Rejected-- but why?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hi All,</p>

<p>First of all, I just want to say congratulations to those of you who were accepted, wish best of luck to those of you on the wait list, and offer my condolences to everyone else who was rejected. While I did fairly well (accepted to 9 schools, rejected to 2), I'm still sort of in shock that I didn't even get wait listed to Harvard, considering that I got into the following schools:</p>

<p>Accepted:
MIT
Stanford
Yale
UC Berkeley (with Regents scholarship)
Caltech
Brown
Chicago
Dartmouth
Penn</p>

<p>Waitlisted:
None</p>

<p>Rejected:
Harvard
Princeton</p>

<p>Furthermore, I was actually written internal letters of recommendation by professors at Princeton (one, who actually called the dean of admissions and asked for me) and Harvard (two, one called the dean of admissions and asked for me). Can anyone help me see why I didn't even get wait listed? I'm not trying to be arrogant, but I am just surprised that my top two choices would reject me when I was accepted to 9 similarly competitive schools.</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] ACT (breakdown): Math 36, Science 36, English 35, Reading 32
[</em>] ACT superscore (breakdown): 35
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Weighted GPA: n/a
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/1
[<em>] AP (place score in parentheses): none, but I have taken 115 units (20 credits = one full semester load) of college credits, around 40% at community college, and 60% at UC Berkeley. I could graduate from Berkeley in one semester if I stayed, but I applied as a freshman.
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Complex Analysis, Russian Language, History of Mathematics (a class that talks about how calculus was developed-- it's surprisingly hard), Electromagnetism, European History, Russian literature
[<em>] Number of other applicants in your school: 0
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/ul] USAMO x3, AMC 12 Perfect Score, AMC 10 Perfect Score, AMC 8 Perfect Score, won a large undergraduate poster session, published a paper in a major journal, ...</p>

<p>Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Judo (4 years), Fencing (1 year), research on how to detect learning disabilities using machine learning, research on number theory and algebraic geometry, research on applied math and mathematical filtering (one summer to one year each), chess (>2000 FIDE), Russian club, other things that I classified under different categories also are extracurriculars...
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Work at a DOE laboratory (1 year), ran a start-up finance firm which worked on options pricing models (6 months before I left)
[li] Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer tutoring college students who can't afford a tutor in college math for 5 hours a week, used to help lead a group of people who raise ~$50,000 yearly for charitable causes (e.g. hunger, domestic violence prevention, etc.), tutored a Liberian refugee for two years.[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):[ul]
[<em>] Essays (Include Subjects):[list]
[li] Common App Main: 10 (It was really good, and worked on for several months, and looked at by many people)[/li][</em>] EC Short Answer: 8 (It was strong, but not mind-blowing)
[<em>] Other: Additional info 8 (detailed my family history and how I am the only one in four generations to speak Russian due to a Russian pogrom, talked about what classes I could get the most out of at Harvard) [/ul]
[li] Teacher Recommendation #1: 10 (Glowing, from a famous professor at UCB)[/li][</em>] Teacher Recommendation #2: 10 (Glowing, from a VERY famous professor at UCB)
[<em>] Counselor Rec: 10 (glowing)
[</em>] Additional Rec: 10 (glowing, from my research advisor)
[li] Interview: 8 (My interviewer said I reminded her of her son-- a current Harvard student and that she thought I would be accepted almost everywhere)[/li][/list]</p>

<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] Date Submitted App: Mid December.
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: Homeschooled, full time at a UC for 4 years.
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: Full pay (no aid)
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Anti-hooks: Jewish[/ul]</p>

<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: I thought I had a lot.
[</em>] Weaknesses: I do have a lot, apparrently
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: See above.
[</em>] Where else have you been accepted/deferred/rejected: See above.
[*] What would you have done differently?: That's what I'm asking you![/ul]</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, that is quite obvious - it would have made more sense to apply in the 19th century. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Read some of the other threads on the forums on this website and you won’t be anymore. You’ve joined a relatively large club.</p>

3

<p>Did you read the entire thread, including the part where I detailed how professors asked for me to be admitted?</p>

4

<p>If you were given internal recommendations at the only two schools you were rejected from, that raises a red flag. Maybe ad coms didn’t like that.</p>

