You did not mention your course rigor, weighted GPA, or class rank (or estimated rank) - i.e. how you compare to the other top students in your class. This missing info is a major factor.
Given what you mentioned above, I wonder if your application was “over-curated” to the point that it may not have appeared authentic. For example, the essay(s) had to be genuine, not grammatically perfect nor suitable to be published on the NYT.
As others have mentioned, congratulations on being accepted to other amazing institutions. You’ve done well and will continue to do so given all your other accomplishments…
The major theme that has emerged from this discussion is the need to be authentic, the real you. If you come across as a laundry list of things, you seriously weaken your credibility in any one area… You become like an AI bot… Don’t try to permutate to what you think a school wants, just be the real you.
While true that you can never know why you weren’t admitted, you can suspect and theorize. It’s normal and something most people do. And whether you are right or wrong, doing so may help you get past this disappointment.
But, you might consider keeping these theories to yourself and your immediate family member.
I have a friend whose amazingly talented kid was rejected last year to several top 20s. (Fwiw, he was the ultimate “applying sideways kid” with a 1600 in one sitting and no prep; pursued what he loved.). He did get into the same one you did though. He’s very happy there. But in the aftermath of the results, his mom said to me that clearly he was rejected from the school my kid attends because the school rightfully saw that he wasn’t that interested in attending. I love my friend; yet, I didn’t appreciate that comment. I understand that she was trying to deal with her own disappointment, but she should have expressed that sentiment to her husband, not to me.
I assume the purpose of this thread is to warn students that spending $20k on a college counselor and advocating for causes will no longer be a straight ticket to an elite school - unless you’re aiming for UCB - which these strategies will work?
So if you’re doing these things, it may not get you accepted to an ivy league school even if you deserve it - because these schools are now looking for subservient students?
OP, nobody here knows why you weren’t admitted to any Ivy League school to which you applied. However, let’s say you are correct, and that such schools have adjusted their admission preferences to decrease the number of highly progressive students and increase the numbers of less politically active or even right-of-center students. In the interests of ideological diversity and perhaps a less chaotic campus environment, wouldn’t this be an understandable, perhaps even laudable, change in course for these institutions? It’s not good for the students, schools or the country for the Ivies to be left-wing echo chambers.
And how about just be a place to learn diverse perspectives, rather than coming in and advocating with preconceived notions… otherwise, you look very closed-minded. Universities are places to learn and grow…
The best leaders are great listeners, and calibrate their thinking with the most informed points of view…
Yeah, yours is the latest of several cringe worthy threads currently making the rounds, dealing with rejection by twelve or thirteen of the hardest schools on the planet to get into. It’s clear that a lot of this begins early in high school and gets aided and abetted by family members. But to be clear, not every family goes about the application process with the same collective set of expectations. My hunch is that the vast majority of kids who write their own essays and pursue ECs for their own enjoyment, have never heard of College Confidential.
I read my youngest son’s original essay. It was satirical and edgy and took a very blunt view on a controversial topic. It was definitely ‘him.’ A friend of a friend of my wife’s was a former admissions counselor. She didn’t like this essay and felt it might offend some people (I will admit this is very possible). She encouraged him to write a 2nd essay. I thought it was the corniest, sappiest thing I had ever read. I told him the throw it away and not to use it. He was convinced she was an expert and wanted to ride with the sappy essay.
As a concession to me, since I was paying the bills, he agreed to use the edgier essay at a handful of universities where he felt he had the smallest chance of admission (and nothing to lose anyway). He graduates from one of those schools in about 45 days.
Could my son’s situation have been a fluke? Of course. Could it be that someone really valued this essay that was authentic and more interesting? Perhaps. There is a chance (of course I can’t be certain) that your private admissions counselor did more harm than good.
