<p>4.62/4.8 Weighted GPA
3.82/4.0 Unweighted GPA
2340 SAT (first time), 2360 SAT (superscored)
8 AP/IB courses, some of them taken a year (or even two) ahead (the rigorous ones: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Bio, etc.) with all 4s or 5s on the AP Tests.
730+ SAT subject tests, most were above 750 with a 790 on Math II
Fairly average ECs but with volunteering at the local hospital, a year of work experience at a popular local restaurant, involved in several clubs and a varsity sport… etc.
We don’t have class rank in our school either.</p>
<p>What bothers me the most is that I didn’t really hold out hope for the Ivies I applied to- I recognized they were crapshoots and while it would be helpful if I made it into one of them, they definitely weren’t the end all be all of my life.</p>
<p>No, what bothered me was that some fairly safe schools: Northwestern, Notre Dame, and worst of all CMU rejected me. (I suppose I should pause and say that these schools can’t really be called safeties, but they are among the most commonly entered colleges from my school- I’ve known a lot of older students that had considerably worse grades and SATs but got in). </p>
<p>I was applying for undergraduate business. Yes, I recognize that Northwestern and Notre Dame have competitive programs but I mean… I thought I had the stats. CMU’s Tepper School isn’t even on the top 10 for Christ’s sake. I thought my biggest worry, my lowish GPA due to problems at home and some medical issues junior year, was waived for CMU. The average for Tepper was a 3.5-3.6 UW as I recall. </p>
<p>I might not have gone there due to financial concerns, but it would’ve been nice to have a choice in the matter.</p>
<p>Now I’m heading to Pitt as my last choice school and I can say, it definitely hurts inside. I’m not really sure what to think right now my mind is a mess and my parents have nothing to say to me.</p>
<p>I’m not gonna flame you or pity you, and I hope it isn’t bad to reply after you’ve expressed your desire to delete this thread. But I just wanna say that, based on your stats, your future is bright no matter where you go undergrad. Grad school is what matters anyway Also Pitt is not a terrible school. There are many people in the world who never even get the opportunity to attend college. I know it feels rough knowing you had what it takes, but it isn’t over, and it isn’t too late. Going to Pitt in no way diminishes your opportunity. You will have many opportunities at Pitt to learn and grow, and it’s only four years - after that, who knows where you will rise to? </p>
<p>Good luck and remember it’s not really where you go, it’s what you do there that makes it worthwhile.</p>
<p>I know someone with a 2390 SAT and incredible stats considering UPitt, a state school is not the end of your life. If anything, it’s the true beginning, because no matter where you end up in college it’s a chance for you to pursue your interests. With your stats I can tell you now that you will excel in whatever your passion turns out to be, a degree from an Ivy isn’t going to make for a more enjoyable experience, contrary to what they want tens of thousands of applicants to believe.</p>
<p>On another note, I was basically the opposite of you in terms of the schools I applied to, since I applied mostly to safeties. In my opinion the difference in what you will get out of you college life depends on you, not the school you got admitted to, and safeties have a much more laid back atmosphere that can be a boon for certain students.</p>
<p>It is very hard to get into a top school without a hook.</p>
<p>Last year, my son had 2300 SATs, 3.7 unweighted gpa, with 14 AP classes, but mediocre EC’s, and got waitlisted at Emory, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, and Davidson.</p>
<p>We had kind of presumed that he was likely to at least get into Emory.</p>
<p>You were definitely ripped off.</p>
<p>There is a tendency to give SAT scores less weight in the admissions process, which I think is political correctness run amok.</p>
<p>I would advise kids with high SAT scores to apply to schools in the United Kingdom, where they go more by standardized test scores.</p>
<p>And to apply to the top OOS state universities, where they covet out of state tuition money.</p>
<p>You can always try and transfer.</p>
<p>BTW, I know many people last year with top stats who got rejected at Northwestern.</p>
<p>It is by no means easy to get into.</p>
<p>While I see a lot of advice on CC to apply to just 8 schools, I truly believe that for top students, the correct number is about 25, given the incredibly low acceptance rates at the top schools.</p>
<p>I’m not going to say anything that going to alleviate your pain or anything. you’ve done great work in your high school life. it is easy for us to say don’t feel devastated by this accident. your results says that you’ve worked so hard in your high school area to achieve these results. </p>
<p>I don’t have many experience of giving people useful advices .but what i can say is , if you’ve done hard work in your life that will someday pay off. haven’t you heard that you can’t connect the dots seeing the future, you’ll be able connect the dots when you look at this time 10 years from now on. believe me YOU WILL.</p>
<p>I agree with Floridadad, we were originally told by our high school the optimum number of colleges to apply to was 6 - 8. After the first wave of rejections and deferrals from the early rounds my son and his friend quickly added 10 - 12 more colleges. It has not been as expected with the rejection and wait-list pile mounting. Both kids are solid, with weighted GPA’s in the 4.5 - 4.7 range, 15 - 17 AP & honor classes and broad spectrum EC’s. From the posts on CC we are lucky they have both been accepted to one or two good schools but they don’t have choices and these schools are from their safeties. Lesson learned -lower your expectations, apply to more.</p>
