I understand your pain and rejection and i’m sorry. I was also rejected from boston university and i was outright rejected from northeastern, as well as waitlisted at emerson college. like you i did not really have a balanced list of matches/reaches/safeties and i suspect i also had less than stellar recommendations from counselors/teachers who did not know me well due to the nature of my school. however, i sat down and evaluated my options, gave up on my desire for prestige, evaluated what was important in my college experience + beyond and sat down and applied to more schools with rolling admissions. it seems that affordability isnt a huge issue for schools with 50% and up acceptance rates, and your stats are good enough that you could get merit at some of these. in affordability you have an advantage- as long as you can afford your safety (i could not) and it is a good social and academic fit (not the extraneous stuff like prestige, acceptance rates, all that over-hyped jazz) then you will be fine. i promise. you seem smart and dedicated and you will do well no matter where you go.
You are looking at this all wrong. You are in the driver’s seat. You have excelled. You will continue to excel. Which college are YOU going to reject. Rutgers or TCNJ. Only one of them will be lucky enough to get you.
@sdl0625 My parents are not in a very good state financially, so we did not have the ability to visit any of the colleges. Admissions representatives from several of these schools did come to our town for meetings so I did attend several of those. Some reps also came to our school and I talked with them. I showed the most interest for BU, Rice, and Emory in this regard.
@Publisher To be honest, I didn’t really have any interest for other schools. My counselor told me my list wasn’t bad for someone like me, but some people here are telling me that it could’ve had some changes. I would say that the only colleges I would have added would be UCSD and NYU. I have two schools to work with right now, and I would say that I prefer TCNJ over Rutgers.
@200iqgamer when you talked to the rep’s did you find a way for them to remember you, or send any followup emails. i have seen DI play a big deal this year, especially with yield protection. Just attending sessions and saying hi at the college fair doesnt always cut it.
Many of the colleges on the OP’s list do not track interest. The more selective the school, the less interest matters. I don’t think that was a big factor. Certainly the comment that GPA was not the issue at Michigan is incorrect. An in-state student with that GPA would have had a hard time getting accepted.
You got admission to a good school. Stop complaining the rejections by those REACH schools. Yes, your list of school is reach heavy and many are out of reach due to weak GPA.
Can your family afford either TCNJ or Rutgers? If it is going to be difficult, you might take a gap year and try again, next time for a school with better financial aid?
If they can afford it, you’ll be fine. It stinks to get rejected, but in a year it won’t matter at all!
@HRSMom Yes, both of those schools are more affordable because they are instate. Rutgers did not offer me any scholarships or aid whatsoever, but TCNJ has offered me several scholarships and is closer so I can drive to the campus easily and avoid housing.
^That sounds like a plus! You sound like a good kid, very intelligent. Just let this disappointment run its course and then move on. You will be fine at any school. Good luck to you!
Since TCNJ offered you more scholarships, take the money and use it to live on campus at least your first year. It’ll make your experience fuller. Unless you’re into spectator sports, TCNJ is probably a better undergraduate experience.
In addition, if you really wish to have one or two more choices, there’s a list of colleges that miscalculated yield published in early May - there are always surprises there so you could always contact the rep directly and send an app. If you don’t like it better than TCNJ no harm no foul.
@200iqgamer I’ll also say that it has to be disappointing to have what are very respectable grades and great test states and not get in to your top choices colleges.
If you are really interested in advice regarding what did you did wrong so you can do better in college, obviously the most important thing for you in college is to be more strategic/concerned with your GPA (or be wiling to take the path a respectable, but lower, GPA affords you.)
If you are really concerned with graduating from a “name brand” school, with your test scores, if you can pull high grades at the college you attend, you sould be able to transfer, if that is really important. But you will need very good grades.
Alternately, you could do 4 years at the college you pick and try for your “brand” school as a post-grad institution.
If you do attempt to transfer or go on to grad school, the biggest mistake you made, I would guess, is being a bit unrealistic in your choices. If you were not excited about your safety schools it might have made sense to add some safties that were more exciting to you. There are many schools where a 3.5 GPA, 34 ACT would have gotten merit aid and honors college. But they are generally not sub 20% acceptance schools.
But if you do not like your choices there is no reason you could not gain a transfer after freshman year if you concentrate on grades.
