@TTdd16 " are so invested in their children going to a top-ranked school that the craziness just reigns supreme"
yes, SO TRUE!!! It is the parents that want to be able to tell others where their child got in. In many cases, it is the prestige that the parent wants! I see it all the time.
DD requested major: Computer Science/ Creative Writing
Rejected: Stanford( EA/Legacy) , MIT, Northwestern
Accepted: William and Mary, University of Washington (direct admit to CS)
4.0UW, 1560 SAT (780/780), Great SAT 2’s – Lots of 5’s on AP – Varsity Soccer, All-State Choir.
The whole process is so much harder these days – so many students for so few spots.
^^^ Congrats to your DD for the acceptances. Agreed, this year seems especially challenging.
Regarding comments on WashU, they are very careful about protecting yield. You really have to show interest, especially if you have high stats and they believe you will have other good options. Hence a lot of rejections or waitlists for kids who expected to get in. This has been their pattern for years.
Had a NMF friend get waitlisted by Davidson yesterday; denied to U Chicago. Accepted to Notre Dame. Waiting to hear from Vandy, Wake Forest and Rice
D is NMS and rejected GT.
Accepted Barnard, USC Viterbi, Col. SCH. Mines, and UTD.
Waiting on five more.
ACT 35, SAT 1550, GPA 3.7UW, 4.2 W. 13 APS, lots of e.c. with a distinctive spike in one.
Need some insight here and thank you in advance…
My D18 wasn’t NMF but has these stats:
SAT 1540(1 sitting), 4.2W GPA, all Honors plus 9APs(4 exams taken so far w/ “5s”), research at top university, brass instrument(will play in college) with awards, president of two high school organizations, selected by superintendent for other leadership opportunities, recs said she was in the top 1% of students, works 10-15 hours per week, applied for FA w/ income over 200K and didn’t qualify.
Accepted: Providence, BU, Northeastern(Honors), Holy Cross, Alabama(Honors), UMass(Honors)–all gave significant merit money, except Providence($0).
WL: Colgate
Denied: Northwestern and Notre Dame(not too surprised) but–also denied at BC. So here’s my question, how did D18 get merit money at very competitive colleges but get rejected from BC? Why such the divide? And now we wait on Georgetown, Cornell, Vanderbilt and Michigan—without much hope. This process can’t end soon enough.
My NMF DD only applied to one Ivy because she doesn’t really care for cold weather.
Accepted: Rhodes, Emory, Furman, UCSD, UF Honors
Waitlisted: Tulane
Waiting on Berkeley, Duke, Vanderbilt and Princeton (applied EA, deferred, but no hook and only two kids from our area accepted EA - both athletes)
She’s super well-rounded, has all the stats blah blah blah…still agree that it’s a crap shoot.
@bostonmom8 what major? My opinion is that while the merit is at competitive colleges, these are not Top 20 and considered “selective” so they are trying to woo your child to go there. i am a bit surprised by denied at BC, but it could come down to essays and recs. And, just too many qualified applicants.
@gatorjaw I agree - a crapshoot, but sometimes well rounded will bite you in the behind! Colleges are trying to put together a well rounded class of specialists! So standing out in one EC or another - i.e., specialist - is much better than being well rounded in some cases. The problem also is we don’t know how major impacted decision and also essays and recs.
@LvMyKids2 Oh, totally agree. She “dove deep” in her two main activities - plays year-round softball, captain etc. and also four year theater kid - definitely not “resume builder” activities only. I also know that demonstrated interest is a big deal at Tulane, and she did not really show any outside of applying, so the result is not unexpected. It will all work out the way it’s supposed to…but I’m buckled up for an emotional week ahead!
@gatorjaw if she has the stats she may get into Vanderbilt. They do look at everything else, but are definitely stats driven. Tulane is very much into DI…
Update on my twins -
DS1 - Business -
Accepted: ASU (Barrett), UC Irvine (Regents), UCLA and Notre Dame (Mendoza)
Rejected: USC
Waiting: Michigan
DS2 - CS
Accepted: ASU (Barrett), UC Irvine (honors)
Rejected: Northwestern, UCLA and USC
Waiting: Harvard and Brown
The USC decisions were a surprising today. We went on visit last March, lots of follow-up. Both got denied. The process seems so arbitrary. I’m sure it comes down to strength of essays and teacher recommendations. They both will have some great choices, just fewer than expected.
@LvMyKids2 Bio Essays were very solid. One of her recs was an instructor she’s worked with for 6 years who teaches there. He said her rec said top 1% of students he’s worked with in his 20 year career. He was shocked and reeling. Really baffled but need to move on so we can gear up for the tidal wave of decisions coming this week.
Seems that CC is littered with super high stats kids getting loads of rejections. I just can’t make sense of some of these decisions. Nonetheless, I hope all those reading this land somewhere they’ll be happy to call their college home!
Thanks for responding:)
@usma87 Comp Sci is one of THE most competitive majors I have seen! The most competitive seem to be those applying CS in Engineering. It is very sad the amount of rejections I have seen. To the very tippy top kids.
I agree. We have definitely seen that trend. So, he has choices. He’s leaning toward ASU that has a great NMF scholarship.
It seems this year, admissions at California schools (including USC) have gotten even more competitive (and frustrating).
Wait-Listed, Rejected and Frustrated in California
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/03/26/reports-circulate-even-more-difficult-year-be-admitted-leading
Very true. I know so many 4.0/4,5+ and almost perfect score kids or perfect score kids (and NMF too) rejected by USC. and then not getting in UCs- or a waitlist. The landscape has changed. It is very hard for all of our kids that study and work so hard.
^^^^Same with my two. They have also seen high stats kids get denied from traditionally easy to get into Cal States schools, like Long Beach and Fullerton. Cal Poly has always been tough, but some of the kids rejected at LB and Fullerton are crazy!
I had a 34 ACT, 3.97 UW GPA, work 20 hours a week, had 2 leadership positions (one for marching band which took up 20 hours a week each fall).
Rejected: I wasn’t flat out rejected by any schools, which is a nice feeling
Waitlisted: Vanderbilt (I didn’t accept my spot on the waitlist, it wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway)
Accepted for SPRING Term: USC
Accepted: UCF, U of Miami (President’s Scholarship), UF, Northeastern (Scholarship), LMU (Scholarship), Chapman (Scholarship), UC Irvine (Honors), UCLA, CSULB
I’m supperrr appreciative of the opportunities I got. None of the scholarships were full scholarships (except NM for UCF), and they private and OOS schools weren’t affordable to me. Unfortunately, I realized this after I applied to the schools, so that’s why I applied to so many privates. I’m gonna be attending UCF, and I am supperrrrrr excited, I love the school so much. I was happy with how everything worked out, and I am soooo grateful for the opportunities these schools gave me.