I volunteered too! Just finished the training, hoping to get my ‘student’ soon.
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S24 has decided - so time to make an entry.
Major: CS
Competitive MA public school
Asian
Not eligible for need-based aid
UW 3.95/W 4.66 (school doesn’t rank, but likely top 5%)
ACT 35 (all 35s, except Reading which was a 36)
9 APs, the highest possible number in the school
Core subjects all four years
National Merit Commended
Varsity athlete, had a couple of other unusual ECs
Essays were good, not great (IMO) and letters of recommendation were probably OK
Sometime during the fall term (probably on November 15), S24 went from wanting to apply to selective private schools to deciding that he was done applying. So no applications after November 15.
Results (COA after any awarded scholarships)
Williams (ED) - denied
Swarthmore (RD) - denied
Pitt (rolling) - admitted to CS and Frederick Honors College (4-year COA $90k)
UMD (EA) - direct admit to CS, offered FIRE ($240k)
UMass Amherst (EA) - direct admit to CS ($140k)
UIUC (EA) - denied
UMN Twin Cities (rolling) - admitted to College of Science & Engineering ($160k)
tOSU (EA) - admitted to pre-CS, offered Honors ($165k)
Georgia Tech (EA2) - denied
UW Seattle (RD) - denied
Iowa State University (rolling) - admitted to Software Engineering and offered Honors ($115k)
University of Nebraska (rolling) - admitted to Raikes School ($80k) - attending
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Congrats. Curious as to what kind of roles the Raikes school graduate places into.
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You can find that information on their Instagram or Linkedin page.
my S24, Mechanical Engineering/Aerospace, decided he was “done applying” too right around Nov 15 after just 5 applications! He’s first in his class, small competitive New England school, white, 1490 SAT, amazing ECs and community service, great essays. He’s going to a great school he’s super super excited about though, Colorado School of Mines, and got terrific merit. So it all worked out, but I was very nervous.
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S24:
Public HS in TN
White
ACT 36 true score
9 APs
Unweighted 3.98
Weighted 4.5
4-years JROTC and he was battalion commander his senior year and the program was 
student led.
4 years of marching band with leadership roles
Volunteer hours through JROTC and our church every single week (runs the cameras).
Worked part time job
Founded and taught/ran his HS investment club x2 years.
Finance major.
4-year army ROTC scholarship recipient.
Princeton EA- REJECTED
Yale - REJECTED
Harvard - REJECTED
UPenn - REJECTED
Notre Dame - REJECTED
Brown - WAITLISTED
McGill - ACCEPTED (5k? Scholarship)
Cornell - REJECTED
Dartmouth - REJECTED
UChicago - WAITLISTED
Hillsdale college - ACCEPTED ($25,500/yr renewable scholarship)
Duke - REJECTED
Boston College - REJECTED
Lehigh - ACCEPTED (full room and board scholarship x4 years) - COMMITTING
Wake Forest - ACCEPTED
University of Tennessee - ACCEPTED
Tulane - WAITLISTED
Columbia - REJECTED
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Wow, are college admissions decisions unpredictable?
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Yep, for those schools that are reaches, they really are reaches for everyone, even near perfect GPA and perfect scores don’t guarantee anything… BUT, those credentials do still create lots of options and opportunities.
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That’s one way of putting it.
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How exciting that he’s going to the Raikes School - I’ve heard such great things about it, but he’s the first one to commit there, that I’ve seen on CC (although there may be others that I’ve missed). I hope you come back to update on his experiences there, and help put this program on the radar of more of the students who are gunning for the “usual suspects.” Of course, UMass-Amherst is excellent for CS and would have been pretty affordable in-state, and many would have considered that coveted UMD CS admit to be worth the cost… but Raikes is a unique opportunity - very cool that he’s chosen it. Congrats!
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Congrats to your kiddo! Lehigh is a great school.
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With your son’s amazing resume, I’m sure it was a deliberate choice not to apply to any service academies. I was wondering what led him away from that option?
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He wanted a full college experience and the military academies are all military all the time. He just wanted regular college. 
He was asked to apply to West Point but decided against it.
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Lehigh is a wonderful school–huge congrats to your son. And that scholarship! Wow! My husband’s family is full of Lehigh alums and they all love the school so much and their career outcomes have been top-notch to say the least (just two examples of many – MIT and UMich for grad school, then onto major careers in science and business). They go back for the big football game each fall and it is the highlight of their year. I wish my S24 who is an engineering major applied but he refused because there is “no downhill skiing.” Yes, everyone knows what engineering students are doing on weekends: skiing! 
Shall we file that one under “Things Kids Must Learn for Themselves?”
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haha!! Yeah He will learn there isn’t going to be a lot of time for skiing. You could just FALL down the hills at Lehigh, lol.
Thank you so much for that information! Coming from the Southeast, nobody around here has heard of Lehigh but we are hoping to change that. But my son chose it based off of their outcomes so good to know that your family has done so well with them! MIT and UMich are amazing!
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My D23 was also more a “regular” high achiever.
GPA: 3.9UW/4.1W
106/560 rank
ACT: 33
Very large suburban competitive public HS
100 volunteer hours
NHS, science NHS
Only took 4 APs and no Physics or 4th year of foreign language. Also only grade level for Math (took trig/pre calc as a senior)
4 year one sport athlete with leadership roles
Spent her summers lifeguarding
Applied EA for Psychology to
UTK - accepted with merit
Clemson - waitlisted
Indiana - accepted with merit + honors
SDSU - accepted + honors college, CUBoulder - accepted with small merit + honors college
Montana State- accepted with other large merit and finally
Michigan - deferred then rejected.
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is she committing to UTK?
She’s just finishing up her freshman year at UTK (switched to the business school before she even got there) and had THE BEST time! It was the perfect fit for her.
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Wonderful! My oldest son is there, finishing sophomore year, biochemistry.
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I would not have guessed that people in the Southeast do not know Lehigh. I grew up in New England, worked in NYC and it seemed like everyone knew/knows about it–the school is very well respected here. That could be because I (inexplicably, honestly) know a lot of engineers work who in the private sector and also engineering professors? I am sure of one thing: your son crushed it!!! Congrats!
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