why was I rejected?

Applying to College
1

<p>OK---I'm still nursing my rejections. I know an Ivy was a long shot---I only got 690 on my math SAT, 720 on writing and 690 on RC....but Wesleyan also rejected me, and I thought that was a semi-safety.</p>

<p>Here is a very short summmary, since I am new to this board, and just found it while I nursed my ego and wallowed in sorrow.</p>

<p>Number 2 in class----just .002 under the Valedict who got into 2 Ivys. Is being val that much different than number 2?</p>

<p>Straight A's thru out HS, although 1 A- last year in English.....always took the highest level courses---5 A-P's this year and all A's.</p>

<p>Great recs---one from teacher last year brought a tear to my eye.</p>

<p>Voted most athletic senior girl, varsity letter in every sport I played (at least 9 seasons) and all star every year in one sport (XC), all star for 3 years in basketball, plan to play in college, but not good enough for D-1, but just barely good enough for D-3. Coach at D-3 schools interested and contacted me; did overnight---went well. Spent a lot of time working out and staying in shape and playing Bball in off season leagues, clinics and camps.</p>

<p>Community Service----coached bball team of 5th grade travel boys one year. Taught class in sewing at B-G Club for 2 summers.
Did various other activities ---delivered meals to elderly, fall clean up yard work every year x 3.......didn't have much time to do anything else since bball and academics really took a lot of my time.</p>

<p>Now I am smart, but not brilliant, and I worked very hard for these grades. It did not come easily. I am much more conscientious than most of the top 10 in my class, but maybe high level colleges, partic the Ivys don't want that. They just want the naturally brilliant with the 800 SAT.</p>

<p>Also, is first generation college important? Both my parents went to college (good schools), and the Val's did not. She also got a free ride at both, which really put the stake in my heart. I got no financial aid, but got into one top school (small LAC which was top on my list, one medicre LAC with small package). I am very happy that I got into one top school, but I don't see why I was rejected from Wesleyan, and did I ever have a small chance at an IVY?</p>

<p>You guys are much more with it than I was. Wish I found this site sooner---might have changed things a bit. But I guess I can't get over this until I find out more info.</p>

<p>Also, can I call the school (partic Wesleyan) and ask why? My grades and scores were clearly on the upper end of their stats at college board.
Will they tell me anything?</p>

<p>I would really appreciate anyone's input so I can see what really goes on. I can take brutally honest opinions, so don't hold back.
Thanks a bunch.</p>

2

<p>your app was probably boring as hell.</p>

<p>And trust me, your numbers were fine. You had ballpark SAT's and SAT2's, as well as straight A grades.. so my only option is to come to the conclusion that in your APP you presented yourself as a straight A nerd who does nothing but study all day. Maybe your essays sucked... I dont know</p>

3

<p>It honestly sounds like bad luck. I'm really sorry to hear about kids like you, who deserve to go to the schools they want, but don't get a chance. Do you know where you're headed this fall?</p>

<p>Edit: Did you see her EC's? How is she spending all day studying and playing on varsity teams/volunteering at the same time?</p>

4

<p>felisha-dash,
You're a <em>great</em> candidate. But the truth is, not all great candidates can get into the few (relatively few) spots in an LAC like Wesleyan. It is definitely considered Ivy-like in its standards/selectivity. It's virtually certain there are some students with a profile similar to yours & with higher test scores that were also rejected from W (& from Tufts, & from Williams, & from Swat, etc.).</p>

<p>My D's school is super-rigorous, & is known to the top-tier schools. This last yr. was the very first yr. that anyone from our school was accepted to Wesleyan. Seniors have been applying for yrs. (also applying to Swat for yrs.) The interesting thing is that Ivy acceptances have been happening for the same period of time, but it's incredibly hard to get into a top LAC, because they're smaller, but they often get similar numbers of applications as the Ivies do! The student who got accepted into Wesleyan this yr. was not only Val (she got waitlisted at Swat & at Yale!). She was a W. legacy. Believe me, that was her hook. She needed more than just her excellence, from an excellent school.</p>

<p>Generally, most top-tier schools like Ivies & top LAC's have to limit & distribute their acceptances among schools across the nation. Even very large publics often send just a handful of grads to such selective schools. My D's private school is small. Thus, Yale accepted only one from the sr. class, despite there being 2 Vals, actually -- both of whom applied to Y.</p>

<p>I would say that since you weren't W/listed, it is most likely not worth your time to call & question why you were rejected -- unless you're just intellectually curious about it. But the truth is, they would never deny that you are not a good candidate, because you <em>are</em> a good candidate. They just had so many spots, & had to make a choice. </p>

<p>Have you been accepted anywhere yet?</p>

5

<p>Because you didn't stand out from everyone else.</p>

6

<p>"Did you see her EC's? How is she spending all day studying and playing on varsity teams/volunteering at the same time?"</p>

<p>Uhhh... I read her post just the same as you, and I SAW her ECs. What I said was that she probably did not present hereself well in her APP, something you would have realized had you read my post carefully as I did her's.</p>

7

<p>Is there a part in the application that asks you where else you're applying? If they look at your application and see outstanding everything that matches a better school, they'll think that you'll get into that better school and not offer you a spot. It's a twisted logic.</p>

<p>Another thing to look at is how you displayed interest in Wesleyan. What did your essay say about it? Did you visit? Displaying sincere interest in the school can swing the application. Compound your stats and the sincerity of your interest in Wesleyan could be a reason why you weren't accepted there.</p>

<p>Not exactly sure if that's what happened, but it's a thought. If you do call them, be ready for them not to tell your right away. If you really really want to know, badger it out of them. I'm sure every school's admissions offices' are ringing off the hook with all different kind of questions.</p>

