Official Vanderbilt Class of 2021 Results Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
21

Accepted
Regular Decision, MOSIAC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 31 R:35 E:33 M:30 S:29
SAT II:n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
Weighted GPA: 4.26
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): didn’t send any in
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus AB, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Senior English, Spanish 3, Civic, Senior Project
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP scholar (not major, but something)

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: N

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): National Honors Society (President/Service Coordinator), National Spanish Honors Society, African Student Association (Co-founder), Muslim Student Association (President), College Mentorship Course (Co-founder), Peer tutor, High School Newspaper (Editor-in-Chief), Yearbook (Managing Editor)

Job/Work Experience:n/a

Volunteer/Community service: University of Colorado Hospital, Local library, NHS Service Committee

Summer Activities: Volunteer at library and hospital

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Personal Statement essay 9 talked about my love for learning through PBS kids, polished but personality still came through.
Supplement 7 reused a scholarship essay about working on the newspaper and my job to ensure news was reported in a manner that would reflect the voices of my school

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:PreCalc teacher, waived my rights to see so can’t rate
Teacher Rec #2: US History teacher, waived my right to see so can’t rate
Counselor Rec: Waived rights to see can’t rank
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: went well but did not play a role because I was accepted before the interview

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Double Major: Political Science and Economics
State (if domestic applicant): CO
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: charter
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Middle Class, EFC 15k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

22

Accepted
Regular Decision (Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship)

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 790 CR // 780 M // 780 W
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: 800 US History, 800 Math II, 780 Latin, 780 Bio E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.75
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 2%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s on Chemistry, Psych, Stats, and US History
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Euro, Honors Latin, Lit and Creative Writing
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): A few writing publications and awards; National Latin Exam perfect scores.

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: Y

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Classics Club President, School lit mag officer, editor for a lot of lit mags outside of school.

Job/Work Experience: n/a

Volunteer/Community service: Children’s museum docent; math/writing tutor.

Summer Activities: writing mentorship program; summer@brown (p sure I didn’t mention it though); editing for lit mags.

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App Essay-9; on estrangement from and reconciliation w/ grandfather.
CV scholarship essay-8; demonstrated a LOT of interest in their Classics and Comparative Literature Departments and highlighted the ways I’d contribute to campus.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Pre-Calc teacher; waived my rights to see.
Teacher Rec #2: English teacher; waived my rights to see.
Counselor Rec: Waived my rights to see.
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: it was okay; lasted ~50 min but I didn’t really click w/ the interviewer who basically raved about the superiority of Southern culture and Greek life.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: I don’t think so
Intended Major: Classics/Comparative Literature
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: competitive public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): n/a (or maybe being from the Northeast? idk)

23

Decision: Accepted Regular Decision

*I got invited through the MOSAIC program!

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1320 (680 M, 640 CR+W)
ACT (breakdown): did not send
SAT II: did not send
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a
Weighted GPA: 98.4032
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/205
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (3), APUSH (5), Calculus AB (3) , Government (4), English Lang (3) , Physics C:Mechanics (2) lol didn’t send
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Macroeconomics, AP Biology, AP Music Theory, Mastery Orchestra, Mastery Band, Beginning Piano, Advanced Orchestra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar w/Honor

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: N

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
National Beta Club (Vice President)
Operation Smile (Chapter Founder and President)
Youth Saxophone Choir (Principal)
String Quartet (founder and Violin I)
Theatre Pit Orchestra (Principal Sax 2 years/Concertmaster 1 year)
Tri-M Music Honor Society (President)
School Orchestra (Assistant/Concertmaster)
All-State Orchestra
Music Dispersion -non profit organization- (send love of classical music to people who may not have the chance) (Founder/Director)
City Wind Ensemble (1st part Alto Saxophone)
Jazz Band (Grammy Awards won) (1st chair/lead alto)
Contemporary Ensemble (Lead Alto)
Youth Symphony Orchestra (1st Violin/Assistant Concertmaster)
Youth Orchestra #2 and #3
Non-Profit Organziation( raises funds and researches causes for a condition I have- Executive Director)
Bandfest
Gay Straight Alliance (helped lobby to pass bill in my state protecting lgbt rights)
District Honor Band (1st chair) (2 years)
*** I did allooooot more but these are the ones that I reported/are important***

