Where did I go wrong with my applications?

Applying to College
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Hello everyone.

Feeling extremely discouraged when it comes to college as of late. I’ve gotten deferrals from 2 schools that my parents and several others have assured me were targets, one of which I have a ton of demonstrated interest with. I was rejected from my top school, which was a super high reach, but I’ve seen people with similar stats be accepted or at least deferred this year. The only colleges that I’ve been accepted to are mediocre at best and have accepted me through direct admissions rather than through an actual application. I’m not being considered for any honors programs despite applying to several. I’m honestly at a loss.

I would really, really love some insight into where I went wrong and what I could have done better… I wish colleges would tell you outright why they don’t like you as a candidate, but since they don’t, I figured maybe you guys might be able to figure it out.

My stats are featured in this post, but as a general overview: 1490 SAT (submitted; 800 RW, 690 M), 3.7 W/3.5 UW, 3 APs total (my school doesn’t offer a ton of them and I couldn’t fit any more in my schedule if I tried), 600+ volunteer hours through theater and an aquarium program, aquarium internship that’s generally only given to college students, and a lot of hands-on research and career experience. I am going into marine biology (or, I really wanted to… it seems really competitive this year so I might just give up and go for something else despite not being happy about it) with a minor in biochem and/or environmental science depending on the school.

My essay was, at least in the eyes of myself, my teachers, and my parents (who both write for a living) exceptional. I spent a year and a half writing it and got tons of feedback, taking some and leaving others to ensure it was still true to myself and my style of writing. My supplemental essays, for colleges that required them, were written with intense thought and honesty in mind. I wrote one or two about the impact that COVID had on my family and I, a couple about my experience with autism and ADHD, a couple on my experience being chronically ill and disabled as a full-time student, and some other various ones depending on what the prompt was. I don’t know if this was a turn-off or not; maybe they just don’t want a disabled student because I tend to struggle a bit in school cause of it. Who knows.

I really wish I had done more over the course of high school. If it were up to me, I would have taken every AP offered by my school, done a few more ECs, put at least 1000 hours into volunteering, made more of an effort to find hands-on experiences and perhaps do science research at my school. I know it’s insanely unrealistic, as there’s no way I could have had the time or health capacity for this, but it feels like I failed since I didn’t do any of that. I have POTS, hEDS, arthritis, migraines, and more, and I currently have a huge cyst on my hand that my parents aren’t acknowledging so I can’t participate in my only hobbies (arts and crafts) until it goes away. I can’t even get a job cause my grandma is dying and my weekends are spent looking after her and her pets when I’m not at the aquarium, and all of my after-school time is spent doing homework, chores, and cooking dinner.

Anyway, please let me know what you think. Maybe I can take a gap year to improve things or go to a community college to get a better GPA and then re-apply to schools. Any help, advice, or insight is appreciated.

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From your prior post it seemed you were excited by some of your acceptances. You also got some nice suggestions for additional applications. You should have affordable safety schools that you would be excited to attend on your application list. What changed? Are there any affordable acceptances? What are they?

To answer your question, none of us can or should see many aspects of your application such as LORs, essays, etc. so we cannot evaluate your full application.

In general, unless you have an incredibly meaningful and productive gap year planned out, taking a year off will not change admission decisions. If you take a gap year and apply to an expanded set of colleges that could be another story.

I’d be careful about taking CC classes as transfer students typically have fewer merit aid opportunities.

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Can you give an update on everywhere you’ve applied and the decisions you’ve received so far?

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“What changed?”
Parental influence, deferrals, denials. My first few acceptances were exciting because it was new, and it felt good to know that some schools wanted me. It felt like the beginning of something more.

“Are there any affordable acceptances? What are they?”
UAlaska Fairbanks, UMaine Farmington, George Mason, Roger Williams, and a few others that I don’t really care about. Roger Williams is the only one I would consider going to, but even that isn’t a great pick (basically my last resort) - the campuses, environments, and academic profiles of the others are very much not for me. I need an accessible campus to thrive, preferably with good queer resources and health services.

As for the gap year thing, if I did it I would plan something incredibly meaningful and productive just as you said. Travel, community service, volunteer work, hands-on work, research, conferences, programs, etc. Literally anything I can get my hands on. I would also apply to a greater number of schools, especially international ones.

For CC, I would either attend full time and get a degree before reapplying to universities, or I would take a few classes despite the fewer merit aid. My parents are decently well off, though we are going through some financial stuff at the moment while we have to pay for my grandma’s medical and legal bills. They told me not to worry about money, so I’m not worrying.

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Not knowing where you applied, I can’t offer any suggestions, but I do want to offer my support as a mom of a child who also lives with POTS, chronic migraine, and connective tissue disorder - it is hard! Give yourself a break and be proud of yourself for doing well in high school and your many other successes, you have done a lot with the health challenges you’ve been dealt!

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Sure thing.

Bowdoin - Applied ED1; flat denial
SUNY Stony Brook - Applied EA; deferral, denial from honors
SUNY Binghamton - Applied EA; deferral
Northeastern - Applied EA; no answer yet
George Mason University - Applied RD; early acceptance (would not go here, just applied because attending WYSE gave me a waived app fee)
Colby - Applied RD; no answer yet
College of the Atlantic - Applied RD; no answer yet
UWashington - Applied RD; no answer yet

Direct admissions:
Roger Williams University
SUNY Buffalo State
UMass Lowell
UAlaska Fairbanks
Hampshire College
UMaine Fairbanks
University of the Pacific

Haven’t applied yet:
U Rhode Island
Marist College

I would not honestly consider going to most of these schools. I’m gunning for SBU, and if I don’t get in then I have no idea what I’m going to do. Most of the ones I applied to were only because my parents made me.

