waitlisted to northwestern, what does this mean for other top-tier schools? I am really scared

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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OBJECTIVE

ACT: 35 composite (36 math and science, 35 reading, 34 english, 11 writing)

SAT: 2310 (800 math, 760 critical reading, 750 writing)

SATII: 800 Math II, 800 Physics, 790 Bio, 720 US History

GPA: 98/100 UW, 109 weighted, should be a 4.0

9-11TH GRADE COURSELOAD (Grade taken, AP score): AP Biology (10, 5), AP World History (10, 5), AP Calculus BC(10, 5), AP Statistics (11,5), AP Computer Science (11, 5), AP English Lang (11, 5), AP US History (11, 5), AP Physics B (11, 5)

12TH GRADE COURSELOAD: AP Spanish Language, AP English Lit, AP Government and Politics, AP Chemistry
I am taking two online courses because our school does not offer - Multivariable Calculus, and AP Physics C: Mechanics, and this appears on school transcript.

OTHER CLASSES: Science Research (4 years), Orchestra (4 years), Philosophy

OTHER: Middle-class, Indian, 16 years when graduating (skipped a grade)

SUBJECTIVE

SPORTS: 4 years varsity cross country, 4 years varsity tennis (2nd singles sophomore year, 1st singles and captain junior year)

CLUBS (Grades, Leadership positions, Awards): Robotics (10-12, President, NA), Mathletes (9-12, Captain, Top 50 in county and AIME 2x qualifier ARML and NYSML), Spanish Honor Society/National Honor Society

INTERNSHIPS: Interned at MSKCC (Summer after 10), Simons at SBU (Summer after 11), CSHL (Senior year)

VOLUNTEER: 100 hours at local hospital, 500-600 hours in building Q&A application for school to facilitate online tutoring

AWARDS: I won the RPI medal this year, a few others, Philosophy Slam 4th place, Long Island Science Congress Honors, accpeted to PROMYS (didn’t attend), National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar

ESSAYS: 7/10 - 8/10

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I’m not even sure if this is a serious question based on your resume, but I will answer it anyway. I think you have NOTHING to worry about.

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@educateddarcy‌ I am not sure. I was deferred Princeton SCEA, rejected MIT, waitlisted CalTech, and now this. How can I stay positive considering all the rejections and waitlists I have gotten?

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Please, I either need some words of wisdom, or some motivational boost, or just something…I don’t know what to do…I have been thinking so hard. What I left out…I mean I have great GPA and scores, good ECs (prestigious research internships like MSKCC and CSHL, captain of tennis/mathletes/robotics), and innovative volunteer work (like the tutormatch project). What am I missing…why am I failing so hard at all these schools? Northwestern is not as selective as the Ivies. How can I be optimistic if I did not even get into NU?

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Yield protection.

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where else did you apply? I hope not just Ivy’s. What are your safeties?

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Stay positive. Your hard work will pay off. Obviously, I can’t guarantee anything for you, but I would be very surprised if you didn’t get into a top tier school. I really wish you the best of luck. If for some reason you get rejected and wait listed from every school that you want to attend, you need to know that where you go does not define you. Many of my friends that went to SUNY Binghamton are wildly successful.

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@rustles I was looking at other threads, and a lot of really smart people (like Intel ISEF finalists, and STS finalists) got in to Northwestern anyways. It cant be yield protection. I am not that amazing that they need to protect against me. Those ISEF kids were still accepted. Mind you, they were accepted to almost every other top-tier school as well (Yale, Columbia, Duke, etc.)

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“Didn’t even get into NU”? Northwestern accepts 12% of people who apply. You’d be hard pressed finding many people who actually did get into NU. You applied to 4 schools within the top 15 of the USNews rankings. And 4 of the most selective schools in the world. What did you expect? No one should expect to get in. That doesn’t mean you won’t get in to NU or the other school that waitlisted you either. And it doesn’t mean the rest of your decisions will be rejections and waitlists as well. It’s too late now, but you might have applied to too many reach schools to give yourself enough choices come decision time.

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@menloparkmom‌ After my Princeton deferral, I got very scared. Not as much as I am now, however. Thus, I applied to every Ivy + Duke + CMU + Northwestern (waitlisted) + MIT(rejected) + CalTech(waitlisted) + UC-Berkeley + GeorgiaTech (accepted) + Johns Hopkins + Northeastern (accepted with University Scholars) + SUNY Stony Brook (accepted with presidential) + RPI (accepted was a medalist) + UMich

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@CaliCash‌ You misunderstand me. I said, if I did not get into NU (which has a higher acceptance rate than most of my reaches EXCEPT cornell, cmu, and jhu), how can i expect to get into the other ones?

And no, I applied to a decent number of match and safety schools as well.

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@educateddarcy‌ Do you know anyone who got into top-tier business schools (graduate) from state schools or non-top-tier undergraduate schools?

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I know some students (last year) who were rejected from NU but were admitted to Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, and Brown. So stay positive. Good Luck!

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so you WILL be going to college!
Where you go is NOT as important as WHAT you do when you get there.

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@NorthwesternDad‌ Man, that is quite a relief…I must say, some of my other apps were a little bit better (like Brown and Columbia imo). Can you share their story, or just a little more info…

I am so sorry if I sound arrogant or picky or babyish, it is just I have worked quite hard throughout high school, and with each decision, I have gone through a lot of emotional dissatisfaction, and am really quite scared. I have already started looking at options to reapply next year on ED to schools, or go to Adelphi (70% acceptance rate) on a 3-2 guaranteed engineering program to columbia, or transfer admissions to cornell or uc-berkeley…and I am going insane…

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@menloparkmom‌ I agree it is not as important, but I want to go to a school where I will be challenged, and have a ton of resources/connections at my disposal. NO ONE can deny that someone who goes to a school like Stanford on average has a much higher chance at success than someone that goes to Stony Brook. Regardless of intelligence level, even smart kids at Stony Brook just do not have the same opportunities that EVERY SINGLE Stanford undergraduate would have. There is a line. IT IS POSSIBLE to do well from SBU, but that said, it is exponentially times more difficult, and in some cases impossible to obtain the same opportunities as someone from Stanford.

I just picked SBU and Stanford as examples btw.

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OP, after DS was deferred and then rejected at Stanford he was waitlisted at NW, but accepted at Dartmouth, Brown, Chicago, Wash U, Pomona and every other college he applied to. He ended up going to USC on a full scholarship and is now completing his PhD at Caltech.
The LAST college on your CV is the one that counts the most. So relax- go to the college that offers the most opportunity at the lowest price.

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I see you got into some very nice schools so at least your have options. My son has similar stats and was also waitlisted at NU, but he got into UMich and Notre Dame. You seem to be a very bright kid and work very hard. I am sure no matter where you go, you will do great. I remember reading an article in NY Times by Frank Bruni in which he quoted someone from Indiana University got into Harvard business school. Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-how-to-survive-the-college-admissions-madness.html?_r=2
Good luck!!

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Honestly, from whatever I know of, your stats are somewhat better overall compared to the students that I mentioned about…none of them had any worthwhile ECs and every one of them were completely down and out for a week before the Ivy results arrived! Bottomline: You never know what is meant for you. You have done the best and let the colleges do the right thing by you.

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I know a ton that got into elite law and medical schools from SUNYB. Most students do not go for their MBA directly from college these days so I think your work experience is very important.