Accepted!
GPA 3.59 UW
IB predicted 41/45.
SAT 1960
SATII Chem 690 MathII 650
Many leadership ECs, some national awards.
Good personal statement, excellent oxy supplements and recs.
International, first generation to college abroad.
Met the president of the college few days before decisions came out who wrote a little rec to the admissions committee for me, that may have helped a bit!
@Miles15 it will say within the body of your acceptance letter on your portal, and will include a financial aid link that describes the merit aid in detail.
You guys that got accepted are so lucky!
Rejected
Stats:
2110 SAT, didn’t take ACT
3.6 unweighted GPA for junior year
won a speech contest in Washington, D.C. when I was fifteen (a sophomore)
i have this format for all decision stuff so i’m just gonna stick with it
Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 31, 27M 29S 33W 35E
SAT II: n/a
GPA: 3.4 WGPA: 3.8
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): US Govt (4) Psychology (4) English Lang (5) World History (4) European History (no score yet) English Lit (no score yet) Comparative Govt (no score yet)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: Senior Independent Project (1 semester), TV internship (1 semester), Honors French 3, AP English Lit, AP Comp Govt, AP Euro, Law, & Programming.
Major Awards: National Hispanic Scholar, Honorable Mention in AFSA Essay Contest.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): (Master Electrician) for my school’s technical theater, member of Social Studies Honors Society,
Job/Work Experience: Cashier for major ice cream store.
Volunteer/Community service: Lots of hours (200+) and worked on a gubernatorial campaign during the school year and summer of my junior year.
Summer Activities: Gubernatorial campaign and french immersion program.
Essays: Good
Teacher Recommendation: They like me so good
Counselor Rec: We know each other well so good
Additional Rec: n/a
Commonapp Essay: worked hard on it so yeah good
Supplement Essay: I thought they sucked but I guess not
Interview: I accidentally missed my first one but the next day had a phone interview that went well. Everybody makes mistakes…
Other: I completed a 20 page senior independent project that I didn’t send Oxy but I did notify them about the special program I was in.
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: diplomacy & world affairs
State (if domestic applicant): MD
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: F
Income Bracket: high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
Reflection: I am so happy Oxy accepted me but it was such a surprise to be honest.
Strengths:
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: ACT score, URM status, extracurriculars
Weaknesses: GPA, supplemental essays
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No idea
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted to American University (Community-Based Research Scholars), University of Arizona (Honors College), and George Mason University. Offered a place in the fall of 2016 from Boston University, and waitlisted at Northeastern.
Notes: Oxy is an awesome option! I’m so excited!!!
Hey all, current Oxy student here! I just thought thought I would offer to answer any questions you have. I am NOT an admission officer, so I cannot offer info about why someone is/isn’t accepted or stats, but I can talk about life at Oxy and answer other types of questions. I relied on this forum a lot when I was admitted, so I thought I’d offer myself as a resource!
@Giuliana1821 i suspect i was waitlisted for the same exact reason, as well. Same issue here. Pretty dejecting. I wish you good luck with any other schools!
Decision: Accepted
Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2180 (680 R, 700 M, 800 W)
[] ACT: N/A
[] SAT II: Math II 700
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 16/300ish
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Gov & Politics (5)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): IBDP Candidate - Eng HL, Math SL, Bio HL, Film HL, Geography SL, Spanish SL
[] Senior Year Course Load: Same as IB courses
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Not any national ones[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Several strong ones
[] Personal Statement: pretty good?
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes… received a VERY generous offer from Oxy, almost covers tuition
[li]** Intended Major **: Math [/li][] State: Hawaii
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: Female
[] Income Bracket: ~80,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Single mother[/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? UCSD, UCSC, UW, Oxy, Waitlisted at UCLA
[] Schools you were rejected from? none yet
[li] Schools you are waiting for? Stanford, USC, CMC (lol), UCB[/li][/ul]General Comments: Wasn’t my first choice, but the money is playing a HUGE factor
Waitlisted… 30 ACT and 4.0 GPA. I felt my essays were pretty strong, so this came as a bit of a surprise. Good luck on your college decision processes, everyone!
