darknightx

I applied to 13 schools:
University of Chapel Hill
Columbia
Dartmouth
Cornell
Princeton
Stanford
Yale
Harvard
UPenn
Duke
Swarthmore
Williams
University of Chicago

I got rejected from EVERY one except Chapel Hill (my safety). No waitlist or anything - straight up rejection.

Is it just me that's getting screwed over hard?

Here's a quick overview of my stats in case anyone was wondering:
- 2290 SAT, 800 Math II and 790 Chemistry
- Weighted GPA of 5.3, unweighted is probably 3.9
- Good recommendations, spent a few months on essays
- Eagle Scout with recognition from Sue Myrick, congress representative
- Over 400 NFL points in debate, 4 years, with top awards at places like the State competition and trophies at Harvard University
- Part of a computational biology research program, worked with the Jackson Laboratory and got in their highly selective summer program, which they only take about 11 high school students from the nation
- 1st place in the state economics challenge in 2012
- Working with a professor at UNC and classmates to develop a new product - actually working on getting a patent and presenting as a finalist in the Conrad competition (one of five finalists in the nation) - we already secured a few thousand dollars in funding - 2012
- 1st place at HOSA Nationals in Biomedical debate in 2010 with a finalist medal in 2011
- Taking advanced math classes like Multivariable Calculus as a senior in high school, so haven't gotten senioritis yet

Yep, so now I'm resigned to my safety school. Reading 12 rejection letters in a row was tough. Can anybody relate, or at least make me feel a little better?

Seahawks506

That's why you needed more schools in between- it's proof that tossing a dozen reach applications out doesn't guarantee a single acceptance. The upside is that UNC is a great school and you'll get a great education there, not to mention save some money if you're in-state.

poetgrl

out of curiousity, how did you arrive at this list? Did you have any guidance from parents or counselors?

phuriku

My only suggestion is that your essays likely weren't as good as you thought they were. Hate to say it, but your stats are a dime a dozen at the schools you're applying to. If you don't have great essays to make you stand out, then no one's going to admit you.

That being said, UNC is a great school, so don't be too down about it.

cptofthehouse

Most schools use these six factors in deciding admissions: GPA/rank, Difficulty of courses in high school, Test Scores, Essays, References, ECs. If you don't go to a school that is skilled and experienced in getting kids in highly selected colleges, as good as the references and essays may be, it is doubtful that they are above average in that pool of kids applying to these schools. Your curriculum may not measure up either. In such school, usually one, maybe two kids get accepted at the the most selective schools, so you pretty much have to be one of the top one or two students, not percent but actual body count. Your ECs are not something that show you are what may be on those colleges wish list. You are not going to have someone like a coach, music director saying we need some more kids with this, please keep an eye out. Your test scores, though great, will probably get you a "B" grade in this group of kids, and I see no AP exams results at all.

I know a kid who had a debate hook and was accepted to Harvard, but he was also ranked *#1 in the country for debate in whatever the gold standard measure is.

When you are talking about the most selective schools in the country which make up most of your list, what seems extraordinary may only be average in that group.

UNC CH is a great school, and I know kids here who loved it and did not make the cut and were accepted to schools on your list.

zephyr15

OP

UNC-Chapel Hill -- Great School. Were you in state? If not, I don't think it's a safety for ANYONE. However, you got in which is the important thing. Congrats!!

abynyo

similar situation here.

accepted: bc, gw (honors + presidential scholarship), and emory
waitlisted: uchicago, cornell
rejected: brown, duke, vanderbilt, unc-chapel hill
still have to hear from: stanford (expecting rejection), georgetown (expecting wait list)

moonrise

My D is in a similar situation...it's been hard on her. We realized too late in the game that her counselor was clueless. She was deferred SCEA at Yale and her counselor asked her "why did you defer at Yale?" of course this was after Christmas break. D's stats (33 act, 4.0 uw) put her in a match range with the schools but the acceptance rates were too low and she didn't make the cut: Pomona, Swarthmore, Tufts, Brown, Yale all rejected. Waitlisted at Chicago. Still waiting on 2 schools but not hopeful. Bright spot is that she is in at Whitman with a good merit award. Been a tough week...

lanternkid

I was rejected by every school I applied to: Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Duke and even Vanderbilt which was supposed to be a safety.
I'm glad I applied to the UK as backup but it makes me sad that I won't be studying in the US.

zephyr15

lantern, I'm sorry for you -- unfortunately, as you now know, Vandy is not a safety school for anyone.

Every year, students find themselves in your situation, and many US schools either reserve slots for these students or otherwise don't fill all their places and continue to accept applications well into the spring. There may be a forum about this on CC. Otherwise, I'm sure you could do the research.

manders93

Yep. Rejected at USC, Northwestern, Stanford, Yale, DePaul, and BU. Waitlisted at UChicago. Accepted to UNI and ISU. For some schools I think I could've gotten into a different program, since getting into some of the music programs is waaaay harder than just getting into the school.

But oh well. I got into ISU's music program, and I loooooovvvvveee the school. I picked an awesome safety

fall2016parent

That is a pretty lopsided college list. One state flagship and the rest around 10% acceptance rate.

"Most schools use these six factors in deciding admissions: GPA/rank, Difficulty of courses in high school, Test Scores, Essays, References, ECs. "
I agree.

GPA, GPA, GPA and rigor of courses. You can have outstanding EC but unless you are Doogie Howser or the president's daughter, you will not get in unless the GPA (UNWEIGHTED) is strong (I am talking normal candidate - no urm/athlete)

mom2collegekids

Sounds like too many kids applied mostly to reaches and only one or two safeties...and few/no matches.


Lantern...why would you think that Vandy was a safety??? Vandy isn't a safety for anyone...except maybe if you're the child of a President.

Saugus

Same boat. Rejected everywhere except my UC safeties (Berkeley and UCLA) and Cornell, which I applied to for the sake of doing so, just because I had applied to every other Ivy. I am so angry right now. A Valedictorian with a 2340 at Cornell. Ugh. And UCs don't even care about class rank, so it feels like my efforts were wasted completely.

breezewater

Here... flat out rejected/waitlisted from 16+ colleges.