Job/Work Experience:
I started working my sophomore year. I’ve have had 4 jobs up until now and worked about 20 hours a week. I currently have two jobs however. I work at a theatre and grocery store.
Volunteer/Community service: performing at nursing homes;tutoring; youth orchestra helper; etc.
Summer Activities: Interlochen; working at grocery stores and theatre
Essays (rating 1-10, details): ehhh my common app was maybe an 8/10 tbh. I think it was kinda cheesy looking over it. In my essay I discussed how Violin has helped me find myself and what I’ve overcome and the discipline/motivation. My activities essay was maybe a 9/10.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Econ Teacher : He read his to me. It was pretty amazing, wrote 8 paragraphs and said I was one of the best students he’s had in years 10/10
Teacher Rec #2:Chem teacher; I’m not sure but shes written other successful recommendation letters so maybe 8-9/10. I didnt read.
Counselor Rec: 10/10 he knows everything about me lol. He normally asks his other students to send resumes but he told me not to because he already knows everything about me.
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: n/a

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Biochemistry
State (if domestic applicant): South
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: AA
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100-120K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM; first generation (parents are immigrants but have masters degrees)

Reflection

Strengths: EC’s, Essays, Recommendations, GPA, Rank, grades, lol personality
Weaknesses: TEST SCORES
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think it
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Cornell , UGA : Applied to : Harvard, Yale , Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Duke, Stanford, Rice, Oberlin, Johns Hopkins, UPenn,

General Comments:

I honestly didn’t think I was going to get accepted anywhere and I was almost OK with that. It was so funny because I got the MOSAIC invite and I thought it was just a likely letter but I didn’t see the letter saying that I was actually accepted until 2 weeks later when I went back through the package. I came to realize that admissions to these schools isn’t the end goal but just a stepping stone to where I actually want to go in life. Don’t get me wrong I am ecstatic that I got in and its definitely in my top choices, but I know that whether I get into the rest of the schools I applied to or not, it doesn’t and won’t define who I am. The rest of these decisions need to hurry up so I can finally relax lol.

24

Decision: Accepted Regular Decision

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship

Academics: IB diploma, 3.983/4.0 GPA, 2400 SAT(one sitting), 780 SAT Bio(M), 780 SAT Math II

Academic awards: 2017 Presidential Scholar candidate; National Merit Finalist

Sports awards: Black belt in Shotokan Karate

  1. Gold medal: 2016 Oregon State Karate Championships and National Qualifier
  2. Qualified and competed at 2016 USA National Karate Championships and Team Trials
  3. Bronze medal: 2016 AAU National Karate Junior Olympics
  4. Gold medal: 28th Annual Tournament, Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association
  5. 2016 AAU Outstanding Athlete in Martial Arts
  6. Member, USA National Karate-Do Federation
  7. Member, AAU Karate

Music awards: Multiple (4 times) performances at Carnegie Hall and Paris

  1. Second place: 2015 Crescendo International Piano Competition
  2. Semi-finalist: 2015 Seattle Int’l Piano Competition
  3. Gold medal: 2015 Northwest Chopin Festival
  4. Third place: 2015 Washington State Outstanding Artist Competition
  5. Second place: 2015 American Protégé Romantic Music Competition
  6. First place: 2016 Crescendo International Piano Competition

Leadership, Volunteering, and Community Service

  1. Founded high school film club in tenth grade
  2. Volunteered to teach youth Karate for two years
  3. Rehearsal pianist for school musical “Pippin” and “Mary Poppin” in 9th and 10th grade
  4. Performed regularly at local retirement homes and fundraising concerts

Activities

  1. Creative Writing: Wrote and published a novel on Wattpad
  2. Film making: Wrote, directed, and produced short films since freshman year
  3. Music Composing: Published on SoundCloud since freshman year
  4. Piano: Studied classical music for 11 years
  5. Karate: Trained since age 5
  6. Soccer: Played for a local Premier Soccer Club since sophomore year

Go Commodore!!!

25

I thought RD came out April 1? Congrats to those of you who heard back and were accepted. Is April 1st the decision day for people who are rejected?

