Why did I get rejected from all of my East Coast schools?

Applying to College
1

<p>Before anyone mentions how late this question is being posted, I am still curious to what were the weak points in my application. I thought I had an excellent personal essay and letters of recommendation. What could I have done better? Is it my SATs? I'll be going to UCLA in the fall by the way.</p>

<p>Accepted: UCLA, USC, UCSD, UCD.
Waitlisted: UC Berkeley, Emory
Rejected: MIT, WUSTL, Cornell, Stanford, Johns Hopkins.</p>

<p>GPA & TEST SCORES
Weighted GPA: 4.70 (highest at my school is a 4.8X)
Unweighted GPA: 3.8X</p>

<p>Rank: 3 out of 151</p>

<p>SAT-R: 2060
CR - 600
M - 770
W - 690</p>

<p>SAT II:
Math IIC - 710
Chemistry - 650</p>

<p>I've taken the MOST rigorous coursework available at my school.</p>

<p>E/C's & HONORS
-Highest GPA Freshman year
-Chemistry Award, Leadership Award
-Ford Dimension Nominee
-Honor Band & Orchestra 2nd Chair Percussionist
-AP Chemistry (4)
-Received U.S. History college credit during the summer
-4 years Marching Band, Steel Drums, Jazz Band, and Piano Playing for School Masses
-4 years CLC group member (Christian Life Community)
-3 years Hip-Hop Club President
-1 year Junior Class President
-1 year ASB Vice President
-2 years CSF Secretary
-Been playing piano for more than 10 years and play at venues
-Filer/Assistant at dad's workplace
-No sports (mainly because of my asthma & allergies)
-2 years Link Crew leader
-2 years Student Ambassador
-1 year Volunteer at Homeless Shelter
-2 years Geometry / Chemistry Tutor</p>

2

<p>Your standardized test scores do not seem to be that great in the context of the super-selectives like MIT and Stanford.</p>

3

<p>First, you should be very proud of being accepted to some great programs. You have an impressive resume. I would agree that your test scores are probably a bit low for some of the schools you have listed.</p>

4

<p>Lack of awards/honors may have also hurt you.</p>

5

<p>congrats on going to ucla, it is considered one of the best public schools in the nation! the sat hurt you with the ones you got rejected from <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1169169-chance-me-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1169169-chance-me-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>1 - CR score
2 - unweighted gpa
3 - you didn’t apply to an East Coast match or safety.
4 - who cares? UCLA rocks!</p>

7

<p>your sat is low</p>

<p>its good that you made it to ucla</p>

8

<p>Test scores and the fact that you applied pretty dang high.
Have fun at UCLA :)</p>

9

<p>SAT scores could have been higher, I agree.
Those schools are a crap shoot for anybody! </p>

<p>UCLA, an excellent school, be very proud of your accomplishments!</p>

10

<p>Agree, UCLA will be great. First issue is just luck of the draw- and any competition from your specific region. They may have selected a few other kids from your area and then gone on to build some geographic diversity from other areas.
STEM major? Could be the 4 in AP chem and the chem SAT2, then the CR. Also, how did you make your ECs stand out? Did you have someone look at your essays? In general, your competition may have had a little edge on the scores/essays and then written up the ECs to show some impact, garner some excitement. Have a great time at UCLA!</p>

11

<p>CR score and the schools are all reaches given their acceptance rates… </p>

<p>I’m actually kind of surprised you were waitlisted (and not rejected) at Emory…just being honest…</p>

<p>OTOH, UCLA is amazing; Congrats!!!</p>

12

<p>thank you everybody for your responses!! :slight_smile: it’s clear to me now. and yes! I’m very proud and excited to go to UCLA.</p>