<p>I applied to 12 schools—3 state and 9 Ivy all over the country–for which I was at the 50% level or better based on CollegeBoard info. I was denied at 9–receiving 5 of the denials in one afternoon. I had a good resume of participation, and I even hired a writing coach who works with kids applications to guide me on the essays, and tailored them to each school (I scored well on the writing section of the ACT and SAT, so it’s not as if I am terrible at it…) I really can’t figure it out, unless my scores at 30 ACT and a GPA from a top HS of 3.75 just fell short of this tier. I did apply for financial aid—my parents thought we should try even though in the end I didn’t qualify and I wonder if that hurt me…many articles now saying with the economy there were so many financial aid considerations. My mom feels awful because she tried to help me and feels like she failed too. My options include UCSB (OOS), a Big Ten honors program, and ASU with a scholarship–hopefully Barrett Honors but I don’t know yet.<br>
None of these really has the small college atmosphere that I know I’d do best at, but maybe it will be ok within a smaller major department or the honors program. </p>
<p>I know it’s more important WHAT you do at college than where you do it, but I wish could find out what it was about my app that didn’t work. All the schools say there is no recourse or appeal, and they can’t give specifics.</p>