@pennyballoon
Hey thanks for posting! Could you tell me a little about the academics. I know they’re challenging but do you find yourself to be super stressed out 24/7 or is it a bit more manageable? How was the transition from high school to Oxy? Also what do you find yourself doing during your free time? Again, thanks for answering questions I really appreciate it!
i’ve been accepted! with 50000 trustee scholarship so 12500 a year, all the way from ct haha
don’t really know my exact GPA but i have all high 90s - 2140 sat 31 act (don’t think i sent act though?) i enjoyed the essays and think they were pretty strong too
@pennyballoon hello! in general, how do you like oxy and why? why did you choose it above other schools you applied to? are you an out-of-state student? do you participate in sports/school clubs and organizations? if so, how manageable is it? do you find your classes challenging enough? are there interesting events (lectures, performances, etc) at the school, or do you find yourself going off-campus a lot? do you ever go to the beach? sorry lots of questions but im curious! i really liked oxy when i visited, hopefully i get enough financial aid to be able to go!
Accepted
SAT: 1840
UC GPA: 3.72/UW 3.70
Hooks: URM, First Generation
Track & Field and XC for 3 years
Essays: 8.5/10
In-State
Major: CLS Undeclared
Accepted: CPP, CSULB, SDSU, UCR, UCSC, UCSB, LMU, Oxy
Rejected: CPSLO, UCD, UCI, UCLA, SCU
Waiting: UCB
@cany98 Kind of the same here
@earthyhuman
I ADORE Oxy. And I am not saying that because I’m trying to get you to pick Oxy-- I’m being very honest. Oxy is my haven, it’s my new home. I’m honestly sad that I’ll have to leave for the summer, because I am that happy here. I love Oxy because it has given me everything I ever wanted from a school. My classes are small, my professors are understanding and they are always there for me, every club or organization I could want is here and I am a part of it, I made amazing friends. California is beautiful and Los Angeles is full of amazing concerts and clubs.
I chose Oxy for a pretty specific reason, but I’ll share it on here. I actually got into pretty much every school I applied to (Swarthmore, Wellesley, Reed, Oberlin, Barnard, and Oxy of course). I had a really complicated financial situation-- I had many extenuating circumstances that caused me to need financial aid outside of the regular financial aid application. Initially, I got very little aid from every school. I had many conversations with financial aid counselors, and the people at Swarthmore and Wellesley (I did not try at Reed and Barnard) would hardly help me. They wouldn’t talk to me, they were sketchy about returning my calls-- sometimes they were downright rude to me when all I wanted was to talk to someone. I was an admitted student! It was ridiculous. But at Oxy, they picked up every time I called. They ALWAYS directed me to someone who would help. They listened to me, and ultimately heard my plea and made it possible for me to go to Oxy financially. Oxy was the only school that was there for me as a person, not just a number-- this has remained true since I came to Oxy.
I am an out-of-state student! I am originally from Arizona.
I’ll just list to you my extracurricular involvement: I am the co-president of Planned Parenthood club, the secretary for the Queer Students Alliance, the reproductive rights committee chair for the ACLU, I also study jazz voice, I’m a member for the Oxy Glee Club, and I write for the Oxy Wellness Website (if anyone wants web addresses for all of these things, let me know!) I also did a lot of campaign volunteer work last semester. I mean, this is a lot, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this much at one time-- I sort of ended up in these things, and I’ll be dropping one or two of these endeavors next semester. I don’t play any sports, but I know they are very, very time consuming. Honestly, if you have time management as a solid skill, you can do it. My professors are really excited and supportive of everything I do. I just left for four days to go to a conference and all my professors excused me from class! I think Oxy makes it possible for you to do whatever you want as long as you are willing to work hard-- nobody here thinks that academics should be your only endeavor.
I do find my classes challenging! I’ve taken about two 200 level classes each semester this year, and those are challenging in the best way. Profs don’t give out busy work here, as a general statement-- they want you to think and read and write, they don’t want to waste your time.
There are literally so many events on campus you could not even attend a third of them. That is not a joke. Every student org puts on amazing events. Queer Students Alliance is putting on 13 programs in April (for Gaypril) alone. Really there is a LOT to do here. At the same time, I do go into LA fairly often, but that’s because I love going into downtown and the Grove and Hollywood xD
I have been to the beach only once, I mean it’s pretty far. But if you can get 4 friends together and split and Uber, it’s only $10-$15 a person, and it’s worth it. Santa Monica is wonderful. Some other people go to the beach more often than I do.
