>] Teacher Rec #1: My former math teacher. One of her students got in Yale with her recommendation, so presumably excellent!
[<em>] Teacher Rec #2:
[</em>] Additional Rec: I asked my swim team sponsor teacher to write one. It was the best recommendation I have ever read in the world of the universe!
[<em>] Counselor Rec: For the mid-term report, he added a new paragraph about my passion for learning and genuine engagement in his TOK class.
[</em>] Hook (if any): None whatsoever. Provincial-level swimmer (?):confused:</p>

<p>[/ul]Location:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: British Columbia, Canada :mad: (International applying for financial aid for some universities)
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Taiwanese
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Legacy Yes/No: No
[</em>] Recruited Yes/No: No
[li] Important ECs: [/li]Swimming

  • Founder and Captain of varsity swim team, Tons of swimming awards, Provincial-level swimmer, More swimming awards
    Music
  • Co-founder of a non-profit music program, tons of music awards, RCM music certificates, more music awards
    Youth Leader
  • Youth leader at local public library
  • Work 6 hours a week at a private tutoring centre to help new immigrants with language acquisition</p>

<p>[/ul]Other Factors: Admission officers had really bad stomach pain when they reviewed my file.</p>

<p>Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted/offered guaranteed transfer:
:stuck_out_tongue: My CR score is definitely too low due to my ethnicity. Before I submitted my application I knew that I would be rejected by many, many schools. Surprisingly, this admission season was way better than I thought! Got accepted to WUSTL, UChicago, and all of Canadian schools and some huge surprise!</p>

<p>General Comments/Congratulations/etc:
Congratulation to all students accepted! You guys really deserve acceptance for your conscientiousness. To those who are rejected, I say this over and over again – do not let this rejection define you as a person. There are millions rejected who move on to achieve fulfilling and often successful lives.
I have some advice for prospective students. Definitely spend some time preparing for interviews, if applicable. I am just naturally quite talkative and persuasive. (My UChicago interview lasted for 2 hours hehe.) Definitely do a lot of research on the schools you love and really ask yourself why do you want to attend these schools. After this admission process, I now do not advise students to apply under Early Decision (ED), which is a binding commitment. I applied for Cornell ED, and I got deferred. Now I think of it, I am really glad that I did not get accepted because now I know its atmosphere is not really what I am looking for when it comes to college experience (not as intellectual as I would like it to be). I however, would strongly advise students to apply under EA to a safety school, so you have a back-up plan.
Finally, do not undermine the power of stats. Stats (grades, SAT, APs) are really, really important. I think that my CR score (680) definitely prevented me from being accepted by some top-notch colleges.</p>

9

<p>Decision: Accepted
Objective:</p>

<pre><code>* SAT I (breakdown):2010 (760M; 610R; 640W)

  • ACT: /
  • SAT II: Math1 710, Math2 760, Chem 650
  • Rank: Top 10%
  • IB: 39/40 (HL: Physics 6, Math 7, Croatian A1 7, English B 7; SL: Economics 6, Chemistry 7
  • Senior Year Course Load: 4HL, highly demanding
    </code></pre>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: Orchestra, Jazz Band (L), Choir, World Today, Math club (L)…

  • Job/Work Experience: 1 month of being a waitress and chambermaid at once
  • Volunteer/Community service: Amnesty International, Holly Family
  • Essays: Different, at least… =) talked about war; guess it helped
  • Teacher Recommendation: Great, my Math teacher that knows me well and English teacher who was my EE supervisor
  • Counselor Rec: Great, she loves me
  • Interview: No
    </code></pre>

<p>Other</p>

<pre><code>* Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • School Type: United World College
  • Ethnicity: Caucasian
  • Gender: Female
  • Income Bracket: <2000 (not a mistake, really 2,000)
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): coming from Bosnia, saxophonist
    </code></pre>

<p>Reflection</p>

<pre><code>* Strengths: ComApp Essay, Additional essay (3rd topic, SAT, IB, Mathematic/Music combination)

  • Weaknesses: No interview (no possibility for one, however)
  • Why you think you were accepted: I fulfilled the criteria? =)
    </code></pre>

<p>General Comments:
Got a full scholarship for Duke, don’t think I’ll enroll on Amherst.</p>

10

<p>Waitlisted…International Student :(… I really want to wait.</p>

11

<p>waiiit how big is the acceptance envelope?! i havent gotten anything yet :(</p>

12

<p>how do u guys check? was it mail or email?? and where do u guys live??</p>

13

<p>I haven’t gotten a decision from Amherst yet.
I think people are getting it by mail if they’re domestic applicants, email if they’re international.</p>

