Super Confused, Please Provide Insight??!?!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello!
As I’m sure you all know, decisions are starting to be released, and I’ve received half of mine so far. I’m really confused in regards to what exactly is going on here. They seem among other things, extremely arbitrary and unfair. Here they are so far

  1. Indiana Universty- Accepted, Scholarships, 4 years research through STARS
  2. Case Western Reserve University- Accepted, University Scholarship 27.5 grand per year
  3. Emory University- Accepted to both Oxford and Emory campuses, Oxford Scholars Finalist
  4. Vandy- Waitlist- visited, shining rec from alum who supervised research program I did, applied to Cornelius
  5. WashU (St. Louis)- Watilist- visited, applied to scholarships

My Stats/Info
GPA- 4.349 3.92 or 3.93 UW,
Class Rank- 8/370ish
Mid Year- Eh. 1 B in calc (I think this is what screwed me over), an A- in Spanish IV H
ACT- 35 composite (English 35, Math 34, Reading 35, Science 36, Writing 8 (essay))
SAT- taken twice - 1st- (690 CR, 620 Writing 620 Math (taken sophomore year)
2nd- (800 Cr, 750 Writing, 680 Math (Taken Junior Year)
SAT II- Math II- taken twice- first score 720 (didn’t study), second 610 (I thought I did well, but clearly not, it was sent to WashU, Emory, Penn, Cornell)
Bio M- taken once- 780
Chem taken once- 770

ECs- Nothing major especially in comparison to some people on this forum,
Swimmer (3x varsity),
Science Olympiad (state and regional medals and co-captain),
Orchestra- various award for musicianship and dedication,
Co-President of Spanish Honor Society (started a charity campaign).
400+ hours of volunteering,
300+hours of research.
Other honorary clubs

Recs- Great! 8 or 9 out of ten

Essays- 9/10 - I put a LOT of work into these and had help with edits

I still have to hear from the following schools-

  1. UPenn
  2. Cornell
  3. Duke
  4. Hopkins
  5. Brown

What are my chances for the remaining schools?! Also what did I do wrong? I know it sounds arrogant (I am kind of heated right now so please excuse any unfair/ungrateful comments), but it seems like, even with a less than ideal GPA, I would be at least somewhat competitive.

Sorry for the long post! I just want to give all of you any information you might need.

2

You were waitlisted at Vanderbilt and Wash U, two highly selective colleges, which affirms that you were competitive. They both have very low acceptance rates, and your application to both was validated. Your other acceptances and scholarships also prove that you were a very strong candidate. You knew from the start that most of those colleges are reaches for the most accomplished and talented students in the world. Read through some other threads, and you’ll see that students with comparable applications have been rejected by the same schools. You did nothing wrong; it’s just that too many other students are doing as much right as you.

3

Thanks for the kind words. While I understand that. I am still dumbfounded by the situation. There is not only a lack of consistency (once again, heated words) but it seems (and I am well aware that I am not qualified to make such judgments) that I seem to be getting the bad end of things repeatedly, while others (this is not the majority of course) who may have gone through far less in terms of personal struggle and have less to show are being accepted (I am referring to some people I know of. They are mostly wonderful people for whom I have the utmost respect and admiration but still…). In addition to the above verdicts, I was just rejected from Duke, which is reasonable (only 900 RD spots for 31,000 applications!!!), but only serves to make the other colleges seem even farther out of reach.

4

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on other threads, my older son was waitlisted at WUSTL. That was with a 2340, two or three 800s on subject tests, a mess of 5s on APs, a 3.9+, and valedictorian of his class. He’d expressed interest in the school since his freshman year of high school, had gone to three open houses, interviewed locally, and expressly mentioned that the school was one of his top picks.

The remaining school where you have a decent chance is probably Hopkins. The others - well, anything is possible, but fairly unlikely.

Good luck.