I also think there is a good likelyhood that once the sting of “rejection” (which is not how I would look at it, but I know enough college kids to understand that’s how it feels) that you will find Rutgers or TCNJ (or whatever route you choose) to be more interesting and challenging than you imagined, and you might spend 4 happy years there.
@200iqgamer i think you go to one of the most competitive school district in NJ. Unfortunately your GPA will not rank you in the top 20 % of graduating class. Also while your accomplishments are spectacular in wider context unfortunately they are not that unique among your peer group. All of your target schools receive large amount of applications from your peer group. I strongly believe that your results would have been very different had you applied from a little less competitive school.
On the bright side - your school has prepared you well for college life and you will do extremely well in college.
Those are some AMAZING stats and EC’s, with the exception of your GPA. Seriously, I would kill to have EC’s and awards like those. Your SAT subject scores and ACT were all great. I’m surprised you didn’t get into at least one of those colleges. A lot of people have been saying they’re “reach schools” but for someone with your qualifications, BU and Northeastern should’ve been a piece of cake. I applied and got into Chapel Hill, as did many of my classmates, but we’re all in-state. The thing is many of them were far less qualified than you and I didn’t think Chapel Hill would put that much weight on in-state status. I had a white friend get into BU and an Asian friend get into University of Wisconsin, which are ranked around the same as your schools. Their qualifications, with the exception of GPA, weren’t anywhere close to yours.
Your GPA isn’t even that low, but unfortunately you’re Asian. I’m Asian too, and my parents always used to say that with anything less than a 4.0 the admissions committees would throw away my application before they even looked at the rest of it, simply because of the expectations they have for Asian students. That’s an exaggeration, but it highlights the problem of your GPA being too low for the standards they have for Asian applicants. Affirmative action does play a bigger role than most people think. Still, I’m surprised those colleges didn’t give you some leeway for your GPA given your excellent awards and EC’s. USABO semifinalist is considered a national level honor. Honestly, had your GPA been 3.9+ you could’ve had a great shot at any of the top 10 schools.
There isn’t anything wrong with you. This goes to show that college applications aren’t as “holistic” as they’d like everyone to believe. I’m appalled that there’s people telling you to “get over it” because while your undergraduate education may not have as large an impact as you believe it will, it must feel like a slap in the face to have all your work for the past 4 years be put down like this. Please don’t feel like a failure…know that you’re extremely accomplished, talented, and hardworking. You’ll go on to do great things in college and beyond, and show those schools what they missed out on!
@fluffydog Thanks for the comment on my EC’s and awards. I did work really hard to try and get a solid ACT score and to get good EC’s. Spending all my time on clarinet to be a section leader, perform at carnegie hall, and win various regional and state awards for music, on top of various other things I mentioned felt like it was put to waste, and I hated that people were telling me to get over it. However, with HS out of the way I’m determined to get good grades in college. I visited TCNJ and the campus seems great, and they really tried to sell their bio department, and I was exposed to many of the available opportunities. I even got to visit some of their classes, and it seems like the professors there are far more knowledgeable and passionate about the curriculum than any HS teachers I’ve had. While I may consider a transfer, I’m 100% happy with staying at TCNJ for my undergraduate years.
My kid got waitlisted for Northeastern too despite a 1540 SAT/35 ACT, 3.75 UW/4.3W. And got rejected at places like UCLA and Northwestern too. I attribute it to all the Asian parents (including me) who wanted Y2K Golden Dragon kids. Not much you can do now except to look forward.
OP your stats are amazing. Yes,your GPA is on the low side, and your rank was probably low, but your profile is great. In post #56 you say you are 100% happy with staying at TCNJ. You have bounced back quickly and you are showing a positive attitude. I am also surprised at the rejections and I feel for you…but it is so so much more important to take on college with the mentality that you are demonstrating in your last post.
You should pat yourself on the back, because you propelled yourself into an enviable position: you have the luxury of choosing between two schools, both of which are affordable. So don’t be so hard on yourself – you achieved a fantastic outcome. Maybe not at as selective a school as you had thought, but it’s a place where you can thrive for four years. Maybe at TCNJ you will rise to the top of your class, and take advantage of all those opportunities which you are already so excited by.