Sometimes it’s hard for the applicant or people close to them to assess the essays or recommendations. There’s so little room for error in applications to schools with sub-10% admit rates that a single misplaced word or phrase can make the difference.
A friend’s daughter had Ivy-level stats and ECs at a school that sends close to half the class to Ivies, but she fell in love with a highly ranked LAC and applied early. She, her family, and the school were shocked when she was denied, not even deferred. They took her application to an outside consultant who felt the problem was her essay. She was a serious student who wrote a lighthearted essay. The college counselor had thought it added another side of her personality to the rest of her application, but the consultant thought it read as flippant. She comment that reading it she didn’t like the applicant.
The daughter went to another LAC further down the food chain but transferred to an Ivy after her freshman year.
Wow. A consultant to do the postmortem. Oh for the days when a lazy late Boomer-era underachiever just threw in a few applications in December, and wound up at a lesser Ivy. Such a different world.
@SadStrong I really hope you didn’t tell any of your classmates about this thread. It’s good to vent somewhere where you’re anonymous, but I imagine that the “lesser qualified” candidates from your school would not be happy about what you’re saying. It would be a shame if your college issues got in the way of real life relationships.
The world doesn’t owe you anything for being smart. It would’ve been a good move to apply to an actual safety where getting in would be easy for you, like msu or western. You could probably still apply for their rolling admissions and get a good scholarship. Instead of dwelling in your emotions and complaining, act.
The obsession with “tiers” here to the point people are splitting hairs over whether top schools like Northwestern and USC and Michigan dare share the lofty glory of HYPS and the like is pretty, well, obnoxious. Sometimes it comes off as down right elitist. Some of us attended gasp schools that wouldn’t even register on any high-achieving CCers radars! And had fine experiences and surprisingly learned from respectable professors and not some dummy off the street! Life didn’t end, miraculously.
Please, you don’t help the anxiety when admissions time rolls around and these perfectly capable high school students have to “settle” on that dreaded well-regarded state flagship. Just stop.
@amNotarobot: & @SadStrong: I believe that OP was just referring to numbers with respect to qualifications. And, I suspect, that on that basis he is correct. But this is a learning experience that teaches all of us that college admissions is much more complex than just being evaluated by one’s numbers & by one’s past accomplishments.
This is a growing experience for all of us. I am dismayed that one ranked #1 with outstanding standardized test scores & a very significant accomplishment in the strategic gaming world didn’t get better guidance regarding the ultra competitive college admissions process.
Regardless, the University of Michigan is an outstanding result & the OP will probably get into several exceptional graduate schools.
People are allowed to express & experience disappointment. If you are a friend, then I suspect that this is the time to let OP, or any one of the thousands in a similar situation, know that you are a true friend.
One of my best friends - tech guy who retired at about age 35 twenty years ago - went to Michigan. Super, super smart guy, and I’ve been around a lot of super, super smart people in my life. Make the most of your time there, OP. If you get around to applying to graduate or professional school one day, you’ll find that the admissions process is a lot less silly.
Personally, it appears from your extracurriculars listed that you attempted to join things senior year solely to boost your resume. This not only hurts the organizations you committed to but also reveals a severe lack of sincerity. When up against an equally intelligent applicant pool at the schools listed, colleges place greater emphasis on personality and commitment over straight grades. Furthermore, it is very insulting to say that peers are “less qualified” than you as you may not know the full extent of their application and abilities. #victors2022#goblue
To OP:
Just curious. Did you get in to any of these from your original post?
“I am waiting to hear back from Yale, Stanford, and Princeton.”
I looked through quite a bit of this thread. yesterday was IVY Day. If you did,all is OK with this world by your evaluation of yourself.
OP, I don’t see anything wrong with your initial post about your qualifications and disappointment in your outcomes. You worked very hard in school, you have some great extracurriculars, and you thought you were an excellent candidate for the schools to which you applied. I’m sorry you didn’t have better results. Unfortunately, you might never know why you were rejected.
I am a 41 year old mom of 7, and when I don’t get something I want or think I deserve, I still call up my best friend to throw a little hissy fit and talk trash about whatever it is I thought I wanted. After helping with the trash talk, she helps me take the mature steps of thinking about what I could have done better, why things might have gone wrong, why it wasn’t a good idea anyway, etc. I do the same for her when she is disappointed. I don’t think there is any wrong with that initial feelings dump. We’re only human. Perhaps it rubs people the wrong way on a public board like this when they don’t know you personally, but it speaks to your character (and your humility) that you were willing to stick with this thread.
You seem like a very confident young man, and I would suggest you maintain that confidence in your outstanding work ethic and abilities. They will take you far! Spend the weekend venting to people who know and love you, then dust yourself off, put this all behind you, and go to U of M and shine!
IMO it is now time to buy yourself a Michigan t-shirt and hoodie and move on with your life as a Wolverine. Go to UM, have a wonderful experience, excel academically, have some fun, and you can get wherever you want to go in life.
Michigan is one of the top 3 publics in the nation, with amazing faculty and opportunities. As parents on this site, we try to understand the frustration and pain that high school seniors go through during this process and offer advice which could help the OP and others who may be preparing to go through the process.
While the OP had great numbers, as others have said, that just keeps the student’s file in the mix. For holistic admissions, it is the rest of the application which demonstrates how a student will contribute to campus life that the admission decision turns on. The misjudgment here seems to have been that it was a race for the best “numbers” – ranking, test scores, breaking the record for AP/dual enrollment. Yet, the student acknowledges he did not have time to prepare for AP tests sufficiently to demonstrate mastery of the material. Similarly, on the essay, it is not about how much time was spent on it, but what does it tell Admissions about how the student will contribute to campus. If the focus of the essay was about how the student developed strategic thinking, navigated unfamiliar circumstances when surrounded by older people, or learned to work with people from diverse backgrounds at tournaments – that would demonstrate desirable skills which could tip the balance towards acceptance. But if an essay highlighted what could sound like an obsession with a game most kids gave up in middle school, or focused on the “exceptionalism” of the accomplishment of being one of the youngest competitors, that would not show off the applicant in the best light. The essay really is tricky – my advice is to work backwards from what you want Admissions to know about you, in terms of how you fit campus culture, will enrich the community etc., and then figure out a way to tell that story, usually in an anecdotal, engaging way. Finally, no one knows what the recs said – maybe they read as “damning with faint praise” – praising the student’s accomplishments in terms of breaking the advanced credit record, and silent on the student’s substantive contributions as a thinker.
@dumberblonde please read all my posts on the thread before commenting. You posted twice about things other people already said and I already responded to.
@GammaDelta I posted about not having any good news from Ivy day. Stanford is the last one, but its clear that rejection is inevitable from them.
I think you will be fine at Michigan. Honestly, I feel like being highly ranked in MTG isn’t a top notch EC. Yes, it shows passion for something — but not something that changes your community or helps other people. It isn’t a sport that the college has a team for, or anything that predicts classroom success (like an academic EC might). It doesnt seem like a predictor if any career success. I don’t look at it and say, that adds to our college community in a positive way, or “this kid will build on this and do great things”.
Michigan is a very, very good school. You don’t need to hang your head at all to be attending there.
I think it is time for everyone to stop berating @sadstrong. He has acted in a very mature and intelligent manner, acknowledged some less then artful word choices and apologized. He does not need to be chastised any further. He is a great kid with wonderful accomplishments. Please everyone. Let it go. Moderator, I don’t know the rules of the forum, but maybe its time to lock this thread?
OP, I wish I could sit down for a game of MTG with you and my kids!