Can more graduating/graduated seniors do "actual results" threads?

[kirroyalemum]

D25’s results:

White Female
Parents Have a College Degree/PhD
West Coast/Best Coast/Bay Area
3.7 UW /3.9 W
1380 SAT (720M/ 660V) - submitted
applied as a Stats or Linguistics major
10 APs (all 4 scores on tests submitted)
3 years varsity sport
part-time job
a few club memberships–no leadership
volunteering (over 100 hours as a language volunteer)

Accepted

• American University
• University of Washington
• University of Maryland ($60k merit)
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Denver ($132k merit)
• University of Delaware ($50k merit)
• University of Oregon ($40k merit)
• University of Nevada - Reno ($56k WUE)
• University of Colorado - Boulder ($55k merit)
• University of California, Santa Cruz
• San Diego State University
• San Jose State University
• University of Toronto
• University of British Columbia ($7k merit)

WL

• Cal Poly SLO
• UCONN for fall, given spring admit with study abroad

Rejected

• UC Davis
• UC Berkeley
• UCSB
• UCSD
• UCI
• UCLA
• Northeastern

[RedWaterbottle95]

Didn’t mean to reply to the post above

White Male
Parents both have bachelors
Southeast
93.89 UW / 4.92 W
Top 10%
35 ACT (36R, 36E, 34S, 33M)
Applied as PoliSci/Econ/PPE
9 APs (2 5s, 2 4s, 1 3, rest waiting)
2-3 Leadership Positions
2 Internships
Summer Program
Part-time job
500+ volunteering hours
(Check profile for full stats + ECs)

Accepted

• University of Tennessee Knoxville (EA) ($56k + Honors)
• University of Richmond (EA) ($90k)
• University of Georgia (EA) ($40k + Honors)
• SMU (EA) ($130k + Honors + Distinguished BBA Scholar)
• University of Michigan (EA)

Waitlisted

• Vanderbilt (RD)
• UNC (EA)

Rejected

• Yale (RD)
• UPenn (RD)
• UVA (RD)
• Columbia (RD)
• Dartmouth (RD)
• Georgetown (RD)
• Duke (ED)

[goldbug]

S25’s results:

White Male, no hooks
Full Pay – did not apply for financial aid
Parents have graduate degrees
Large Public High School in SF Bay Area
GPA: 3.7 UW /4.0 W
SAT: 1550 (780M/770V)
Rank: not calculated, but definitely not in top 9%
APs: World History (5), US History (5), Lang (5), French (5), Physics I (4), Physics C, BC Calc, Bio, Studio Art (Photography), Lit
4 years varsity badminton (men’s doubles)
Piano lessons
late, light dabbling in various clubs (cycling, robotics, physics)
short stint working at a restaurant
no leadership or volunteer work to speak of
Summers: Honors French immersion exchange program through CIEE; WPI Frontiers program (robotics)
Awards: some kind of distinction on national French exam, National Merit Commended Scholar, whatever you get for doing well on APs.

Applied as engineer (either undeclared or mechanical) or physics major (schools without engineering).

Essays about getting over his shyness in France and bonding with kids who were not “his types”, learning more about his Persian heritage, trying to bridge divide in polarized campus debates about Middle East, solving puzzles, being an unlikely engineer (these last, for UC PIQs, were not very compelling IMHO).

LORs:
Physics teacher (has had 2 years now + TAs for him)
French teacher

Accepted

• Oregon State University (MechE)
• University of Pittsburgh (engineering undeclared)
• University of Minnesota (engineering undeclared)
• CU Boulder (engineering undeclared) – $6250 merit
• University of Washington (first-year engineering) – $3K merit
• Colorado School of Mines (MechE) – $6K merit
• RPI (MechE) – $39K merit
• WPI (MechE) – $29K merit
• UC Santa Cruz (Physics)
• UC Merced (engineering, I think?)
• Brandeis – $40K merit
• Case Western Reserve – $31.5K merit (deferred EA and then admitted)
• University of Rochester
• Union College – $36K merit
• Lafayette College
• Macalester College – $20K merit
• Oberlin College – $32K merit
• St. Olaf College – $31K merit

