Rejected-- can anyone help me see why?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton 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 Princeton, 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. Also, while I do appreciate the wonderful choices I <em>do</em> have, Princeton was my top choice, so I cannot help but be hurt a little bit.</p>

<p>Objective:
ACT (breakdown): Math 36, Science 36, English 35, Reading 32
ACT superscore (breakdown): 35
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: n/a
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/1
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.
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
Number of other applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
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:
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...
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)
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.</p>

<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):
Essays (Include Subjects):
Common App Main: 10 (It was really good, and worked on for several months, and looked at by many people)
EC Short Answer: 8 (It was strong, but not mind-blowing)
Other: Influential Person 9 (wrote about my great-grandfather, and how he was the sole survivor of a pogrom, and how I am the only person in my family to speak Russian since he died. Also I wrote about how he was an entrepreneur and how his entrepreneurial spirit lives on in me.)
Teacher Recommendation #1: 10 (Glowing, from a famous professor at UCB)
Teacher Recommendation #2: 10 (Glowing, from a VERY famous professor at UCB)
Counselor Rec: 10 (glowing)
Additional Rec: 10 (glowing, from my research advisor)
Interview: 11 (My interviewer said I was the best he ever had, and even wrote an angry letter to the university when I was rejected. If I was accepted, he offered to set me up with influential alumni so I could have a heads up on my career (all his words).</p>

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

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

2

<p>You need to shut up and reevaluate your results. You got rejected by Harvard and Princeton for reasons that no one on this forum can predict for you. I know people, especially students from my own school, who were accepted to Princeton who have far less outstanding statistics and achievements than the ones you present and had no hooks or anything extraordinary. How admissions committees function is confusing and hard to interpret, but you should take this in stride and realize that you’ve gotten into 9 other amazing schools. I cannot tell if you’re fishing for compliments or if you have a serious inferiority complex, but honestly save your time spent worrying and move on. </p>

<p>On another note, if you’re still unsure as to why you were flat out rejected, perhaps your essays and other personal statements did not aptly convey the type of student you are, thus making Princeton and Harvard not perfect fits for you to attend.</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>You seriously could graduate from Berkeley in one semester if you stayed? If so, I think this actually hurt your admission’s chances. It sounds like you are almost a “transfer” student rather than a Freshman. Perhaps P and H felt you would not fit in as well with their first year students.
You were very fortunate in your admission’s results. Congratulations! I understand that you didn’t get into your first choice, but you have to admit that you have other choices that are every bit as good by all objective standards.</p>

4

<p>OP: I am very sorry, you are probably one of the top applicants I’ve ever seen. I have no idea what happened, you should have at least gotten Princeton.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>This maybe? Also you mentioned having professors ask for you at two schools, which are also the same schools you didn’t get into. Coincidence? I don’t know, just pointing out that maybe it had a negative reflection somehow. </p>

<p>Whatever the reasons, you seem a bit petty and attention seeking. Maybe Harvard and Princeton saw that, and even if they didn’t you need to move on because if I see another “Look at how amazing I am. Look, I got into top 20, why did I get rejected from two of them?!” I may throw up.</p>

6

<p>Thank heavens SOMEONE rejected you, so you can get over the idea that you are perfect. I’m sorry it had to be your top two choices, but since you have gotten in to a bunch of equivalent colleges, no one is going to weep big tears for you.</p>

<p>No one is guaranteed admission at any of those colleges. You were obviously a really strong candidate, and you got into most of them. You could have gotten into all of them, but you didn’t, and you could have been rejected by a lot more, but that didn’t happen, either. Count your blessings.</p>

<p>Pick a college, develop some humility, and start trying to accomplish real things in the world, not artificial things like racking up college acceptances. A year from now, you will wonder how in the world you could have wanted to go to Princeton more than the college you chose, and five years from now and for the rest of your life where you weren’t accepted to college will have no meaning whatsoever.</p>

7

<p>Let’s see:</p>

<p>[flame] + [other colleges] + [good job]</p>

<p>Also, my stats and ECs are better :P</p>

8

<p>Moonchild nailed it. You don’t fit the profile of an incoming freshman and wouldn’t fit in. You’d probably not go to classes because they’d be too easy. This is not what they’re looking for, as they actually want people to go to class and learn new stuff.</p>

<p>Also, you’re not well-rounded enough. It’s all academics and at a very high level, which you should be proud of, but it’s not a good fit for Princeton.</p>