26

@GAcollegemom6 definitely not. Most rd kids who have heard were either invited to Mosaic which was this past week or granted either Chancellor’s or Cornelius Vanderbilt merit scholarships. I think way more kids have not heard than have heard. Best of luck to your dc!

27

Ok, thanks so much! Sorry, us moms just worry sometimes. Haha. :wink:

28

Accepted

Objective:
ACT: 34
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Unweighted- 1/613 Weighted- 24/613
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human Geo (5) AP Chem (4) AP World (4) AP US (5) AP Physics 1 (4) AP Lang (5) AP Calc AB (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics 2, AP Lit, AP Microeconomics (only 1 semester), Intermediate College French 1, Foods and Nutrition, Online Business math 1 and 2 ( the last 3 were only taken to complete a graduation requirement),
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semi-finalist

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: N

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mu Alpha Theta (VP), most of my other ECs are related to work experience/language which is described below.
Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard and swim instructor, years of babysitting, 6 weeks as summer au pair in Finland, after-school nanny, VP of sales and marketing for my startup (www.refundgenius.com)
Volunteer/Community service: None outside of a couple years of Key club and a charity plan through my company.
Summer Activities: Worked as an au pair for 6 weeks in Finland, set up my own language exchange to Norway to further my learning of the language (kept price low by creating my own trip/planning everything on my own), started a company with my brother (www.RefundGenius.com)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): All of my essays were about 8 I guess. I had a lot to write about with my homeschooling background, love of language, and my startup (described below a bit).

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10, I am very close to my AP Physics teacher (I am in my second year of class with her).
Teacher Rec #2: 9, I asked my AP US teacher for the second. I would say he loved me, so I hope it was a stellar review.
Counselor Rec: 8, I would assume it was good, but I barely know my counselor as I am new to the high school.
Interview: Short but good. Probably 7/10. I really enjoyed talking with the woman that did mine, and she had similar interests as she studied engineering.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes, but missed the deadline for school specific scholarships.
Intended Major: Engineering, undecided.
State (if domestic applicant): Colorado
School Type: Public high school
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Middle Class/upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection

Strengths: I showed a lot of drive/independence in terms of following my passions outside of school (RefundGenius, languages etc)
Weaknesses: I don’t know how to answer this. Lack of school based clubs/normal extracurriculars. Limited volunteer experience.
Why you think you were accepted: Combination of my activities and grades. Honestly not sure though.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted- University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Emory, University of Virginia. Deferred- Stanford (applied Early Action Restrictive) Rejected- Georgia Tech, MIT Still waiting- Ivies, USC, Duke, Stanford, Rice

General Comments: Don’t stress too much about schools, it seems very random where you get in/don’t.

29

Congrats to you! How did you find out? An email notification?

30

Found out in the mail mid-february, just forgot to log on here until recently! @bluesky777

What? @CanIFinUHH

31

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1580 (790 Reading and Writing, 790 Math, 22 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): 35 Composite (36 English, 35 Math, 33 Reading, 36 Science, 33 Writing)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Biology M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 W, 4.85 UW
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), US History (5), BC Calc (5), Lang and Comp (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): none
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP French, AP Stats
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing extremely major… National Merit Commended, AP Scholar with Distinction, Harvard Book Award, French Honor Society, National Honor Society, and a bunch of school academic awards.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Varsity Tennis (Captain)
  • National Honor Society (Officer)
  • Asian Culture Club (President)
  • Math Team
  • Biology lab aide

Job/Work Experience:

  • Intern at biomedical company
  • Teacher assistant at local language school (won award for best teacher assistant)

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Invention/Science Camp (Camp Counselor)
  • Volunteer at local hospital (New volunteer trainer, manage front desk)
  • Volunteer at town library

Summer Activities:

  • Internship at biomedical company
  • Summer program at Brown
  • Invention/Science Camp (Camp Counselor)
  • Hiking/traveling with family

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

  • Common App: 8.5/10, I think I could have made this stronger, but I talked about finding balance between being an individual and being part of a community
  • Supplements: 9/10, I wrote about volunteering at an invention summer camp and inspiring girls to become engineers - tied in why vanderbilt at the end too