<p>I’ll probably get it tomorrow in the mail.</p>

14

<p>If they do regular decision like did early decision, it will take a couple of days for mail to reach the west coast. People close to Mass. got their letters today, the rest of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic should get theirs tomorrow, and then by Tuesday everyone else.</p>

15

<p>W are in MA and got acceptance by regular mail - large envelope - yesterday.</p>

16

<p>I think the emails were sent out yesterday morning and the mail was dropped off at the same time, meaning all internationals have heard and some people in the MA area. Ahhhh, I live in NY and reaaaaally want the mail for today</p>

17

<p>REJECTED</p>

<p>SATS: 2200 CR 750 math 770 wr 680
SAT II: Math 800; Literature 790; Physics 780
AP US Gvt 5; World 4; Euro 5
Class Rank: top 5%
NHS, NSHS, Merit Scholar commendation; Maryland Distinguished Scholar semi
EC: Junior Hockey
GPA: 4.0 (weighted 4.8)</p>

<p>whatever</p>

18

<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 2320 (800 R, 720 M, 800 W)
[</em>] SAT IIs: 740 US Hist, 720 Lit, 640 Bio-E
[<em>] ACT: n/a
[</em>] GPA: 98-ish
[<em>] Rank: 7/251
[</em>] Other stats: AP World: 4, AP US Hist: 5. Got A’s in two college courses last term and am currently taking two more. National Merit Finalist, several other awards/honors.
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] ECs: Co-Editor-in-Chief of student newspaper, VP of National Honor Society, member of Archon (community service society) for 4 years, Mentor Leader, NYS Science Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta. Also did an internship at a local newspaper.
[</em>] Essays: unique common app essay; Amherst essay was decent (stereotype prompt)
[<em>] Teacher Recs: never got to read them, but they must be great as I’ve gotten compelling offers from several schools so far
[</em>] Counselor Rec: again, never got to read it
[<em>] Hook (if any): Not sure if I count as a URM at Amherst (half Asian, half white)
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: NY
[<em>] School Type: competitive public high school
[</em>] Ethnicity: half Asian, half white
[<em>] Gender: female
[</em>] Intended Major: English
[li] major strength/weakness: honestly, you never know what they’re looking for.[/li][/ul]Other Factors: n/a</p>

19

<p>What did envelope look like for those wait listed? Did it have a post card in it?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

20

<p>Decision: Accepted!</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<pre><code>* SAT I (breakdown): 2260 (Math: 800, CR: 700, Writing: 760)

  • ACT: Didn’t take
  • SAT II: Chem 790, Spanish 790, Math II 800
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): I don’t know, my school give our GPA out of 100 and mine was 96.65.
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank, I’d say about top 10%
  • AP (place score in parenthesis): US History (5), Spanish Language (5), taking 6 more this year
  • IB (place score in parenthesis): nope
  • Senior Year Course Load: AP Micro/Macro Economics, Advanced Art History, Advanced Logic and Composition (goes with the AP english language test), AP BC Calc, AP Physics C
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nope
    </code></pre>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): I’ve been bowling since I was like 4, and I’m in my grade’s term council, along with being a big sib (go to lower termers homerooms, help them adjust to life at school, etc.)

  • Job/Work Experience: I’ve been a waiter at my dad’s diner since the summer.
  • Volunteer/Community service: Around 50 hours at a public library.
  • Summer Activities: Mostly just work.
  • Essays: I wasn’t crazy about them, but I wrote about bowling in my commonapp essay, so I guess it emphasized my biggest activity. my supplemental essay was pretty good, too. it was about science and my interest is science so i think it worked out nicely.
  • Teacher Recommendation: Both of mine were probably very good. One teacher I had had for two years and she loved me, and the other teacher I had heard wrote amazing recs.
  • Counselor Rec: She loves me, too. She just had a baby recently, and when she met my parents she asked them what they did when I was younger so that she could replicate it so that her baby can turn out just like me. So I’m sure her rec was good.
  • Additional Rec: nope
  • Interview: no interview
    </code></pre>

<p>Other</p>

<pre><code>* State (if domestic applicant): NY

  • Country (if international applicant):
  • School Type: Public, but “elite”
  • Ethnicity: White
  • Gender: Male
  • Income Bracket: i dont know like 100Kish
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college
    </code></pre>

<p>Reflection</p>

<pre><code>* Strengths: Definitely my transcript, and my test scores are pretty good (especially my sat2s)

  • Weaknesses: Maybe my extracurriculars, but they’re not terrible.
  • Why you think you were accepted/deferred//waitlisted/rejected: My grades lol
    </code></pre>

<p>General Comments: I’m not sure if I want to go or not, but it’s still such a huge relief to be accepted!</p>