Waitlisted

• Cal Poly Pomona (MechE)

Rejected

• Cal Poly SLO
• Purdue (N.B.: applied after priority deadline which probably doomed him)
• UC Berkeley
• UC Davis
• UC Irvine
• UC San Diego
• UC Santa Barbara

Notes for future aspirants:

• Applied EA wherever possible. It was a huge push at the beginning of the season but it paid off.
• Interest demonstrated: we visited all the private schools on this list, either last winter or this winter before the decision deadline. Interviewed wherever possible. He did not open all their damned emails, however, nor did he show up for all the school representative visits to his school.
• UC/CalPoly results were disappointing but not surprising.
• Did not expect to get into the reachier private schools on his list (Case, Macalester), as we’ve noted a bunch of stronger profiles getting turned away. I have to wonder if being full-pay and helped.
• We were pleasantly surprised by the merit he received from many of the private schools. St. Olaf would have been the cheapest COA (less than either UC); Union and Brandeis and RPI came in just under $50K estimated COA.

We’re not 100% done with decisions around here but I’m guessing he’s going to UW, although Case is still intriguing to him (and preferred by at least one of his parents, truth be told).

[cinnamon1212]

“Persian heritage” caught my eye – that’s my heritage too!

[collegegeek2020]

DS25 Stats:

OOS, white male, need-based financial aid
GPA: 4.25/4.33 UW, 7.25 W
SAT: 790 M, 750 R&W
11 APs, some for current senior year (all 5s in AP tests taken), strong math and science, almost all other classes were honors

General ECs and awards:
-Heavily involved in theater, mostly acting but also experience directing, stage managing, construction. Did 4 shows a year so hundreds of hours devoted
-President of HS theater program 2 years in a row, multiple awards in theater
-President and treasurer of service club, raised money for various service projects
-Student and class council
-Tutored MS and HS math and science
-Honor societies: National, Math, Science, English, History, Thespian, Foreign Language
-Awards in Foreign Language district and national
-AP Capstone Diploma, 5s in AP Seminar and Research, did research study and paper on specific medical field he aspires to go into
-Shadowed multiple doctors in that field
-Paid work in a summer arts camp and assisted living facility
-Volunteer work in multiple areas

Accepted: Cornell ED into College of Arts and Sciences with a biology major, generous aid package too

What may have helped/advice:
-Having a strong, well-rounded interest and experience in both arts and sciences plus high interest in outdoors’ activities, and writing about that juxtaposition in essays
-Did not do any formal tutoring or prep for SATs or APs but was very self-driven with studying for all on his own
-Only help with college apps was a college essay tutor with his main common app essay. Just needed someone to brainstorm with him (he was so used to writing scientific essays/papers so needed more confidence in creative writing). Once he got over that hump, the other essays were easier and all done on his own
-I know it’s cliche but be yourself, explore and talk about your passions and goals, don’t try to just dazzle admissions
-Nice balance of being humble while talking about accomplishments (he does not like to brag but it’s important to show admissions how hard you’ve worked to get to where you are and what you’ve achieved).

Feel free to ask any questions!

[KaiserSoze17]

S2025
White Male, upper middle class
Very strong and competitive HS in Texas
Minor hooks as a Type 1 Diabetic pursuing Biomedical Engineering
4.0 UW/5.36 W GPA (Top 5%)
1510 SAT (770M/740V)
14 APs with all 4’s and 5’s including Calc BC and Physics C
Multiple Engineering and Biomedical focused electives
Captain of elite Robotics Team
Started club chapter at school that uses tech to help kids with disabilities
VP Key Club
President Mountain Bike Club
President YMSL
Co Chair Relay for Life
Medical Research Paper
Doctor Shadowing
NHS
Lots of Robotics Awards
2X Presidential Service Award
AP Scholar with Distinction
NM Commended and Rural Scholar
Jobs as an Auto Mechanic for 2 Summers, Math Tutor
Strong rec letters from Doctor he shadowed and did research with, Robotics Teacher, STEM teacher
Utilized professional advice for very strong essays and interviewing tips

