I am not sure why you would say this. OP has a single acceptance, and the other poster gave some other choices to consider.
It’s up to OP to make the best of whatever school they go to. The sky’s the limit, and there is always the possibility of independent studies and interdisciplinary majors.
The onus is on OP, who already has one admittance. OP should take whatever school they are at and do their best.
If they excel, nothing is out of the question.
Agree that your school list, unfortunately, was full of all reaches and only one match. That was the only thing you did wrong in the process. Your profile and high school resume are great and you should be proud of yourself. Would you be happy with your options if you had applied to more matches and likelies and been admitted to those? Or was your heart truly set on only the top tier schools? If it’s the former, you can apply to schools still taking applications, take a gap year and reapply, or enroll in your awesome acceptance school and apply as a transfer student. If it’s the later, you need to readjust your expectations with those top tier schools. There are just way too many high achieving kids applying. My kiddo had similar stats - maybe even better than yours - and did not get the “top” schools either but knew it was a long shot. His stats are here to make you feel you are not alone:
If he wants to be a math/physics major and the schools don’t have classes beyond what he has already taken, or maybe a couple beyond that level, he won’t be fulfilled. He has taken a lot of college math…3 years of it…at a large state school.
On some level, I think I already knew most of this. I just didn’t really want to believe it. In some ways, it’d be easier if there were something I could pinpoint, some reason behind the results, even if it meant I made a terrible mistake. At the end of the day, I suppose my biggest mistake was not accepting earlier that getting into those kinds of colleges is a gamble. Doing well in school doesn’t earn you a spot at a college you want to go to, it earns you a ticket in a lottery, and I placed far too many of my dreams on that ticket.
I’ve heard people say that admissions aren’t really random. And to some degree that might be true, from the perspective of the admissions committee. But the other things that would affect that equation are largely out of my control, and those that aren’t wouldn’t simply be a matter of hard work.
I talked to other people about my list of schools. Most people said I was being paranoid for fearing that exactly what ended up happening would happen. Those who didn’t think that thought it was an okay list because WSU would have good financial aid with me being a national merit finalist, and would transfer well since that’s where I’ve taken most of those college classes.
And, to be fair, that’s true. I probably won’t have to take out student loans. That’s really pretty great. It’s still disappointing though, since that would’ve been the case at any of the places that meet 100% of demonstrated need on my list, too.
It makes it very hard to find a middle ground in college applications though. I come from a low income household, whose EFC is inflated because my parents are divorced, and although my dad doesn’t plan on contributing anything, it makes financial aid packages worse than they would otherwise be.
I’d like to go somewhere that provides me with a challenge, and not just because of quantity of busywork. That’s the main disappointment. But it isn’t like my only option is terrible. I think I should clarify that.
I would say your math looks like a very strong focus rather than a spike due to lack of ec’s and a narrative around math. Your academic credentials in math are incredibly impressive and you will soar at university. For the purpose of the application process, you need equivalent depth in the extra curriculars. However, I know of a candidate who was spiked in one of the hard sciences in every way possible, but unhooked, and was summarily rejected from all top US universities.
The ivies being need blind has resulted in an unbelievable number of international applicants with incredibly strong math which adds to the high US application numbers, compounded by US shotgunners. Rice had something like a 6.5% RD acceptance rate this year, which leaves few spots for highly qualified, yet unhooked candidates. Your profile has undertones of an all rounder and why I think your profile would appeal to many LAC’s.
If your heart is set on an Ivy and/or T10, perhaps take your offer, excel as you undoubtedly will, then go to a top ranked grad school. Trinity College, Cambridge U has probably the best math in the world, Oxford U very strong too, so may be something to look at in terms of a year abroad or for a Masters.
You are going to do great. This insane admissions is no reflection on your abilities, just a very muddied process.
U of Tulsa is a full ride for NMF. It’s a mini smaller, top like school. You can see if they will still offer the scholarship. Alabama has more NM scholars than anyone and you get a full ride - a few days more to go. See links.
No one can pinpoint where you went wrong. Was it rigor ? Essays ? LORs? Did you have the right teachers? Some don’t follow the recommendation for core class teachers, etc. was it all the college classes that colleges may not accept ?
YOU ACTUALLY BUILT A CORRECT LIST assuming you are ok with Washington State. You ensured you had a safety you would be proud to attend and can afford. But an error might have been affordability - you noted CWRU would not have been affordable and they meet need. Would any of the others have been affordable even if you had gotten in? They are all need based only or very slim merit. So that could have been an issue in list construction.
But - it’s not over - if you don’t want it to be.
Check Tulsa - it’s the kind of school one who doesn’t get into Rice or others might fall into.
If it was few weeks ago you were going free. See if that’s still possible. Call first thing in the morning. One poster has stated 15% of their class will be national merit. Good luck.
Not sure what the application deadline is for Honors College at WSU, but if you have not yet looked into it, I would highly recommend it. It’s a great way to get some of the rigor and smaller school feel that you may have been seeking at the top tier schools.
