Official Decision Thread

[jdub27]

accepted!! (from ed deferral, so you know it feels good)

most likely going, got into swarthmore, haverford, carleton and bowdoin recently too... waitlisted at penn, rejected at brown..

stats later (it'll be a real booster to those who don't think their SATs are up to snuff)

[ProcrastiNate]

congrats class of '11!

might take a couple classes with some of you (i'll be a senior at the local high school next yr)

[Grain]

Decision: ACCEPTED

Stats:

SAT: 2350 (CR 750, M 800, W 800)
SAT IIs: World History 740, Math Level II 780, Chemistry 800
'O' Level: 12A1 1A2 (A1 is equivalent to A, A2 = A-)
Rank: 1/230

Subjective:

Essays: Risky, but good
Teacher Recs: Great
Counselor Rec: Great
Peer Rec: Great
Hook (if any): I'm a drama king.

Location/Person:

State or Country: Malaysia
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Mathematics
major strength/weakness: No Idea
Other Factors: No idea

[123orange]

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

• Deferred EA? NO
• SAT I (breakdown): CR 770 M800 W700
• ACT: N/A
• SAT II: 3 800s too lazy to type...
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.9 or 4
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
• AP (place score in parenthesis): 3 5s
• IB (place score in parenthesis):
• Senior Year Course Load: 4 AP, 1 Honor
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing really

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): nothing special... too lazy to type
• Job/Work Experience: babysitting, tutoring
• Volunteer/Community service: ~300 hours
• Summer Activities: harvard summer school, volunteering in hospital, volunteering in children's program
• Essays: they made me!! They were probably good, but I'm a non-native speaker.
• Teacher Recommendation: Now I bet they were great
• Counselor Rec: wonderful, she is so nice
• Additional Rec: good, they def. wished my best
• Interview: didn't get one

Other

• State (if domestic applicant): New England
• School Type: competitive public
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: female
• Income Bracket: not poor
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I probably had some, considering I got in.

Reflection

• Strengths: Ahh I don't really know, but I guess there were something they liked about me.
• Weaknesses: not many AP/Honors classes compared with other applicants from my school. nothing spectacular in EC.
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I don't know. I think I was very lucky to have so many people who were willing to help me. I'm so surprised. Now I have to choose between 2 great schools, Cornell and Dartmouth.

General Comments: Good luck to everyone who got waitlisted. For those who got rejected, there are other schools and other things to look forward to. I hope you will get over the rejection soon. For everyone who was accepted, congrats! We made it!

[ramses88]

ACCEPTED (likely letter)

3.6 GPA UW/4.24 WEIGHTED (a couple C's on transcript, downward grade trend)
top 15%ish class rank
33 ACT
9 AP tests, average 4.44, national ap scholar
Recs: "Best in Career"
Essays: really good
EC's: objectively speaking among the most impressive list i have seen for anyone applying anywhere, i think it's my grades that kept me out of HYPS (not that I wanted them in the first place)

here's to everyone who thinks grades are the end-all-be-all of college admissions....pwned

[hanolulu]

Decision: Accepted!

Stats:

• SAT: 770 M, 740 CR, 750 W (first time)
• SAT IIs: 800 Lit, 770 Miic
• GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.9-something W
• Rank: unranked, top 1%
• Other stats:

Subjective:

• Essays: Good? I really liked my common app essay
• Teacher Recs: Great, I think. My peer rec wasn't great at all because the original person forgot, so I had another friend step in last minute.
• Counselor Rec: Vague, we got a new counselor this year
• Hook (if any): Wide range of ECs, lots of leadership, 2 summer science research programs... I don't think any of those things are true hooks though.

Location/Person:

• State or Country: FL
• School Type: Public, IB school
• Ethnicity: Chinese
• Gender: Female
• Intended Major: Undecided
• major strength/weakness:

Other Factors:

I think I lucked out. But I'm glad! Congrats to fellow acceptees, and my condolences to those who didn't get in.

