Hi folks - Boy, do I need some perspective. This college admissions process with my son has me losing sleep and feeling like I have failed him in the worst way. He has been accepted to engineering programs at:
UCSB
UCSD
Case Western
BU
Purdue
U of Michigan
But was waitlisted at:
Vanderbilt
Carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
and rejected from:
Stanford
UCLA
Cal
Northwestern.
We discovered that he had failed to upload these most recent SAT scores to Hopkins and CMU. He is a fairly immature 17 year old (late fall bday) and has approached a lot of this process with impatience and, frankly, sloppiness. He’s very smart but won’t take input from us and may have hurt himself by not slowing down, creating relationships with his schools, and triple checking everything. At the same time, he is so married to the idea of himself as an intelligent achiever that these WLs and rejections are killing him. I think he has some good choices, but he is facing a painful day today and possibly a long learning experience filled with “what ifs”. I look back and feel that I should have insisted that he listen, that he show me receipts and emails, but during the process he was so resistant, only to end up regretful. Ugh! How does a parent let go of the feeling that I didn’t do my duty? Hope there are not others out there feeling as I do today.
Stats:
SAT Total: 2330 M: 770, CR: 800, WR:750
ACT: N/A
SAT Subject Tests: Molecular BIO: 800, M2: 760
GPA-UW/W: 3.75/4.15
Rank: probably 9/100
AP/IB classes: Sophmore: Bio (4), CalcAB (5) Junior: Chem (4) EngLitComp (4), AP Calc BC (5), AP Music Theory (5), APUSH (4) Senior: AP Stat (prob 5), AP Physics (prob 5)
Senior load: Multivariable Calculus, AP Stat, AP Physics, IR, Independent Study, Linear Algebra
Subjective:
Teacher Recs: Both should be very good
Counselor Rec: Should be very good
EC highlights:
Water polo four years, captain this year
Swim team two years
Track and field, two years
Athletic Council on Leadership
Principal Cellist school orchestra
Six years Local Philharmonic youth orchestra
DJ for local events, school dances, etc.
Camp counselor four years running as summer paid position
Lifeguard
School Musicals - Stage Manager 2 years/Assistant Director 1 year
Math Club
Tutor at local public school
Lots of music community service: playing at churches, events, hospitals
Awards
National Merit Finalist
AP Scholar with distinction
California Scholarship Federation Silver level
Sophomore Performing Arts Award
State or Country: CA, USA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male