@CCName1 Adding in the number of math, philosophy, and physics majors in the most recent year of IPEDS data, as per College Navigator. Offering advanced degrees would obviously mean greater depth in the department, but when considering the size of some of the universities, all of these I would consider good percentages of those majors (overall). Additionally, if OP really has a love of learning and curiosity, I think that a number of these schools would provide a multitude of outlets for him.
For reference, here are the numbers for Washington State which has about 24k undergrads:
Applied Math: 40/10/8
Math: 2
Statistics: 16 Master’s, 2 PhDs
Philosophy: 19
Physics: 9/5/7
I’d say that Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Western Washington are the large universities on my list, with Marquette and Saint Louis as mid-sized, and the others coming in as small with mostly 1-2k, some around 3k.
Ah. Wish I’d been aware of this option a few weeks ago. Oh well. I’ll ask, although I don’t know if it’ll come to anything. Would taking a gap year invalidate national merit? Not sure the rules there. Because if it doesn’t, I could then apply before April 10th next year if I can’t this year.
No clue - you’d have to ask the schools if auto merit counts on a gap year- but don’t assume it’s too late for this year!! For Bama, it’s definitely not. And you’re all set for WASU - so why would you bother with a gap year??
If you were interested, Alabama you have til May 1st. But other than the full ride and that they have the most NMS of anyone in the country, how is it different than WASU?
Tulsa - call - and then apply. If they say it can happen and you have interest, make it happen.
But go back to WASU - it was your only safety. You thought Reed was a match but you knew the rest weren’t. So you knew WASU was a possibility and you had to be ok with that - and it’s fine!!!
I think where you went wrong though - based on your CWRU comment - is you needed schools that have merit or auto merit so you could get into schools you can afford.
But look at those two if full ride is of interest to you and others mentioned wonderful schools (but maybe not free) as well - no time to wait!!
Don’t look into it - if you have an interest, hit them hard and hit them quick - like tomorrow morning. They are two hours ahead of you - so wake up and call them before school - they’ll be open!!!
Do you know anyone you can talk to at WSU to discern how challenging it is vs busywork, access to professors? Your talent and work ethic will stand out from the crowd and create opportunities. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article and there might be a TedTalk on why you shouldn’t study math at Harvard, making the point that lesser known institutions are better for a multitude of reasons. Highly recommend googling it and reading/watching for helpful perspective. I was convinced after reading it. At the end of the day you will define your future wherever u go! Sometimes things are working out exactly as they should-though it doesn’t seem so at the time.
Well, I’ll be on a plane tomorrow morning, but I’ll do it as soon as I can. I agree about Alabama, not much point I think, but I’ll ask about Tulsa.
ok - when you land - no excuses!!
Let’s go!!!
PS - bring your laptop in case you need to take an action tomorrow.
Others are taking care of expanding your college opportunities, so I just want to add
Fortunately, your best guess would be wrong. First, being low income is actually a"hook" in many places. Second, at many liberal arts colleges aside from Reed, being a man is very often a hook - most LACs get far more woman applying than men, and they’re trying to maintain a better balanced student body. For example, this last season at Middlebury, the acceptance rate for men was 13.8%, and for women it was 11.9%.
Sexuality is never a hook. No college in the USA is trying to maintain a certain percent of people of different sexualities. None.
Is your high school in a rural area with few college graduates? That’s also a hook.
So while there may have been many reasons that you weren’t accepted, it was not because you are a poor White Man.
BTW, of the list that has been shown to you by @AustenNut, many are liberal arts colleges.
Good luck, and things aren’t over just yet.
Well that’s good to know at least. I’m pretty sure not all colleges are need blind, so I don’t think the low income part is always a benefit, but I didn’t previously know it ever was. I know there’s been some controversy at some places about affirmative action, I’m not sure the details, but that’s why I thought about the identity stuff. I know with online chancing calculators in the past, I changed my race and gender to see what that would do because I was curious why it was even something I needed to select, and doing so sometimes nearly doubled my expected admissions chance. I think I only tried that with MIT though, which has the opposite application gender distribution gap, so it might be the opposite with LACs.
Yes, Reed and Case are need-aware, so being high-need may have hurt you at what otherwise would have been matches.
I agree that sexual orientation is a non-issue, admissions-wise. And despite all the press that racial/ethnic admissions preference gets, you’re far more likely to be edged out by a recruited athlete or a legacy admit than by a URM.
I’m curious why you decided not to apply to UW?
Would you have qualified for Questbridge? If so, a gap year and reapplying through QB might be worth it, if you’re really unhappy with the prospect of WSU.
Sorry for the disappointing results; you sound like a terrific student - you just managed to be one of the inevitable outliers, unfortunately. It’s possible there was something with your essays or recommendations that wasn’t as strong as you thought; but it’s also possible that you just got unlucky. It’s a temporary setback, and you have to make some decisions now… but you can commit to WSU and then take time to regroup and think about whether you’d rather go the gap year route. Either way, I’m sure you’ll do well in the long run; it’s just a matter of deciding what you want to do.
