<p>Tennis, rank, grades, scores, ec’s all sound great-certainly qualifying for the Ivies. What I missed in the OP’s description was an academic passion. Colleges are academic institutions and excelling in one or more academic areas is a must, beyond getting excellent grades in the usual mix of classes. </p>
<p>Was there an academic area where you went beyond the offerings of your school? Was that reflected on your application?</p>
<p>You have great schools to choose from-you’ll get just as good an education at Duke or Berkeley. Good luck!</p>
<p>NYorker all those things might be the case but the reality in college admissions you’re recruited (huge boost) or not. If you aren’t recruited it doesn;t matter if you are amazing or just playing on your school’s team. I’ve heard this straight from an Ivy League admissions director I know personally.</p>
<p>I think the problem might have been that you looked too generic. Your SATs were fine, and lets assume that your recommendations were decent as well. Maybe your essay wasn’t that interesting…I don’t know. Also, although you do have leadership down and an activity that you were committed to, I have to agree that you didn’t really bring much to the table academics-wise. Did you do anything extra academically outside of school? Did you show that you had an interest in a particular area of study in your application? I think that they really want to see that you are academically committed and not just a run-of-the-mill applicant. Yes that sucks, but admissions really wants to find people that go above and beyond in their activities and academics. Still, Duke is ranked number 8 on USNews, and it is a very good school located in a very good area (ie the research triangle). Berkeley is the number one public in the country. Either school still has quite a bit of prestige tacked onto it if that was what you were looking for (which it seems you were).</p>
<p>Your stats look good, but nothing about what you said really surprises me. Every applicant has great stats, but the accepted ones are special; they offer something unique. Your stats and activities aren’t really… unique.</p>
<p>And why are you fretting? Duke and Berkeley are two amazing schools!</p>
<p>top 50s in socal won’t be enough to get recruited… ivy league has become very competitive in the last 10 years. Most of the guys in the team are at least top 50 national in US, or for intl they have ATP / ITF world juniors / top 5 in their country. I’ve seen some guys above top 100 national, but they usually have killer academic stats like perfect SATs.</p>
<p>You’re very well rounded, but as many of the posts above have mentioned, there’s nothing stand out yet.</p>
<p>Congrats on UCB / Duke though, they’re also great school with very strong tennis program (heck, even better than here, I think we lost to Duke 5-2 the last time) …maybe try to talk to the coach if there’s a try-out for walkon in fall…good luck</p>
<p>i feel you man. you are not necessarily pretentious and annoying. your stats dont suck. one reason for your rejection could have been that they always receive applications with outstanding qualifications. another reason could be that you didn’t whine enough in your essay. the fact is that, over the recent years, the people who “whine” more in their essays usually have better chances of getting admitted to top schools. you know, the ones like “i was abused by my parents” or “i was discriminated against by men” or “my xxx died in a car crash and i had to work in mcdonalds to pay my fees” such and such. perhaps you were too tough a man/woman (sounds weird and sad doesn’t it?) for schools to accept you. sorry to say this, but in today’s society, usually the ones who cry will get the candy. still, don’t be let down by this. as many have already said, duke and berkeley are plenty good, and if you work hard you will definitely have a bright future ahead of you. best of luck to you and cheer up!</p>
<p>As a current junior starting to get involved in college admissions, may I ask those who have been saying the OP is “too well-rounded” to elaborate on what such people ought to do to make themselves stand out? I ask because the OP reminds be a bit of myself. I’m the top student in all my classes, but there’s not a particular academic area that I’m super-good at; I’m strong in math but not a math genius, I’m good at the humanities as well but not like some kids who are constantly reading books, and so on. I have a good SAT score (low 2300s) but that alone isn’t going to get anyone in. I also have some decent ECs - an instrument, varsity basketball, leadership position in church group - but again, nothing that really screams, “I’m out changing the world.”</p>
<p>What should students like me do to distinguish themselves from the rest of the applicant pool? It’s not like I can suddenly become a violin virtuoso or science genius overnight.</p>
<p>EDIT: My apologies if this question hijacks your thread. I didn’t want to start a new thread and this seemed like a logical place to ask it.</p>
