SpicyCurryMan

Tell me about your ECs, teacher recommendations, volunteering, any other significant factors etc.

waitlistftl

@spicycurryman

My ECs were piano (with some awards + performances in Carnegie Hall), breakdancing (did some shows here and there), violin (in school orchestra, did some performances out of school), academic league. I also tutored a lot for piano/violin. I volunteered for my Chinese school and an environmental center. Interned in a prop trading firm and Rutgers University as well.

I got my teacher recs from 2 junior year teachers, and I think they were really good because my teachers really noticed my growth as a student.

Overall though, I think my essays were by far the strongest part of my app. People with stronger stats and arguably better ECs from my school were rejected from schools I was accepted/waitlisted from, and I think my essays really made a difference in that aspect.

BeAchGiRL13

Thank you so much for sharing your story!This definitely gives me hope because I've been stressing over my not-so-strong ECs. Congrats on CMU, great school. Best of luck!

CollegeUser12

Not to make you guys feel bad but I have a short story. I applied to UCI UCD UCSD UCLA and UCB and got rejected from all. UC GPA: 3.96/3.97 and SAT (Low) 1750 - (I know its bad). Lots of work experience and have my own online business. Didn't get into one college.

Reedite

^ Probably because of your low UC GPA and SAT scores. Don't go around discouraging people when your logic for your rejections is sketchy at best.

lacrossemom

Thanks for posting your story. Enjoy CMU!

ZealousWonder

Congrats! I am basically like you (3.2 GPA) but I didn't apply to those schools and I scored ten points higher on the SAT than you lmao and I played a crapload of games like LoL, Hotr, MS, sc2 and now d3 which is coming out on may 15th, and have nice ECs too.

I was hoping to get into the honors college of stony brook with a nice scholarship but unfortunately no scholarship, however i did get into the honors college. mad proud of myself.

Hope we both do well in college.

~

btw if you are interested in going into business, is cmu a good school for business? I thought they were more of an engineering,science school? didn't think it was a business school...

DowneasterDad

You are to be commended for pulling yourself out of the hole you dug for yourself. However, be weary about your motivations as you stated that seeing your friends pre-occupied with getting into college was the prime inspiration. Now that you're likely to go to CMU you're not going to be afforded the chance to slack off again as CMU is very rigorous. Please be sure that "getting into college," was not the sole driving factor for all the hard work but that you plan to also work hard once you're there and hopefully towards a legitamate goal.

DowneasterDad

@Zealouswonder

CMU has a prestigous business school, the Tepper School of business.

alihaq717

Hey man. I was in sort of a similar situation as you were in-- I had a pretty horrendous GPA (especially due to a very bad Sophomore year where I almost got expelled for skipping school so many times) but I got my act together Junior/Senior years. I got accepted to some pretty decent schools, and I attend Vanderbilt right now. Just an FYI: it feels really good to get accepted to these schools, but you have to remember what kind of people you are competing with once you come here. Just as an example, my roommate was valedictorian and had great test scores. These people are everywhere on campus and it's very intimidating to know you probably just inched your way into the school. I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything, I'm just saying be prepared to change your studying habits and work ethic. I still have yet to make the proper adjustments, I feel. Good luck with your future endeavors, hope you get off the Vandy waitlist too.

waitlistftl

Accepted into Vandy!!!!

waitlistftl

I'd like to add that I was also accepted into UNC - Chapel Hill (OOS) from the waitlist. I was the only applicant (out of 17 total) from my school to be accepted this year, and I'm definitely the weakest UNC applicant from my school stats-wise. I'm pretty certain that my essays were what got me in. I think my results really show how extremely important essays are in admissions, and that they can indeed push you into the accepted pile even if you have sub-par stats.

It was really hard deciding between UNC and Vandy, but I ended up choosing Vandy. Good luck to all future applicants

elnamo

waitlistftl- what were your essays about?

waitlistftl

^My common app essay was about breakdancing, and my Carolina supplement essay was about my procrastination. I basically wrote about procrastination as if it were a disease and how I managed to find the "cure" for my disease during my junior year and became a better student and person in general.

jamasonmd

I am think your SAT score was a big factor. What was your essay about?