Don't really understand...

Applying to College
1

<p>Ok, i just got rejected from every top tier school i’ve applied to, and I really do not understand why.
Stats:</p>

<p>Math classes taken
9th: Alg 2 /Trig
10th: Precalc Honors
11th: Calc BC AP
12th: Stats AP
Community College: Multivariable, differential eq (senior year)</p>

<p>Science classes taken
9th: Bio
10th: Chem Honors
11th: Bio AP
12th: Chem AP
Community College: Intro physics, Calculus Physics mechanics, calculus physics e&m (junior year)</p>

<p>Language
Chinese I ii iii iv (honors)</p>

<p>History
9th: typical frosh history
10th: typical soph history
11th: APUSH
12th: AP Microecon</p>

<p>Lit
9th: typical frosh lit
10th: typical soph lit
11th: Literature honors
12th: unweighted senior lit</p>

<p>Computer Science
11th: AP Computer science (AB had been removed from collegeboard by this time)
Community college: 10 – c++ I 12 – multithreading, data structures c++ algorithms c++</p>

<p>A’s in every class except for apush first semester and chinse IV honors second semester, so gpa is like 3.96 unweighted</p>

<p>SAT II
Chem 800
Math ii 800
Bio M 800
Physics 800</p>

<p>SAT I 2350</p>

<p>AP tests
Bio 5
Physics C Mech 5
Physics C EM 5
Calc BC 5
AB subscore 5
Comp sci A 5
APUSH 5</p>

<p>Internships
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory – programmed in c++ a giant electron microscope that shot out xrays onto microscope sample (two months in summer between junior and senior year, got 2000 dollars)
Stanford Microsystems – programmed in matlab for image processing using math on the images to measure deformation on cells and microscopic devices (from October to now)</p>

<p>Clubs
Math club – northern California championships (10-12)
Engineering club – president/founder, National Finalist Team (11-12)
Robotics club – programmer and helped make battery holder (10-11)</p>

<p>Extra
Wrote physics simulation of Newtonian mechanics in java and submitted a link to it on youtube
Piano
Piano – founder medal for highest level of American guild, senior medal for Certificate of merit and passed level 10 three times in high school, honors recital in the last two times
Cross country – mvp of jv team and also on varsity team freshman year, varsity sophomore year
National Merit Finalist
Built a small car out of spare parts for a competition</p>

<p>My theories on why I didn’t get into Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Harvard:</p>

<p>I’m an asian male. I’m not well rounded, only focused on science/math. </p>

<p>What ****es me off (sorry…)
Kid got into Harvard with nothing but leadershipin DECA club
Kid got into JHU with nothing but normal ap classes, and still less than me
Kid got into Princeton, everything lower than me except for mvp soccer team
Kid got into MIT, roughtly the same, but minus internships, but is a girl that writes very well and persuasively (good at making stuff wishy washy)</p>

<p>I got into Berkeley, but I really thought I had a shot at these other top schools :(. So yeah…. Any explanations out there?</p>

2

<p>It hurts. </p>

<p>But the college admissions process is, sadly, largely a crapshoot. People say it often, but they don’t say it often enough. There is a misconception that admission somehow correlates to your worth as a person or the value of the last 4 years of your life. </p>

<p>There are literally thousands of kids who apply with “sufficient” credentials to be accepted, and many are not. </p>

<p>You should never, for even one moment, feel that there was something lacking on YOUR part that would have guaranteed your admission. There is no such thing. </p>

<p>Fortune smiles on some, and it doesn’t on others. I hope that Lady Luck is there for you on another day in the future.</p>

3

<p>Let me just start off by saying that you deserve better than the judgement of some mediocre, unintelligent admissions officials. I think you already, hopefully, realize this :slight_smile: Just look at your flipping credentials; you are overqualified! </p>

<p>You should be proud you got into Berkeley. I live in Cali and anyone who goes to UCLA or UC Berk is highly respected. Your parents should be proud of your accomplishments. </p>

<p>If you really want to know WHY, here is a big reason: did you try to get an alumni interview with these universities? MIT especially likes those interviews and applicants are 3-4 times more likely to get in. Another thing that you cannot help is affirmative action. Like it or not, the system is weighted against Asians. I am sorry; I don’t support it one bit. </p>

<p>Also, what the first guy said: the admissions process is a total “crapshoot”</p>

4

<p>Definitely their loss.</p>

<p>It may also be that to accept you might equal decreasing their yield. In other words, a lot of top students are denied admission on the theory that they will have so many options that they are less likely to choose any given school, and therefore not contribute to a high yield percentage for a particular school. Sounds crazy…there was a Wall Street Journal article, oh @ 7 years ago?, that talked about this.</p>

<p>I suppose it’s possible that your essays were terrible, but I’m not inclined to believe that.</p>