<p>@Fibonnaci, maybe I can answer your question. You and I seem a little similar, except that I didn’t play a varsity sport - I was in Academic Decathlon and UIL Academics. I think that one thing that can distinguish you from the hundreds if not thousands of other topinclass-varsitysport-greatSAT-leadership-greatGrades students is passion. That’s what will set you apart from the other kids. It’s not about being able to do 10 or 11 ECs, it’s about being good in 2 or 3 or 4. Your leadership in church is good: how does that contribute to your life experience? What have you learnt from it? Who has benefited from it? What would your youth pastors say about you? Those are the types of questions you want to begin to ask yourself, because in your essays, you should highlight one or two ECs that have impacted you, and have helped you impact others. Even if your not a recruited athelete, your basketball experiences still contribute to who you are. So does playing an instrument. One of my friends wrote a beautiful essay on violin and how the chair-system at our school was different from that of his old school and how that helped him become a better person. So it’s great that lots of people do so much, but I think from what alot of admissions officers say, you need to show passion for a couple of specifics.</p>
<p>Hope this helps a little, I know that the admissions process can be frustrating much of the time!</p>
<p>I also got flat out rejected from all but my safety school with near perfect GPA, 2350 SATs, RSI, Intel + Siemens semifinalist, USAMO, USPhO quarterfinalist, etc., what my English teacher told me were quite good essays, solid recs, and no major flaws that I can find. On the other hand, several people I know that have to my knowledge much less impressive credentials got in to several elite colleges.</p>
<p>All I can say is that the current college admissions process is extremely screwed up, and rest assured, you’re not the only one that got screwed over.</p>
<p>There are lots of intangibles. Your essay might have been well written, but so were the other thousands the ADCOMS saw. What made yours stand out? I’ll admit it seems strange for a guy like you to be rejected, but there are too many intangibles for you to deem someone else’s credentials as less impressive. You are not god, you don’t determine whose credentials are worthy or not.
So please, don’t belittle another person’s credentials. That’s one thing that really annoys me more than anything. It’s a sign of bitterness and immaturity, pure and simple. I got rejected and waitlisted from schools too, and some of my friends got into those schools. Stanford, my original top choice waitlisted me, while accepting my best friend’s girlfriend - at least 15 places below me in class rank and at least 150 points lower than me in SATs. Does that give me the right to belittle her and say that the process is screwed up? Of course not! I didn’t read her essays, and I don’t think anyone here read the essays of everyone else who applied to your top choice for college. So how do you know that the ‘less qualified’ person, didn’t write a stellar essay that really struck the admissions officers as amazing. How do you know all the extracurriculars that the ‘less qualified’ person does - not just the school ones, but the ones they do outside of school? How do you know they weren’t really really close to a teacher who admired and respected them greatly, and thusly, wrote them the best rec letter they have ever written? How do you know that they didn’t have extenuating circumstances that they have had to overcome in the last few years? How do you even know they aren’t playing a sport outside of school and have displayed extraordinary talent in it? The truth is, you don’t. Instead of blaming it on the system, or belittling other people who got in, why don’t you just accept your admissions and allow the other people to enjoy their’s?</p>
<p>Ugh this happened to me too. 4.0, 2350 SAT, top ten athlete in nation (in obscure sport so no recruiting…), significant creative writing awards…</p>
<p>I suppose everything happens for a reason. At least, that’s what I tell myself so I don’t fall apart.</p>
<p>WaitingforGodot got into his safety, so it’s not that he didn’t get into college, he just didn’t get into his top choice. IIRC, OP got into duke and berkeley, just not UPenn and Dartmouth. </p>
<p>I wasn’t complaining btw, I still got into one of my top choices just not my very top choice. I just used myself as an example in my above post, is all.</p>
<p>how in the world did u not get into UPenn…which had the same admissions rate as duke, pretty much? i dont know, admissions can be so random sometimes. anyways, if i were u, i would choose duke!</p>
<p>Fibonacci: t-san gave you some good advice. It’s often not so much that you have to do different weird sports or extracurriculars, but that you need to get different things out of your pursuits that set you apart. Have you read “Sacred Hoops” by Phil Jackson about the inner game of basketball? Thousands play basketball, only a few get out of it what Phil Jackson did.</p>
<p>I don’t know you, but you seem to be what I refer to as “school-strong”, outstanding in your own environment, but you need to reach out and do something beyond your comfort zone to get into the top schools. I don’t know enough about your interests to make any recommendations, but it should be something that reflects you as a person and is creative. The leadership position offers many possibilities.</p>
<p>I think the OP, WaitingforGodot, and luna luna prove just how ridiculous the elite college admissions process has become. It’s absolutely mind-boggling that these individuals could be rejected.</p>
<p>We need to switch to the Chinese and Indian admissions systems. I just don’t get this crap anymore.</p>
<p>I think it might show that not applying to enough places is a mistake. My high school friend had near perfect stats but banked on HYP. When that didn’t work out he only had a few safeties left. He did amazingly well as a transfer but if you ask him one of the biggest mistakes he’s ever made was not applying to enough places and not having realistic reaches and matches.</p>