<p>So, apparently, I'm sooo attractive to universities and I don't know why. Recently I've been flooded with mail from the University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Rice, etc...I've also gotten two full scholarships from pretty good universities that I TOTALLY did not deserve...one has sent me a letter every single day since my acceptance, one hand written. I'm trying to understand why? </p>
<p>My ACT scores were CRAP. My PSAT scores were CRAP. My GPA and class rank are CRAP. I feel intelligent enough for these schools, I just have no proof. I slacked off and didn't even exert a slight amount of energy throughout high school. Lol. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.4 UW/4.47 W, 11% tile.
ACT: 26.25...I put emphasis on the .25
SAT Bio M: 670 (my excuse is that I was in the hospital for the whole week before, and school wasn't on my mind, just my health)
EC's: Spectacular, but I just started most of them this year. :/
PSAT: 147, but thats bcuz I didn't care. I'm graduating a year early so I didn't think I was eligible for national merit. I slept and guessed on all of the problems that made me think...</p>
<p>So why would I be getting this much attention? My stats are crapppppyyyyy. Especially when looking at these schools.</p>
<p>Mail from those schools means next to nothing, FYI. They encourage all applicants just to boost the size of their applicant pool and make them look more selective. My brother had stats significantly worse than yours and received all the same stuff- even a physical application from Harvard.</p>
<p>Where are your scholarship from/ what are your amazing ECs?</p>
<p>African American male. lol, but still. Only the top 1% of my class gets mail from these universities. I know its something more than my minority status</p>
<p>AA males who are serious about education are VERY hard to find compared to the percentage of AAs in the US. That said most of these schools will jump at the chance to get you to go there if they think you have a serious chance to hack it. Also there is the boosting the aplicant pool idea to go with that. Most of these schools send out mail to anyone with higher than a 3.5 gpa and higher than a 1700 on the SAT (There is a NY Times series on this that is worth reading). All I can say is take the best offer made to you that fits your needs.</p>
<p>I think it might have been my essay. I could pm it to y’all (I’m Texan. Sorry) and you could tell me what you think. My ec’s are spectacular but not good enough for the attention I’ve gotten.</p>
<p>EC’s:
HOSA
Christian Club
Teen Community Emergency Response Team
People to People Student Ambassador
Placed first in area-CPR/First Aid competition, advancing to state.
Masterclass 2011- Particle Physics participant
National Science Honors Society
Science Olympiad
Lifeguard
Tutor
National Spanish Honors Society
Distinguished Honors Graduate
Distinguished Service Graduate
Ummm…early graduate?
I have 21 semester hours of college credit, and I lost my 4.0!! I have a 3.85 bcuz my English teacher hated me. It was proven.</p>
<p>I know not all of those are EC’s…they all distinguish me though, I just didn’t separate them. XD</p>
<p>The title of my admissions essay was “Never Give Up”. I go to a career-technical school, and I’m in pre-med studies. It was mainly about a clinical rotation that I had where a patient had terminal pancreatic cancer, but she refused to listen to the doctors. She made a list of everything she was going to do in the future, and she would always talk in the “future” tense…well, a few days later I went back to that rotation and found her on a ventilator, after near death and successful resuscitation, she regained a pulse and later on that month her tumor began to reduce in size. I mainly wrote how that experienced taught me to never let anyone tear me apart from my dreams and to never give up…and how it persuaded me to look into medical research.</p>
<p>Loyola University New Orleans, and I just learned today that Drexel did as well. XD IDK HOW!!! I was like :OOOO…but money isn’t that big of a problem, it’s just that if someone is offering me a free education, why pay for it? My number one choice is Emory though.</p>
<p>Drexel? They are also ranked like number 70 something in national universities and increasing. Not bad. A full ride from them is pretty good. Same with Loyola New Orleans. They aren’t “Harvard” but my stats certainly don’t qualify me for the honor I’ve received from both of these schools. They were both like number 6-7 on my list of choices until now.</p>
<p>Or were you talking about college letters? I keep hearing that, but I don’t know ANYONE who received letters from Stanford or University of Chicago minus my friend who is valedictorian of his school. I’m not saying that it means I’m a qualified applicant, but if they send me a letter (while no one else in my school, who also checked the box received the letter), then something about me must intrigue the schools.</p>
<p>You might have accidentally signed up for a barrage of college spam that other kids didn’t. When you said you got scholarships, from which schools were you talking about?</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know about your case, but I have received scholarship consideration from Hofstra, Drexel, Wetminster and some other universities outside US (that also use the SAT). My stats aren’t top-notch too. It seems to me like a common pattern, and I don’t think a very special cause is needed for they to do that.</p>
<p>Even though, a scholarship is always something GOOD, so you should be happy with that.</p>
<p>I know I’ve gotten things from Stanford and UChicago, but the scholarship thing is seriously impressive. Congratulations!!</p>
<p>It probably has to do with your minority status, honestly. Take whatever academic grades you have and multiply them by 1.25. That is what colleges actually see. </p>
<p>But I really can’t know because I don’t know YOU haha. Your essay could have been spectacular, great recs, come from a good school ,etc. But congratulations again!! I wish ya the best.</p>
<p>What I’m guessing happened here is that the OP is a little confused. Mail is pretty much nothing. He could have put the wrong grade on the PSAT (in which case I feel genuinely sorry for the volume of unnecessary college mail he will receive) and gotten regular college mail. Colleges purchase names of students who have taken the PSAT from Collegeboard. However, it’s great that he got scholarships to those two schools! Thumbs up!</p>
<p>whs: in the larger context, your situation isn’t uncommon. In your school, where few kids are heading to 4 year programs, you stick out. Don’t worry about it – but be extra nice to your mail man! Good luck to you on your future plans</p>
lol, but still. Only the top 1% of my class gets mail from these universities. I know its something more than my minority status</p>
I could pm it to y’all (I’m Texan. Sorry) and you could tell me what you think. My ec’s are spectacular but not good enough for the attention I’ve gotten.</p>
I have a 3.85 bcuz my English teacher hated me. It was proven.</p>