On Ivy Day, I received zero acceptances, and I am relieved. Prior to March 28, I had been rejected nowhere: accepted at Boston University, Colorado School of Mines, the University of Idaho, Syracuse, and the University of Nevada, Reno. At Syracuse, U of I, and UNR, I received very substantial academic merit scholarships, including a full ride at U of I. My college list had 10 schools; I also applied to Harvard SCEA, Dartmouth, Princeton, MIT, and Yale. While I would be happy to attend any of the schools to which I applied, my family really pushed for me to include some “better” schools on my list, even though I loved UNR and had guaranteed admission.
When I told my parents about my rejections, they were not happy. They didn’t blame me, but they had felt for so long that a 1570 and a legacy status should at least get me into Princeton. Of course, that’s not how it works, especially for someone who doesn’t have national awards or published research, but I’m not here to throw shade at them.
For me, the rejections stung at first, if only because I would not have all the choices I wanted to have when it came to selecting a college. My initial thoughts were all about what I could have possibly done wrong. I had the test scores, at least one amazing recommendation (I got to read one), and a Common App essay that made my English teacher cry–in a good way! My supplements came together to form a whole, cohesive picture, and I had ECs that related to what I want to do (volunteering at an environmental education center/majoring in environmental science, for example). I’m biased, but I personally think I’m an interesting person: I’m from you’ve-never-heard-of-it, Idaho; I play the cello and ski race; and my life goal is to move to Wyoming and be a forest ranger.
So now, you’re thinking, Why did a future forest ranger apply to Harvard? I have multiple answers: a) they have an environmental science and public policy major, b) my family wanted me to, and c) we visited, I liked it, and I had the quantitative data to be competitive. And, I’m not going to lie, I thought it would be cool to go to Harvard. Who doesn’t?
But here’s the thing: I toured a lot of colleges, and UNR was the only one where I felt I would be truly happy. UW-Seattle, Cornell, Harvard, Syracuse, Hamilton, Yale, MIT, BU, UC-Davis, UNR, Princeton, Colorado School of Mines, BSU. Of course, I’m an easy-going person, and I would’ve been perfectly fine at any of the schools to which I applied. But there was just something about UNR that made me go all heart-eyes-emoji:
- It’s 45 minutes from Squaw Valley-Alpine Meadows.
- Last summer, the team captain of their ski team guaranteed they would have a spot for me if I chose to attend.
- They have an honors college to which I was accepted, which makes the whole “22,000 students” thing a lot less intimidating.
- This might sound backwards, but in Idaho/Wyoming/Nevada/Montana, a degree from UNR might be better for job-searching than a degree from Harvard. My mom graduated from Princeton, and she sometimes gets dismissed as a wine sniffer by born-and-raised Idahoans.
- I feel like its size means it has anything I could ever possibly want, and that applies to everything from friends to food to classes.
- They gave me $16k/year for National Merit, bringing my COA down to about $12k/year, which means my parents can afford it easily without grandparental assistance
- They’ll take my AP credits! You gotta appreciate the little things :)
On my ski team and at school, I’m “the smart one”. During applications, it seemed like everyone in my life had something to say, up to the point where my aunt was trying to get me to add colleges to my list 5 days before the January 1 deadline of most schools. They all but expected that I would end up somewhere newsworthy, no matter how much I insisted on my positive vibes with UNR.
I was rejected from the Ivy League (mostly–see below) and I am relieved. I am relieved because I made a decision deep down in October, and now I can make that decision publicly and no one will question it. There will be no “Seriously? You turned down Princeton for UNR?”. No “Are you insane? Yale is an incredible school!”. No “Your grandparents won’t help us pay for your college unless you go to Harvard.”
And that, my friends, is why I’m relieved.
For reference purposes:
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 780M/790ERBW
ACT (breakdown): 35/35/35/34S
SAT II: 800 Math II, 790 US History, 750 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.34
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): weighted = 3/403, unweighted = 1/403
AP (place score in parenthesis): APES (5), World History (5), Comp Sci Principles (5), APUSH (5), Psychology (5), Calc AB (5), Physics 1 (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Spanish Lang, Econ/Open, AP US Gov, AP Chem, Orchestra 4, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, US Presidential Scholar nominee, some school and local awards (we don't do those fancy ones in Idaho)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Competitive alpine ski racing -- 8 years, 46 weeks per year, 4 to 23 hours per week; Orchestra -- 8 years (2017-18 principal cellist, 2017-18 senior quintet member); NHS
Job/Work Experience: Concessions stand cashier at baseball stadium; lab intern at research university
Volunteer/Community service: 386 hours total; volunteer at community water resource education center
Summer Activities: see above
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9/10, really beautiful, made my parents and my English teacher cry (literally).
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 10/10, my physics teacher let me read it and it was very flattering
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 9/10, didn't see the one from my APUSH teacher but he nominated me to be social studies student of the year last year so it should be good
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): not sure (my school is pretty big)
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): N/A
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes, but not expecting any
State (if domestic applicant): Idaho
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A
How I was “chanced”:
--University of Nevada-Reno (Safety)
--Colorado School of Mines (Match)
--Boston University (High Match)
--Syracuse (Safety)
--MIT (High Reach)
--University of Idaho (Safety)
My actual results:
--UNR (accepted, $16k/year, $12k COA)
--Colorado School of Mines (accepted)
--U of I (accepted, full ride)
--BU (accepted)
--Syracuse (accepted, $28k/year, $42k COA)
--MIT (waitlisted)
--Yale (waitlisted)
--Harvard (rejected)
--Princeton (legacy, rejected)
--Dartmouth (rejected)