I am ecstatic for the students admitted to the Scripps Class of 2021. I’m sure you are incredible young women who will change the world. My question stems not from bitterness, but genuine curiosity. Is anyone able to shed light on why I was waitlist and as of today rejected from the college? I had a 3.92 unweighted GPA, W: 4.15, a 2220 SAT (790, 670, 760), and 4x5s and 2x4s on AP tests. My senior course load was strong (another 5 APs plus Band, MUN, and Track).
ECs: Cross Country/Track–4 yrs. (Captain)
Model UN–4 yrs. (Secretary General of one of the top ranked programs in the country). Numerous personal awards including best delegate, outstanding, commendation, and research.
Band/Orchestra (bassoon)–4 yrs. + 1 year in pit orchestra, was 1st chair and co-led a bassoon quartet that performed a bunch of charity concerts/community events. Outside of school I played flute with a flute choir that also raised money for charity
Honor Council–1 yr. Worked with my school’s administration to rewrite the ethics policy and create a student ethics panel
Law Club (President)–3 yrs. taught students about their rights and examined various court cases
League of Women Voters (co-cordinator for voter information site, discussion director)–3 yrs. I served on the higher education committee and helped write a report that is being used to lobby state legislators, manned voter registration drives, and maintained information on local candidates
Karate (black belt)–13 years, placed 1st in the western region Jr. Year and 5th Nationally
Summers: Junior Guards–9 yrs. Member of LA County’s regional and national teams. Current reigning state champ in the paddle relay. Only female to complete the R-10 paddle race.
Awards: National Merit Commended scholar, SAR Knight Essay California state winner, NHS, Lifetime CSF, TriM Music Honor Society, a lot of MUN awards, Scholar Athlete every season, recognized by my city for contributions to MUN
Essays: Common app was about not saying the pledge and defending a kid in MUN (8), Conversation Supplement was about finding out I was SG (8), Why Scripps was a listicle (7).
Extra: I interviewed and spent the night, also attended a visit at my school and toured the campus separate from my overnight visit. I’m caucasian and from Southern California
Thank you to anyone who read to the end of this and can possibly give me some insight.
Your profile sounds great and certainly of Scripps caliber (your wait list status confirms that). But just like every other top school, there are just so many available spaces. You never know what it is that may catch an adcom’s eye. Congratulations on your acceptance to Berkeley, I’m sure you will do amazing things there.
I really think that while you are very qualified, it’s a tiny school and the caliber of the majority of students that apply have similar statistics to you. So, while the admit rate is not as small as some schools, I think the women applying are at a majority extremely competitive in their stats and focused on what they want and why they want an all women’s school. If you look at the average test scores and gpa’s of students applying, it’s pretty high. Congrats on your acceptance to Berkeley! Amazing school! My daughter got in with a scholarship to Scripps but was waitlisted at Wellesley and Barnard. Just too many talented women!
Yes, congratulations @hbrunner - Regents at UCB is a huge accomplishment! My D, like pearl2017’s, got into Scripps with a scholarship; but she was denied at UCB and didn’t get Regents even at UCSD or UCD. (Her stats and music/sports EC’s are very similar to yours, but she doesn’t have the “leadership cred” that you have, which I think the UC’s highly value.) I do think my D is better suited to an environment like the 5C’s than to a large UC, so it’s working out well for her. And UCB obviously saw, in you, a student who would thrive on their campus. I think any applicant who applies to multiple competitive schools (unless they have a slam-dunk “hook”) is likely to end up with a pattern of acceptances and denials that has no conclusive explanation. The level of unpredictability is why it’s necessary to cast a wide net… and ultimately each student can only commit to one college, and it doesn’t sound as if you would have given up the UCB Regents opportunity to go to Scripps. (Just as my D would not have turned down her Scripps scholarship to go to Berkeley!) You can attach an explanation to it if it feels better to do so (yield protection… geographic bias against “local” applicants), but in the end, it’s not a bad thing to have a “don’t take it personally - sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason” story to pass down to the next generation of applicants.
My D was admitted to Scripps with no merit aid. Frankly, I thought she was certain to receive merit money, and in fact did receive the highest dollar amount at every other private college where she applied that gives merit, some of which are ranked much higher than Scripps. When speaking with the admissions office, they made it clear that they are looking for a specific type of student. Yes, my D’s stats, extracurriculars, test scores were well above the 75th percentile (more like 90th percentile.) and has somewhat of a hook. When I read that Scripps gives merit aid to over 30% of their students, it was puzzling to me. After attending admitted students day, it appears that Scripps values other aspects more than grades and test scores. I have another student at the consortium. There have been a number of protests at the colleges, and many students involved in the protests are from Scripps. So if you are not a Social Justice Warrior, you may just not have been as desirable to Scripps as another applicant. And since my daughter is very focused on her desire to become a doctor, she decided Scripps is not a good fit for her.
Hi, @tenniswimvball - looking at your other posts, it appears that your D qualifies for at least a small-to-moderate amount of need-based FA - am I reading that correctly? That may actually explain the lack of merit scholarship, more so than issues of “type.” When I looked at the Common Data Set, I found that the overlap between merit aid and need-based aid at Scripps is unusually small. A lot of schools will give both merit and need-based aid to the same student, but few actually “stack” the two, so typically the merit $ comes off the top of the need-based award and the student ends up paying the same EFC in spite of the merit scholarship. Based on the stats, it seems that Scripps doesn’t believe in giving merit awards that are going to be “absorbed” into a FA package - they give merit awards primarily to students who wouldn’t otherwise get aid. So, if your D got FA $ from Scripps, I wouldn’t take the lack of merit scholarship as any kind of referendum on how much they liked her; they just tend not to give redundant merit $ to FA recipients.
FWIW, my D (who got a merit scholarship from Scripps but would have been full-pay otherwise… and who wouldn’t have committed to Scripps without at least some merit aid) does not fit the Social Justice Warrior profile by any stretch. She’s a thoughtful kid with a conscience, but not particularly political or drawn to “protest” type activities. Her EC’s have been primarily sports and performing arts. The amount of protest activity she encountered when she visited (the week before admitted students day) was not a “draw” for her, but also not off-putting enough to sour her on what otherwise looks like an excellent fit. We know several older students at Scripps who are not heavily invested in the “SJW” aspect of campus life and who don’t perceive that the most vocal activists on campus are the majority. It seems very possible to strike a balance and choose one’s battles - lots of students are far more focused on their education than on activism (including quite a few pre-meds in Keck Science).
I can’t blame you for feeling slighted about the merit aid (we were in a similar position with Northeastern, which was a sentimental favorite for my D but offered a stingy merit package with no $ until sophomore year)… but I suspect their decision could have been more about the merit/FA overlap issue than about “type.” Sounds like she got some other fantastic offers, so congrats!!
No school admits this and people always dispute it on these forums, but it may be yield protection. Your stats are well above the median, even for in-state. Sure the bar may be higher for in-state. Perhaps you struck a wrong note with someone personally with something in your essay or other answers. Or perhaps your particular profile was too similar to other admits – as one college admission head once quoted to me, they are building an orchestra with different instruments, not just picking the best individual musicians. Also, did anyone else from your school get admitted and do you know their stats – you are coming first and foremost against your own class. Anything is possible. But yield protection is real and also possible.
Anyway, sounds like you ended up in a great school so all worked out well…