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Bio teacher 9/10, did well in class, work as lab aide
Teacher Rec #2: AP Lang teacher 9/10, did well in class, connected with teacher
Counselor Rec: 8/10 didn’t know super well, but she definitely likes me a lot
Additional Rec: none
Interview: N/A requested interview by didn’t receive a response

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public, small but high-ranking in Massachusetts, competitive atmosphere
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection:
Strengths: Grades, test scores, teacher recs, woman in engineering?
Weaknesses: No interview, Asian, interested in biology (very popular major)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: strong stats; emphasized that I wanted to continue inspiring strong female scientists and I talked about why I liked Vanderbilt
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted at UVA and McGill; still waiting on Duke and Ivies

General Comments: Congrats everyone! :smiley:

32

Waitlisted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2290 (720 Reading, 800 Writing, 770 Math)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (34 Math, 35 Reading, 34 Science, 36 Writing)
SAT II: 770 US History, 770 Math II, 710 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/780
AP (place score in parenthesis): Music Theory (4), Art History (4), US History (5), US Gov (5), Chemistry (4), Physics 1-C (3), Human Geography (5), Calc AB (5), English Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at my school
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ Macro/Micro, AP Calc BC, AP Env. Sci., AP English Literature, AP European History, Orchestra, French IV (online)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, AP National Scholar, Lots of Smaller (Regional, State) Academic Awards and Competitions, TEAMS STEM Competition Nationals, Many Piano Awards at State Levels, one International Competition First Prize, Performances with Regional Orchestras.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Piano (lessons with college professor), Varsity Tennis, TEAMS National Engineering Finalist, Fine Arts Academic Superbowl Captain, Orchestra, NHS, Student Gov. Founder of a Political club at my school.

Job/Work Experience: Internship at my local Mayor’s Office, Piano Performances for weddings, events, etc…
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer piano for nursing homes, convents, and more. Also NHS volunteering. Started a program at a local center for those with special needs.

Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App (I did two versions, I would say the first is an 8/10 and second is a 9-10/10). Talked About what Piano Meant to me in first one, in second talked about the irony of my Carnegie Hall Performance.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Lang Teacher. Never read it, but an amazing and published author. Probably 10/10, plus he liked me very much.
Teacher Rec #2: AP Calculus Teacher. Probably 8/10, very organized teacher, and I was one of the most dedicated Calc students, usually came to after school help more than most to get a good grade in class.
Teacher Rec #3: Sophomore English Teacher. She was UChicago Teacher of the Year, very passionate rec, talked about me in a religious sense which is hit-or-miss of course, also talked about my intuition in art history.
Counselor Rec: Ehh….idk. Had to use a different counselor because mine was on paternity leave lol a strange situation, I know.
Additional Rec 1: Superintendent of my School Corp. Probably 9-10/10.
Additional Rec 2: Piano teacher, talked about my intellect very strongly. Short but powerful. Also he’s an ND Professor, so credibility. 9/10.

Interview:
Other: I mentioned Summer programs for piano and STEM.
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes!
Intended Major: Undecided/Economics/Music/Env. Sci. All over the place haha. Always applied for Arts and Sciences + Music if I could.
State (if domestic applicant): Indiana
School Type: Huge Public School (3600 total), mixed suburban and rural
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: around 110K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nothing…maybe musical accomplishments.

Strengths: Test Scores (except Chem subject test lol), GPA, Piano, some leadership
Weaknesses: Not really much research, white male from suburban competitive area, Lots of people from my school are URM or have very similar accomplishments and stats.

General Comments: Applied to a lot of schools, and expected it to be hit or miss. Looking forward to next week and the next rounds of decisions! I don’t have high expectations, and purposefully avoided the idea of a “dream school” because I wanted no dreams crushed! Lololol. It’s tough being middle class and all with not a lot of connections, but work through it, apply with passion, and don’t be afraid to stretch. And – very happy with my options so far!!

