@GoldPenn Thank you! Yes, that has been his dream school from the beginning. We thought it seemed so reachable (LOL, rookie first borns and first born parents) and then the reality of this year hit and we were hopeful but willed the fam to move on. Yesterday we got the lucky golden ticket. I’m so happy for my son. I wished they had room for all the kids whom I know are just as qualified.
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For posterity:
We started out with one important factor that overshadowed the process. As longtime CA residents and Berkeley alum, we saw the UCs and their price point as the goal. And we could not easily afford more than the cost of going to a UC regardless of college attended and we do not qualify for aid. Also, my boys thought they probably did not want to go far from home. They are not 18 until school starts in the fall. Location was also a factor. They wanted a nice town, preferably coastal. At the start, I thought it would be Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, UCSB, or UCSD. Additionally, they do not know what they want to do particularly but they each have some interests; not STEM or CS. They applied broadly to UCs and we added University of Hawaii and Lewis and Clark when UCs went test blind. McGill was in the mix in case Trump was re-elected. (Just being honest.) Stanford was a big reach but actually would have given us a bit of money unlike most other schools. UCLA and Berkeley were reaches. They each only took 7 AP classes total.
Twin 1
Weighted GPA: 4.26
UW GPA: 4.0
ACT: 34
Good essays and ECs but ECs were almost all musical theater related and he was not applying to theater programs.volunteer hours, no leadership
Accepted : UCD, UCSB, UCSC, Cal Poly SLO (invited to apply for honors program), McGill, Lewis and Clark ($30,500 a year merit) University of Hawaii (WUE plus $2000 a year merit)
Waitlisted: UCSD
Rejected: Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley
Twin 2
Weighted GPA: 4.22
UW GPA: 3.94
ACT: 35
Good essays (but not as interesting as other twin) and ECs, volunteer hours, leadership
Accepted to: UCD, Cal Poly SLO (invited to apply for honors program), McGill, Lewis and Clark ($29,500 a year merit), University of Hawaii, honors program (WUE plus $5652 a year merit)
Waitlisted: UCSD, UCSB, UCSC
Rejected: Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley
99% sure they will both attend Cal Poly SLO. We are going to take another look next week.
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I can’t believe we are here already! I remember back in the fall thinking there was no way we were going to make it through the application process. S had no real list of schools he was interested in, he hadn’t officially toured any campuses and he had zero interest in watching virtual tours or Zoom info sessions. Somehow it all came together and he has some really good options all these months later.
Accepted: Purdue, Virginia Tech, RPI, UMD, Univ of Delaware, Syracuse, UCONN, Univ of South Carolina, Clemson. Almost all with great merit offers and a few with honors invites.
WL: University of Michigan
Rejection: MIT (after EA deferral), JHU, GT, Duke, Vanderbilt
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Figured I’d join in. Definitely a difficult year. We really felt we had realistic expectations and worked hard to develop a balanced list of reach, target and safety schools. I’d say we even set expectations lower than we may hav believed they could be. I work at a public university in CA so felt I had a good handle on this…2021 proved me wrong. S21 will graduate top 6% in his class of 550, 1460 SAT, 4.45 W and 3.7 UW. 32 semesters of honors and AP classes, and AP scholar with substantial volunteer work, 3 varsity sports, work with leadership role and somewhat major related. I definitely felt he’d have in state public options.
Accepted: University of Oregon (Summit Scholarship honors invite) University of Arizona (Excellence Scholarship) Loyola Chicago (Presidential Scholarship honors invite) Arizona State (Scholarship and honors invite)
Waitlisted: University of Washington, UC Santa Cruz, Cal Poly SLO (we are both alumni and he’s dreamed of attending since he could walk)
Rejected: Stanford (completely expected) UC Davis (thought this was a target) UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, UC Berkeley
As a biochemistry major we felt Washington and Davis were targets. We actually saw Cal Poly as a reach so in a way the waitlist was a victory. I think the big take away was that California public universities are not doing a great job of accommodating the top California high school graduates. We got skunked at UC and Cal Poly. I know dozens of other families with high stats kids in the same boat.
He’s narrowed it down to Loyola Chicago and University of Arizona. Both have offered merit aid that makes costs at or below UC in-state costs. He’d be happy at either of those but he remains hopeful that he might get off the waitlist and head to San Luis Obispo.
It’s no doubt difficult to emotionally prepare for two options but that’s kind of where he is at.
Best of luck to all in class of 2021.
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As the co-owner of the Waitlist Bar with Anaray, life just got super weird because my daughter got into Stanford. Drinks are on me tonight!
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Congrats to everyone on their great achievements.
My son told me tonight that on an official Michigan groupchat they announced they had over 80k applications this year which is insane. Someone else commented that there was only an 8.4% acceptance rate but he doesn’t think that was accurate (last year it was 22% with nearly 65k apps) and it was not the same person that gave the 80k number which was a UMichigan staff member. But crazy if it is accurate.
