<p>Hey guys,
So I'm a decent student. I attend an extremely competitive private school in NJ where the average grade is a B- although we all work, on average, about 5 hours on homework every day. We do not rank. We do not have a GPA. I have a B+/A- average, and I have taken 6 out of the 15 available AP classes (You can only take up to 4 a year and they are only available Junior and Senior year). I have good SAT scores: 2250 SAT (750 CR, 760 M, 740 W), 740 Math II Subject Test, 750 Literature Subject Test, 770 Math I Subject Test. I have a strong essay talking about my Lithuanian background as I am an immigrant who comes from nothing, as well as great supplements. Out of the two teacher recommendations I have, one is very fantastic and personal. Although I have never read it, my math teacher always talks glowingly about me, stating that I was one of the strongest students he has ever had.</p>
<p>Still, I find myself being wait-listed and rejected almost everywhere. </p>
<p>I have been rejected by: UCLA, Wesleyan, Vassar, Barnard, and Rice.
I have been wait-listed by: Boston College, UNC Chapel Hill, Oxford College (Emory), and Tulane.
I have only been accepted by: Wake Forest. </p>
<p>What is going on? What am I doing wrong? I've worked really hard for 4 years, and it seems like everything is going to waste. I understand I do not have perfect grades, but I put my heart and soul in my essays and supplements as well as my SATs. Should I just give up on my dreams to attend an Ivy? I'm just so stressed and upset and need advice!</p>
<p>Honestly, there are so many factors in the College Admissions process that it is highly arbitrary. Plenty of people end up getting into highly selective schools while getting rejected from schools much further down the rankings list. A lot of it just comes down to luck and chance.</p>
<p>Are you applying as an International? The fact that you require FA might be hurting you significantly.</p>
<p>No, I live in the United States and am a citizen. I have dual citizenship. Still, I am applying for financial aid at every university, but I wouldn’t think that would significantly hurt a US citizen, would it? Most schools are need-blind, no? At least, in terms of US residents.</p>
<p>I’m heavily involved in extra-curriculars. I applied for Economics at each college and am the President of the Investment Club as well as an officer of 2 separate charity clubs and a member of peer tutoring. I’m also editor-in-chief of my school newspaper. I would say my EC’s are a strong-point, as I stay after-school almost every day until 6:30 as well as some weekends. I also run a popular music blog as a hobby.</p>
<p>Well I don’t know most of the schools you’ve listed too well, but for an Ivy those ECs probably wouldn’t cut it. The SAT is about average for an Ivy too.</p>
<p>You mean to tell me that 4 leadership roles in a school where there are about 15 clubs isn’t impressive? Most people are shocked at the amount of extra-curriculars I partake in. Although I understand that I have not played the tuba at Carnegie Hall for 4 years, there are students in my class who have gotten into Yale and Harvard with one or two extra-curriculars. No, I am not an Eagle Scout nor am I winning science conventions left and right, but I know few kids at school who do more than me.</p>
<p>I highly, highly doubt my EC’s are the reason for these decisions.</p>
<p>Clleges will calculate a GPA for you and put it in context of your school using grade distribution data. I think you have a good indication that what they’ve calculated does not put you in range for top schools. If yore just waiting on ivies and don’t want to attend Wake, you should look at schools still taking applications.</p>
<p>Highly unlikely as there are students who have been admitted to schools I have been wait-listed at with lower grades and SAT scores and fewer extra-curriculars, but thank you for the cruelly cold response, Waverly!</p>
<p>Also, I would think that a school like Wake Forest, which is SAT-optional, would focus more on my grades rather than my SAT score, which is of little significance to them. If I can get accepted by Wake Forest, which rejected many of the students who were admitted to Tulane and Boston College, I think that should say something. Perhaps I am being bitter and angry, but I just cannot wrap my head around being rejected and wait-listed at so many schools my peers have been accepted to despite the fact I have performed better than them both academically and extra-curricularly.</p>
<p>I don’t see a problem with Waverly’s response. There is something on your application that is not appealing to these schools. Grades and test scores aren’t everything, and the higher you climb in college rankings, the more subjective it gets. </p>
<p>Wake forest is a great school! Get excited about it, go to admitted students day, get involved. If you really don’t want to go there, then yes looking at rolling apps is a good option. I’m sure waverly didn’t put it there to be offensive. It was advice.</p>
<p>Sorry you saw my response that way but I respet students enough to tell them my best advice straight. That’s way they are prepared and have a chance to pursue options.</p>
<p>And maybe that’s the problem. There may be something in your applications that comes across to each of these schools. For all those schools to not accept you, well, if you come across sounding so superior in them like you do here, it can be a turn off. Just a thought.</p>
<p>NMM- sorry this is happening to you. To be honest, it sucks. I hate seeing too many students going through this. Wake Forest is a good school, and I hope that it is a school that you like and are considering.