5

<p>^ My thought as well</p>

6

<p>I was given them at MIT and Stanford also.</p>

7

<p>Harvard accepted 6.2% of applicants this year. Calm down and just go to stanford, MIT or cal tech etc. You can only go to one school and you are extremely lucky to get into those schools.</p>

8

<p>You are looking for an answer to an unanswerable question.</p>

<p>There were 100s of other applicants, equally qualified. I doubt that you were the only one with “internal recommendations.”</p>

<p>You were, and are, qualified, and you know that.</p>

<p>The rejection does not mean you have a lot of weaknesses, and you know it. Do you really think you will go thru life without any rejection??? Do you want to?</p>

<p>You have excellent options. Pick one, send the deposit, order the t-shirt and rejoice.</p>

<p>If it continues to pique your fancy, then work in the admissions office at a school, and become a director of admissions. Then you’ll know how decisions are made. </p>

<p>Beyond that, it simply doesn’t matter, and there is no answer to your question. </p>

<p>Move on.</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, I did - do you think I would have given such a sardonic response otherwise?</p>

<p>It happened. Move on with your life.</p>

10

<p>Why even ask? It’s not like you’re going to apply for undergrad admissions at another point in your life.</p>

11

<p>I do wonder whether admissions committees look askance at an applicants’ submitting recommendations from professors within their colleges’ own departments. You know the saying: the thicker the file, the thicker the applicant.</p>

12

<p>I just read elsewhere, in one of your earlier threads, that you are young - 16 if I recall correctly.</p>

<p>That could certainly have influenced the decisions, and, no doubt it is influencing your quest for answers.</p>

<p>You have many wonderful opportunities ahead of you, as well as many things that will bring you sadness.</p>

<p>Get a box of tissues, have a cry and move on.</p>

13

<p>I have a theory – that the Harvard and Princeton professors were jealous and talked 5h17 behind your back!</p>

14

<p>If you are young-16- as a poster above suggested, adcoms may have decided you are simply too immature to add to the campus ife. Academically, you are qualified; socially they may have seen that you need more time and experience. The fact that you are still so bothered by these two rejections is an example that you may not be ready to contend with the imperfect world.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t think Harvard rejected him because the adcoms thought he couldn’t “contend with the imperfect world.”</p>

<p>As people have said, OP’s question is unanswerable. Let’s not use this as an opportunity to make outrageous speculations that can offend the OP…</p>

16

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</p>

<p>I don’t understand this, can you clarify?</p>

<p>Honestly, my reaction to your stats was that you are obsessed with over-acheiving. Did you enjoy your childhood at all? Take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I almost felt sorry for you, especially after reading that you are only 16. Maybe you should take time off to smell the roses, as they say. Good luck.</p>

17

<p>You’ve already posted this in the Princeton forum. Seriously, you may have more issues than being rejected by Harvard and Princeton.</p>

18

<p>It’s perfectly normal to have this question.
Plenty of nearly perfect applicants get rejected. Your question is unanswerable, mainly because no one can tell you what was wrong. Lock up this thread, you won’t get the answer here lol.
And ignore the haters. They’re probably just jealous.</p>

19

<p>felix- His inability to accept the reality of his rejection, particularly after so many successful acceptances, does speak to his naivete and inexperience with fate, rejection, and yes, the imperfect world.</p>

<p>He has great academic talents, and on paper did everything right. He is asking why he was rejected by the top two Ivies and we are offering ideas. Thus, the reference to the holistic review by adcoms–in which age and ability to contribute to the social culture of a campus are considered with some significance.</p>

20

<p>My father–a Yale grad–was all hot and bothered because the only college my S didn’t get accepted into was the one where he was a three generation legacy. He wanted to call the Dean of Admissions and DEMAND why? I told him, what I am going to tell you-- forget it and move on. One–they won’t tell you, Two–they have already shredded your file so even if they would want to tell you they can’t and three–what good is it going to do you?<br>
They will give you the usual platitudes about too many great kids-- impossible decisions–it is an art not a science–blah, blah, blah. Unless you are going to re-do the admissions process and with the list of great colleges you have you would be certifiably nuts (and this is coming from an analyst :)) to do so–what difference does it make…really? Just shake the dust off your shoes (as the Gospels put it) and move on. It will do you no psychological good whatsoever-- it will NOT give you closure, even if at this point you think so.</p>