Another data point, in off petition, female, TO 3.9 UW / 4.5 W, but direct leadership experience in a non-finance business major. So tipping the scale in our favor: female, non-finance, leadership in major, geographic diversity.
We are happy for this outcome, but overall the college app experience is somewhat demoralizing. There’s an algorithm at play and you are only privy to part of it. So to think it’s entirely within your control is folly. We are still unpacking at least one negative decision that completely shocked us.
This is my second kid going through the process and my biggest concern with both has been that the experience flies in the face of the “set your sights on a goal, work hard, and you’ll get there” lesson that we tend to teach. That works for a lot of life, but there’s too much going on behind the scenes to know this to be true with college apps.