Congrats to everyone on their colleges! I’m deciding between Boston U and NYU right now, but I was just wondering if some people might be able to explain why I received 5 rejection letters and 3 wait lists from the Ivys. It was upsetting and disappointing for me, but this might be able to help the juniors in the future. I thought I did well at all of my interviews (except Princeton), and my essays were well-written. Here are my stats:
SAT I: 1570
SAT II:
-Math IIC: 790
-Writing: 760
-Biology (E): 720
-Chemistry: 720
AP:
-US History: 5
-Calculus AB: 5
-Lang/Comp: 4
-AP Scholar
GPA: 3.95 unweighted, 4.54 weighted, ~ top 10 out of 600
National Honor Society President (12th grade)
School newspaper (9-12), Opinion Editor (10-12)
Swimming (competitive)
-JCC (4-12)
-Varsity school team (9-12), captain (11-12)
-New Jersey State Championship: 1st in 200 Free Relay (9), 5th in 100 Fly (9), 5th in 100 Fly (12), 6th in 100 Back (12)
Key Club (9-12), Webmaster (10-11)
District Key Club International Convention 1st Place Website (10-11)
Piano (1-10)
Steinway Society Scholarship Finalist
Piano Teachers Society of America: 1st place, 5-year Grand Winner Award
Music Educators Association: 2nd, 3rd
Music Teachers Association: 4th place
Deborah Walk-A-Thon (9-12), Chairperson (10-12)
French Honor Society (11-12)
Hospital Volunteer (11-12)
Multiple Sclerosis Website (10-12)
Science League (9)
Tae Kwon Do: Black Belt (9)
National French Contest: 4th, 5th, 8th place
National Merit Finalist
9th grade summer camp: Phillips Academy
10th grade: Oxford Tradition at Oxford University, England
11th grade: Penn Summer Science Academy at UPenn
<p>omg ur kiddin.......im a moron and know so many morons who got in with like half those stats.!
i think yo teacher and counselor rec screwed u over.
or maybe they sent the wrong transcript(remember Orange County)</p>
<p>Oh, good reminder. I had 3 teachers recs, all of which were wonderful. I also had a letter from my Penn summer camp and from the individual for whom I made the multiple sclerosis website. I placed my transcript in each of the college envelopes, so I don't think that was a problem. However, Rutgers did screw up my class rank (said that I wasn't in the top 20% of my school), but I think only Rutgers did that. I called up Boston U, and they said my rank was fine. However, my counselor isn't very good though...to say the least. For example, she forgot to check off the boxes "Recommend, Highly Recommend, etc." on the common app. That couldn't have been the only problem though...</p>
<p>Well your Bio and Chem SAT scores are okay (for the Ivy League, keep in mind), but not spectacular.</p>
<p>Your course load might not have been that difficult.</p>
<p>How do you know your teacher recs were wonderful? Colleges think it's suspicious if you don't check off the confidentiality box... unless your teachers showed it to you privately.</p>
<p>Most kids think their essays are wonderful. Most kids' essays aren't. Just a thought.</p>
<p>It doesn't look like you have a particular focus. The top schools generally like to see a passion and significant accomplishment (meaning state or national-level) in one or two areas. Yours look a little scattered to me.</p>
<p>BU and NYU are great schools though. Good luck in your decision.</p>
<p>How are you an AP Scholar if you've only taken 3 tests? :-?</p>
<p>edit: heh...nevermind..just looked it up...I was thinking about the one involving a 4 or 5 on 7 or more AP tests or something similar to that...</p>
<p>I don't think the EC's look scattered. Focus on piano and swimming, top state level achievements in both plus a range of lesser involvements. I think it shows a focus as well as a willingness to explore new interests and activities. I think it just shows they must have had a lot of great applicants from your area/demographic and there wasn't anything about you that grabbed them.</p>
<p>Thanks, RaspberrySmoothie, for the honest reply. I agree that my science SAT IIs aren't the strongest and that my ECs are a bit scattered (although I used the word "eclectic" in my interviews). Also true that my essays couldn't have been perfect. I did have three teachers edit it though, so I don't know how bad they could have been. For the teacher recs, I did read them, but it doesn't really matter. It is clearly stated on the app that whether or not you waive your confidentiality rights does not affect anything. Two recs had all check marks in the top column. The other was just supplemental w/o form. As an Asian in NJ from a very Asian school, would that have affected anything? Thanks for all your insight!</p>
<p>Especially since the whole state is apparently lumped into two categories, rich suburban and poor inner city. We have a court case that's been winding its way through the system for more than 20 years that is attempting to bring inner city schools up to par with rich suburban schools based on a requirement in the NJ State Constitution that all students receive a "thorough and efficient" education. </p>
<p>However, guess who gets lost in that equation - the lower income rural kids in south jersey. When they were determining which districts should get aid, our little town of 2,200 was right in there. But that's as far as we got b/c we are not inner city. A couple of dozen south jersey towns filed suit but I think only one of them prevailed. The case is Abbott vs. Burke and if you want a good look into why AA and similar programs create resentment, that's a good place to start. </p>
