Why did I not get in?

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
1

<p>OK…so I have known I would apply to American for a while as a “likely” admit school, and I was always sure I would get in. However, I just found out I got waitlisted, which completely shocked me. They didn’t have a supplemental essay where I could express my interest in the school, and I did visit the school once. Here are my stats, someone please explain to me what went wrong…
Objective:</p>

<pre><code>* SAT I (breakdown): CR 750 M 630 W 750

  • SAT I superscore (breakdown): 2130
  • SAT II: USH 770 Spanish: 640 WH: 640
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.5 (rose every year from bad freshman year)
  • Weighted GPA: N/A
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
  • AP (place score in parentheses): No AP’s, all classes are AP-level.
  • Senior Year Course Load: (all advanced) World History, Spanish, Pre-Calc, English, Model UN, Film
    </code></pre>

<p>AWARDS:</p>

<p>1st Place, Best Reporter, Quill Awards, 2nd Place, Best News Story, Quill Awards, Winner, NYTV8 “Why Voting Is Important” Speech Competition at Columbia, School Winner, American Mathematics Competition (AMC 12A), Excellence in Leadership Award (twice), Best Defensive Player (Varsity Baseball), All-League (Varsity Baseball)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Class President in 9th and 10th grade, Student Body Prez in 11th and 12th (youngest ever), Editor-In-Chief, Creator of Carmonreport.com (personal blog), Varsity Soccer Captain (won league championship twice), Model UN Head Delegate, Editor-In-Chief of School Newspaper, Varsity Baseball, Taught a class on politics and debate for two years.

  • Job/Work Experience: Organizer for Obama Campaign, Intern for NYC politician, Social Media Director for local immigration advocacy non-profit.
  • Volunteer/Community service:
    </code></pre>

<p>Volunteer for both local choral society and school Community Service Club.</p>

<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):</p>

<pre><code> o Essay 1 (Personal/Community essay): Wrote about how I broke national news through my blog last year.

  • Teacher Recommendation #1: History teacher who loves me.
  • Teacher Recommendation #2: English teacher who also wrote a great letter.
  • Counselor Rec: We’re buds.
  • Additional Rec: Candidate I worked for wrote me a glowing one (Georgetown alum)
    </code></pre>

<p>Other</p>

<pre><code>* What did you choose as your major: Political Science

  • State (if domestic applicant): NY (Long Island)
  • Country (if international applicant): USA
  • School Type: Small, competitive, private
  • Ethnicity: Israeli (white)
  • Gender: Male
  • Income Bracket: 200,000+
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
    </code></pre>

<p>So can someone tell me why I didn’t get in?</p>

2

<p>beats me dude. where have you gotten in so far? it may be similar to “tufts syndrome” or whatever and they rejected you because you’re overqualified and assume you wouldnt attend if you got in…</p>

3

<p>I think it is because your stats are too good.
It sounds really stupid and all. But i think the admission staffs believe you applied to AU as a safety.
I got in last week; with the same major, same school type same income bracket same hooks.
Don’t worry. You’ll hear from other schools. Hopefully, AU was not your first choice. ( i doubt it)</p>

4

<p>seriously same thing happened to me… i always considered American as a likely if not safety. my parents keep telling me i’m overqualified and that’s why they waitlisted me; they know you’re just using the school as a safety so they don’t really take your app seriously. Also, i never really responded to any of the online chats or or campus visits or what not… who knows if they even did anything though.
my grades and ECs are pretty similar though in that there are sort of a lot…</p>

<p>2110 sat
3.75 gpa uw, 4.2 w
took the heaviest course load possible for my small public school (~50 kids/class)
xc and lax 4 years, captain xc 11 and 12, captain lax 12
student council 4 years
model un and model senate 4 years
fall musical 3 years
honors choir 2 years
band 4 years
leadership conferences and stuff like HOBY
anddddd student body pres 12
white female from the suburbs, non qualifier for financial aid</p>

