<p>Now that decisions have been rolling in for several days and I'm only waiting on a few schools, I wanted to share with the CC community some helpful info that I wish someone would've told me last fall. Hopefully this will prevent anyone from making the same mistakes I did. I bit of background on me...</p>
<p>Objective:
* SAT: 790m, 790v, 730w (2310 total)
* SAT II: 780 us history, 720 math II, 690 chem
* ACT: 35
* GPA: 4.0 uw, 4.6 w (both 4.0 scale)
* AP/IB taken/scores: 5 on US History, will take BC Calc, Chem, and Psych this year... however my school offers 10 AP's total and places limits on when you can take them/how many (impossible to take more than 6... and no one does). I have one of the hardest class schedules available
* Rank or % estimate: top 5% (doesn't rank further than that)</p>
<p>Subjective:
* Essays: I loved my common app (about Iranian/Irish heritage), but I'm obviously biased
* Teacher Recs: didn't see it, but should have been very good
* Counselor Rec: again didn't see it, but should have been great
* Hook (if any): Iranian, true interest in medicine, volunteering in Kenya, National Merit Finalist</p>
<p>Location/Person:
* State or Country: MA
* School Type: Public
* Ethnicity: Iranian (but considered caucasian)
* Gender: female
* Important ECs: dancer for over 14 years, dance teacher, lots of volunteerism, lots of academic awards</p>
<p>My decisions have thus far gone like this:
- Accepted: Northwestern, BC Honors Program, Smith, URichmond, UMass Amherst, and Mount Holyoke
- Waitlisted: UVa (took spot), George Washington (won't take spot), Amherst (took spot), Emory (won't take spot)
- Rejected: UNC Chapel Hill
- Waiting: Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Princeton, Yale (P and Y just for kicks)</p>
<p>I didn't start this thread to complain about my decisions. I know I have some really good options and could maybe get into a few more. However, I don't think you truly understand a lot of aspects of this process until you go through it, especially as I am the oldest child in my family, so my parents' best attempts at helping me were based on their experiences 25+ years ago. So this is what I wish someone told me...</p>
<p>1) If you can commit to early decision, do it. I hadn't seen enough schools or really wrapped my mind around college by early decision application time, but it will truly make your life a lot easier. Less decisions, way less stress. I can't even explain how miserable I've been last week and will be next week, just due to the stress of getting so many decisions back. And then I have to pick a school! Everyone I know that did early decision and got in to the school of their choice has been really happy with that decision and did not get "senioritis" as bad as you may think.
2) Start early. Definitely get the ball rolling on this process during junior year. I would suggest finishing all standardized testing before senior year. SAT's are the last thing you want to worry about while filling out applications and doing work for AP classes. I had to take SAT IIs in December and it was awful - I also had to be happy with the scores I got, because it wasn't realistic for many of my schools to retake them. Visit schools during your spring break and over the summer. Try to have seen all the ones you apply to, because you don't want to be scrambling to travel at the end of your senior year when decisions roll in. That way, you will only have to re-visit (for an accepted students event) the school of your choice.
3. COMPLETE your applications early. Do your common app essay over the summer. Have everything in weeks before the deadline. It will save you a lot of cramming and stress. Some schools do consider interest if they practice "yield protection", so it matters how early you get the app in and whether or not you've seen the place. Consider submitting a handwritten note around the time admissions committees are making decisions. If you send everything in early, it will be seen earlier and by more people. I truly think part of the reason I was waitlisted at Emory and GW and rejected at UNC was the last minute submission of my application and lack of visiting. You don't want to have that regret at decision time; you want to know that you did everything possible to get into that school.
4. Edit and re-edit your essays, but don't let people change your voice. Advice from college counselors and English teachers is great, but don't let them rework your essay completely. Be happy and confident in your writing (and don't write essays the day before the application due date!).
5. Consider AP classes. If you attend a public school and are applying to top-notch schools, recognize that you will be competing with kids from private schools who are groomed from freshman year for the Ivy League. AP and honors classes are not the same, and are not looked at the same way by admissions committees. Consider advice from a college counselor, as guidance counselors at public schools are more concerned with getting everyone into A college, not THE college of your choice. At public school, you have to market yourself, because no one will be doing it for you.
6. Love all of the schools you applied to, because there is a good chance you may only get into one. I thought I had a much better shot at many of the schools I was waitlisted at. In my mind, I had assumed I was getting in. Everyone tells you that you need to be okay with your safeties, but you REALLY DO. There is a chance you might not get into any of your match or reach schools. I never thought that I would get into Northwestern and not UVa or Amherst, but it happened.
7. Choose your "number" wisely. Everyone laughed at the number of schools I applied to (16), but I'm so happy I did. I'm 6 for 11 right now; thank god I added Northwestern at the last minute! If you aren't exactly positive about what you're looking for, apply to a broad range of schools. I have options very near and very far from home right now, pretty small to pretty big, coed and all women, etc. Just be sure not to have so many that you won't be able to apply individual attention to each and every school. I put little effort into my Emory application and never visited, and look what happened.
8. "Chance" threads are useless. By the books, I should have gotten into all of the schools that I applied to. My GPA is great, my SATs are high, I have ECs and "hooks". But, I didn't, and my story should show you that admissions to schools, especially highly selective private schools, are COMPLETELY unpredictable. My "chance" threads on the UNC Chapel Hill and UVa boards contain dozens of people that thought I would get in to those schools. It's a crap shoot, which is why it is so important to be okay with every single one of your schools and not take the process so personally. Graduate school is more important, anyway. :)</p>
<p>I hope my advice (from personal experience and lurking on CC) can help some of you still in high school and your parents through this process. Try not to get too caught up in it. There are more important things in life than the name of the school that you attend. GOOD LUCK!</p>