<p>I sort of considered Brandeis my safety. My stats aren’t low for the school. I was accepted by NYU and got a likely letter from UCLA the other day. Now I’m wondering what went wrong with Brandeis?
My stats:
760 M
690 CR
680 W
2130 total
32 ACT
3.8 UW
4.7 W
Many awards and good ECs (did a bunch of internships for pre-med)
Great letters of rec, and wrote thoughtful common app essays but left the optional Brandeis supplement blank. It says I turned in my application a day late as well.
Could those be the factors that caused them to reject me? because I did not demonstrate much interest? I hope I still have good chances at my other schools… What are your thoughts?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think you answered your own question.</p>
<p>This is sort of unrelated, sorry. But what do you mean by a “likely letter” from UCLA?</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, I think I remember during a Brandeis admissions visit to my school the admissions officer saying that Brandeis really pays attention to demonstrated interest. You probably made a mistake by leaving the “optional” essay blank - it likely signals that you didn’t really put a lot of time and thought in to your Brandeis application.</p>
<p>Ditto on the Brandeis considering demonstrated interest.
Also, your scores are very good, but I wouldn’t consider Brandeis a “safety”
I’m sure you’ll get into other great schools though. Best of luck :)</p>
<p>Whoops, didn’t mention my SAT 2 scores were
780 Bio (E)
720 each for Math 1 and 2</p>
<p>This rejection is very disheartening for me. I hope it wasn’t because my stats weren’t good enough. 
It’s true that I didn’t demonstrate enough interest though. I should have responded to the Brandeis prompt, but I just didn’t like it. I decided to go with the “less is more” approach. It’s good though that Brandeis isn’t entirely stats-biased - schools that utilize holistic admissions review are great. Congrats to those of you that got in!!</p>
<p>Also, @starbucksies
it was an email saying that my application was among those considered “highly competitive”. O.o but “it is still too soon for decisions to be announced”. It was basically an invitation to some open house events and then a big fat “congratulations on your work” at the end. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 
I was so surprised.</p>
<p>Marshy, that’s great about UCLA. My DD has slightly better stats, but did not receive a likely letter from UCLA. I agree re the demonstrated interest for Brandeis - my D visited and interviewed at Brandeis, and did do the supplement.</p>
<p>I have the similar stats as Marshy, and just got waitlisted today, very sad now…</p>
<p>It’s not your stats. It’s the fact you left their supplement empty. That tells them (even if incorrect) you have zero interest in the school and can’t even take the time to tell them what they want to know. May I ask why you did that?</p>
<p>I’d trade my Brandeis offer for your NYU any day Marshy :)</p>
<p>Groovyhamster save your nyc schooling for graduate school!
brandeis over nyu undergrad for sure!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s the reason. No school want’s to be somebody’s safety. The moment they suspect that, you’ve just given them a reason to reject you.</p>
<p>I too am curious why you thought Brandeis, a highly selective school would be a safety for you. It seems a good match… but only a match if you showed interest. Certainly not completing the supplemental essay shows lack of interest. I am also curious if you had discussed your application with guidance counselor or faculty advisor. My d is a Brandeis alum, although several years ago. She had better similar if not better stats but she visited the campus, she met with campus visitor at her high school and she had alumni interview. She was accepted with nice merit package.</p>