[rahonavis75]

Decision: Accepted! (regular decision)

Stats:

* SAT: 790 M,800 CR, 740 W
* SAT IIs: 800 Physics, 790 Chemistry, 760 Math Level 2, 680 Math 1
* GPA: 3.97 weighted (highest in my class)
* Rank: 3/132
* Other stats: '1's in CAPE Mathematics and Physics (both units), A in GCE
A Level Chemistry, 'a' in AS Level General Paper. Six '1's at
CXC 'O' Levels, an 'a' in AS Level Mathematics and a
'B' in GCE 'O' Level Computer Studies. ('1' is the highest
grade attainable at CXC or CAPE). Received an Additional
National Scholarship in the Science grouping (competitive
national schol based on CAPE and GCE 'A' Level results)

Subjective:

* Essays: Extremely well written, but unusal. In essence I wrote about
meeting the girl of my dreams and how that changed me,
though there's more to it than that.

* Teacher Recs: One was decent, the other was really good. My peer
rec wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was
serviceable.
* Counselor Rec: Decent as well.
* Hook (if any): I'm from Trinidad, so I'm all up in my Caribbean
third-world-ness. Also my SAT essay (if they read it)
demonstrated my spontaneity and awesomeness (I sang
Phantom of the Opera impromptu at a nightclub for
a halloween costume contest and won a crap-load of
money) Self-taught singer and guitarist.
.

Location/Person:

* State or Country: Trinidad
* School Type: Public, all-boys secondary school (most schools down here
are single-sex.)
* Ethnicity: Mixed descent (mainly Black and White)
* Gender: Male
* Intended Major: Undecided
* major strength/weakness: Lack of *official* involvement in anything.
Most of my activities were self-supervised and
self-initiated. Also, I started most of them in
the last 2 years of school or after I graduated
(I'm currently taking a year off)

Other Factors:

I'm a self-employed math tutor here working out of home (taking private after-school lessons in multiple subjects is the norm here for most students, as the school system is lackluster at the least - I took several hours of lessons in most of my subjects at great cost to my family while I was in school). That's about it. I think my essays (common app and SAT) are what sealed the deal for me. They were *really* good.

[rahonavis75]

Oh, my common app essay was *TWICE OVER THE WORD LIMIT*. So for those of you out there who are afraid of going over limit, don't be, once the essay's better for it. Mine would have been butchered if I had to trim it down to only 500 words.

[Vendetta.]

Decision: Accepted

[Yoshi729]

Decision: Accepted

Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: No
• SAT I (by section): 2330 (780 M, 770 Cr, 780 W)
• SAT IIs: 800 on Math IIC and Chemistry; 720 on US History
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 99.120 and 101.230
• Rank: Salutatorian
• ACT: Not applicable
• APs (including this year's): AP Biology (4); AP Chemistry; AP US History (4); AP Calculus BC (5); AP Euro History (5); AP Physics C Mech/EM; AP English Language/Literature; AP German
• IBs (including this year's: Underfunded public school so no IBs
• Senior Yr Courseload: AP English Lang/Lit, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP German
• Number of Apps from Your School: Either three or four
• Other stats (Awards, etc.):

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: Microbiology research, Science Olympiad (Captain), Mock Trial (Lead Attorney), Community Service, and State science fair competitions (attended national science competitions; president of school's chapter)
• Job/Work Experience: A part time job at the local supermarket
• Essays (subject and responses): I: My life in binary; II: Death of my grandfather and discovering Ayn Rand
• Teacher Recs: Both were absolutely excellent
• Counselor Rec: Glowing, she knew me since fifth grade
• Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): Nope, I wish I had gotten one though. I need a second perspective on Dartmouth.
• Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): My microbiology research was featured in multiple national journals

Location/Person:

• State or Country: PA
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Underfunded public school (median SAT 1201/2400)
• Ethnicity: Asian-american
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: < 60,000
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Single parent household and first generation? They are hooks?
• Strengths: Publications in journals
• Weaknesses: No consideration to the supplement. God it was awful
• Why you think you were accepted: If I knew I would tell you, but I don't. I was actually expecting that little envelope.

Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I was completely shocked! Absolutely shocked! Congratulations to everyone who was accepted, it was a difficult applicant pool.

[meadweb]

waitlisted.

