yeah. i guess being an AAU All American in track and field doesn’t hurt. Especially with my stats. Im just showing that colleges look at things other than subjective academic talent. I’m sure that a world class dancer could get into a very prominent school with sub-Stanford stats.
Accepted: Tufts U. (ED)
Academics:
GPA - Weighted: 4.42
GPA - Unweighted: Something Horrible
Class Rank:Top 20%
Class Size: 300
Scores:
SAT I Math: 800
SAT I Critical Reading: 730
SAT I Writing: 770
AP Chemistry: 5
AP Biology: 5
Extracurriculars:
Member of Acapella Group
Volunteer on Suicide Hotline
President of Chess Club
Work as Cashier
More (A bit lazy to list)
i benefited from this thread as a senior, just seems right to contribute to it now
SAT: 2260 (740/720/790) one sitting
GPA: 3.65/4.0 uw; 4.3 w
RANK: 15/325
SCHOOL: second-best public school in utah (huge deal, right? :P) sends 1 kid to stanford/year, very few to ivies
CLASSES: hardest available. 9 APs by junior year, plus 4 more senior year
AP: at time of application
-5s: macroecon, european history, english lang
-4s: chem, world history, microecon
-3s: human geo, spanish lang, spanish lit
EXTRACURRICULARS:
-ACADEMIC DECATHLON (10-12; captain 11-12)
–National Champions D-III 2006
–National Runners Up D-III 2007, 2008
–3 Individual overall National medals
–Utah State Champions 2006, 07, 08
–Highest scoring student overall at State Finals 07, 08
–Highest scoring student in history of Utah 2008
–a bunch more things not listed here
-DEBATE (9-12; president 11-12)
–tournament of champions bid 2008, public forum
–4th-placed team in state 9-12
–about 40 total individual awards from tournaments
-WORLD SCHOLAR’S CUP (11)
–second placed team at world finals 2007
–debate showcase champions at world finals 2007
-OTHERS
–Model UN (9-12; president 11-12)
–National Honor Society (10-12; president 12)
–volunteering, about 200 hours translating english-spanish at free clinic
REC1: probably fantastic. AD coach/teacher of 3 years. had been teaching forever and did a lot of recs.
REC2: probably ok. NHS advisor/teacher of 2 years. pretty young though.
ESSAYS: really good, i think. except for georgetown, which sucked.
COUNSELOR: probably terrible. our school has notoriously bad counselors.
DECISIONS:
Princeton: rejected (first choice)
Harvard: rejected
Georgetown: rejected
Brown: rejected (a little surprised)
Williams: accepted
Claremont McKenna: accepted (<–currently attending, and i love it.)
Wesleyan: accepted
Bucknell: accepted
University of Utah: accepted
i was very upset not to have gotten into any Ivies, and went to CMC pretty reluctantly. everyone told me that it didn’t matter. they said i’d have a great time and get a great education in Claremont; told me this was a dream school to a lot of kids, but i never believed them. i thought they were just trying to console me. that might still be true. in any case, i absolutely love it here. it might be the best school in the world for me. sure, i still get pangs of “what if i had gotten in to princeton?” and it was a slow transformation, but after almost a semester, i am really, really glad i ended up here. people reading this after opening their thin envelopes will probably react the same way i did to that kind of advice-- “he doesn’t get it. he just doesn’t get it.” maybe not. maybe i just got lucky and ended up someplace that made me incredibly happy by chance. but people in this situation seem to “just get lucky” quite a bit. so be open to new experiences and to places that you hadn’t hoped to be. who knows? you might end up lucky.