<p>So we get screwed on so many different levels, it's astounding that anyone ever gets out of south jersey. Very, very few attend Ivy League schools. The only one I know of from the last 6 years to be accepted at an Ivy was both a recruited athlete and URM. And no, Princeton isn't in south jersey and neither is Cape May or even Marlton. Most people don't even know that our part of the state exists, much less the status quo here.</p>
<p>Yup, it's all Black people's fault. I'm sure kids in Newark and Camden will be delighted to know that they're to blame for the OP's problems. BTW what does AA have to do with adequately funding inner city schools? </p>
<p>NJ is one of the richest states in the country, and it refuses to adequately fund its state university. People then get upset because colleges don't want the 1000s of NJ residents who flock to out of state schools. As a former NJ resident and a Rutgers grad, you'll get absolutely no sympathy here.</p>
<p>If Abbott worked, it would negate the need for AA b/c it would address equality of education from preschool onward. But because it effectively works from the same defective premise, i.e. special treatment for a core group, here inner city minorities, it will fail to do so. When any state goal trumps equal treatment, the cycle of inequality perpetuates itself. Oh, and our little town is comprised of 20% minority residents. So, they are being tossed aside also.</p>
<p>It's not about sympathy, it's about change. And since you agree with me that the state is even putting the screws to NJ residents, I'm not sure what your point is. Many colleges want the "thousands of NJ residents" flocking from NJ, which is why NJ is trying to woo them back with programs like Bloustein Scholars and NJ Star. But the truth is, we don't have enough room in traditional state colleges anyway.</p>
<p>I think that most inner city minorities would continue to be at a disadvantage in the education system even if their schools were identical to suburban middle class schools. In my mind there would still be two very large differences. </p>
<p>The first, and primary, difference would be how many parents went to college. When parents have gone to college they give their kids a huge advantage. They expect their kids to go to college and they work hard to insure that they are able to. They are available and able to help with homework. the first because they only have to work one job and they may evenhave a parent at home and the second because they have mastered these subjects themselves. They also know how to get to college, the process of applications, recommendations, standardized tests etc. </p>
<p>The second is a corollary of the first and that is how many of the other students are planning to go to college and what kind of college. The higher the expectations of the peer group are the more they raise the level of the whole school.</p>
<p>As long as inner city is also equal to economically disadvantaged these students will also be academically disadvantaged regradless of the level of state funding.</p>
<p>If you only applied to 5 Ivies and three of them are harvard/ yale/ princeton its not surprising you didn't get in. I think you are a great transfer candidate though. Have a more balanced, as opposed to top heavy list this time around though (places like Northwestern, Emory, etc) as well as the Ivies. Cornell, particularly, is an easier Ivy transfer admit.</p>
<p>You didn't get into the Ivies because the competition is ferocious. They have an overabundance of applicants like you with excellent stats and ECs. Remember having the stats and ECs only gets you a "lottery ticket." When it comes to selecting students, the Ivies take the abundance of candidates with the stats and ECs and then create a well rounded class. Since there are far more ticket-holders than there are spaces, many outstanding students will not get in.</p>
<p>Being from NJ also didn't help you because so many outstanding students from New England and the NE apply to Ivies. If you had been from Idaho or Mississippi, you would have had better odds of getting Ivy acceptances even if your stats and ECs were less stellar. The Ivies want geographic diversity.</p>
<p>Wow...lots of replies. Thanks for all the helpful info. Didn't realize that being from NJ could be such a huge disadvantage.</p>
<p><<did you="" only="" take="" tae="" kwon="" doe="" in="" 9th="" grade?="">> Sorry, I meant from 4th to 9th.</did></p>
<p><<if you="" only="" applied="" to="" 5="" ivies="" and="" three="" of="" them="" are="" harvard="" yale="" princeton="" its="" not="" surprising="" didn't="" get="" in.="">> I applied to 8 Ivies. Well, I traded Dartmouth for Stanford (where I got waitlisted). But yes, I wasn't expecting too much from Harvard, Yale, and especially not Princeton (bad track record of acceptances at our school), but I was expecting to hear from Cornell (a great college, but accepts many kids...something like 10 out of 30 applicants...from my school) as well as UPenn (asked a Penn researcher from my summer camp to write a rec).</if></p>
<p><<inner city="" minorities="">> Kind of confused about this one. By very Asian school, I meant 60% Chinese and Indians. It is one of those rich suburban areas, only with a very diverse make-up.</inner></p>
<p>All of you are giving great advice, so maybe you could help me out with deciding between the Boston U 7-year med program (no scholarship) and NYU premed undergrad ($10,000 scholarship, but no guaranteed med school). What do you think?</p>
<p>If you can afford it, I say, "BU" because of the fact that med school is guaranteed.Presumably due to the huge size of your age cohort, admissions to med school will be increasingly difficult.</p>
<p>Dude you have no problem at all. If you are sure you want to be a doctor you wouldn't have wanted to attend places like Cornell, where pre med is just brutal. Go to the 7 year program at BU; you're set.</p>