What schools are you still waiting on for decisions?</p>
<p>I know I’m acting like a brat; it’s just extremely difficult to fail for the first time in your life. Plus it’s extremely late for me, and I can’t sleep over nerves about college decisions tomorrow. I’m cranky and acting like a brat. I assure you that my frustration is not arrogance. </p>
<p>Wake is a great school, I do acknowledge that, but I’ve always dreamed of more for myself. I’ve worked so, so hard in high school, and I studied my butt off for the SAT. I’ll go if it’s the only school that accepts me, but I’d certainly be disappointed in myself because I’ve always dreamed of going Ivy. </p>
<p>I’m still waiting on: Brown, Duke, UPenn, and Cornell.</p>
<p>Take a breath and hang in. I completely understand your frustration and dismay. Only a short while until you hear from the last of your schools. I am assuming that your high school is the type where many students go to ivies and T10 Uni/LAC’s. If so the other schools that wait listed/rejected you may have assumed you will get in to “higher ranked” schools. </p>
<p>There was an overwhelming number of applicants at most colleges this year and I believe the admin are overwhelmed and unsure of how to estimate how many to accept and how many will matriculate. I would not write of a wait list if there is a school you really want to attend. I am sure you have terrific college counselors who can put this into context for you.</p>
<p>Try to do something to get your mind off this! I am sure there are other students at your school in the same boat. Best of luck tomorrow at 5 pm. You may be presently surprised - and if not Wake is a great school.</p>
<p>One big problem with your list is that you do not have a single dead-on safety on it. Everything is reach and match material. This means that yes, you might not have been admitted to a single one of these institutions. When you made this list, what advice did you get from your counselor? Some private school guidance counselors do have a nearly magical ability to match their students with colleges and universities. However, yours might not have that talent.</p>
<p>If you truly dislike Wake, get yourself back into your counselor’s office and talk through your options. Maybe you need to take a gap year so that you can come up with a new list. Or, perhaps your counselor can suggest institutions that will be affordable without any financial aid that are still accepting applicants for the fall.</p>
<p>None of us can explain the admissions process. Why some students get multiple acceptances and others get fewer. I won’t even try.</p>
<p>Looking at your list and your stats – I agree with the prior posters, you lacked a safety school. There isn’t a school on the list that I would have said you shouldn’t apply to, but there also wasn’t a school on the list that I would have said was a lock. With a couple of the schools, I’m mildly surprised you weren’t admitted, but honestly, none that I find shocking.</p>
<p>So, what have you done wrong – probably nothing. You say your grades weren’t perfect, and it’s possible that that’s a factor. I’m sure your essay was well written. To be honest almost all are for the schools you’ve applied to. Did it ‘shine’? I can’t say. How are your ECs? You don’t say anything about them.</p>
<p>However, the reason one applies to so many schools is that the process is so unpredictible these days. </p>
<p>What I don’t understand is why you characterize yourself as having failed. IMO, you have gotten into a fantastic school (which was your goal) and therefore, you have succeeded!!</p>
<p>I’m sure it would have been great to have a cascade of acceptances. Especially if your friends are talking about the multiple acceptances they have. It can be a real ego boost. However, at the end of the day, you can only go to one school, so the rest doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Good luck with the rest of your list. </p>
<p>I still think you have a shot at the other schools on your list – and if not. Wake Forest is really great!!</p>
<p>It has been getting very rough. I think the fact that the Common App has taken off and so many kids use it, and high schools are getting resigned to kids applying to more school has made things much,much more difficult. Especially for those of you applying for financial aid. People are getting more savvy and are applying to more schools if they need aid and clustering to those schools that tend to come close to meeting full need. The consequence is that there are still the same number of spaces, the same amount of money for need/merit, but more applications for them. To make it trickier, there really aren’t that many more kids applying, it just seems like it because they are applying to more schools. It makes the college adcoms tense because the historical data is no longer representative of the current situation and they have to do a lot of guessing. Their head will roll if the classes are not full given the record app levels but they’ll also be in trouble if too many bodies show up or too many kids take them up on the money offered. </p>
<p>But congratulations on getting into Wake Forest. Very nice school, and really up there or better than some of those who did not take you. If you get one good offer with decent aid, these days, you are doing well.</p>