Results:
NC State (Accepted, full ride scholarship)
Texas A&M (Accepted, about half tuition scholarship)
U Florida (Accepted, modest scholarship)
Colorado School of Mines (Accepted, large scholarship)
U Texas (Accepted, no scholarship)
Rice (Waitlist)
Duke (Reject)
Harvard (Interview, Reject)
Georgia Tech (Reject)
Penn (Reject)
Stanford REA (Interview, Reject)
MIT (Interview, Reject)

Strategy was to target strong Engineering schools that were a fit for him with large potential for merit money and special programs as well as taking some “half court shots” at elite private schools but not applying ED anywhere which we knew would reduce those chances further. Taking the full ride at NC State and thrilled, in the end would have taken it over acceptance over the bigger names as it’s just a better fit and opportunity for him, especially as a full ride.

Biggest thing that helped him: Focusing on what he wanted to do and building a story to match that. Start with grades and rigor along with focused coursework and add EC’s and other activities that supported that in diverse ways, including service and leadership. Tried to add both traditional and unique activities to show strength of application and have him stand out as interesting.

Biggest mistake: After Freshman year he decided not to continue on with Honors Spanish 3 and do AP Spanish 4 and 5 because he had no interest. Instead took Spanish 3 online Summer School and ended up getting a high B one Semester (only B in High School) we were assured would not show up as credit but ended up on his transcript. He took more STEM coursework instead which was actually much more rigorous. Double whammy because it hurt his class rank against kids that did because of unusual way school counted Class Rank (would otherwise have been Top 2%). Triple whammy because it almost certainly was seen as a negative with the elite private schools and in the game today you simply can’t afford any negatives going after those schools for admission at 5% or so in RD.

In the end it was 2 years of an incredible amount of work, stress, and strategy but it all paid off. He ended up with far better options than he likely would have had we not put in the extra effort and now he’s got just an incredible opportunity before him. Had a few he didn’t get that he originally thought he really wanted but in the end he’s in the right place for him with the best opportunity. Really, really glad to be done though!

[DadBodThor]

Congrats! That full ride is fantastic!

[KaiserSoze17]

Thank you! Very blessed!

[fuschiachop]

S25’s results:

White male, no hooks
Full pay – did not apply for financial aid
Large public high school in North Carolina’s largest public school system
GPA: 3.9 UW /4.5 W
SAT: 1520 (750M/770V)
Rank: 49/483
IB diploma candidate (IB psychology, physics, German, analysis and approaches, english, history)
APs: Environmental Science (4), World History (5), Precalc (5), Calc AB

Extracurriculars:
volunteer/paid conservation and park work with the city, pickup sports with friends, independent guitar lessons, German tutoring, various honors societies

Applied and accepted to study engineering at:

NC State
University of Alabama at Huntsville ($21 annual merit)
Virginia Tech
Auburn ($15 annual merit)
Penn State University Park

Committed to NC State

We toured 14 engineering schools in 9 states, public and private, small and medium and large. And it helped S25 figure out a lot about the kind of environment he wanted for college, so he felt — at least at the time of submittals — that he would be comfortable going to any one of these schools if all 4 others denied him.

I am definitely grateful for the thoughtfulness, the insights, the commiseration and the support of this community. It would have been a much worse experience for the entire household if I didn’t have y’all….many, many thanks!