Hey thanks for posting! Could you tell me a little about the academics. I know they’re challenging but do you find yourself to be super stressed out 24/7 or is it a bit more manageable? How was the transition from high school to Oxy? Also what do you find yourself doing during your free time? Again, thanks for answering questions I really appreciate it!
The academics are challenging, but the thing is, the work you do is not a waste. In high school, you get a lot of busy work (in my experience anyway, in AP’s too). You’re stressed because you have 4 hours of useless busywork in high school. At Oxy, the work you do is worth your time. I am a politics major and a writing minor, so I can’t speak to STEM majors, but for me, I do a lot of reading and a lot of essay writing, less exams. My classes thus far have been doable. I feel like I’m growing in terms of critical thinking, and that is challenging, but that is not stressful in the way I think you are speaking. I’m mostly stressed because I took on too many extracurriculars, but that’s an easy fix! Also, Oxy is so laid back. People are NOT competing over grades and test scores, and professors do not pressure you to get A’s-- people don’t care as much about your scores, they want to know that you are learning.
The transition was great for me personally. I loved that I was working on things I was actually interested in. You have to be careful about time management, because you do have a lot more time to yourself to stuff rather than class time, but I prefer that.
In my free time, besides all the clubs and stuff like that I do, I usually have small get-togethers with friends in a dorm room, or I go into downtown. We go to the Grove all the time, into Hollywood, we go out to eat a lot. I made a couple of really, really good friends that I spend most of my time with. This weekend we are going to a Fantastiprov show on campus (which is the Oxy improv group) on Friday, and then we’re going to get Donut Friend (which is within walking distance). On Saturday, we are getting together to have drinks and play Cards Against Humanity. That’s a pretty standard weekend for me. There are larger frat parties if that’s what your into
If that’s what you’re into* There’s really something for everyone!
If that’s what you’re into* There’s really something for everyone!
@pennyballon Thanks so much for answering! It’s great to hear about the academics, I like to challenge myself but hate all the busy work from my AP’s. Glad to know that students can take advantage of the city, I love going to downtown L.A. and the Grove is my favorite place to shop! Do you happen to know anything about double majoring? Do many people do it or is it too hard to get all the credits in and only for the super dedicated students? Also how are the dorms, do you mind having to live in them? I saw one briefly on the tour but didn’t really get to see that much. Again thanks for taking your time to answer my questions, I have so many flying around in my head 
@werpo318 no worries about the questions! Double majoring in anything not science related is very doable. I do know people who double major in a STEM major and a humanities major, it it is harder. Oxy students rarely have only one humanities major. Usually people double major, or major and minor, or double minor. It’s the liberal arts, so you have a lot of freedom to do what you want! The only challenge in double majoring is doing to comps projects. All seniors do senior comps-- you can read about that here: https://www.oxy.edu/academics/student-research-projects/senior-comps . However, that hasn’t stopped anyone I know from double majoring. It involves planning, but luckily you get an individual advisor to help you, also the advising center is super awesome, and almost all professors are happy to help you plan to do a double major. It’s common, so people know how to help you do it. Of course it takes extra work, but only in planning! Especially if the majors overlap, for example politics and economics (I considered that for a while).
The dorms are ehh as a first year but improve as you get older. I mean, living in college is not glamorous anywhere. However, my room (and most rooms I’ve seen at oxy) is much larger than most rooms at my sisters big state school (Northern Arizona University) and many large schools. Not all dorms have air conditioning, which is rough at the very beginning and the very end of school but fine the rest of the year (southern California is beautiful). I’m doing themed living next year, which is a pretty popular choice and is super fun! You can read about that here: https://www.oxy.edu/residential-education-housing-services/residence-halls/themed-living-communities . I like that housing is guaranteed all four years. A lot of schools force you to find an apartment after 1-2. Here, you have options. Some people really mind oxy housing, but honestly, I’ve just accepted that college dorm living is not as nice as having your own room back home. I bought a fan for the lack of AC, and a mattress topper for a soft bed, and I’m happy that way. I think oxy housing is as good as other small liberal arts colleges, and better than large universities.