Hi guys! After lurking on CC for quite awhile now, I thought I would start posting my own results and college admissions process. I wanted to share some of the schools I’m applying to and my stats. I hope to update this thread with acceptance/ waitlist/ rejection (probably lots of these!) results regularly in order to show others how college admissions can end up panning out. I know my list is reach-heavy, but I would rather strive for private universities that provide generous aid. If those don’t end up working out, I would be happy attending my state school. Also, I would love to hear from you guys if you have any thoughts or insight to share!
So here are some quick stats:
ACT: 32 (35E, 33M, 32R, 27S, 9W)
SAT II: 740 M2
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Rank: 1 out of 200ish
AP Classes: 5 APUSH, 4 AP Calc AB
Extracurriculars: There are several but a few that I’m really committed to and have leadership positions in. I don’t really want to get into specifics though (if requested, I certainly can).
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Econ/ Finance/ Business (Depends on what school I’m applying to)
Country (if international applicant): USA
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
Safety:
State School (accepted into the honors program)
Target:
University of Virginia (EA)
Boston College
Oxford at Emory
Boston College
Vassar
Wellesley
Boston University
Reach:
Vanderbilt
Barnard
Swarthmore
Dartmouth
Bowdoin
Cornell
Emory
Some of your targets are pretty reach-y. Do you life in Virginia? If so it’s fine, if not it’s a reach, on par with Bowdoin, Barnard, etc. You can’t go by national admin stats for UVa because they are skewed by the dramatically standards for the 65% of the class legally required to be from in-state. OOS (Out-of-state) admits have a substantially higher bar. Several others on your list are also close to as hard as your reach list – BC, Wellesley, Vassar (harder for women than men, as are most LAC’s). I guess if you’re 100% happy with your 99% safety, you can just think of it as a larger list of reaches, but if you want true targets you should find a few more.
Your stats are great – good work – but to be honest not exceptional for some of these schools. A 32 ACT is average. The perfect GPA/class rank is great, especially if it’s rare for your school – the colleges will have a profile and know how exceptional it is for your particular school. But most of these schools turn away many applicants with perfect GPA’s every year. So it’s really going to come down to those EC’s you didn’t list and how much they stand out and how great your application essays and supplements are. I think the first-gen thing should be very helpful too.
Good luck. Great list of schools.
Thanks for sharing! I know I’m not really competitive for OOS UVa, but I’m not really invested In Uva because of how expensive it will be due to the fact that I’m out of state. I totally agree that Boston College (actually got deferred here early) and Wellesley are still highly selective. And for Vassar, I actually attended a fly-in program there and they told us that admission was certainly not a guarantee but that attending did give us a boost in the process. Also, I’m not first generation.
I meant first gen college, per your original comments above.
Yeah, I’m not first generation college bound. I have virtually no hooks.
I just thought I’d update this thread with my current results.
Boston College - deferred
University of Virginia - accepted
Boston College - accepted
University of Virginia - accepted
Wellesley- accepted
Vassar - accepted
Swarthmore - accepted
Emory - accepted
Boston University - accepted
Barnard - accepted
Bowdoin - waitlisted
Vanderbilt - rejected
Cornell- rejected
Dartmouth - rejected
After essentially years of preparing for college, the results are in. I never assumed the outcome would be what I’ve just listed above. I thought it would be apparent what college I would be off to after I was accepted but May 1st seems much sooner than I anticipated. I also made the rash and stupid assumption that financial aid would merely fall into place. It did not and in the next month many financial aid appeal letters will be sent out. Right now, I’m choosing between Emory, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and University of Kansas. For anyone who’s not a senior, I would leave you with this simple message: you will end up where you are meant to be.
As for me, I have yet to figure out where that is. I hope that within the next few weeks that sense of clarity I had always hoped for will suddenly hit me. I think I’ll be signing off from College Confidential soon as my college admissions story comes to an end. Also, one last question before I depart.
Is prestige worth the price tag attached to it?
Definitely go to Barnard out of these decisions! You get a degree from Columbia and graduate at CU graduation. Plus, you take classes at Columbia, join Columbia sororities/ clubs/ sports team/ societies. Columbia students take classes at Barnard too. And the academic buildings/libraries are all University wide. You get the best of a large co-ed university and small, women’s liberal arts college. Plus NYC is the best city! Tons of jobs and things to do. I do think fit is important though and if you feel like Emory, Swarthmore and the other schools are a better fit for you then go for it. If you are looking for an academically rigorous and intellectual environment (jobs, LinkedIn consider Barnard an Ivy League) in a big city, then Barnard is a good fit. Hope that helps
“Is prestige worth the price tag attached to it?”
In a word, no. A wise and insightful question. Few think to ask it.
Go where you can accomplish your undergrad educational goals happily, at acceptable cost and with the least unnecessary stress. Keep your powder dry for grad school or professional school. You’ll need the big bucks then. You sound like a very together young woman. Best of luck.
@PadreDeTres Thank you! I will soon be committing to my state school, and while I continue to wonder whether I’m making the right decision, I’ve come to realize that my success, in college and afterwards, is more dependent on what I do than where I go.
@lizardlady123
Congratulations! Debt is a big deal and choosing the most affordable school is most prudent!
@lizardlady123, a wise and mature decision. That’s a mighty impressive list of acceptances. You could have let ego and peer pressure drive you to spend triple or quadruple on a bachelor’s degree with a fancy name tag. It speaks volumes that you didn’t succumb. The honors program at State U sounds like the right call to me. Thanks for sharing your excellent decision process. Others will benefit.