[acurtis1120]

D25 interested in biomedical engineering

4.0, SAT1510
Class rank 6 of 410.
Math through BC Calc
NHS, beta club, music, publications

Applied
Case Western ACCEPTED AND ATTENDING 42k merit. COA 46k
Clemson accepted (instate palmetto) COA 23k
Georgia Tech Waitlist
Penn State accepted COA 56k
Purdue accepted COA 40k
U Maryland accepted w/ 12k merit. COA 47k
U. Michigan, waitlist, chose to decline WL
Northwestern applied ED, rejected
Notre Dame rejected
U. South Carolina (instate with Palmetto fellows) COA 20k
U Wisconsin accepted COA 61k
Wash U st. Louis rejected

Considerd but didn’t end up applying - NC state, VA Tech, RPI, U rochester, Lehigh, Lafayette, William and Mary, Union, Trinity, IIT, Brown, Emory

Was surprised to be admitted and to get great merit from Case. Didn’t show any interest prior to admission. It went from middle of the pack to number one after admitted students day.

I appreciate this site and the helpful info here. One really helpful post was the article from the Wall Street Journal on the SAT landscape score. Though 5 years old, it showed that our high school had a challenge score of 80 which helped me to understand context.

[livsgoing2college]

Yep, here’s mine! I’ve been waiting to post here: Liv's Commitment Thread

[hoopsdad2000]

@Cory1058 My favorite aspect of this post is that you applied to over 25 T-30 schools (just about all of them, basically) and yet you still applied to the state schools.

You trusted the process and it paid off.

Take a bow, Cory, for your application diligence, your accomplishments and so much more!

[randommom1]

S25
3.8UW/4.1W
1390 SAT
Light activities, decent recommendations (I think), NHS, and community service.

Ursinus 40k merit (COA 37.5k)
St. John’s Annapolis 16K merit (COA 42k)
UNH 5k merit (In state COA 28k)
Bard no merit 85k (did not complete CSS)
Bates - waitlist (emailed & toured)
Dickinson - waitlist (did not tour or inquire)

Declined waitlist at Dickinson, accepted it at Bates. He liked UNH but found his people at St. John’s College.

[DivineMarshmallow]

My D’s results:

• class of ‘24, but applied with class of ‘25 (3 year HS grad)
• 32 ACT (non super score)
• 3.94 UW, 4.24W GPA
• ECs: very music/band heavy
• hooks: medical disability
• applied for engineering for all
• applied EA for all
• all OOS

• University of Arizona, accepted, $80,000 in merit

• Colorado School of Mines, accepted, $48,000 in merit

• University of Colorado, Boulder, accepted for exploratory studies, $25,000 in merit

• University of Miami, deferred, waitlisted, daughter declined waitlist position

• Clemson, accepted, $30,000 in merit

• Baylor University, accepted, attending, $140,000 in merit plus $42,xxx in renewable grants

• offered work study everywhere except CU Boulder and Clemson

Final three came down to Baylor, Clemson, and Colorado School of Mines.

HTH!

[Aafat]

Here is the final result for D24. I know I am late but I just saqw this thread. I have benefited a lot from this forum so time to give back.

Major applied to: Physic or Aerospace Eng

Unweighted GPA: 3.9
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.3
Fully Weighted GPA: 4.56

1540 SAT (790 Math, 750 Eng)

ELC (top 9% CA HS): Yes

AP courses/exams (scores in parentheses): AP EURO(4), AP Eng(5), AP CAL BC(5), AP GOV/MICRO(5), AP Physics 1(5)..Few more that I forgot.

Award: National Merit Finalist.

Extracurriculars: Eagle Scout, Varsity Debate Team

Volunteer/Community service: Fundraising and regular volunteer at local food pantry.