I used this forum as a junior. I’m here to show that nothing is impossible 
Student:
User Name: waddlelikeaducky
Gender: F
Location: East Cost
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes
Academics:
GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.00
Class Rank: 7. (Top 2%)
Class Size: 508
Scores:
SAT I Math: 720
SAT I Critical Reading: 630
SAT I Writing: 720
ACT: 31
Extracurriculars:
Significant Extracurriculars: Foreign Language Honor Society, Spanish Club,
Drama Club, Class Government, Business Alliance
Leadership positions: Chamber of Commerce (Student Representative)
Math Team (Treasurer)
Science Olympiad (Secretary –> President), National Honor Society (Vice President),
Business Honor Society (Secretary –> President), DECA (VP)
Athletic Status - list sport and your level: Variety Bowling
Volunteer/Service Work: Chambers of Commerce: [50+hours]
- Cleanups
- Easter Egg Roll Events
- Carnivals
- Monthly Meetings
Relay for Life: (Co-Captain)
Sachem Special Education Summer School
[300 hours]
Honors and Awards: Battle of the Books: 6-8th [Advance division 9th -10th, 11th ]
- Led the Team to 3 County Battle of the Books Championships
- Placed 2nd in 2007 and 3rd in 2008
RYLA
College Summer programs: Westbury College [Math]
Stonybrook University [Forensics]
Accepted to Michigan Engineering (EA) and UPENN Engineering (ED). Will attend Penn. Thanks CC!
GPA: 3.48 (unweighted, my school doesn’t weight)
SAT scores: R 750, M 630, W 610
5 APs
Class rank: 60%? ( my school doesn’t weight so its kind of bunk anyways, since it doesn’t distinguish someone who has all A’s in APs and someone who has all As in a joke class.
Extracurriculars: Boy Scouts, 4 years on the debate team, leader in marching band
Awards: Eagle Scout
Community Service: did 200 hour eagle project, and 25 hours for a candidates campaign for house of representatives.
Tulane- Accepted with 20K scholarship
All the other schools I applied to unfortunately haven’t responded yet
Accepted: Princeton (attending), Harvard, Penn, Duke, Northwestern, UVA, Georgetown, Notre Dame, BC, Middlebury, Lehigh, Lafayette
Waitlisted: Dartmouth, Williams
Rejected: Yale
School Type: Public
Race/Gender: Caucasian
Prospective Major: History / Minor: Chinese
Unweighted GPA: 4.38
Class rank: 1/221
SAT I Scores
SAT I Math: 710
SAT I Critical Reading: 720
SAT I Writing: 750
SAT II Scores
SAT II Literature: 600
SAT II U.S. History: 650
SAT II Math IC: 710
AP Scores:
Chem: 3
US: 4
Gov’t US: 3
Lang: 4
Psych: 5
Lit: 3
Long-form Info
Extracurricular Info
*Key Club State Board Leader
- Student Council President
- Debate Captain
- Varsity Tennis All Conference
- Peer Leader/ Peer Mediator
- School Musicals Lead (4 Years)
*Started a 2000 member hunger awareness program
I just finished my 2nd semester of my sophomore year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Insitute - which is not the school I began my undergraduate studies at so my post may be helpful to both freshmen and transfer students.
My senior year I applied to Syracuse University, Seton Hall University, University of Rochester, and Ithaca College.
Rank: 2 of 169 students
GPA: 3.87/4.00 (unweighted)
SAT Math: 700
SAT CR: 600
SAT Writing: 600
Treasurer of National Honor Society
Vice President of Drama Club
Trivia Team Member
Chorus
Swing Chorus
Volunteered at soup kitchens, local hospital.
All-County Chorus 3 yrs.
All-County Swing Chorus 2 yrs.
Varsity Cross Country Running 3 yrs.
Got accepted into all colleges w/ $15,000+/year merit scholarships from each.
Decided to go to the University of Rochester.
Transferred after my first semester to a community college close to home.
For sophomore year, I applied to St. Rose, Utica, SUNY Albany, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
I had a 3.50 / 4.00 gpa at the University of Rochester and a 4.00 / 4.00 at Hudson Valley Community College. I was accepted into all colleges as a transfer student w/ scholarships to all. RPI offered me a $15,000/year merit scholarship so I chose to go there.
