dahliaandpearls

Deferred...then Rejected. This is utterly depressing.

[ size=+1][ color=blue][ b]Decision && School: REJECTED [ /b][ /color][ /size]

[ b]Stats
[ *] SAT Verbal: 670
[ *] SAT Math: 660
[ *] SAT Writing: 710 (essay 11)
[ *] SAT Total: 2040
[ *] SAT II: Math level 2: 660 Chemistry: 620 Biology M: 670
[ *] ACT:
[ *] AP/IB taken/scores: AP Human Geography (4), IB Math SL, IB Psychology SL, Ib German ab initio, IB Chemistry HL, IB Biology HL, IB English HL
[ *] GPA weighted:
[ *] GPA unweighted:
[ *] Rank or % estimate: 1

[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Essays: really good
[ *] Teacher Recs: really really good

[ *] Counselor Rec: decent...she doesnt really know me
[ *] Hook (if any): parents worked there

[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: india
[ *] School Type: private international school
[ *] Ethnicity: asian
[ *] Gender: female
[ *] Legacy Yes/No: no
[ *] Recruited Yes/No: no
[ *] Important ECs: 2004 AAU gymnastics champion, more important gymnastics championships (i was featured on tv twice), art awards, tons of different community service honors, dance awards

[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b] I wrote about moving to India from America in the middle of my 10th grade and how it has effected me.

[ b]General Comments/Congratulations/etc:[ /b] I'm depressed. Good luck and congrats to everyone else! I think my SATs did me in...

blingin

Decision: Rejected


Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: No
• SAT I (by section):2270 (800M,770CR,700W)
• SAT IIs:800 Math, 800 Physics, 800 Chem, 710 US
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 3.875 UW
• Rank: Top 10 %
• ACT: n/A
• APs (including this year's):Biology, Chemistry, Physics B, Physics C, Literature, Language, Calculus BC, Statistics, Government, Microeconomics, US History
• IBs (including this year's:N/A
• Number of Apps from Your School: 10 maybe
• Other stats (Awards, etc.):Stuff

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: Nothing special
• Job/Work Experience: 10 hr per week job
• Essays (subject and responses): I suck at writing
• Teacher Recs: Didn't See Ok I would assume
• Counselor Rec: Dont Know her at all
• Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): Nope
• Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Funny

Location/Person:

• State or Country:USA South
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public Competitive
• Ethnicity: A
• Gender:M
• Income Bracket: 100k
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): No
• Strengths:None
• Weaknesses:Too weak....
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied:

Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc:

dagger345

Decision: Rejected (Wharton)

Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: neg
• SAT Reasoning (by section): 800 M, 700 V, 730 W
• SAT Subject tests: 800 Math IIC, 790 Physics , 740 US History
• ACT: N/A
• APs: 5 Calc BC, 5 APUSH, 5 English Language, 5 Physics B, 4 Chem
• IBs: N/A
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 3.98 UW, 5.1 W
• Rank: 10/650
• Senior Yr. Courseload: 7 AP's (2 online), 2 Honors (one of them was multivariable calc though)
• Number of Apps from Your School: at least 3
• Common or Princeton App?: Common
• Other stats: AIME qualifier, nothing special

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: Drum corps, Math Team, Band + Band Mentoring, and a bunch of little decorations
• Job/Work Experience: independent tutoring senior year
• Essays (subject and responses): Slopped up on Dec. 31, was probably the worst college piece I'd written
• Teacher Recs: I guess they were ok
• Counselor Rec: Probably awesome
• Interview (feel and general location): great interview at a starbucks, sort of made me want to go to penn even more.
• Hook (if any): Rensselaer Medalist, drum corps 2-3 years, decent euphonium player

Location/Person:

• State or Country: FL
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public
• Ethnicity: White as the clouds (when it isn't raining)
• Income Bracket: 60-80 k
• Gender: male
• Hooks: see above
• Strengths/Weaknesses: strengths - pretty decent numbers, relatively original EC's. weaknesses- typical applicant
• Why you think you were accepted or rejected: lack of a sense of urgency for filling out the app and getting interviewed - already got into 1st choice school, applied just in case i couldnt afford the 1st choice in the end.