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:
Accepted: Notre Dame (via likely, with lots of merit), USC (NMF Merit + Thornton School of Music Merit), Rice, Hillsdale (full tuition scholarship), IU Jacobs School of Music (lots of merit)
Waitlisted: UChicago, Vanderbilt
Deferred: Yale SCEA
Rejected: WUSTL, Northwestern, US Naval Academy, New England Conservatory of Music
Waiting to hear from: Harvard, Yale, UPenn, Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Princeton, Columbia, NYU

33

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Old SAT: 2240 (700 CR, 740 M, 800 W; 10 essay)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t submit
SAT II: 790 USH, 720 math 1, 720 english lit
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): about 3.9 I think, but my school doesn’t use 4.0 scale
Weighted GPA: we do a weird 5.65 scale, so N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/94
AP (place score in parenthesis): US History (4), Bio (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Spanish, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Physics I, AP Psych, AP English, AP Calc AB, College Writing (concurrent enrollment URI)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): not really any major ones, but CSPAN StudentCam third prize, RI Scholar Athlete, All-Division, National Spanish Exam awards, etc.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-World Languages Club (Treasurer / Secretary)
-National Honor Society (Treasurer)
-World Languages Honor Society
-Varsity tennis: 4 years
-Varsity Athletes Against Substance Abuse (VAASA)
-Golf team

Job/Work Experience: 2 summers of bussing at local beach club
Volunteer/Community service: 40 hours per year for NHS; teach CCD at local Catholic church; tutor pre-calc
Summer Activities: working, tennis, etc.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: maybe 8/10… good I think, but sort of weird
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Spanish teacher for 3 years: 7/10 (it was good, but a little different)
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): Algebra 2/Pre Calc teacher: haven’t seen it, but probably 8/10
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): I have no idea; probably alright; maybe 7/10

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: nope
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): RI
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: pretty high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflections: I obviously wasn’t expecting to get in, as Vanderbilt is super competitive. However, I feel as though there was a definite disadvantage for students who submitted the old SAT this year. The scores for the new SAT are supposed to be higher, so colleges should take this into account by using the College Board’s concordance tables. Georgetown has basically admitted to not following the concordance tables, and Vanderbilt’s ED results show that they accepted people with higher new SATs than old SATs…
Weaknesses: Vanderbilt is a reach for pretty much anyone and I don’t have anything particularly special about my application that would make it stand out
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
-Accepted: Boston College (honors program), UMiami (w/ merit scholarship), Fordham (w/ merit scholarship), University of Richmond
-Waitlisted: Wake Forest
-Rejected: UNC, Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt
-Waiting on: Duke

General Comments: Congrats to everyone who got in, and good luck to everyone else! I don’t typically make these posts, but I figured I would for this

34

@kgcollege17 when did you get rejected from UNC?? Did the decision already come out yet?

Accepted: Rochester, Emory, Rice, Wesleyan Univ, USC
Waitlisted: Carleton, Claremont Mckenna, W&L, Georgetown
Rejected: Vanderbilt, Washu, JHU, Middlebury, Northwestern
Waiting on: Duke, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, UPenn, UNC

(Yes. I did apply to a lot of colleges)

35

Rejected:
NMF, 35 ACT, 1560 SAT, 3.7 UW GPA
My threads here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1976922-rejected-from-pretty-much-everywhere-i-applied-35-act-nmf-1560-sat.html#latest
A bit disappointed but oh well what could I expect.
Congrats to everyone who got in; Vandy is gonna be awesome for y’all. :slight_smile:

36

I got rejected from UNC early action @WAITINGSOUL

37

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 35C (36E 35M 35R 35S) 8/12 Essay
SAT II: Math II (800) Bio-E (760)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/529
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Bio (4) AP World History (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Most rigorous, but I dropped hard classes to take choir and theatre lol
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Boys Nation Senator, Questbridge Finalist

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Chess Club (founder, President)
NHS (Officer)
Book Club (Officer)
SkillsUSA (Officer)
FBLA (Officer)
Concert Choir (Unofficial section leader, I helped restart the club and grow it from 7 members to 100 in 6 months.)
Choir also has sung at district banquets, and we went on tour in LA.
Lead role in school musical

Job/Work Experience: I work 20 hours a week with my Dad.
Volunteer/Community service: 10 hours a week at church, with various events.
Summer Activities: FBLA National Conference
Mission trip to Nicaragua
Boys State and Boys Nation

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

Questbridge Essays -
8/10 - It compared my life to a wooden desk I’ve owned since I was little. I scribbled on it and wrote down my thoughts when I was going through bad times, and the desk became an extension of my personality.
6/10 - I wrote about how chess was an underappreciated art form. I went on to say I found people at school to create a club with.

