WILDLY fluctuating admissions results (Somebody Please Explain)?

Applying to College
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<p>Initially, I'd applied to 12 Colleges, and have so far received results from 7 of them.
What's confusing me, however, are the actual results.</p>

<p>Colleges Accepted to so far: Caltech, Northwestern, Amherst, Notre Dame
Colleges Denied so far: MIT, UChicago
Colleges Waitlisted so far: Carnegie Mellon
Colleges Waiting On: Harvard, Yale, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Cornell</p>

<p>My only question is, how exactly did the results turn out looking like that? More specifically, how did this combination of admissions, denials, and waitlists actually happen???</p>

<p>To elaborate,
-I spent approximately 1 hour on my Caltech essay and was admitted
-I wrote my Amherst Essay about how I like EATING MEAT and was admitted
-I copy-pasted my Carnegie Mellon essay to use as my Northwestern Essay
-I was forced to apply to Caltech by overzealous parents
-Caltech has an admission rate of 12%
-Amherst has an admission rate of 13%
-Northwestern (this year) had an admission rate of 15%</p>

<p>In contrast,
-I spent around 23 hours on my UChicago supplement and was denied
-I spent around 17 hours on my Carnegie Mellon supplement and was Waitlisted
-I visited both Carnegie Mellon and UChicago
-UChicago has an admission rate of 16%
-Carnegie Mellon has an admission rate of 21%</p>

<p>I won't go too into depth about my credentials unless somebody asks for specifics, but I'd just like to get some feedback on this. I, quite literally, expected the EXACT opposite to happen...</p>

<p>It seems like all the colleges I was really looking forward to being accepted to and gave my best efforts towards either denied or waitlisted me, and the colleges I didn't try very hard at seemed to like me...It's just confusing...</p>

<p>To give a little more background, my statistics look something like this:
-ACT: 36 Composite
-SAT: 2300 (780 M, 780 W, 740 CR)
-SAT IIs: 800 Math II, 800 Biology M, 780 USH, 700 Spanish
-GPA Unweighted: 4.0
-GPA Weighted: 4.75
-AP Courses taken: Calc BC, US History, Euro, Physics B, Biology, English Language, Spanish Language,
-Courses currently enrolled in: Calculus III, Adv. Linear Algebra, AP Psych, AP Themes, AP Chemistry, AP Statistics, AP Microeconomics</p>

<p>-Major ECs: Quiz Bowl (4th in Country), Math Team (3rd in State), Cross Country, Track and Field</p>

<p>-Ethnicity/Gender: Asian/Male</p>

<p>Somebody please help me clear up my confusion =(</p>

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<p>Reminds me of that thread about the kid who was admitted to an elite LAC because he wrote about craving/thinking about Chicken McNuggets. That was funny and pathetic at the same time.</p>

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<p>You have applied to a set of amazing schools. Congratulations on getting into Caltech, NU, etc.</p>

<p>I really don’t have an answer to your question. I have a question for you. Which school(s) was/were your safety school(s)?</p>

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<p>^IMO, Carnegie Mellon (except SCS) is OP’s safety. :)</p>

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<p>your results aren’t that unusual TBH, although it is a little strange that you were admitted to Caltech but waitlisted at CMU
spending a lot of time on an essay doesn’t necessarily mean that it is strong. I’ve read a lot of Uchicago essays, and it’s more about content than actual time spent refining it. You could probably write a Uchicago essay in fifteen minutes, and if it hit the right “spot” for an admissions commitee member you would probably be admitted</p>

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<p>@Wavelet</p>

<p>Thank You, and Notre Dame was technically the safety</p>

<p>@Momof2happyboys
I’ve heard people tell me that Carnegie Mellon was safety-level too, but I always figured it was closer to being a match than safety, since it’s fairly competitive and respectful in its own right.</p>

<p>@arkbro</p>

<p>I’m aware of that, but by default, shouldn’t ANY sort of essay that had some degree of effort put into it be better than something that was written an hour before the application was due?</p>

<p>I know that time and effort doesn’t always guarantee quality, but if a makeshift essay sufficed for Caltech (since it was not my choice to apply), and the exact same CMU essay worked successfully for Northwestern (which, historically, is more competitive), then shouldn’t it have been effective for CMU as well?</p>

<p>On a side note, I applied to the Mellon School of Sciences, so the higher degree of competition for the SCS wasn’t a factor.</p>

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<p>A friend of mine with 2350 SAT, 4.0 UWGPA, Great ECs, was waitlisted at Haverford and Swarthmore and is waiting on a lot of top schools, and feels very worried as to why he hasn’t been admitted to these schools. It happens all the time. Wait till April 1st and then be confused.</p>

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<p>“UChicago has an admission rate of 16%”</p>

<p>Did you apply EA?
RD admit rate was below 9% this year.</p>

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<p>I know Chicago likes a quirky imaginative essay.</p>

<p>Some people work really well under pressure and maybe that’s why the essay written an hour before was good. To the point, concise, simple writing can be quite effective.</p>

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<p>@20more</p>

<p>Yes, I applied EA</p>

<p>I was deferred during the EA results, and was rejected several days ago</p>

<p>Does that make a significant difference?</p>

<p>@moonman676</p>

<p>It’s not that I’m worrying about potential admissions for the schools I don’t have results from yet. It’s that I’m very very VERY confused by the results that have come in so far</p>

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<p>Nothing unusual.</p>

<p>You got lucky with Cal Tech.</p>

<p>I am very curious. How did you get into Cal Tech?
Do you have a major award?</p>

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<p>Schools that admit less than 20% are lottery schools and results are likely to appear random.</p>

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<p>You got into Caltech, Northwestern, and Amherst. What do you think the answer to your question is? Lol</p>

<p>I’m getting the feeling you posted this thread to brag, but that’s just my take on it.</p>

<p>Congratulations on your acceptances.</p>

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<p>Agree with OhioMom. Maybe the essays that you spent hours on ended up sounding tortured.</p>

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<p>The only thing I can say is that the college admission process (especially at the top colleges) is fairly unpredictable. It is very hard to extrapolate from one result to the next. There is not much a logic to it.</p>

<p>Assume we don’t consider Harvard and Yale. Which school would you choose to attend if given the chance?</p>

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<p>I have to say, I laughed reading your post, EskieLover, it was kinda funny, assuming this isnt a ■■■■■. CMU probably waitlisted you because you either didn’t show enough interest in your essays or because of Tufts (WashU?) Syndrome. At least that’s my assessment from what you posted.</p>

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<p>@kathieh1, If that’s the case, then the stratgey would be to apply to many many top schools (assume the student has the needed crendentials)</p>

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<p>After i looked at you stats… i can only say it was a matter of luck.</p>

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<p>College admissions are pretty random. My friend who doesn’t do any STEM activities but is a liberal arts type of guy, got into NU engineering but wailisted at UChicago. I’ve won national engineering contests and have made it apparent that I want to study engineering, but was waitlisted at NU engineering, and accepted to UChicago (which doesn’t even have engineering).</p>

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<p>If such situation happens very often, someone could compile them and and show that the current addmission process is very much flawed.</p>