Hi, What I have learned with my D23 this year is that apparently applications where higher that in previous years. I guess the pandemic pushed more students to take a gap year so I think you were competing with even more students than in previous years.
Having said that, there is a great thread here called learning to love your safety school that I think you should read.
My D23 frustration was a little different. She got accepted to her dream school without scholarships. We cant afford it so she is going to another school. We all cried about it but she learned a valuable lesson about life (it did not helped that someone with less stats got a huge scholarship). However, in hindsight, I believe that the school she chose better match her style.
Love the school that love you, give it a try and if after a year you feel it is not for you try something new. That is what this period is all about, learning new things and preparing for the future. It usually happens after the fact but in a few years you might look back and understand that everything happens for a reason, we just don’t see it right away.
Lots of success to you!!!
Your credentials are outstanding! Academically for the schools list you would be a great fit. That said, did you become an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts? What community service opportunities did you take advantage of during high school? It is always easy to look back and find faults with the application, or essays, or even recs. but the reality is you will never know what was behind the AO’s thought process.
Going forward you do have an acceptance so jump in with both feet. I am not sure what you want to major in, but perhaps use the college experience to pursue a few things that are not all about academics.
A few comments:
Your low-income status generally isn’t a hook, unless accompanied by some compelling story, or unless you had applied under the Questbridge program. The fact that you’re from a rural part of WA state isn’t a hook either, because there’re enough qualified WA residents applying to these colleges (it might be a different story if you were from the neighboring state of ID or WY). Colleges want the appearance of a diversified student body, but you don’t check any of the boxes which enhance that appearance of diversity the colleges value.
You’ve obviously been doing what interests you, which is math. Unfortunately, this isn’t what AOs generally value (other than putting you among the group of mathematically advanced applicants). They have no clue about Galois theory. The colleges that highly value applicants’ extraordinary math abilities probably have already filled their buckets with some IMO/USAMO medalists.
If you major in math in college, few LACs mentioned can probably offer enough (if any) math courses that will interest and/or challenge you. In that case, I’d recommend going to WSU, provided that it gives enough credits for the courses you’ve taken there. Your aim would be to graduate as early as possible from WSU and go to a grad school to study math. Grad school admissions are totally different from undergraduate admissions and the competence and potential that you can demonstrate in the subject area would be highly valuable.
An alternative would be to study physics (instead of math) in college. You mentioned that you took only one college physics class (and presumably, you enjoyed it). I presume it’s classical mechanics. That leaves a lot of room for many other physics courses. If you choose that route, and given your math background, you should generally only consider colleges that offer a good selection of advanced and more theoretical physics courses.
Unlike the others, I won’t say you did not do anything wrong. I will say that what you did wrong is something a great many people in your position do “wrong”.
Being a low-income student in need of at least 90% (guess at that exact percentage, but the exact amount doesn’t really matter) financial aid, it is natural for most students to look at a list of colleges that “meet full financial need” for accepted students. That list of schools is almost exclusively highly-rejective schools that admit fewer than 10% of applicants.
There are at least two alternative ways for low-income students to receive enough FinAid to attend a private university or an OOS public university.
One is what @tsbna44 said: apply to schools that state clearly they will reward you for your NMF and other academic achievements. CWRU isn’t necessarily that type of school. Tulsa and Alabama are two of many such schools.
The other method is to target schools where your academic achievements are near the top of all applicants to that institution. These schools may not have a public statement of guaranteeing full-rides to NMF applicants, but they do offer significant financial (and/or merit) aid to such applicants.
It takes a bit more work to figure out which schools fall into these two buckets. And there is some overlap between the two. Unfortunately, considering these options is not a natural pathway for many high-need applicants.
To be honest, it wasn’t the first direction I took with my S20 when we were looking at college opportunities. Initially, I focused almost exclusively on those Meets Full Need schools. It’s easy to find a dozen lists of them on the internet. I was lucky that after becoming obsessed with the process, I eventually (after too long, to be honest) realized another path.
The next step is up to you. Only you can decide if WSU is a place you think you can thrive. It’s a very good school, and I think you can, but you need to decide if you have it in you to make one last big push. If you want to keep trying, review the list of schools @AustenNut provided and click the NACAC link in that post that present a list of colleges still accepting applications. Spend some time going through the academic options at each school for your desired major(s), choose a few and dig a little deeper.
If you’re on Common App, it will be a fairly simple and quick process to send a handful more applications. It may amount to nothing, but maybe, just maybe, it will. Only you can decide if it’s worth it to you to try, or if you’ve decided you can be happy at WSU.
Lastly, you are a great student and have done great academic work so far. I think you’ll be a success no matter where you attend college. Best of luck!