Schools most likely to reject you because they know you won’t attend even if admitted: Cornell and Georgetown (and maybe Tufts and Brown)
Best Schools that no one applies to:
Bowdoin and Middlebury (in 73 pages of posts there was not one person rejected from Middlebury, although, only about 5 even applied - why is it considered such a difficult school to get into)
Best schools that everyone seems to get into:
MIT, Middlebury, UPenn
Worst Schools that no one seems to get into:
UCLA and Tufts
There are a ton of amazing students out there. it truly is a “crapshoot”
Attending: Vanderbilt
Accepted: Vanderbilt (ED) , Oxford College at Emory, Tulane (+24000)
Rejected: none
School Type: Private
Location: Northeast
Race/Gender: Middle Eastern (but I didn’t indicate it on my apps)
Prospective Major: Chemistry and Anthropology
Unweighted GPA: 3.7 or so. It was a 90/96
Weighted GPA: N/A
Class rank: School doesn’t rank
Test Scores
SAT: (not very good)
Math:690
CR: 660
Writing: 690
ACT:
Composite 1: 32
Composite 2: 34
SAT II Scores
Math II: 790
Chemistry: 750
French w/listening: 800 (I’m fluent so it was pretty easy)
World History: 770
AP Scores:
AB Calculus: 5
Taking:
BC Calc
World History
US History
Economics (both)
Chemistry
Extracurricular Info:
Professional Theater (6 years)
Community Theater (9 years)
Habitat for Humanity (4 years)
Community Service Club (4 years)
Varsity Tennis (10,11,12)
Varsity Equestrian (9,10,11,12)
Editor of Newspaper (11,12)
Awards (not many)
national honor roll (9,10,11,12)
high honor roll (9,10,11,12)
Essays:
Really good, quirky, and creative without being gimmicky. I spent three months writing them.
Recs
Amazing! My counselor and I are pals so her rec was really good at describing who I am. My two teachers also knew me well so their recs were good.
Accepted: Northwestern (ED, attending) , UT-Austin McCombs school of business, University of Oklahoma ($$$$)
Rejected: none lol, didn’t have to send off Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Duke apps.
School Type: Large Public
Location: Texas
Race/Gender: White female
Prospective Major: Economics
Unweighted GPA: 3.71
Weighted GPA: 4.998?
Class rank: Top 7%
Test Scores
SAT: 1420 comp, 2100
Math:690
CR: 730
Writing: 680
ACT: n/a
Composite 1:
Composite 2:
SAT II Scores n/a
AP Scores:
AP English Lang: 5
US Hist: 4
AB Calculus: 3
Taking:
AP Bio
AP English Lit
AP Economics (both)
Dual credit gov (4.0 for final GPA)
Extracurricular Info:
Club Soccer: 7 years
Varsity Soccer: 3 years, now captain
Philosophy Club Cofounder and VP: 3 years
National Honor Society Treasurer: 2 years
Awards (not many)
AP Scholar
Gifted and Talented Program
Top 10% Recognition (9-12)
Rotary International’s Academic Excellence award (9-12)
Duke Talent thing
ILPC Newspaper award at UT for feature writing
Essays:
I think what got me in…?
Recs
Teacher: amazing I’m guessing, he retired and said he spoke very highly of me.
Counselor: Good, we have alot of kids so she doesn’t know me too too well.
Accepted! DDDDDDDDDDDD
School: Middlebury (Early Decision)
SAT: 2200 composite, CR: 760, M: 700, W: 740
SAT II: French with Listening: 800, Math II: 700, Chemistry: 640
ACT: 1st time- 31 composite, 34 E, 31 M, 32 R, 28 S, no writing; 2nd time- 30 composite, 32 E, 33 M, 31 R, 25 S, 11 on the Essay
AP: French Lang: 3, Human Geo: 4, French Lang (re-take): 4, German Lang: 4, USH: 4, English: 5, Chemistry: 5
Grades:
I have a 4.8 GPA weighted and 3.9-something unweighted. I only took one honors class freshman year but after that it was all honors and AP. I took 1 AP class sophomore year, 5 AP classes junior year, and am now taking 6 AP classes. After my freshman year, my French teacher offered me the chance to skip French II by self-studying it over the summer. I took the opportunity then went into Honors French III. At the same time, I had decided to take German I my sophomore year and the teacher who proctored my challenge test was impressed and offered me the chance to skip to Honors German III (with no prior experience, besides that first week of German). I did and got an A in the class. I took the AP French test after Honors French III just for practice and scored a 3. I took the AP German test last year (my junior year) and pulled off a 4 somehow after only two years of studying the language. So, as you can see, Middlebury is my dream college and I tailored my application towards that with my essays and rec. letters (I got both from my former French teachers).