State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): CA Bay Area Public School
Applied for need-based financial aid? No
First Generation? No

Reach:
MIT (Rejected)
Cornell(Rejected)
UPenn(Rejected)
Princton(Rejected)
Cal(Waitlisted)
Rice(Rejected)
U of T Austin(Rejected)
UCLA(Accepted) ATTENDING !
USC(Accepted with 50% Tution merit)
UCSD(Rejected)

Target:
UCD (Accepted)
UCSB(Accepted)
UCI(Waitlisted)
Purdue(Accepted)
UIUC(Accepted)
Case Western( Accepted with $25k/year merit)

Safety:
UofArizona (Accepted $25K merit/yr)
ASU (Accepted with $18k/year)
UCR (Accepted)
UCM(Accepted)
UCSC(Accepted)
Twin Cities(Accepted)
TAMU(Accepted with Full tution)
Embry Riddle(Accepted with $25k/year merit)

[slyone]

This won’t be very exciting but…
D25

35 ACT (34M/35S/35E/36R) one sitting
National Merit Commended
Full IB Diploma Program candidate
National Latin Exam cum laude and magna cum laude on the 2 years she took it
3.9 UW GPA when she applied – I can’t figure out weighted
No class rank
Solid ECs with a focus on languages, language-related community service, and her sport (not a recruited athlete)
Essays – I think they were thoughtful and well written. They were what she wanted to write, and she had fun with the Wake top 10 list.
LORs – who knows?

Applied rolling ED to Wake Forest and was admitted in the November round; did all the essays, requested but did not get an interview, did not do the optional video (none of the prompts spoke to her)
Applied EA to Binghamton School of Management (admitted the day before she got into Wake)
Applied EA to URichmond (withdrew application)

She applied EA to the schools on her list that allowed her to apply EA when she had an ED application in somewhere else and there weren’t many.

Wake was always her favorite and she was thrilled to get in early and be done with it!

[rar76]

S25 results. Thanks a lot to this community.
White male (North African). No need-based money (still filled FAFSA just in-case).
Major applied to: Computer Science + Second Major Math / Physics depending on merit.
State: CA
School: Public (2500-2600 students)
Both parents graduate degrees.

GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.49 EA / 4.54 RD
ACT: 35 (36 M, 34 S, 36 R, 35 E)
Rank: Top Decile. School doesn’t specify further.

12 AP courses/exams: AP EURO(4), AP Eng Lang(4), AP CALC BC(5), APUSH (5), AP CSP(5), AP Stats (5). Currently enrolled in 5 more (AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP Spanish, AP Psyc, AP CSA). Testing AP Micro self-study.

Extracurriculars:

1. 2 Years Varsity Cross-Country and Track. Team Captain senior year. Medalist at the league and section levels, but not at the state or national levels (top 30-40 at state finals twice in XC). Athletic recruit for D3 and lower D1 schools that have XC men varsity. Communicated with coaches (got responses from 10 schools total) starting April Junior year.
2. Church Servant / Deacon / volunteer around 200 hours total. Graduated Servants Prep class.
3. Few coding projects / contest but nothing impressive.
4. Tri-Lingual

Main essay was well written. Supplementals quality varied depending on topic, and his level of interest in the school / coach. Applied EA unless there was no EA, then he applied RD.

Reaches:
Stanford (Rejected)
MIT (Interview/Rejected)
Vanderbilt (Rejected)
Rice (Rejected)
UC Berkeley (Rejected)
UCLA (Waitlisted)
USC (Rejected)
Emory (Rejected)
WashU (Waitlisted)
Harvey-Mudd (Waitlisted)
Tulane (Rejected)
Georgia Tech OOS (Rejected)

Targets (merit-per-year/net-direct-cost-per-year):
W&L (Accepted) $ 0 / 91K
U Miami (Accepted) $ 25K / 65K
U of Richmond (Accepted) $ 0 / 86K
Trinity University TX (Accepted) $ 34 / 38K [Attending]
UCSD (Accepted) $ 0 / 40.2K
UC Irvine (Accepted) $ 6 / 36K
Bucknell (Accepted) $ 0 / 86K
TCU (Accepted) $ 30 / 52K
Santa Clara (Accepted) $ 12 / 71K
Rhodes College (Accepted) $ 39 / 34.5K
Pepperdine (Accepted) $ 36 / 59K
Auburn (Accepted) $ 17 / 36K
Sewanee (Accepted) $ 31 / 44K
Baylor (Accepted) $ 35 / 45K
SMU (Accepted) $ 40 / 46K

He qualified to multiple full-tuition scholarship finals and visited to compete at Trinity U, Rhodes College, but didn’t win. He visited most of the CA schools, but couldn’t afford to visit the rest OOS schools.

