Rejected from all Universities: Why?

Applying to College
1

<p>This topic is self-explanatory; I was rejected from every last US university I applied to for the fall of '11, even my safeties. I applied to 12.</p>

<p>I made this thread in the interest of learning if there was a very obvious, glaring miscalculation or error in my application that could have caused this. CC seemed the best place to start after nobody else, including my school could explain this. So here is some of my information:</p>

<p>(I might have omitted some things if I feel they are too personal - I have no idea what the norms are on this forum, so feel free to ask for anything within reason)</p>

<p>Studying in the UAE in an International Baccalaureate school since my junior year. My old school was a British curriculum school (I/GCSEs) also in the UAE.</p>

<p>IB Higher Level subjects:
Maths
Physics
Biology</p>

<p>Standard Level:
English A1
French B
Economics (although I studied this at HL for over a year i.e. 4 highers)</p>

<p>Consistently high grades in an upwards trend from all my school reports. 44 points indicative score (with extra Theory of Knowledge + Extended Essay), 39 points attainment after first year. Predicted 7s in all subjects except French (6).</p>

<p>11 I/GCSEs with 4 A<em>s, 4 As and 3 Bs. My A</em>s were in Science, Additional Science, Mathematics and English, so not really weak subjects. Other subjects: Economics, Business Studies, French, Spanish, English Literature, Media Studies and Biology (separate from Sciences).</p>

<p>SAT: 2090, 2080, Superscore of 2140.
SAT II: I don't remember the exact numbers, but nothing less than 760 for Maths II, 720 for Biology E
No ACT.
We do not have tuitions for any American exams at our school, so everything had to be self-taught including the core syllabuses and exam techniques.</p>

<p>And although colleges didn't get a chance to see it, I have the equivalent of a level 7 in all my internal assessments (again, except French) with a 100% in Biology and Physics, 95% in Economics and 90% in Maths and English.</p>

<p>Applied for: Biomedical/Biological Engineering, Biophysics, other similar courses depending on the college.</p>

<p>Fee Status: International Student, no financial aid required.</p>

<p>Application Type: Regular Decision for all.</p>

<p>Extra-Curricular Activities and Hobbies (as indicated on the CommonApp):
Sailing, Karate Budokan, Mt. Everest Base Camp Trek, Student Politics, Debating, Squash, cricket, SCUBA diving, School Theater Society. Most of them for over several years.
In addition, I do CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) as a mandatory part of my IB Diploma for at least a few hours every week.</p>

<p>I have a Bronze and am soon to have a Silver in my International Award for Young People (Duke of Edinburgh Award), Silver and Bronze International Maths Challenge Award, debating championships, Royal Yacht Academy Sailing certification (level 3 - highest level), Advanced Open Water diving license and a 3rd Kyu Brown Belt.</p>

<p>I am also Head Boy (highest student-held position in a British school), Chairman of the Student Council, President of the Sixth Form Society (academic society to which you may be invited), Upward Thinking Club (Scholar's-Only Club) and therefore an Academic Scholar with the largest Scholarship offered at my school. All of this was on my application.</p>

<p>The sheer volume of essays I had to write meant that there was some overlap in essays that were NOT shared by the same college. My main CommonApp essay was about the final moments of my trek to Kala Patthar 18,300ft above sea level and a reflection on the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, I can't really judge my own essays and I'm not willing to put them up here, but if I were to give an unbiased perspective, I'd say that none of my specific essays were unique, but were well-written and not standard essays that every applicant writes. However, I think my Common App essay was very strong and quite unique.</p>

<p>Colleges applied to: Ivies, NYU, Boston U.
Interviewed by UPenn, Princeton and Brown.
Rejected by all of them.</p>

<p>I've never been suspended or expelled from any school or arrested by the police. I've studied in the UAE for nearly my entire life. I am a UAE resident and an Indian passport holder.</p>

<p>These rejections could not have come at a worse time for me as I was also rejected from (almost) all other non-US universities I applied to. The place I am looking at right now requires me to get 39 points with a 7 in HL Maths and a 6 in both Physics and Biology. Neither am I willing nor will my parents let me take a gap year. The majority of admissions deadlines have passed and now, everything relies on my exams which, as those of you that do IB will know, can swing either way. I am especially worried about getting a 7 in Maths as it is one of the toughest subjects the IB offers and is (if I'm not mistaken) worth more credits than any other high-school subject from any curriculum due to its difficulty.</p>

<p>I would appreciate any insight into my situation right now, along with, if possible, some ideas of what I can possibly do now. I'm already studying several more hours than I'm sleeping, but a route or plan of action other than that would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>If I have missed anything out, please ask me to add it.</p>

2

<p>It seems like you should u should’ve got into some pretty good schools, much more, any schools. Where did you apply?</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>What was your “safety?”</p>

<p>I don’t see a safety for anyone.</p>

4

<p>I don’t understand why honestly. At least BU should have been an acceptance. Good luck to you, though. For the ivies, it may have been your SATs.</p>

5

<p>It seems you did not take any history classes. History is heavy in the US highschool.
How about your letter of recommendations?</p>

6

<p>The past:
there are 8 schools in the Ivy League, plus you applied to NYU and BU
that is 10 schools; what were the other 2?</p>

<p>All of the Ivy Leagues were a crapshoot, and, to apply to all of them meant you were merely going for the name and not the content.</p>

<p>So, basically, you applied to 2 schools which were target-y, and no safety.</p>

<p>The future:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>get some sleep
get thru your exams
look at schools which have rolling admissions
look at schools which have spring 2012 admission</p>

7

<p>illMachine, first of all, chill.
PM me, I should be able to help you out.</p>

8

<p>No safety schools? Very, very risky as you can see! </p>

<p>As an international student who needs no aid, you probably would have been welcomed at many of the Top 100 LAC’s.</p>