<p>You should have started sports a lot earlier, especially the fencing. Being smart, with great grades and test scores, plus being a recruited athlete, would have made you a slam-dunk.</p>

<p>Go to Stanford and don’t look back. Start the next Google or Facebook while you’re there.</p>

9

<p>Or Princeton’s protecting its yield. Normally I wouldn’t think that’s the reason, but recently Princeton has good reason to protect its yield, since it’s dropped so much. They probably have a good sense, based on the past few years, who are most likely not to attend, and they thought you’d be one of them. Perhaps they were so certain of this that they didn’t bother even waitlisting you.</p>

<p>It could have also been your essays.</p>

10

<p>People, honestly… </p>

<p>Why should the fact that he is asking for opinions on the reason he did not get into his top choice school automatically make him arrogant and attention seeking? No matter what the stats, it’s quite natural to be wondering about this when one has been accepted to schools like Yale and MIT, although there was no such “hook” as a professor recommendation there. Nothing he has written so far indicates attention-seeking.</p>

11

<p>phantasmagoric – </p>

<p>If he expressed in his application or through his counselor that, as he said, Princeton was his first choice (it would have been unwise not to), then your hypothesis in not likely at all. But thanks, as always, for your consistently penetrating speculative insight about Princeton.</p>

12

<p>What does it matter why you were rejected by two schools if you were accepted by all of those other great ones?</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Why are you being snide? I’m pointing out something that’s very possible. Other top schools have been accused of protecting their yields too, even Harvard–it’s why they can get 70%+</p>

<p>Since Princeton’s yield has dropped into the mid-50s, I don’t think it’d be terribly far off that they’d be trying to increase it by doing some yield protection.</p>

14

<p>OP: you have an extremely strong profile. Maybe your essays did not convey a sincere interest in Harvard or Princeton. Maybe, the admissions officers (who have an academic background far inferior to yours) did not fully appreciate the level of accomplishment (e.g. USAMO x3, UCB coursework)</p>

<p>In either event, who cares. It was their loss. If you keep up this level of achievement, your potential in academia, Silicon Valley or Wall Street will be phenomenal.</p>

15

<p>I think your relatively weak chess rating (only 2000-ish elo) indicated a lack of fighting spirit.</p>

16

<p>I’m being snide because it seems you take every opportunity to demonstrate your “very possible” (in your opinion) but I would say on further investigation, not likely, theories about why Princeton is protecting their yield, or a why it is a bad place for gays, or a bad place for anybody who isn’t white or rich or a social climber etc… To make clear, you DID NOT go to Princeton and based on most things you say, it is clear you are speaking from ignorance. To people who actually care about giving an honest assessment of a university so prospectives can make an informed decision about where to spend the next four years - you are simply a less obvious breed of ■■■■■.</p>

17

<p>its so hard to take a thread like this seriously…</p>

18

<p>@pton08: </p>

<p>Right, because I give a different perspective, one that’s objective and not necessarily praising Princeton absolutely? I have never said it’s a bad place for gays (rather, I participated in the discussion about the recent Prince article on gays in the eating clubs), and I linked to an article from your own newspaper that was talking about eating clubs and how some of them are not diverse–it was offering another perspective on the school by a current student that Princeton people might not want a prospective student see. And again, you haven’t shown why my hypothesis is wrong (15% drop in the yield? Seems like they’d want to protect it as much as possible, as it’s 10-20% from HYS).</p>

<p>I’m not trying to “put Princeton down,” but giving an additional (non-fanatical) perspective. Believe it or not, you don’t “own” the Princeton forum, and obviously think that anything that doesn’t gush about Princeton is “■■■■■■■■.” And I’m the one ■■■■■■■■? Listen to your own post.</p>

19

<p>phantasmagoric, anyone who has been following these threads, can see clearly that you continually try to present Princeton in a bad light. I can understand you entering the discussion when it involves Stanford, which you promote as a current student or alum, but to insert yourself into discussions like this, with a yield protection argument that is highly improbable, indicates ulterior motives beyond helping the OP.</p>

<p>As for yield comparisons, they can begin to be legitimately discussed next year when H and P go back to offering SCEA which S and Y have continued to use through the past several years.</p>

20

<p>That’s false–I’m not trying to put it in a bad light, but you’re assuming that anyway. That’s fine, as you’re free to think whatever you like. Either way, I’m not going to suddenly praise Princeton where it isn’t due. Stop being so defensive.</p>