Other Factors: Applied to M&T, Wharton alternative
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: Not too surprising. I'll settle for Stanford.

nct3

Decision: Waitlisted (Wharton)


Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: No
• SAT I (by section): 800M 760CR 790W
• SAT IIs: 800 Math IIc 790 Lit 730 US
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.0 UW, weird weighting system
• Rank: 1/250ish
• ACT: didn't take it
• APs (including this year's): have taken 9 including this year, so far three 5s, one 4, and one 3
• IBs (including this year's: not offered
• Senior Yr Courseload: heaviest possible, 4 APs and class at local college
• Number of Apps from Your School: 3 (other 2 were deferred EA)
• Other stats (Awards, etc.): National Merit Finalist, AP Scholar of some sort, other local stuff

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: 3 varsity sports, eagle scout, academic teams, other minor stuff
• Job/Work Experience: full-time construction at family business in summer
• Essays (subject and responses): nobody else really read them, i thought they were my best (out of all of my apps)
• Teacher Recs: didn't read, probably really good
• Counselor Rec: didn't read, probably good (we don't get to know GCs that well though)
• Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): went alright
• Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): none

Location/Person:

• State or Country: NC
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): public, decent to good school but rarely (as in once every 10 years) sends someone to an ivy.
• Ethnicity: white
• Gender: male
• Income Bracket: no aid
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
• Strengths: grades, scores, commitment to ECs (although the ECs themselves were nothing special)
• Weaknesses: I don't think I had anything that "stood out" like a national award or unusual EC
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: nothing stood out

Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc:
Oh well, I'm not surprised. I'm choosing between Duke and Yale, so I'm not at all disappointed with how everything has turned out.

quark49

Does anyone else think it's weird that a lot of Yalies got rejected or waitlisted at Penn? I guess they really are very different schools.

business4life

yeah, i guess each ivy wants something different from their applicant pool

itida

ACCEPTED (Wharton & SEAS -- Jerome Fisher M&T)

Will post stats later when I get more time.

aurieme

Decision: Accepted (CAS International Relations)


Class rank: 1 out of 88
GPA: 4.778 (weighted)

SATs:
1) M650 W680 CR670
2) M630 W710 CR700

SAT Subject Tests:
Math Level II-620
U.S. History-640
Literature-640

AP Tests:
English Composition-3
U.S. History-3

ECs and etc:
National Forensic League - 1st place in district in Original Oratory and Extemporaneous Speaking, competed in Nationals in 2005
Student Council - chairperson of Publicity Committee (05-06), chairperson of Social Committee (06-07)
Youth Congress - school representative (04-06)
National Honor Society (05-07)
Academic Challenge Bowl (06-07)
Junior Statesmen of America - full scholarship to JSA summer program at Yale (05)
Catholic Religious Education - teacher's aide/subsitute teacher (03-07)
University of Guam - took summer classes (Math and English) (Summer 06)
150+ hours of community service
And other awards

Subjective:
Essays: personal with solid writing
Teacher recs: 1) English teacher-personal 2) Chemistry teacher-didn't read it
Counselor rec: didn't read it

Location/Person:
State or Country: Guam, USA
School type: All-girls Catholic school
Ethnicity: Pacific Islander
Gender: Female

Comments:
I was set on going to Cornell, but getting into Penn has made it more difficult for me to decide where to go. I was pleasantly surprised to be accepted because my SAT scores are very low. To those who got in: Congratulations! To those who were waitlisted or were not accepted: stay positive because you will be going to great colleges too.

minkijohn

There is a reason why students like you are having difficulties with college admissions. A whole crop of fraudulent bastards from Korean high schools, with their falsified transcripts, ghost-written essays and recommendations, and completely made-up extracurricular activities are swarming top universities, and to the extent that their admissions to such prestigious schools are rising, opportunities are narrowing for honest, hard-working kids from American high schools, i.e. students like you.

This has been an open secret among Korean international students. Read the following articles for yourself and decide if it requires immediate action from American students and high schools...and the universities.

(1) An extremely representative case of the falsification of "translated" transcripts (in English, created liberally by school administrators eager to send their kids to ivy league schools). Exclusive report by the Hankyoreh, one of the major newspapers in South Korea:

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/engli...al/175976.html
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e...al/176484.html

(2) SAT scandal in Korea (exams leaked and then provided to students on the eve of their exam)

On how Hanyoung Foreign Language HS's designation as an SAT exam center privilege was revoked + allegations surrounding the incident
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e...al/176737.html

On how 900 SAT exams by Korean int. students got cancelled after ETS found out that serious breaches were made in the storage of exam packets
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/2007...8123410220.htm
http://chronicle.com/news/article/17...ecurity-breach

Just to remind you: A few students from the school in question - btw, most of its peers in Seoul and South Korea did the same thing, but were never caught in their acts - still got into Wharton, Harvard and Princeton.

The only way to take care of this situation? Sue the bastards. Sue the universities. Tell the universities to keep, indefinitely, all the records submitted by Korean high school students and match them with official transcripts that can be provided by Korean government if requested formally. Sue the students for their falsified records. I mean.....70 for A? With that score, the student can't even get into low-ranking universities in Korea.

Btw, the high schools also run SAT CR and Writing prep courses during official classroom hours! This is ****ing illegal but they continue to do so secretly. Imagine this: you are guaranteed excellent recoms and transcripts, can make up any spectacular extracurricular activities at will, and are regularly exempted from standard educational curriculum whenever you want to study for SATs. Your school run SAT prep courses during classrooms, and you don't even have to bother to show up in classes. Your essays are ghost-written by professional admission consultants. Unless you are an absolute idiot, you will get into ivy league schools. It's that simple.

Sue the bastards.

dahliaandpearls

Wow, I never knew this. My school does probably the opposite. Everyone is given a predicted IB grade 1 number lower (i.e., a student deserving of a 7 gets a 6) so as to 'keep the students motivated to do better'. However, owing to the lack of candidates going abroad to the U.S. or UK, my school didn't understand the importance of IB predicted grades in college admissions! Big fight over this one! Ugh. I think its my school that ruined my chances at Penn. :/ sorry...just...depressed =*(

lavenderjade

one thing you must keep in mind while reading this is that this might have some false information. It is very possible that these articles are true, but it is also very possible that they have been blown out of proportion. It is best to take these with a grain of salt...

spiffystars

Actually, as (part) Korean, I can attest to what minkijohn is saying. The academic culture in Korea is so very different from America in that all their high school students are completely fixated, almost tortured, about the idea of college admissions. They would do absolutely anything to get into even a Korean university, let alone HYPS. And I gotta admit, some Korean parents (especially the ones with lots of money...and trust me, there's a lot of them) are pretty shady.

BUT you also have to keep in mind that there ARE those kids in Korea who actually do work their butt off for school, bless their hearts, but don't do much else. I don't think the whole "giving back to the community" aspect of admissions has hit them yet. They're just too focused on grades and statistics and numbers. I have a cousin who comes home every morning at 2am from college test prep courses and yet she has been rejected from the university of her choice three times. I feel really bad for them over there :/

But yeah I agree that maybe colleges should be more careful when viewing international applicants' resumes and the such...you just never know.

lavenderjade

hmm... that's interesting.

waterfall1007

Decision & School:Accepted Wharton

[b]Stats[*] SAT Verbal: Never took[*] SAT Math: Never took[*] SAT Writing: Never took[*] SAT Total: [*] SAT II: Math level 1: 630 Chemistry: 680 History: 750[*] ACT: 32
[ *] AP/IB taken/scores: World History, U.S. History, English, Chemistry, Calculus[*] GPA weighted: 4.5[*] GPA unweighted: 4.0[*] Rank or % estimate: 1 out of 135
[/list]Subjective:[list][*] Essays: ehh...ok i guess[*] Teacher Recs: decent
[*] Counselor Rec: decent[*] Hook (if any): Mississippi

[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: MS
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: female
[ *] Legacy Yes/No: no
[ *] Recruited Yes/No: no
[ *] Important ECs: Wendy's Heisman State Finalist, Coca cola scholar semifinalist, SAMMY Semifinalist, Over 300 hours of community service, tons of extracurriculars and lots of awards though nothing really out of the ordinary

[b]General Comments/Congratulations/etc:[ /b] I actually withdrew my application three weeks before decisions came out. I don't know why they still sent me my acceptance. I'm thrilled, but at the same time it kind've makes me feel bad to know I took somebody elses spot. Good luck to everybody! I really hope you all end up where you want!

hater_of_haters

rejected, but you know what? forget you too, penn, im not even applyin to penn for grad school. peace out homies!!!