9

<p>International students always get the short end of the stick. That said, more safeties would have been helpful. Ivies and their ilk are very difficult to get in, even for perfect students and that goes triple for internationals. NYU and Boston I’d chalk up to bad luck.</p>

<p>Take my advice with a grain of salt though.</p>

10

<p>^^ NYU and BU were most likely his safeties.</p>

11

<p>I think your problem was that you did not apply to “true” safeties. Your stats were inline for NYU and BU, but they have fairly low acceptance rates and reject many qualified students; your SATs are low for the Ivies.</p>

<p>There are schools that are still accepting applications–there’s a list elsewhere on CC. Many of them are quite good, and would be happy to take you, though they’re not tippy-top in the rankings. (I know Clemson, for instance, was on last year’s list). Go to one of these schools for a year, do well, and then decide whether to stay and complete your degree there, or to transfer.</p>

12

<p>Agree that you did not have any safeties. A 2090 SAT score for an international is a pretty tough sell, even at NYU and BU. Plus, perhaps your LORs were not what you expected them to be. Are you well liked by your peers/ counselors/ teachers?</p>

13

<p>What it comes down to is how you compare relative to your classmates, and to students from your own region. Most of those top schools have a “quota” for each region. I have been studying D2’s school’s Naviance for those schools. They are pretty numbers driven. Students on the top right corner were admitted (high GPA and SAT/ACT). It’s harder for adcom to understand international student’s ECs, there are fewer legacies and athletes, so they probably make their decisions more based on numbers.</p>

<p>I think if you really wanted to study in the US, you should have applied to more lower tier schools.</p>

14

<p>I do not know who advised you in the preparation of your college list, but that person did not do a good job. You have no safeties on your list. There are more than 2,000 four-year colleges and universities in the US. All but a handful of them would have been more than happy to admit you based on your SAT, GCSCE , and IB scores.</p>

<p>If you want to start college this fall, read through the list of late deadline and rolling admissions schools at: [List</a> of Late Deadline Schools- Locate Colleges with Late Application Deadlines at Petersons.com](<a href=“http://www.petersons.com/college-search/late-deadline-schools.aspx]List”>http://www.petersons.com/college-search/late-deadline-schools.aspx) There also will be a list of colleges and universities with open spaces at [NACAC</a> Homepage](<a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/Pages/default.aspx]NACAC”>http://www.nacacnet.org/Pages/default.aspx) in mid-May.</p>

<p>If you want to take a gap year and reapply, make an appointment with the counselors at [EducationUSA</a> - Center Profile - EducationUSA Abu Dhabi Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/AbuDhabi]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/AbuDhabi) and ask for their help in drawing up a better list. They are the experts at helping students from schools in the UAE find places to study in the US, and they should be able to tell you which colleges and universities have admitted students with records like yours in the past few years.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

15

<p>Yes, probably the main reason I applied to Ivies is because of their name. That’s quite a big deal in my house, but I also wanted to study somewhere with a good international environment and where I could do funded research early on.</p>

<p>Other than that, I’m not familiar with the American college system at all - my knowledge of good universities in the States is very limited (as you can probably tell) and I simply didn’t have time to look specifically for my “ideal” university. If I knew a place with good funding, a small campus and very strong research and sciences departments, I would apply there. Had I known of any reputable “safety” schools, I would have applied.</p>

<p>Thanks for suggesting rolling admissions, I’ll probably try to apply to some other schools after my exams. I also want to try and apply to Canadian universities, assuming they’re still available.</p>

<p>Not sure what LORs or LACs are :(</p>

<p>Yes, I’d say I am well-liked by all my teachers and peers, but our school has no full-time university counselor - it was just a Maths teacher and some other guy who did everything. I had a feeling they would mess things up as nobody, except two people in my year, was accepted to any US university.</p>

16

<p>I disagree with many here. I think that BU full pay should have been a safety. I would give them a telephone call and make sure that your application was indeed complete. The problem could be that the required information from your school never actually made it. It’s probably too late, but that could be a clue to what happened. </p>

<p>I believe that you should have also gotten into NYU, though it wasn’t a safety. I’d get on the phone with someone there too. </p>

<p>Did you submit TOEFL? That’s another possible issue. </p>

<p>I agree that there will be some decent options showing up in about two weeks. Clemson’s deadline has not yet passed.</p>

17

<p>Yes, I made sure all my applications were indicated as complete on their websites, although I did have to add an old transcript for NYU and BU.</p>

<p>And no, I didn’t do TOEFL as the schools I applied to don’t require it for students that have studied in schools where English is the main teaching language for more than 4 years.</p>

<p>But thanks for the help.</p>

18

<p>I’m sorry, this is truly unfortunate.</p>

<p>Apply to Clemson, Simon Fraser, Mt. Allison - deadlines 4/30 or 5/1</p>

<p>Call Pittsburgh (same academic level as BU) and see if they will take a late application. Also call Beloit. Keep watching this board for the list of available spaces. Good luck.</p>

19

<p>Thanks a lot, I’m glad to see I may still have some options left.</p>

20

<p>[List</a> of Late Deadline Schools- Locate Colleges with Late Application Deadlines at Petersons.com](<a href=“http://www.petersons.com/college-search/late-deadline-schools.aspx]List”>http://www.petersons.com/college-search/late-deadline-schools.aspx)</p>

<p>It’s a long list and most of them are ehhh…but it’s somewhere to start from. </p>

<p>The fact that you’re not applying for aid should make you a shoe-in for most late deadline schools. I’m very surprised that NYU didn’t jump on you…they hate giving fin aid…not even a waitlist? very strange.</p>