I’m in the same boat as well. Rejected from 4 schools, waitlisted at 2, and accepted to 4 schools (all safeties) and waiting on 2 more which I’m pretty positive I’m getting rejected from because they were super reaches.
My kid was rejected at 14 and waitlisted at 4. The 19th school said yes. Only need 1 to say yes.
Ivies would just be icing on the cake right now.
24A that is unbelieveable.
Megan, can we trade? I wish there was a mix and match system. For example I would happily trade my acceptance at one of your WL schools for WashU where I was WL
Also joining the “club no one wants to be in” 35 ACT, NMF, White female, STEM high school, applying to engineering schools (mostly), several levels above Calc BC in math----total Waitlist (Vandy, Duke, Rice, Davidson, Emory); Rejected (MIT, Stanford). Admitted to several state schools—but feel I’ve worked really hard for nothing. I know “it’s what I make of it” — but now I get to revel in 400 person science classes and state budget cuts. Sux. Don’t fall for that sucker bait—gals who like math/sci have it easier.
Yuuup, getting into college is too hard. I’ve only gotten into state schools thus far (although they are some of the “top” state schools) and I know I’ll have a great time if I end up going there. I just think I wasted a lot of time and effort when I could’ve worked less and spent more time on socialization in high school to get into the same schools. Just feeling quite disappointed right now.
Bugspecial, that is surprising. I thought female STEM was a good category.
Feel the same way
Yeah—It’s tough, especially when you see folks with ordinary stats and 29 ACTs getting in. It’s like—OK, “What’s wrong with me (or my rex, etc.)?”
Always good to have your file reviewed to make sure they got everything and no teacher or GC wrote something stupid or mean but I doubt that. Obviously you cannot review but I trust my GC, otherwise I would ask a teacher to review the file. Make sure transcript is correct. The STEM HS angle too. I would be suspicious if you were rejected, since you were WL it is probably fine. Obviously follow the standard WL advice
@Bugspecial, it’s not you. Schools all have different wants that they try to fill when shaping a student body. Also, admissions is holistic so you can can’t just go off of scores. I know that teenagers are still forming, but whether a school takes you or rejects you actually says close to zero about you as a person.
Also, girls who intend to major in engineering/math/CS/physical sciences have it easier at those schools that admit by major/college (or have a big gender imbalance in the applicant pool) and where it’s fairly hard to switch majors. In other words, pretty much none of the elites (except for maybe Cornell). OK, MIT and Caltech as well, but those 2 are just insanely difficult to get in to, and at MIT, girls would have less of a relative advantage than at Caltech. Girls would also have an advantage at Olin/Mudd/other mostly male tech institutes.
BTW, at Stanford/Vandy/Duke/Emory, intro science lecture classes would still be large. Maybe not 400 students, but more like 200 students (which, frankly, is hardly any difference). The largest class at Stanford has 650 students.
Washington & Lee is a fantastic school academically. It was a school that our family had visited. Our daughter did not end up applying there. I heard it referenced once in something I read as White & Loaded which still makes me smile. The campus is beautiful, it has a law school and Robert E. Lee’s horse is buried there, that alone should seal the deal! Now it is bothering me that I can’t think of the horses name.
I hope other opportunities become available to you as well!
Hey, I got waitlisted at W&L, Davidson, and Amherst in the past 24 hours. I could never afford these schools but it sucks that i don’t get to feel good enough for them. And i feel the same way a bunch of you feel-like all this hard work was for nothing, since i could have gotten into these safeties by coasting through high school. Anyway, don’t let this stuff get you down-you still have a chance at the ivies. Colleges choose independently!
Hey you’re not the only one! I applied into 15 schools total and I’ve only been accepted into 5 - which is basically 4 safeties and 1 I would actually go to (UNC Chapel Hill). I’ve been waitlisted from Davidson, Vanderbilt, and Emory and I’ve been rejected from Duke, Hopkins (my dream school), and RPI (for some weird, strange reason). I got a 31 on my ACT (which is weak) but I have a 4.0 GPA unweighted and 5.1 weighted and like a bunch of ECs, awards, and I’m an IB Diploma Candidate. Of course, I’m Asian so…yeah. In addition the only schools left for me to wait for are the Ivies - which I have no shot at now.
This has to be hard and I’m sure it’s cold comfort right now, but the skills and knowledge that you acquired through your hard work during high school will make your college experience and working lives better and more successful. Once you get settled into whichever colleges you select, I’m sure you will quickly come to love your choice and a lot of the regret and angst of the application process will recede.
I’m wondering whether some of the rejections/wait-lists also have to do with where you are from. Are you all living in states that send a lot of kids to elite schools (NY, CA, etc.)? That might really reduce your chances.
@pittsburghscribe Indiana so pretty average I guess.
Are you right outside Chicago? That may impact. Otherwise I would rather be from Indiana than New York or Boston right now
@SaphireNY Prep school in the suburbs of Indianapolis. Not the toughest location, not the easiest.
@GreatKid The horse’s name was Traveller.
I’m from NY lol aka no chance yay me
@ItsSoCold 'Prep school in the suburbs of Indianapolis. Not the toughest location, not the easiest."
Brebeuf Jesuit by any chance? My nephew go into Ivys from there.
All these threads with kids that have 99th percentile ACT’s and SAT’s and 4.0 GPA’s getting waitlisted/rejected begs the question: just who are these “elite” schools accepting? Is it the same 5,000 super applicants plus a few athletes thrown in? Jeez, why bother applying to these powerball schools? Not worth the hassle or the application fees.