8

<p>Postscript:
I would definitely describe as "brilliant" the Val from our school who got W/listed at Y and at Swat. (You described yourself as not brilliant.) And she had impressive e.c.'s. So even if your app. <em>had</em> "stood out" more, (I'm SURE hers did), you might have been at best waitlisted, not straight-out accepted. (Again, because of numbers of apps, combined with your test scores, combined with the number of spaces available at an LAC, & the varieties of criteria for admission that have to be considered -- geographical diversity, admission history of the h.s. in question, etc.)</p>

9

<p>"Uhhh... I read her post just the same as you, and I SAW her ECs. What I said was that she probably did not present hereself well in her APP, something you would have realized had you read my post carefully as I did her's."</p>

<p>Right. Those ECs are part of the app, champ. Maybe I could read your post clearly if you wrote clearly. Are you talking about her essays, then?</p>

10

<p>just a question.. If she's such a GREAT candidate, then why did she get rejected and other GREAT candidates get accepted? Clearly, she did something wrong.</p>

11

<p>if you had read my post clearly, you would have noticed that I CLEARLY wrote "Maybe your essays sucked... I dont know" in my very first post.</p>

<p>Way to go..</p>

12

<p>"your app was probably boring as hell.</p>

<p>And trust me, your numbers were fine. You had ballpark SAT's and SAT2's, as well as straight A grades.. so my only option is to come to the conclusion that in your APP you presented yourself as a straight A nerd who does nothing but study all day. Maybe your essays sucked... I dont know"</p>

<p>I saw. And there it is there. You're trying to say that you were using "App" and "essay" interchangably, but you weren't and, if you had been, it would've been wrong anyway. Weren't we talking about the sentence that read, "so my only option is to come to the conclusion that in your APP you presented yourself as a straight A nerd who does nothing but study all day"?</p>

13

<p>Your gender may have hurt you at Wesleyan. The co-ed LACs have a hard time attracting guys. They know that many girls will only keep applying if the male/female ratio is about 50:50, so the LACs tend to favor males in admission.</p>

<p>You probably would have had a good shot at Wes if you had been a guy.</p>

14

<p>felisha - 4:</p>

<p>"My grades and scores were clearly on the upper end of their stats at college board."</p>

<p>Your grades and class rank, yes. But your SAT (1380 M/CR) is actually a little below the Wesleyan median. Perhaps it came across somehow that you (incorrectly) considered Wesleyan a "semi-safety". </p>

<p>In any case, you were acceped at the LAC that "was top on my list" so just chalk it up to the luck of the draw.</p>

15

<p>i would have called wesleyan a match. its a difficult school for your average good student to get into (in this case: great grades, good sats, decent ecs but nothing unique) because it so actively seeks a diverse student body, both in terms of ethnicity and interests. given the number of quality applicants at schools like wesleyan, they can be quite picky in terms of selecting a class.</p>

16

<p>felisha - I am post #16 and nobody has yet referred you to the now famous (infamous) story of username Andi and her son (also from the Boston area). Long story short - brilliant kid, great stats, great everything, only applied to top schools and got rejected from all. Lesser classmates got accepted to some of his schools. I don't think we ever got a good reason for all his rejections. He took a gap year. Just got accepted to MIT and several other great schools. </p>

<p>So, do a search and find that story. I don't have a good answer for your case. Probably a mistake for anyone to consider Wesleyan a safety. It's not a huge school so they are building a diversified class. They only have so many slots for smart hard working athletic women.</p>

17

<p>Wesleyan has a 28% admission rate. That's not a "match" or a "semi-safety" for anyone regardless of stats, ECs or anything else. Once you get past the cut on stats, there's a whole lot of luck involved in acceptances to selective schools.</p>

18

<p>Felisha-dash4, we had two twins with identical SATs ( 800 M and 665 verbal). One had a 3.96 unweighted GPA and one had a perfect 4.0 GPA with all tough courses. They attended on of the top 20 high schools in the US according to US News and World Report.</p>

<p>So far, both were either rejected or wait listed for Wash U St. Louis and were out right rejected from Yale and Princeton.</p>

<p>A lot of it is the luck of the draw. Secondly, girls have a harder time than guys because they tend to do better scholastically. Thus, schools make it a bit harder on them. It isn't fair, but it is the way of life.</p>

<p>Read over a post by Andison in the parent's forum. He had 1550 (old SATs) and terrific grades and got accepted no where last year. After taking a gap year, he reapplied and redid his essays. He got into MIT this year and got into Brandeis with a large scholarship.</p>

<p>Just hang in there. Remember, there is a lot of luck with top schools or for top programs.</p>

19

<p>RBase,</p>

<p>"Just an answer"</p>

<p>Because plenty of great kids get rejected at LAC's & Ivies. They cannot accept all qualified candidates. Fewer seats in the classrooms than qualified students. Students from our H.S. get accepted to HYP regularly, in the same yrs. that those same students (& other seniors from those classes) apply to LAC's like Swat, Wesleyan, Tufts, but get rejected or W/L'ed from the latter. Nothing was "wrong" with their apps to HYP, or they wouldn't have been accepted there.</p>

<p>When an a 4-yr institution is seeking as broad a range in a class as an Ivy is, but has fewer available seats than an Ivy, it can sometimes be more difficult to get accepted to certain LAC's, depending on the yr. in question, interests of the student, etc.</p>

<p>I also agree with the gender comments -- it's an aspect of the same overall balance that all those top-level 4-yrs are looking for.</p>

20

<p>Okay, taxguy, I can't resist: 665 verbal? Long gone are the days when you could have an SAT score ending in something other than zero. Perhaps 660?</p>