Common App Essay - 7/10, it was about how I visited my Grandma before she passed from terminal breast cancer. She was playful and humorous even in her last moments, so I wrote about how she didn’t let her condition stop her from having fun with her grandchild for the last time.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: English teacher, pushed me to pursue politics. 8/10
Teacher Rec #2: Bio teacher, I was funny and over-excited in her class. I wasn’t the best student, but I got close to her as a person. 8/10
Counselor Rec: Generic, I got a new counselor starting junior year. 4/10
Additional Rec: None.
Interview: None.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): AZ
School Type: Large public, 2500 students total.
Ethnicity: Asian-American (South Korean Immigrant)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 35k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First gen, poor (?)

Reflections:

Strengths: Test scores, ECs
Weaknesses: Dat GPA, holy balls I should’ve tried harder for all 4 years.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/deferred? I just got lucky. Plain and simple, don’t read too much into your decisions because it can seemingly be random at times and they do not determine your worth as a person.

General Comments: I didn’t care at all about school in my freshman year, so my GPA took a beating. I started to wake up and realize that I didn’t want to go to my state school (no offense ASU!) and end up with a desk job, working 9 to 5 and not accomplishing more. I was entitled - I thought I was such a smart kid, and that I was destined to rule the world, cure cancer, marry Emma Watson. So I involved myself in a bunch of clubs that I didn’t care about, started studying for tests that I hated studying for, all in an attempt to pad my application. In my senior year, I took a look at myself and I didn’t know who I was. I was a phony, a hack, who did what he had to do to get to a place that he thought he had to get to. I embraced my quirks and my love for music during this past year, but I regret that it was too late. When I look back on my high school life, I realize that I wasted my time doing things that I didn’t like doing. I can’t think of more than 5 memorable experiences I had in my high school years. I just wish I had accepted myself earlier. Then I could say, “Oh I don’t regret high school. I had a ton of fun!”

Anyways, I’m blessed to be accepted to these institutions. I just feel weird, knowing that they didn’t accept me, per se - they accepted a bluffed-up version of me.

Other College Decisions: Amherst (Accepted), Wesleyan (Accepted), USC (Accepted), Vanderbilt (Accepted), UChicago (WL), Northwestern (WL), Pomona (WL), University of Virginia (WL), MIT (Rejected), Columbia ED (Rejected).

38

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):1360 (630M, 730W&R, 18/24?) best essay was 24/24
ACT (breakdown):30 (35R, 35W, 25M, 26S)
SAT II:Biology E (680), Spanish (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.98
Weighted GPA:4.48
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/102
AP (place score in parenthesis):Bio (4), Literature (4), Spanish (5), Art (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): -
Senior Year Course Load: Government/Econ, T.A., AP Physics 1 (ruined my 4.0…), Psychology, AP Calculus, AP Language, Human Biology (Dual Enrollment [DE] 1st semester), Medical Terminology (DE, 1st semester), Chemistry (DE, 2nd semester), Public Speaking (DE, 2nd semester)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Scholastic Art & Writing state awards

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: No

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):Interact - Rotary International (Treasurer), Success ( Community Service Officer), Creative Writing Club (Vice President), Senior Capstone
Job/Work Experience:Agriculture Worker, Library Page
Volunteer/Community service: See extracurriculars, reader at St. Anthony’s Parish
Summer Activities:Don’t think I mentioned this in my app, but here you go: Summertime Success, study for ACT using PrepScholar (it worked!), 2 Dual Enrollment Courses, worked on Capstone

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Personal Statement was well-written, but hardly personal, so 7-8/10 Vanderbilt supplement: 5/10 Hardly spent any time on it, just copy and pasted what I wrote for another college and added a bit to it, I think my lack of care showed

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Spanish teacher? 9/10
Teacher Rec #2: English teacher? 10/10
Counselor Rec: Probably good but generic
Additional Rec: I don’t remember if I did this, but if I did, they were 9-10/10 and 8/10?
Interview: Went great, really fun

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:Yes
Intended Major: Medicine, Health, and Society (or something like that)
State (if domestic applicant):CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Small rural public
Ethnicity:Hispanic
Gender:XX
Income Bracket:<90K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):URM, 1st generation, underachieving area?