<p>but who knows, colleges are unpredictable these days</p>

5

<p>I don’t know if it was just this year, but AU was slacking. 2 of my friends that applied had issues with their transcripts and recommendations. They sent them to the school, but for some reason AU “did not receive those items” and didn’t get accepted because they recent it after the deadline. Which is weird, because one of them had a 2000 SAT, 3.7 GPA, and lots of EC’s.</p>

6

<p>They didn’t accept you because they had candidates they liked better. That’s pretty much all you can say for sure. Good luck - I’m sure you’ll get into another school where you’llm get a great education.</p>

7

<p>Did you visit AU on an official registered tour? There has been press reports that AU tracks interest of each applicant very closely. If someone seems overqualified and there is no record that they visited the college or have other regular contact, they can be classified negatively. </p>

<p>At the same time, if one of the those highly qualified persons accepts a place on the waiting list, they may be quickly accepted. The problem is the May 1st deadline, which may require paying a non-refundable deposit to another college that is thrown away, if you are chosen off the AU waiting list.</p>

8

<p>Sometimes it’s totally arbitrary who gets in and who doesn’t. My mom works at a software company that provides software for admissions offices and she says colleges want a diverse CLASS and a not just a well-rounded PERSON. Like if all their good saxophone players graduated and they need good saxophone players, saxophone players are in. So if they give out all their spots to the saxophone players they need, there’s no room left for regular old multi-talented over-qualified people like you. Don’t worry about it and I hope you get into your other schools!</p>

9

<p>Honestly, the same thing happened to me, kind of. I applied as a safety (SATs/GPA well above their average, all ECs/rec letters indicated a good “match”) and got waitlisted. Yet I’m a trustee finalist at USC (less than top 10% applicants).
I totally blame myself for not demonstrating more interest… I didn’t visit (I live in CA and wasn’t applying to any other schools in the area) and didn’t interview.
According to my college counselor, they’re protecting their yield… Oh, well.</p>

10

<p>They have perfectly well-qualified candidates who really want to attend - so why should they accept candidates who may not? It’s not a matter of protecting yield - it’s a matter of building of class of well-qualified candidates who fulfill their institutional mission.</p>

11

<p>i saw your post on another thread, and then realized you were going for all the schools I was to, but Im transferring. If your really interested in one of the schools you got wait listed at you should let them know that your really interested, because they probably think your using it as a safety.</p>

12

<p>@mini: Just wanted to clarify, I totally wasn’t trying to imply that American’s admissions strategies are unfair or anything! They’re totally within their rights to track demonstrated interest… It makes sense. :)</p>

13

<p>well if yer going on SAT scores alone and whether having a 2100+ means that ur overqualified and thus likely to be rejected i don’t agree :O</p>

<p>i got in with a 2200 so :P</p>

<p>takes a lot more than just the grades 2 make a good applicant, as high as the scores may be when compared to the average sat score of the university</p>

14

<p>From an institutional perspective, think about how much stronger, robust, and happy your university is likely to be if it is made up of well-qualified students who really want to be there.</p>

15

<p>@hopeandambition
No offense…but I don’t think it’s that you’re overly qualified. Maybe they’re just not what your looking for. Our school’s valedictorian with a 4.0 UW gpa and ridiculous sats, etc. as well the guy who is 3rd in our class with a similar stats. I got in as well, with slightly lower SATs and same gpa. The thing is, myself and the two kids I know who got in are REALLY into politics and all show we’re passionate about it. I think American is attracted to politically active students, so that could possibly be why you didn’t get in. Good luck, I’m sure you’ll get in somewhere great :)</p>

16

<p>LOL.
@paradigmkisses…although it’s a moot point, you probably didn’t really look at my post if you think I’m not politically active. That’s the whole point.
But moving on, I was accepted to JHU, Tufts, GW, etc…so none of this ended up mattering, except for some short-term stress.</p>

17

<p>So it sounds like AU got it right - you really didn’t want to be there afterall.</p>

18

<p>I think the problem is that American has gotten increasing popular with students in the NYC area. If you got waitlisted it means they really liked you, but there were probably too many students with similar profiles. Holistic admissions can always be a little unpredictable.</p>