<p>i was basically rejected by all the private schools, MIT, ivies, and such, but i was curious if it was because my stats were not in range or becuase i didn't differentiate myself enough with my essay. </p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>3.85 UW 4.5 W GPA (top 5% of class)
2220 SAT I 1510 V+M
800Math 2c, 720 Physics 700 Chem</p>
<p>took all 9 AP classes at school excluding language, 8 college courses (Math 53 at Berkeley & diff eq at cc fall of senior year), many honors classes. </p>
<p>3s and 4s on my AP tests (AP Scholar)</p>
<p>Certificate of Merit Piano Level 9 & 10 (played for over 11 yrs)
Eagle Scout & many positions
church pianist
varsity tennis 3 yrs
over 300 hrs of community service</p>
<p>So please, tell me honestly that the ivies and MIT were reaches for me, and i had absolutely no chance, so that i could finally rest assured.</p>
<p>i agree..you didn't differentiate yourself or just bad luck
depends on what ivies and privates you're talking about though,
MIT would be a reach, anyway</p>
<p>you're saying that i had a chance at MIT, Princeton, or Stanford? i mean my dad had a special disease(one out of four in the world) throughout my four years in high school so i had to deal with that. maybe i should have developed it more...</p>
<p>You could certainly handle the workload at any of those schools (well who knows for MIT - that's always a gamble), so it's not because they were worried about you academically.</p>
<p>While you might not want to hear that because it means maybe had you written better essays, you might have gotten in, don't think of it that way. Think of it as an indication of you having great potential, and through hard work in college (wherever you attend) you will succeed.</p>
<p>I'll steal an analogy from the West Wing. You see two baseball players who have the same time running to first base. One has great form while the other is clearly untrained. Which one would you rather have on your team? Clearly the one with terrible form, because though hard work and dedication he can get faster and improve himself while the other has already reached his potential. </p>
<p>Given that you aren't going to the Ivy league, which situation would you rather be in: 1) you exhausted everything in your power, but you just weren't good enough, or 2) you had (and have) the potential, which can be realized (transferring or graduate school or whatnot) through excelling at whatever school you end up at.</p>
<p>As an unhooked applicant, you had very little chance at HYP. The 50% SAT range at those schools is 1400-1580. One in every four accepted applicants has either a 1590 or 1600. The accept rate for applicants with 1600's is about 40-45%. MIT has a really long reputation for being unpredictable on admissions. Other ivies would have been more likely, but all of them have 4 or 5 qualified applicants for each available slot. It wasn't your fault. There is nothing wrong with you. These schools are reaches for everybody. The simple randomness of it all is enough to explain it.</p>
<p>My stats were pretty much on par with yours.</p>
<p>I had a slightly higher SAT score (2290) but lower gpa (4.36W)</p>
<p>The only plus that I really have over you might be my leadership position as JSA chapter president yet you being an eagle scout is more impressive than anything else I had. Otherwise, my EC and yours can be pretty much comparable.</p>
<p>The difference was that I got into Stanford, Duke, Cornell, and JHU. (dont mean to brag btw, just trying to answer your question)</p>
<p>And the real reason why, IMO, I got into my schools and you didnt get into yours were the essays. I basically spent 3 months at my stanford essays and 2 months on my common app one. I would work on it every day and had around 10 MAJOR revisions to most of my essays.</p>
<p>So there ya go. Essays really are important. I got into my dream schools while many at my school who had more impressive stats than me only got Berkeley or lower privates. And that's probably why you didn't get into what you wanted - the essays.</p>
<p>Just a warning to all the prospective applicants out there too.</p>
<p>Bust your ass on those essays, cuz they might mean everything.</p>
<p>The difference of 70 SAT points is not minor between 2220 and 2290. If you toss 4 coins, they will come up all heads 1 in 16, but they will also come up all tails 1 in 16. They are supposed to read the essays for content and not for writing style. It should count for more but adcoms don't seem to really care about Eagle Scouts. Honestly, you will never know. If you were planning on grad school (and not going into Law), don't worry about it.</p>
<p>well i guess the reason i didn't try so hard on my essays was because i thought i really had nothing to share. i used my dad's illness (brain tumor) for my essay, but i didn't want to exaggerate the situation by making it seem extraordinary--I tried to be as honest and objective as possible. </p>
<p>i guess it's my modesty that killed me the most. i didn't want to make myself seem bigger in the essays than i really was in real life. </p>
<p>the funny thing is that people have been telling me to spend a lot of time on my essays because i had the qualifications for most of those schools.</p>