Choice came down to Trinity, Rhodes, and UC Irvine. His heart was with Trinity coaches/team from the very beginning (might have affected the quality of his writing positively). Fact it was in TX, growing selectivity, and an LAC made it the best fit for him.

His high-achieving group of friends (all range between 15-18 APs total, straight As, All computer-science major) ended up at UCLA (2), UCSD (1), Canadian School (1).

[mr24272]

While I haven’t been the most “vocal” on these boards, I have really enjoyed following along and learning so much from everyone. Happy to provide my D25 results.

Major applied to: Political Science / Government Studies

Public High School
GPA: 3.9 UW / 4.4 W
SAT: Applied to all schools as Test Optional
Rank: 11 out of 159

5 AP courses/exams: AP Eng Lang(4), APUSH (5), AP Gov (4). Currently enrolled in AP Stats and AP Lit.

Extracurriculars:

1. 4 Years Varsity Ice Hockey. All Conference Player, Assistant Captain senior year. Additionally played on a National Bound club team, making it to the National Championship her senior year.
2. Heavily involved in community service work through NHS, WLHS and Student Council.
3. Model UN.
4. Provided in school tutoring and served as a Writing Center mentor.
5. Museum docent through multi-town historical society.

Applied RD to all schools, unless the school had the option to apply EA.

** Rejected **
Amherst College
Williams College
Boston College

** Waitlisted **
Wesleyan University
Cornell

** Accepted **
University of New Hampshire (with merit)
University of Rhode Island (with honors and merit)
Suffolk University (with honors and merit)
Providence College
Connecticut College (with merit)
Trinity College (with merit)

At the end of the process, her top three acceptances were PC, Conn, and Trinity based on the size of the school, program/internship/networking opportunities and the strong sense of community she felt at each school. Providence would have resulted in significant loans, so my daughter ruled that one out. After speaking with professors and career centers at both Conn and Trinity, my daughter found that Trinity was the better fit in terms of goals and assistance. Go Bantams!

[DivineMarshmallow]

Go Bruins! Congrats!

[bridzz]

D25

• Tiny publicly chartered high school (arts) in NH (no college counseling at school so did everything ourselves)
• GPA 4.0 UW 4.02 W
• SAT (sat for state administration only): 1370 – submitted everywhere because scores much higher than average for school
• Rank 1, 2, or tied
• No APs offered at school
• Took every honors course offered (approximately five)
• Interested in biology and art
• Submitted visual art and dance supplements
• Good essay; great recommendations (we assume); numerous but not over the top ECs (mostly school-based honor societies and clubs; also volunteered at science center). Consistent, committed student and active at school. Artsy and academic. Parents attended Oberlin, so familiar with type of school she was interested in
• Not sure it mattered, but showed interest by attending virtual event at each school in fall/winter (we only visited acceptances in person)
• Made sure to answer all extra questions on applications but did not interview
• Applied only ED everywhere

Reaches
Hamilton (rejected)
Colby (rejected)
Bates (waitlisted)
Mt. Holyoke (accepted as spring admit)

Targets
Oberlin (accepted)
Skidmore (accepted and attending)
Dickinson (accepted)
Denison (accepted)

Safeties
St. Lawrence (accepted)
Wheaton (MA) (accepted)

All financial aid packages were very similar and as expected/planned for. Tuition discounting running about 50%.

Came down to Denison and Skidmore in a very close race. She chose Skidmore because greater depth in arts and dance and its location (3:45 drive vs two plane rides and not in OH). Students seem welcoming and campus is lovely (both important to her).