My credentials: 1550 SAT, rank 2 out of 700, varsity hockey 2 years (captain), AAA hockey 1 year, varsity tennis 2 years, academic quiz team, 4.6 gpa unweighted, AP bio, chem, psych, physics, english, spanish, euro, american history, national merit finalist, active member in service groups,
My friends credentials (and these are nuts) 2400 on new SAT, 36 on ACT, finalist in national bio olympiad, sweet at science olympiad, runs cross country, first chair violin, 4/700, 4.5 gpa, all AP classes pretty much, in multiple clubs, national merit finalist, all around great student.
We both got rejected by stanford, princeton, dartmouth, duke, and MIT. Maybe we were'nt good enough or something. Does it help to go to a smaller school than a large public school?
how do you have a 4.6 gpa unweighted? I don't think it makes much of a difference if you a attend a large school over a small school because adcoms take into account the conditions around your performance in school, like the amount of competition you were facing. Both you and your friends have fantastic stats, but maybe there were plenty others who looked the same?
If you don't mind me asking, what is your ethnicity? Though it shouldn't matter, I hear ethnicity has a LOT to do with acceptances..I am sorry to hear about your rejections though! Stanford, Columbia, and Princeton accepted me with a 4.5, ranked 1 out of 565,only a 1900 on the new SAT and a 26 on the ACT. I did plenty of community service and was also a cheerleader for 6 years as well as in choir, and various other clubs. I know, however, that my standardized test scores were not as high as yours nor your friends, but I'm thinking maybe they wanted more hispanics this year! ( I am full mexican) Please do not feel bad about your rejection because obviously you weren't meant to attend Stanford and join with its sometimes snobbish students lol...
I denied Stanford and chose to attend UCSB in the fall, which is yes, a public school, but I simply did not want the competitive atmosphere nor such "focus" on academics like the schools you mentioned do. Though I hear there is nothing like a prestigious college education, a public school would also give you a good education. It is not the college that makes the student, but the student who makes the school...I think you will do well wherever you attend next fall! Good luck!
I think so too. Perhaps adcoms have grown wary as of late about over-achievers who spent all their energy in high school and come to college exhausted. I believe I read sth like that somewhere in Stanford's app package.
fyi: I scored 2220 on the new SAT, nothing stellar, but I have a solid secondary school records. My EC activities are varied and show moderation. I think that I was admitted because of my essays though.
Yea, these days it appears to be less and less a numbers game and more and more on how well-rounded you appear. Also, I have to agree that you appeared to have stretched yourself too thin, that when you reach college you will already be wiped. Similar to blueriver, I only had a 2000 on the new SAT, but my strong focus on a few varied EC's as well as an abstract essay really pushed me through (on top of working 20 hours a week as well as holding down five AP's)