<p>The single most important institution on the application list is the rock-bottom dead-on safety. Too many guidance counselors forget that in their enthusiasm to see “their kids” end up at the very best possible institutions for those students, and too many students and families get caught up in the excitement as well. This results in students who have not identified a dead-on admission and financial safety that he or she would also be perfectly happy to attend if all else goes wrong in the admissions cycle, which leads to too many threads like this one.</p>
<p>To the OP: If you truly dislike your remaining option(s), take a year off, re-think your application list, and try again. It really, truly is OK to do that.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what you’d like us to say. A 3.8/2340 is certainly competitive at all the schools you list, but competitive isn’t a guarantee. Your three ‘fairly safe’ schools, Northwestern (18%), Notre Dame (23%) and CMU (28%) reject at least 72% of applicants, it’s hard to see feeling fairly safe about any of them.</p>
<p>Now you’re suffering from the delusion that afflicts many people here on CC - The school makes the student. Wrong. These schools don’t make you better, you make yourself better by exploiting the opportunities available at these schools. There is not factoid or formula that is only available at Notre Dame, Northwestern or CMU. Now it’s up to you to get after the things you want at Pitt. </p>
<p>If you truly hate the experience you can always try transferring after freshman year, but regardless of where you are the world will not beat a path to your door, you need to get out there and start knocking on their doors.</p>
<p>Sadly, this has all become a self-perpetuating cycle, with kids applying to more and more schools, and thus, getting rejected because the application numbers are so high. (Not that we didn’t do it, too . . .) It has to stop somewhere. 25 schools? It’s ridiculous. </p>
<p>You will be fine at Pitt. It’s a great school.</p>
<p>The Ivies will not release their acceptances until the 28th, chin up stay optimistic, Pitt is a great school, you will need grad school anyway, so keep doing what you are doing. Excelling in Academic work, and it will be all good.</p>
<p>You were only ‘ripped off’ by your own unrealistic expectations. I agree with vinceh about what you considered ‘fairly safe’ schools, a big mistake given the low acceptance rates and large WLs of recent years, nothing surprising in the stats here, people just chose to believe that they apply to everyone else but not themselves.</p>
<p>There’s a big difference between 8 and 25, and I have rarely seen members on CC recommend 8 applications when one is applying to selective colleges.</p>
<p>I honestly cannot believe you were rejected at ND. Wow…talk about unfair. That is insane man. Your obvious problem is lack of leadership positions, but you had a near perfect SAT, seriously!
Look, you’re obviously a smart kid, you will do well wherever you go.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it has anything to do with OP’s results or not, but remember that GPA is not just a number—what underlies it can be important. A 3.8 because of a smattering of Bs in non-academic courses is one thing, and a 3.8 because of Cs in core academic subjects is something else.</p>
<p>Northwestern’s RD acceptance rate this year was 12.3%, overall 13.9%. That’s not a safety. That’s not a match. It’s a reach for anyone. Your issue is that you were cocky and didn’t apply to a safety.</p>
<p>Also, Northwestern has no business degree. There is economics, and some certificates, but no business degree. Maybe you bombed your Why NU? essay.</p>
<p>I’m sorry about your disappointing and unexpected results, but congrats on your high stats! </p>
<p>It may help you feel better to spend some time on the Pitt CC forum, plus Pitt’s website, to get a sense of the kinds of students you’ll encounter there and myriad of opportunities for you, should you attend. I recommend you delve deep into the descriptions of the courses you’d be taking as well as the websites and research descriptions of the faculty in the areas of your possible major(s).</p>
<p>I went through that exercise before deciding to visit and apply to Pitt, and I came away with an overall feeling that I could get an excellent education there – so much so that I filled out an application during my visit last summer.</p>
<p>I wish you luck on your remaining decisions – hope you get good news!</p>
<p>When your child is in the top ranks of his school has all the GPA, SAT, EC’s, AP’s etc… that place him well above a certain colleges stats percentile of acceptances and that said college has an acceptance rate of 50/50 I erroneously thought that would be a safety for my son. Don’t get me wrong he has had some wonderful offers, but the schools we thought of as “safeties” were not. For a college newbie like myself and some of my friends we were correct in what schools were going to be reaches but way out on what we thought were safeties, in other words, we knew where to place the top bar but not the bottom.</p>
Also Pitt is not a terrible school. There are many people in the world who never even get the opportunity to attend college. I know it feels rough knowing you had what it takes, but it isn’t over, and it isn’t too late. Going to Pitt in no way diminishes your opportunity. You will have many opportunities at Pitt to learn and grow, and it’s only four years - after that, who knows where you will rise to? </p>