Hello:
I applied to Washington University in St. Louis and found out yesterday that I was not accepted. Unlike the other schools I applied to, I applied last minute, didn’t show any interest, and made it known I would need plenty of financial aid, factors which could have led to my rejection. Anyways, I am worried that this means I won’t be accepted at the similarly or more prestigious colleges (e.g. Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Pomona, Williams, Yale) to which I applied.
I did get accepted to Georgetown, UNC-Chapel Hill, Boston College, & College of Wooster (all early action).
Basically, I am wondering if this Washington University rejection is a harbinger of things to come later this month.
My stats are:
I go to a large public school and rank somewhere in the top 3%.
Cumulative GPA: 3.95
I have taken 2 AP classes (European History & AP English Language & Composition) as the school I attended in 9th & 10th grade did not offer honors or AP classes, but I am taking 6 more this year (AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Environmental Science, AP English Literature & Composition, AP US History).
I have also taken 3 college courses (British History (taken at UW-Madison), Calculus and Analytic Geometry (taken at a local community college), National Intelligence and Security (taken at American University)) and I am taking another this year at UW-Madison under my school district’s dual-enrollment program (Intro to African History).
US History SAT II: 800; Literature SAT II: 740
AP US History (4) (Self-studied, taken in 9th grade), AP European History (5), AP English Language & Composition (5)
ACT 35 (English, 35; Math, 32; Reading 36; Science 35)
SAT: 2270 (Critical Reading: 800; Math: 750; Writing: 720)
I have good, but not outstanding extracurriculars except for my independent research of history and volunteering with a political campaign and I have about 600 volunteer hours.
Your remaining schools are generally the ones that are reaches for most everyone. You have some great choices already.
Yeah, they’re pretty much all reaches. Be glad that you you already have some good options and cross your fingers that the dice will fall your way. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into a few of them.
WUSTL is a great school but its admissions office is not need blind. I wouldn’t worry. Good luck!
Looking at the schools you’ve been accepted to, why are you asking if you need to worry? You could be rejected from everything else and still have great options.
Thanks everyone!
Now, if you had to choose between Georgetown, UNC-Chapel Hill, Boston College and Wooster, which one you would attend (with your current FA packages)?
For me, there’s Carleton and Carleton; if you’re talking about Carleton College (MN) then it is a low reach; if you’re talking about Carleton University (ON, Ottawa to be exact), you should get your acceptance any time soon.
why do you need more acceptances? You’re already into some of the top schools in the country…you can only attend one school 
Thanks, everyone for responding! I certainly don’t want to seem ungrateful- I am more than thrilled to have been accepted at Georgetown, Boston College, Macalester College, Grinnell College, Wesleyan University (the LAC in Connecticut), Univ. of Rochester, UNC-Chapel Hill, and College of Wooster. I was wondering more to help with my nerves- if I know I probably won’t be accepted at Duke, Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Brown, & Columbia, I can move on and be excited about the schools at which I was accepted.
I am a bit worried because I learned yesterday that I was rejected at Pomona and wait-listed at Bowdoin (not really surprising), and today I was wait-listed at Bates, which was really surprising. Perhaps they have “Tufts’ Syndrome?”
Basically, I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten into an Ivy (or Duke, Amherst, or Williams) after being rejected at Pomona & WUStL and being wait-listed at Bowdoin and Bates.
I was wait listed by WashU around March 10th and was admitted to Cornell’s ℅ 2019… I don’t know if that helps at all, but regardless, your stats are great and you have wonderful schools under your belt already (I’m actually really excited about hearing back from Georgetown!) Congrats on all of your success thus far.
I was waitlisted at Bowdoin too and I got an early write from Amherst. I think you’ll be fine. Congrats and good luck!
Thanks so much! You have no idea how comforting that is! @AbeCO19, I hope you here good news back from Georgetown very soon!
Admissions processes are all different, and all relative! Just because you don’t get in one place, doesnt mean you’ll also get rejected elsewhere! Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard all might be looking for a student like you, whereas WashU wasn’t! Don’t worry. It sounds cliché, but each school has their own buckets to fill. You just might slip into Harvard’s or Yale’s! Just know that if not, you could still go to some of the most amazing schools int he country. I was accepted at WashU and waitlisted at Pomona, and I’m waiting on a bunch of other schools this week! Good luck to you.
Thanks, @canj15!
@AbeCO19 I meant ‘hear’ not ‘here.’
D1 was wait listed at Pomona and Williams, accepted at Penn and Dartmouth-she went to CAL. D2 was wailisted at WashU and admitted to Yale and Dartmouth–she is in New Haven. Keep your chin up!!
Also, I just got wait-listed at Carleton…I don’t know what is happening…or what I did wrong…I guess this is it.
That’s really the problem, I think—you’re assuming that rejection/waitlisting at a college equals having done something"wrong".
Seriously, you need to distance yourself from this. Take up jogging or biking or something like that for a couple weeks—and that’s not snark, that’s serious. You need some way of getting yourself less emotionally invested in the process.
I agree. Don’t tether your emotions to decisions by an institution–it is not set-up to take your feelings into account. Take pride in what you have already archived, it’s notable. Frankly, everything gained past this point is only flattering to the ego…relax and enjoy.
Thanks for the helpful advice. I know I shouldn’t worry…but I’m just really shaken up right now by the wait-list at Carleton and especially Bates, where I thought I’d get in.