[thykingdomcome]

Decision: Accepted

Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: NO
• SAT I (by section): 800V, 700M, 710W, 9E
• SAT IIs: 800 Latin, 800 Lit, 800 Chem, 750 U.S., 750 Bio M
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.557W, 4.0UW, weighted went up on midyear
• Rank: 1/118, stayed the same midyears
• APs (including this year's): English Comp 5, Latin 5, Bio 5, Chem 5, US 5
• Senior Yr Courseload: All APs
• Number of Apps from Your School: 6
• Other stats (Awards, etc.): JCL awards, national latin exam awards, commended(probably useless) student, essay contests, volunteer awards

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: state officer, newspaper, Red Cross, student council, captain of running and skiing
• Job/Work Experience: 1 restaurant job
• Essays (subject and responses): had mixed responses, very polar, too. topics were rather cliche.
• Teacher Recs: excellent
• Counselor Rec: excellent
• Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): two interviewers, excellent
• Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): No

Location/Person:

• State or Country: MA
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): smallish, somewhat poor public
• Ethnicity: Japanese
• Gender: F
• Income Bracket: ~50,000
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation college
• Strengths: uh...
• Weaknesses: low(er) SATs, commended student only
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Likely letter, also, asian applicants down?

Other Factors: I don't know, I don't know.
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I had a likely letter and was screaming around my room then. But that didn't at all change my level of excitement on 3/29 when I checked online.

For all those rejected or waiting, Dartmouth might have made a big mistake. But some other school will have made a really good decision.

[tuck6389]

I posted this earlier (maybe on another thread) but I think it deserves pretty formatting.

Decision: Accepted!!!

Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: No
• SAT I (by section): 2270: 740CR/730M/800W
• SAT IIs: 740 Literature, 720 Bio, 710 Math IIc
• ACT: Did not take
• APs: 4s in Latin Lit, US History, Statistics; 5s in English Lang, Bio, and Psych
• IBs: N/A
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.519W/4.0UW
• Rank: 1/323
• Senior Yr Courseload: AP Comp Sci A, AP English Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Chem, String Ensemble (top orchestra), Debate independent study, AP Gov
• Number of Apps from Your School: 4
  
• Other stats:

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: Debate (president, 2nd at states), Sustained Dialogue (a group I founded to confront my school's socioeconomic dichotomy), Orchestra (violin in String Ensemble), National Honor Society (Secretary, some tutoring and other community service), Forensics (1st in Region in Impromptu), Young Liberals (some lobbying, canvassing), Latin Club.
• Job/Work Experience: babysitting, teaching piano
• Essays (subject and responses): my essay was about debate, but more about my reactions to the issues i was researching and implicitly how my personality completely changed, i guess. my guidance counselor said it was great but not stellar.
• Teacher Recs: amazing (i got a supplemental rec from the debate coach of last year who left and gave me the team)
• Counselor Rec: amazing
• Interview (feel and general location): I went to "Dartmouth day" at an inn, where all Dartmouth interviews for central VA were conducted. I had two interviewers who said the interview wasn't that important but that they liked me a lot.
• Hook (if any): I don't know but I definitely made it clear that it was my first choice.

Location/Person:

• State or Country: VA
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): public, sends some grads to top schools (this year we have 7 people into ivies, one into stanford, 2 into MIT, one into duke, and one into juilliard, but i think that's a little higher than usual)
• Ethnicity: caucasian
• Income Bracket: family makes over $100,000; I applied for financial aid but didn't get it
• Gender: female
• Hooks: i can't think of anything so probably not
• Strengths/Weaknesses: Strengths: decent EC's, valedictorian; weaknesses: i didn't elaborate on my EC's that much in my app
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: haha I'm just that lucky

Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I'm sooo excited and I hope everyone (whether accepted, waitlisted, or denied) has an amazing college experience!

[jfitz]

Decision: ACCEPTED!

Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?:
• SAT Reasoning (by section): Didn't take
• SAT Subject tests: 800 Math II, 760 Math I, 740 Chem
• ACT: 33 Best Composite, Best Subjects: 34 English, 34 Math, 33 Reading, 33 Science
• APs: Haven't taken any yet
• IBs: Nope
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.0, our school doesn't weight
• Rank: Tied for First/100 with another girl.
• Senior Yr. Courseload: As hard as it can be with 2 AP's, the only two our school offers.
• Number of Apps from Your School: I'm the only one this year, the first guy to get into an IVY for ten years.
• Other stats:

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: I am a four year varsity lettering runner in track and cross country. My four by eight team last year got 5th, our cross country team placed 4th this year, has placed at state the last four years. I'm an all state saxophonist, and I am the student body VP. I am heavily involved in speech and theatre.
• Job/Work Experience: Work at a coffee shop in the summer and my friends make fun of me but the job rocks.
• Essays (subject and responses): I wrote about a visit to New York City and how it made me want to be part of a diverse culture, which, although cheesey, is true.
• Teacher Recs: Did not read, but now that I got into Dartmouth I am very curious to read.
• Counselor Rec: Sucked
• Interview (feel and general location): I didn't have one, and I have a feeling that there are less then 10 Dartmouth alumni in our state.
• Hook (if any): From Iowa?

Location/Person:

• State or Country: Iowa
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): A small public school of about 100 kids per class. All white kids.
• Ethnicity: Irish White
• Income Bracket: My dad says, "I make too much to get aid, but I don't make enough to afford it." He's joking... I hope.
• Gender: Male
• Strengths/Weaknesses: Weakness: I have no AP's under my belt yet.
• Why you think you were accepted or rejected: Band athlete combo

Other Factors: I'm a twin.
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I'm so happy, but yet I can't be too happy because my twin brother got waitlisted at Boston College, his dream school. He isn't quite as smart as me, and I hope to God he eventually gets in. If anyone else out there is from Iowa, send me a message!

[juniorinhs]

Decision: Accepted (1st batch-likely letter)

Stats:
Fee Waiver Used?: no
SAT I (by section): 800 M 800 CR 760 W
SAT IIs: 800 Math IIC, 780 Bio-M, 720 US Hist
GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 3.97 UW, 4.92 W
Rank: 4/500
ACT: n/a
APs (including this year's): Music Theory (5), Psychology (5), World History (5), English Language (4), AP US (4), Calc BC (3); this year: Govt US, Govt Comparative, German, English Lit, Physics C
IBs (including this year's): n/a
Senior Yr Courseload: Govt US, Govt Comparative, German, English Lit, Physics C, Econ H, Science Research, Multivariable Calculus (accredited by Stanford)
Number of Apps from Your School: 3 (one early ED admit, two of us received likely letters regular)
Other stats (Awards, etc.): National Merit Finalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, National Academic Challenge Semifinalist Team member, U Penn book award, YWCA People to Watch award, Organization of Chinese Americans Outstanding High School Student Grand Prize, Outbound Ambassador Scholarship to Italy, Tennis Sportsmanship and Team Spirit trophies, National German Exam Medal, AMC 10 Superior Awards,
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: Piano Solo (International Solo Recital Tour, Honors Program at music school, Masterclasses, and Festivals), Chamber Music (World Premiere, Masterclasses, and Festivals), Tennis, German Club (President)Academic Challenge (President), Math Team (President), Science Research Program (Special Events Coordinator-aka I organize/run competitions)
Job/Work Experience: 10 hrs/week as Research Intern at the National Office of the March of Dimes (year-round since sophomore year)
Essays (subject and responses): One was on a single performance that I had played in China this past summer at a day care center for children with cerebral palsy and how that affected me. The other was on a tennis match that I had once won despite overwhelming odds
Teacher Recs: I've seen neither, but one was my math teacher, whose class I was in for two years and he advises two of the clubs that I preside over, so we're good friends
Counselor Rec: ok, probably very generic (counselor has 200+ students)
Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): young alumni, very easy to chat with--it went well enough
Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): n/a; my research had not won any national awards
Location/Person: Westchester
State or Country: New York
School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): large public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $100,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
Strengths: ECs, teacher recs, I hope, awards, Scores, 1st essay
Weaknesses: another asian girl from Westchester, NY
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I wish I knew.
Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I have no idea where I will be going. I was rejected at Princeton and Yale and waitlisted at Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, and Columbia. (I really, really, really hope that I can get in off of one of those waitlists, but I'm completely unconnected-no legacy, $$$, minority status, whatsoever- any advice would be greatly appreciated) so I will be visiting Brown, Darmouth, and Cornell soon. See you all at Dimensions!