<p>OP, I truly am sorry for what you went through. Any reasonable human would have been touched by each aspect of your story. But however hard the truth is, I must say it. </p>
<p>First, no one single factor can keep you out of any of those schools. Your letter about your depression could not have helped or taken away from your application. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Ivy League admissions, but having done considerable study on the process, adcoms probably didn’t even read most of your extended essay. You said that it was similar to the post and that would have been too long for most adcoms to read through. Additionally, they generally dislike excessively long applications since they have thousands of applications to sort through. There used to be a phrase that went something like this: “The thicker the folder, the thicker the applicant.” Imagine this: you work in admissions (and they aren’t that well paid anyways) and it’s a stormy, snowy night in December. You’re sitting at your desk with a huge stack of folders to look through, each one for each student. Are you going to favor the concise one or the one overflowing with paper? Admissions officers are only human - they are subject to the same bias as any of us are. It probably is better that you didn’t send your letter because it most likely would never have been read. </p>
<p>Also, your scores are not that competitive for your “reach” schools anyway - the Ivy League, Stanford, and UChicago. Generally, applicants need to clear 700 on SATs across the board to be competitive. Many people have 5s on all APs taken. You had no 5s. While adcoms, like me, sympathized with your situation, they simply did not think you could handle the coursework based upon your SAT I, SAT II, and AP scores. </p>
<p>Further, why are you disparaging those who were admitted to those schools? You say, “I wonder what percentage of incoming college students going to elite colleges know anything about Dodd-Frank, the Volcker Rule, or the Simpson-Bowles commission, or any other important economic policy decisions that have been debated over the last few years?” Yet you miss the biggest factor in college admissions. Colleges are looking for students who will cherish their opportunity and have the aptitude to LEARN. It doesn’t matter if you memorized every single Wikipedia article or read every reference book there was. Pre-existing knowledge is immaterial. If you knew everything anyway, then what’s the point of admitting you? </p>
<p>Finally, by your tone of speaking, I got the impression that you still hold a great deal of resentment towards all those schools. The sooner you get over it and accept that either A) your application did not convey the meaning that you wanted it to or B) you simply were not competitive enough. Nobody is to blame here. Though perhaps if your guidance counselor was more proactive, things could have turned out differently.</p>