Reflection

Strengths: GPA?, Dual Enrollment?
Weaknesses:Test scores, amount of extracurriculars, ESSAYS!!!
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Probably saw I wasn’t interested in attending Vandy and going down to the South.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

Accepted: UCD (in w/honors), UCSC (in, waitlisted at honors), UCLA, USC, Cornell via likely letter
Waiting: UCB, Brown, Harvard
Rejected: Stanford REA, Vandy

General Comments: Don’t apply to a college you don’t want to attend because there are people who do want to attend that school.

39

Waitlisted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2090 (only sent this to UCs)
ACT (breakdown): 32 C (35E, 32R, 29S, 33M) 33C superscored
SAT II: 790 USH, 700 M2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): na
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (4), Spanish (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): na
Senior Year Course Load: 4 APs + 2 other fun classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Gold President’s Award, National Hispanic Scholar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Editor in chief of arts magazine, news editor of news publication, secretary of MUN club, co-founder of journalism summer camp, did three internships in HS, photographer at a White House Cybersummit, did JV track/XC/badminton
Job/Work Experience: Paid intern for a local website but no real job
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered ~300 hours but only reported 183 (oops) – Interned at BGCP and got most of my hours that way.
Summer Activities: Clemson Summer Scholars, BGCP internship, other summer classes for fun
Common App Essay (rating 1-10, details): 8-9; I discussed speech therapy and how it made me more resilient
Vanderbilt Supplement Essay: 7/10. I discussed being an editor-in-chief for my publication; pretty straightforward.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): didn’t read any of them - I feel like maybe those were average?

Teacher Rec #1: Didn’t read
Teacher Rec #2: Didn’t read
Counselor Rec: Probably really good
Additional Rec: NA
Interview: It was basically a Q&A session; not that helpful or interesting.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: PoliSci
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large, public & prestigious
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: not high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Strengths: GPA, CA essay, URM, ECs
Weaknesses: ACT!!!
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Literally just my ACT score

Accepted: Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, UCSB, Tulane, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UMiami
Waitlisted: Vanderbilt, UCSD
Rejected: WashU, UCLA
Deferred at Brown ED

40

Waitlisted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):CR 780 Math 800 Writing 800
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:Math II 800, Chemistry 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.98
Weighted GPA:4.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis):AP World History(5) AP Calculus AB(5) AP Chemistry(5) AP Physics C Mechanics(5) AP Lang(5) APUSH(4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:AP Lit, AP Computer Science, AP Physics 2, AP Macro/micro econ, Advanced Calculus, Spanish 3, Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):AP Scholar with Distinction, AIME Qualifier, A few minor math competition awards

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: N

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):Tennis, (10-12th Grade) Swim (11-12th Grade). Science Competition Club (VP) (11-12th Grade), Math competition club (10-12th Grade), Honors Society (12th Grade), Piano (Throughout High School)
Job/Work Experience:NA
Volunteer/Community service: Peer tutoring, Honors Society
Summer Activities:N/A
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
-Common App(8/10) Had multiple drafts and received good feedbacks from many people
-Supplement (5/10): Could have done a better job
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:AP Calc Teacher (9/10) I did well in that class and I very am close to the teacher
Teacher Rec #2:AP Chemistry Teacher (8/10)
Counselor Rec: 6/10 public school so counsellors don’t really know the students
Additional Rec:
Interview: None

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:No
Intended Major:Biomedical engineering
State (if domestic applicant):OOS
Country (if international applicant):US
School Type:public
Ethnicity:Asian
Gender:female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):Women in engineering?

Reflection

Strengths:Test score, GPA, Common app essay
Weaknesses: Extracurriculars and supplement
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Georgia Tech, JHU, Likely letter from Cornell, UMichigan, UCLA,UW Seattle, Smith College
Waitlisted: UChicago
Rejected: Caltech,Duke, Northwestern, MIT
General Comments: