can more graduated seniors do "actual results" threads?

[Tonyt88]

Gonna be a math major

[studentforever]

Any AP scores?

[Tonyt88]

Oh yeah, I didn't include them since it didn't really affect my chances, but anyway:
Junior year:
chemistry 5 [though I did self-study this and they knew about it]

Senior year:
eng. lit: 3
physics B: 5
Spanish lang.: 4
US History: 4
Calc AB: 5

[ChaosTheory]

DECISIONS:
BC: Accepted
Cornell: Accepted
Dartmouth: Accepted
Drew: Accepted
Harvard: [Attending] Accepted
Harvey Mudd: Accepted
MIT: Accepted
Princeton: Accepted
TCNJ: Accepted
Tufts: Accepted
Williams: Accepted
Yale: Accepted

O_o ...
Truly amazing.

[Northstarmom]

I wish that students who got some rejections would post. It's great that some students got a string of only acceptances, but that's not realistic for most people and if the majority of posts here show only acceptances, that will result in students and parents having unrealistic expectations.

I also wish that people would post showing results of more ordinary schools than the Ivies and Ivywannabes.

[HImom]

My S was rejected by several schools--Brown, Rice, Stanford & got accepted but no merit $ from Boston U (so he tossed their acceptance). He was accepted with a full-ride at ASU & UAz. He was accepted with 1/2 tuition + additional smaller merit awards at both Santa Clara U & USoCal as an undeclared engineer. He's a freshman at USoCal & is very happy there.

His stats are:

5th decile of ubercompetitive HS (roughly the middle of 230 students)
NOT an honor grad but took toughest curriculum offered, including 5 APs & marching band SR year because he wanted to;
Band continuously from 5th grade (but never competed, no private lessons--just for fun)
taken 13 AP exams (including 3 self-studied), scoring 4s in two & 5s in all the rest (after junior year, had taken 4--including self-studied US Comp & received 5s, + 4 in US history
completed Statistics after 10th grade at college summer school & received "A"
weighted GPA at end of junior year was about 3.6 (including two Cs)
NMF, excellent standardized test scores (mostly 730+ to 800), including 5 SATIIs & ACT composite of 34 (99%)
Eagle Scout
summer teaching assistant--robotics
confirmation youth leader--2 years
assorted other ECs

Does this help, northstarmom?

[Northstarmom]

Thanks, HIMOM for posting. Best wishes to your S at USC!

[HImom]

Oh yeah, he was also rejected by CalTech, too. Personally, I'm relieved he's where he is, at USoCal. The school is just the right fit for him, not too big or too small, challenging enough without being ubercompetitive. The engineering school gives him a nice "niche" with 400 entering freshmen. He seems very happy, with lots of folks to "hang out" with & hasn't voiced any complaints yet (other than not being thrilled with the cafeteria--typical student complaint).

One of his buddies was rejected by USoCal but accepted by UPenn & BostonU. He's attending BostonU because they gave him the best total aid package. I don't know his credentials other than that he was a NM Commended scholar & took several APs with my S.

I don't understand the acceptances/rejections too well myself. I do know that my son didn't even turn in all app parts of three of the schools he was eventually rejected by & they had to prompt him to turn in those parts (wonder if it showed some conflictedness?) I think he was likely penalized by many colleges for his candor in admitting he wasn't SURE which school he REALLY wanted to attend for not showing "sufficient interest."

[megaphone]

I wish that students who got some rejections would post. It's great that some students got a string of only acceptances, but that's not realistic for most people and if the majority of posts here show only acceptances, that will result in students and parents having unrealistic expectations.

I also wish that people would post showing results of more ordinary schools than the Ivies and Ivywannabes.

I'm sure you realize this already, but it's an extremely self selective group--people who post here and in the 'official decision' posts are way more likely to post if they get in compared to if they got rejected.
After surfing this site for about a year, I have yet to find an average student. The average American student has about a 2.5 GPA, a 1600 SAT and goes to their public state university or a local private; in contrast the average CC member has a 2100-2200 SAT, a 3.8 GPA and only thinks HYP.

[Northstarmom]

megaphone,
True, it's a self select, but that self select still gets rejections -- lots of them, and it would be really kind if some of those students who got rejections would post their info here so that others could learn from their experiences.

My guess is that the average student on CC actually gets more rejections than do the average students nationwide who are applying to college. Why? Because the CC students are far more likely than others to be applying to schools that take as few as 1 in 10 of their applicants. Most students nationwide apply to colleges that accept the majority of their appplicants, and about 60% of most students get into their first choice college. That's not true of the many CC students whose first choice colleges are places like Harvard and Stanford.

I also wish that some students who are really average for the US (not for CC) would post because so often lurkers here think that one needs to have straight As, a dozen APs and 2300 SAT scores to get into any college, which isn't true. Virtually anyone in the U.S. who graduates from h.s. can find some college that will accept them.

[ballerina]

^
I'm sure those types of people either aren't as stressed as the typical CCer about college, or just don't really care. Who would it benefit to post acceptances by average schools of average students? Like it's been said, this thread contains self-selective seniors responding to a self-selective group of college hopefuls.

[Olive_Tree]

I agree with ballerina. What would we benefit from the "average" people if they have average stats and are applying to colleges that the average CCer doen't apply to? These would most likely be community colleges of 3rd tier state universities. I apologize if this sounds mean, but that's how I feel.

[Northstarmom]

Olive_tree, you personally may not benefit from the average people posts, but I've seen evidence that there are lurkers who could benefit. Sometimes we see posts by students and parents (often immigrants) who seem to think that students who have gotten any "C" grades or who have SAT scores below 1800 on the new SAT have no chance of getting into any college.

The typical CC posters also could benefit from seeing some examples of students who wanted to go to HPYS, etc., but got rejected. Seeing what their stats and ECs were, where they applied and where they ended up could help students and parents realize that HPYS and similar college are reaches for everyone, and getting rejected certainly doesn't mean that one is doomed to a lifetime of failure.

[HImom]

I think a lot of kids could ask at their HS & find out what kids who graduate from their HS do with similar grades & stats. If they want to reach, they should try for some colleges that are more selective than those that are "recommended" as well. That's what a friend's son did & he also ended up at USoCal, tho his HS counselor (mediocre public HS) strongly discouraged him from applying, saying he'd never get in--not only did the student get in, he got a great need & merit aid package from USC, so it was one of his most attractive options & graduated from USC & has just completed his 1st year of med school at our flagship & only med school, which is very highly selective.

[CITATION X]

These summaries are quite useful. However, its important that people list geographical location of their high schools, as this is a major factor in admission decisions for the top colleges - who invariably are seeking geographic and regional balance from all 50 states and often 60 plus countries.

I noticed a poster several months back who posted the following list of acceptances:

Amherst College Accepted
Brown University Accepted
Columbia University Accepted
Dartmouth College Accepted
Harvard University Accepted (Attending)
Middlebury College Accepted
Mount Holyoke College Accepted
Princeton University Accepted
Rice University Accepted
Smith College Accepted
Swarthmore College Accepted
University of Chicago Accepted
Wellesley College Accepted
Williams College Accepted
Yale University SCEA Deferred/Accepted

Now this person listed 740m, 790v, and indicated top 5% of her class, as well as significant other quite commendable achievements and awards. She also (quite helpfully in my opinion) listed her originating location as Jackson, WY

It just so happens that the bulk of the top schools in the United States are concentrated in the northeast part of the USA, thus disadvantaging anyone competing from these locales.

Acceptance results as recited above from a northeast USA applicant from major metropolitan areas such as Boston, NY/NY/Phil etc would require perfect SATs, VAL status (top high school), and other accomplishments too numerous to list - and even then, very few could accomplish such a feat.

The bottom line is people need to post geographical locations to allow others to interpret the data presented