Please keep in mind this an 18 year old who came here for help and finds themselves in a vulnerable and sad situation. They don’t need to hear “told you so”, have their self confidence further undermined or have their personal experience used to validate adult posters opinions and agendas.
Treat this kid the way you would want your kid treated.
Could you elaborate on what that means?
OP—just wanting to be sure you understand that some of the schools with good merit that people are mentioning are still taking applications now for entry this fall. That includes University of Arizona and University of Alabama.
OP, you could put in an application for the coming year to St Andrews, Durham, UCL, KCL and Glasgow, all highly ranked for Classics. Although the deadline has technically passed, they are less stringent about that than in the US, and you could well get an offer for the autumn. You could do the same at Trinity College Dublin
Please note that the OP said this mid-topic regarding his parents, however:
@AirMetro at this point, a LOCI is warranted for the waitlist schools. Having your school counselor reach out could help, especially if the school has sent students to these colleges in the past.
Do you have any additional awards or something new that was not reflected on your applications when they were sent? If so, ask the school counselor how to get this info to the college(s).
Yes, there are still colleges taking applications, if there are any on the list that meet your desires.
Taking a well defined gap year could also be productive if things don’t work out this year. You could reevaluate where you applied…get applications done perhaps to a different variety of colleges…and Net some good acceptances.
Read this thread. It’s old…but the things expressed in it still apply. This kid also had no acceptances the first time around…but did a well defined gap year and totally landed on his feet very well.
Sure. Honestly I was grasping at straws trying to figure out how you could be turned down at your safeties. I think the answer is - you never had safeties until after their regular deadlines or too late for Pitt. That’s likely the answer.
No point to belabor but now you know your matches weren’t close. Frankly not close for any student. There was a poster last week not in at BU but attending MIT. So if you go another round, please take the safety into account first - and multiple. And instead of a Vandy, maybe it’s Miami. Instead of BU, maybe it’s GW etc. also, please make sure your essays are yours and not your advisors!! An Elon or Furman instead of Wake
What I meant by my EC comment is some kids list such heroic ECs that without proper context or documentation that they might seem a bit of a stretch. But now we know your safeties were applied to late, this is less of a concern
You noted:
Latin Club President, International Relationship Club Founder, Wrote articles, research papers and book in Latin, selective summer programs in Classics, senior member in Debate, MUN and Student Publication, a lot of CS hours every year
Perhaps writing a book in Latin is seen as a stretch and providing a link to it would be ‘proof’’ . Do you note the name ? Could a quick search find it etc to verify that you wrote it etc ?
How did you define CS hours ?
Again I was just trying to see where you might have gone wrong.
The real answer may be that you applied only to reaches but you mis calibrated due to your advisor and applied (early enough) only to reaches. Did you ED anywhere ? Did you demonstrate interest at those who consider it ? Visit, do on line sessions, open emails etc.
If money is not an issue, you might consider ED1 and 2 if you decide to try again. Personally I hope you start this Fall and have a wonderful experience. This way, the name is a bit different than you thought, but the experience can be just as great!!
Best of luck.
Thanks- I missed that.
Please consider asking your GC to audit your application file? Wondering if something got screwed up…like wrong transcript, incorrect GPA calculation, etc.
It just seems so strange that with your stats you were not accepted at more places.
If the online courses are college courses that you may be taking after high school graduation during a gap year or semester, check all colleges of interest to make sure that they will not disqualify you from frosh admission (requiring you to take their transfer pathway). Colleges’ rules on frosh versus transfer do differ from each other, and are not always easy to find on their web sites.
For example, UMass considers frosh to be those who have attempted fewer than 12 college credits after high school graduation. However, the University of California considers students to be on the transfer pathway if they enroll in any college courses after the summer immediately after high school graduation.
Well, now you know that his college counseling advice is worse than useless. I hope your parents realize that.
This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.
This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.
Unfortunately there are racist or otherwise prejudiced people everywhere - even the NY, MA, IL, MD and not just the rural parts.
Conversely there are many accepting people in all sorts of geographies, even those in conservative strongholds.
It’s unfortunate but it can’t be escaped from. Even in your own immediate area.
But there are plenty of schools in red states, for example, that are inclusive and provide wonderful opportunities for people of any race. I understood some are concerned with state laws and politics and I can appreciate that.
But by this reckoning the student should not have applied to Rice, Emory or WUSTL amongst others.
Were you waitlisted or rejected from these?
Get other advice. Like here from mostly people in the know. It seems he had a select clientele that most of us would have success advising. It’s obvious that it didn’t work out well for you with this person.
I sympathize with the OP.
While I have not read all of this thread, I don’t think anyone has mentioned the upcoming Supreme Court decision that will make discriminating on the basis of race in college admissions illegal.
He is an Asian kid. As a group they are discriminated against. It is likely has has parents (1st gen) who will not go for dramatically lowering his academic sights or going to community college
It is for this reason, I think it is absolutely the right thing to take a year off and try again.
In addition to that, the OP needs to get a better independent college counselor, broaden his scope of schools (some reasonable safeties), and find a way to draw more attention to his passion for classics.
Instead of a family friend, he needs to get a college counselor who is experienced with Asian students. We as a people have experienced this form of discrimination for years, and while it may be officially illegal by next year, there are ways to play this game to minimize the negative effects.
One of these ways is to be strong in non-stem areas. His passion for the classics is perfect for that. As classics departments around the country are starving for enrollment, getting a candidate who want to major in these departments/graduate with a degree are rare/sought after compared to all the Asian kids who want to major in CS or Econ. His essays and recommendations need to focus on this kind of uniqueness.
The focus on DEI has made many if not all of the Ivys very hard for Asian kids to get into, however there is a list of great schools who care more about getting the top students regardless of their identity. Think UChicago, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, etc. These are the top schools of the next generation.
He should pick a few top schools, but broaden his search (and include in state flagships)
He also needs to play the first gen card more strongly.
All of the above could have been handled by a competent independent college counselor.
The OP has worked too hard to give up and take what he has been given this year. Next year has a whole different set of circumstances and with a little work, he can/will be successful.
While the moderators have reminded me that race and admission are not allowed to be discussed on threads that are not specific to the race topic, I believe my post directly addresses the OPs question, and in light on the Supreme Court ruling this summer is relevant and worthy of consideration. Any censorship of this sort of contribution to this topic is reflective of the shrinking level of free speech on college campuses and the websites that support them.
Reminder that there is only one thread where race and admission is allowed to be discuss on CC and this isn’t it. Move on from the discussion or posts will be deleted.
Which schools do you have waitlists from? Which campuses (non-main) were you granted acceptances to?
Your parents did not attend college in their home country?