ECs:
-Leadership – Founder of Academic and Future Advisory Club to help underclassmen with college endeavors by giving them tips on what they should do and be looking at while there’s still time (lol), am in the process of starting up National French Honor Society too
-Sports – Tennis 9-12, varsity 11 and 12
-Clubs – Academic and Future Advisory Club President 12, President of National French Honor Society 12, Math Club 12, Steel Band Club 12, Blood Drive Committee (from NHS) 12, National Honor Society 11-12, National German Honor Society 11-12
-Work – No work
-Volunteer – Volunteer with National Honor Society, French and German tutor with program
-Other – nope, not really
Awards:
-Outstanding Academic Achievement Award 9-12
-National French Honor Society 12
-Outstanding French Student Award 10
-AP French Scholarship Award 11
-National German Honor Society 11-12
-Outstanding German Student Award 10-11
-National Honor Society 11-12
-AP Scholar with Distinction 12
Well, I’m done, so I’m going to do this now…
College class: 2013
Accepted: University of Michigan, Michigan State University (Honors College), Albion College ($16000/year), Kalamazoo College ($14000/year), Providence College, Villanova University, University of Vermont ($3000/year)
Rejected: None!
School Type: Public
Location: Michigan
Race/Gender: White female
Prospective Major: Psychology
Unweighted GPA: 3.71
Weighted GPA: 3.87
Class rank: Top 10% (a guess…)
Test Scores
SAT: 1340/2030 (1280/1820 for University of Michigan, Michigan State, University of Vermont)
Math:660 (590)
CR: 680 (660)
Writing: 690 (570)
ACT: 31
SAT II Scores n/a
AP Scores:
AP English Lang: 4
US Hist: 3
Psych: 5
Taking:
AP Bio
AP English Lit
AP Euro
AP Italian
Extracurricular Info:
Interact (4 years, secretary 2 years)
Italian Club
NHS
Volunteer at public library in 10th grade…then got a job there in August 2008
Awards (not many)
AP Scholar
School honor roll stuff
Italian Honor Society (I explained that I don’t consider this an EC because it requires no time whatsoever and therefore is merely an award)
Essays:
Excellent, if I do say so myself
Recs
Teacher: I read part of it…it painted a very good picture of how amazing I am 
Seriously though, it was good
Counselor: I assume good…I’ve worked pretty closely with him over the past few years
I have no idea where I will be next year. It’s going to depend mostly on money.
I’m not finished with everything but my EA/ED decisions have come in so I’ll do this now.
Accepted: University of Scranton (56K dean’s scholarship), St. Joseph’s University (60K presidential scholarship), Fordham (did not find out about scholarships yet because apparently I didn’t file my FAFSA)
Deferred: Dartmouth ED
School Type: public
Location: PA
Race/Gender: Caucasian Female
Prospective Major: Political Science/International Relations
Unweighted GPA: 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.5
Class rank: ~1/272 (upward trend in class rank)
Test Scores
SAT: 2100 superscored
Math: 650 (my downfall)
CR: 720
Writing: 730
SAT II Scores (epic fail)
Literature- 650
U.S. History- 640
AP Scores:
U.S. gov’t and politics- 4 (self studied)
U.S. History- 3 (self studied)
European History- 3
Extracurricular Info: many leadership positions
president and found of the young democrat’s club
vice-president of the diversity club
NEPA for Barack Obama
Mountaintop for Barack Obama
literary magazine staff
book review columnist
Awards: weak section for me
AP Scholar
Ambassador for Change Award
National Honor Society
Principal’s Honor Roll
Poetry Slam Winner
Essays: very creative
Recs: positive, but probably not eloquently written
Accepted: Harvard(EA), MIT, Stanford,Dartmouth(full ride),Brown
Rejected:Princeton,Cal-tech
Gender:M
Ethnicity: Asian-Indian
School:Private
GPA: 3.97
Class rank- 1/152
SAT scores: 800 M, 800, V, 790 Writing
ACT: 36
Leadership:
- Went to nationals in Gymnastics.