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@littlerobot OMG. I’m so happy for your family!!! How proud are you? Kinda weird when we honestly just want a reason to virtually drink. Can we still do that? Come back after 24 hours and thaw out. This is amazing. Can you share the % acceptance rate? I was guessing below 3% for RD. Congrats again.
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They’re using the enrolled number (roughly 7,000) as the numerator.
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That would make sense, but how could they be using the enrolled number already when no one needs to commit until May 3. Are you saying you think they’re saying 8.3% have already committed? I guess that might make sense.
I am so impressed with everybody’s kids. It takes enormous effort and determination to accomplish everything they have. Not to mention the factors they have dealt with that we never faced growing up, like 24/7 social media and the pandemic. I’m proud of them for making it this far, and weathering a ton of rejection and uncertainty. They have built so much character 
.
As for my D, she wanted to look at schools early, and planned to ED if she found the right fit. She ruled out schools with an acceptance rate under 10%. Her general wants were:
- Traditional campus (beauty a plus)
- Walkable town (picturesque a plus)
- Medium size (difficult to find because she avoided religiously affiliated schools)
- The right vibe (kind, down-to-earth, academic but engaged outside the classroom, not too political, quirky in a good way).
Visited:
Vassar, Skidmore, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Franklin & Marshall, Connecticut College, University of Richmond, SUNY New Paltz, and W&M (multiple times).
Also considered:
Mount Holyoke, Hamilton, Bates, Lafayette.
Applied:
William & Mary, ED, accepted.
SUNY New Paltz, rolling admissions, accepted, but declined as soon as ED came out.
D21 has great strengths and (compared to most students on CC) great weaknesses. She excels in English, History and Latin. Loves creative writing and making historical documentaries. She did not take physics or calculus. No honors or AP in science or math. She had some special awards and projects, but nothing beyond the regional level.
Her essays sounded like D21 talking to an AO (she’s a good storyteller). One was about a day on her summer job, and the other was about a tradition she and her siblings/cousins created 9 years ago which they still do every year.
I thought she might have second thoughts around this time, when almost everyone else is swept up in decision excitement. But she has never wavered, so we feel lucky!
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The enrolled number is kinda fixed. D18’s Class of 2022 was around 6,700. CDS for last year had roughly 6,900 as enrolled.
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S21 committed to Berkeley tonight over Northwestern, Rice, USC, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Washington and other UC’s. He is very excited to go to Berkeley and double major in applied math and CS. We are happy that he will be local and also glad that this crazy process is over!
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@mozwo123 CS at Berkeley = set for life!
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I know some people on here may not be happy with their options or didn’t get into schools they anticipated their kids would get into but just putting out there that my son received an e-mail today that Rose Hulman (RHIT) is still taking applications for Fall 21. I can’t believe it as they are a great Engineering school. So for those still looking to find their place definitely check it out.
Also I see that Northeastern already sent an email asking my son if he wants to stay on the waitlist or not. I can’t remember if this was the day they said they were going to follow up or not but I am sure he is saying no as he mentioned he was probably only staying on GaT, NU and possibly UNC but for CS and overall Engineering UNC and Northwestern are not better and GaT is pretty comparable with a slight edge in CS but less well rounded so it’s essentially a tie and the trade off of losing the ground gained at UM for playing catch up is probably not worth it. For NU it’s different because 30 kids from our school aren’t going there, it’s 20 mins away so it would be easy to switch in terms of catch up and no travel plans needed to be made but he would also have to think it’s worth it and like the idea of the quarter system which isn’t for everyone.
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Same flight – one day later! We’re heading to Carleton on Saturday afternoon (overnight in Northfield), then to Macalester on Sunday. Depart MSP for SEA about 6:30.
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Please tell us your kiddo is accepting the Jefferson scholarship. Penn and UVA are peer schools. The Jefferson scholarship is amazing (full ride with a travel stipend and run of the campus). She can always go Ivy for grad school.
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Summary of my daughter’s applications
Accepted: Rutgers New Brunswick, RPI, Rochester, Brandeis and Georgia Tech
Wait listed: Princeton, Rice, Harvey Mudd, U Michigan
Denied: Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Stanford, MIT
She will be attending Georgia Tech majoring in math and we are all happy with her choice.
I need to add that, personally, I am just delighted that she has selected math as her major without any prompting from me 
With a good foundation in math, you can then go on to do just about anything else but you can’t easily go in the other direction. Also, math is a subject that is best studied when you’re young.
My daughter was very clear on attending a large science oriented school because she has a diverse range of interests ranging from cryptology to climatology. She and I had a fun time going through the Georgia Tech course catalog.
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@tristatecoog - Can I PM you on some advice regarding job prospects at MBB or IB if she ends up at BC?
Sure I’ll also ask a BC PE guy I know.
I have no idea…they didn’t share an acceptance rate according to my kid. We are all still in total and utter shock. But I will def need to come in and dry out in a couple of days, haha!
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