Rejected by GaTech. What went wrong? Please help

@collegemom3717

Two deferrals…CWRU and MIT. One acceptance to a school that sounds great…whatever it is.

Wondering if there are anymore EA pending or results.

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thanks- I’ll correct. There may be more that the OP hasn’t listed, but the main point is that it’s early days yet!

Yes! More to come. Applied to 20 or so…and has 4 decisions so far.

Of course she is not happy with the safety school she got it. That’s why she is very frustrated. we did LOCI for CWRU…

For others reading this thread who have yet to go through an admission cycle - Please, please, please have your student focus on finding a true safety school that they would be excited to attend. If they wouldn’t be happy there, it isn’t a good safety. IMO, that’s where the majority of the effort should go when building a college list. It’s easy to fall in love with the reaches, harder to find a the right safety.

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Never should have applied if she wouldn’t be happy there. So ‘of course’ is the wrong response.

You focused too much on rank it appears and not on fit.

Btw - tons of kids who get into ‘ranked’ schools choose safeties - both mine. In the end they decided it was right for them. One has to so spend four years, day after day…rank / pedigree does zero to help that.

If she’s not happy with the safety then figure out what she wants )besides a U.S. news ranking and perhaps it can be found as a just in case.

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So so sorry for your daughter!! This time is so stressful. She is going to get into a top school with those stats.

More and more so called ‘safety’ schools are waitlisting or rejecting top candidates to raise their overall yield each year. Beyond stats, the admission directors are looking for key wording that personally connects the candidate with its school and its location. The schools do not want to be rejected either anymore especially a top school like Gtech. My son was advised to pick his top 8 schools and personally write each application directly to that school’s mission, priorities, faculty and spirit. He even changed his common app essay for each school along with concentrating on personalizing each colleges’ supplements.

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The one constant refrain on College Confidential is “love the school that loves you.”

It may sound trite, but it isn’t.

Even for the highest performing “unhooked” student, there are absolutely no guarantees about anything. The one guarantee is that if a student loves their school and takes full advantage of all the many opportunities that US higher ed gives, they will go far.

Very best to your daughter.

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GA Tech is a state school and gives priority to in state students.

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Having better stats than most who are admitted does not mean admit rate is high for that stat group. Prior to COVID test optional, many highly selective colleges posted admit rate by test score. The admit rate was often low for the highest test score group. For example a 36 ACT might be higher than most admitted students, yet the vast majority of 36 ACT applicants were rejected. This occurs because admission considers far more than test scores. Doing very well on one consideration does not mean the applicant does equally well on the many other admission considerations.

It’s unclear how high the OP’s GPA is since weighting is unknown. What is known is high test scores, so I’m guessing “better stats” primarily means better test scores. In GT’s CDS, they do not mark test scores as very important for admission. However, they do mark things like character/personal qualities, volunteer work, work experience and essays as most important. The OP may not be as strong in these “very important” criteria as they are in the seemingly less important test scores. GT’s website lists the specific evaluation criteria, which fits with the CDS list. There are specific non-stat evaluation criteria, and they should not be assumed to be unimportant.

Furthermore GT is extremely competitive. Out of state admit rate was 13% last year. I expect out of state CS was well in to single digits. I know GT says they don’t admit by major, but they do say things like, “consideration of your major is an important part of our application review process, as we seek to ensure an academically diverse first-year class,” which I interpret to mean having a good distribution of majors, making more popular majors like CS more competitive.

I certainly do not think we can assume it must be yield protection since test scores are higher than most who are admitted.

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GT is super competitive and super desirable for a certain kind of OOS student. A friend’s superstar D was WL there with other “excellent” acceptances. She has thrived where she landed.

OP, your D has what it takes to succeed wherever she lands. These are disappointments, but they won’t change what she can achieve. Easier said than embraced.

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And the process of finding a safety that you’re happy to attend really helps with your entire list! My daughter was so stuck on whether she’d heard of the school before aka prestige - which I can’t say is surprising for these young kids, but is no way to form a list!. By making them go through the process of what they REALLY want in a school - and when you’re looking at likely admits, it’s not going to be prestige, it really helps clarify what they want. It completely changed her list for reaches. She ended up EDing to a school that wasn’t really on her radar.

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Gatech is over and all applications were submitted. Does anyone know if there is any significant difference in the acceptance rate between CS and non-CS for every top private schools? I wish we could still change it to non-CS.

It depends on the school, some admit by major and others do not.

And if your D wants to study CS, then not applying as a CS major isn’t a good strategy.

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If the school accepts by major, yes, CS is likely to be more selective than the overall admit rate.

If the school doesn’t admit by major, that’s more difficult to ascertain the impact of stating a desire to major in CS. On the one hand, schools have to balance applicants’ majors, but OTOH schools know that many students will change the major they are considering several times before ultimately deciding.

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If you want to study CS, why would you change ? This is the difference. With her stats you could be at a solid school like an Alabama, Arizona, Mizzou, Wyoming and they pay big $$ to get you.

Instead you would change to a major you are not interested in, just to say you got into Emory or Northesstern or whoever is on your list ? How does that make any sense ?

If the student wants to study CS, then they should study CS.

This is no time to panic - you have 16 other apps out.

Where you erred it seems based on your safety choice - you didn’t necessarily choose schools that fit the student. You chose schools that Us News rates highly.

Once you show up on campus that matters zero.

You certainly don’t change a major just in hopes of getting into a school that a magazine says is better.

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GA Tech is not only looking for great students, they want a well-rounded student body.

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So does every college, that’s what they are talking about when they say they are ‘building a class’.

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At some colleges, it’s almost impossible to switch into CS from another major. If your daughter wants that as her major…she should just leave it.

I can’t imagine this safety school is so horrible. I looked at the USNews lists of top CS and just top colleges and nothing struck me as horrible in even the top 100

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When said student gets in the workforce they will be sitting next to Auburn, Ga Tech, Arkansas, Oregon State, RPI, and more.

The boss will have gone to Tennessee.

That’s just the reality of life.

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