- Captain of my school swim team that finished second in state championships
EC’s:
-Tutored low-income kids in the south-side. Organized a fund-raiser that raised 17000 dollars for under-privileged kids in the city.
- Went on a charity trip to India with EWB (engineers without borders). We built 3 wells in 2 rural villages in southern india. Also created the EWB chapter in my HS.
Seriously, just looking at these statistics makes me even more inclined to say that admissions are a complete crapshoot. You have some people with SATs in the 2300+ range with decent ECs and all that are rejected from HYPMS. Either we have a bunch of liars who are just mad that they didn’t get in with not as impressive stats or admissions is a crapshoot.
Accepted: Bowdoin (ED)
Waitlisted: n/a
Rejected: n/a
School Type: Public
Race/Gender: Caucasian
Prospective Major: Legal Studies and Environmental Studies
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
Class rank: 15/440
SAT I Scores
SAT I Math: 660
SAT I Critical Reading: 750
SAT I Writing: 610
AP Scores:
Comp. Govt - 5
Psych - 4
Env. Sci. - 4
Eng. Lang/Comp - 3
Accepted: Wash U St. Louis (ED), UChicago (EA), UPittsburgh + tuition
Rejected: Nope
Withdrew: UMD, NYU, Emory, Brandeis
Attending: WASHU!!!
Location: Southeastern PA (in between rural and suburban)
School: one of the best in the state
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
SAT: 800 CR, 730 M, 740 W
SAT II: 800 UShistory, 720 Lit
ACT: 34
PSAT: 214- National Merit Commended
GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.34 W- 7 APs, 8 Honors (one of the hardest course loads in the school)
Rank: top 10%- I’d estimate about 10/340
APs: USH (5), EComp (5), Bio (4)- taking German, ELit, ES (lol), CompGov (lol)
ECs:
Youth Group VP, Pres
Academic Team Varsity 4 years, Captain 3 years
German Honor Society VP, Pres
Music- 3rd Chair Cello, 2nd Chair Bassoon
District Orchestra and Band
Philosophy Club cofounder
Taught myself Yiddish
National Honor Society
Awards:
All County All Star, Academic Team
Orchestra Leadership
National Merit Commended
Distinguished Honors every quarter (over a 4.0)
Essays: Good- I sent my Uchicago one to WashU as an additional essay
Reccs: APBio/Academic Team, German, APEnglish all great. Guidance also really good
Interviewed at Uchicago and WashU- both went well
Visited all schools except UPitt
Hooks: taught myself Yiddish, linguistics major, Dad gives a good deal of money to Uchicago, Paid Travel Grant to WashU
Basically, if you’re planning on applying to WashU and UChicago, be sure to show interest! I really think that my interviews and essays are what got me in, and I’m super excited for next year!
@akshay88
Uh, how’d you get into Harvard EA when Harvard doesn’t offer EA anymore?
[edit]
oops sorry, my bad, didn’t realize you were posting your stats from a while ago.
i just ruined an entire night lol, i went thru all 74 pages took me from 12ish-3ish…i didn’t find one white male into emory ED II and legacy with 1900= **** my life btw i meant to mispell, oh well ill post back here after its all done
@afitscher: I hope you at least “optimized” your search (like “find” or “search in this thread”). If you want consolation though, I’m pretty sure I saw someone get into emory rd from my school with 1900-2000 on my naviance.