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Which schools that you applied to would you consider attending?

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Bowdoin, if I had gotten in. SBU for sure. Maybe Bing. RWU if I absolutely have to. Don’t need to think about the others (which I don’t like much anyway) as RWU has already accepted me so that’ll be my final last resort if I decide to go. My happiness, accessibility, and health are all far more important to me than any college could ever be, and if I settle I know I’m going to be miserable.

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First off, you should only apply to schools you would consider attending. Would you really go to Fairbanks Alaska?

Given a 3.5 UW and 1490 SAT, while it’s ok you ED’d to Bowdoin, I don’t think many would have considered that a possibility.

Deferral (Stony/Bing) does not mean rejection - they can still come - and they were reasonable.

NU is unlikely as is Colby.

GMU will happen but it was silly to apply since you have zero interest when you could have used your time to apply somewhere that is of interest.

College of Atlantic is highly likely - but specialized.

U Washington - unlikely.

You already got into a bunch of schools - so here’s the question - if you only like Roger Williams, why did you waste your time applying to the rest.

I don’t say this to get on you - but you are considering applying to URI and Marist.

Before you do - ask yourself - would I attend if I got in - and check the NPCs if that’s a concern.

If not, what am I looking for and let’s find those schools and apply.

To answer your question- where did you go wrong?

You picked random schools vs. determining - what are the right schools for me. And perhaps you overreached a bit but that’s ok.

You still have time to get this right.

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I would say your UW 3.5 GPA is the weakest link of your stats. Your 1490 SAT and ECs are good. Therefore, taking a gap year won’t help your application next year. You still will have the same HS GPA next year. You still have a lot of results coming. Don’t give up yet. Good Luck.

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Most of the schools that I applied to were free and had very little effort taken to apply, I do not consider that a waste. GMU has already accepted me and again, was free and took no effort.

My choices in this country are incredibly limited due to political circumstance. All of the top schools for marine bio/science are in the south and, as someone who lived down there for a majority of my life, I am not willing to go back. I was going to apply internationally, but the stress on my family as of late has delayed that. Looking at the Netherlands as of now, mostly.

The schools I picked were not random, I just did not have much of a choice. Again, I am not willing to sacrifice my health or identity to go to a better school, and campus visits have dissuaded me from even applying to most places. I don’t think you have to be willing to attend every college you apply to (especially if they are free applications); I think it’s good to have options for if worse comes to worst. Additionally, most of my schools were direct admits that I didn’t even submit an application for.

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A few things.

One, hugs. This can be an emotionally difficult time, particularly when one has to wait months for decisions.

Two, a deferral is not the same thing as a denial. The deferrals from Stony Brook or Binghamton could certainly turn into an acceptance. I’ve heard that Binghamton was inundated with applications and had to defer many students simply because they did not have the capacity to review all of them.

Accessibility and your health are vitally important and are an integral component of making sure that a college is a good fit for you. If there is a school that does not have appropriate accessibility or supports for your health, then it should be eliminated.

With respect to happiness, that’s not something that you can find at a particular college. There are students who go to their #1 choice school and are so excited, and then end up being miserable and transferring out. There are others who trudge off to their last resort option and end up having a blast. At any campus you will find students who are happy and love it, and others who don’t. The choices you make can often play an important role in how happy you will be at a campus.

I’m going to post this now but will be back with some thoughts about specific colleges.

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I agree, my GPA is definitely my weakest point. Unfortunately I’ve had several major life events and tons of medication switches for my ADHD and various health issues, which have made it hard to focus and get work done. I would have a 4.0 if I was fully correctly medicated before freshman year started, if they would actually give me the proper 504 accommodations I need (I have one, but my therapist and I agree that they’re skimping out on what they’re giving me for some reason), and if life didn’t keep kicking me in the ass.

Thank you for the kind words, I very much appreciate it.

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Can you share your original link? So I can see what interests you have, budget, and geographic limitations?

Do you have common app spots left?

Did you look at something like Salisbury?

If you can provide the original link or desires, perhaps we can find others for you.

You are definitely not too late - but we do need to ensure you are applying to the appropriate schools so you have a place to go.

But given you have acceptances and you were rejected (or will be) at schools well above your profile so they were/are to be expected, I’m not sure anything has gone wrong with your apps (your title). The SUNYs certainly can still happen so they are an unknown at this point.

Thanks

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Thank you, I appreciate it.

As for happiness, I’m aware that it’s hard to judge how a college will make me feel until I actually get there, however there are a lot of factors that I can judge now that I know will play into it. Access to support services, a supportive queer center, clubs, class size (at least for major specific classes, ik beginner requirements are almost always huge), campus maintenence, distance from humanity (aka towns, cities, etc), the general vibes of the student body, and more. A lot of kids in my school aren’t taking most of these into account from what I’ve gathered, but it’s really important to me that a school matches at least some of my criteria, at least in the support department. I’ve found schools that hit all the marks, but they’re extremely unattainable for me (such as Bowdoin), so most of mine only really hit one or two.

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Shared in my post, in the stats section, but here’s another link in case you missed it: https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/chance-match-me-highly-motivated-hs-senior-ny-resident-marine-bio-focus-3-7-cum-3-9-mp-1490-sat/

My final SAT was 1490 as I scored worse on my 2nd test, and budget constraints aren’t a worry for me.

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For many, it’s easy to fall in love with the reach schools. For some, and it seems like you might be one of them, it can be harder to find schools that are likely or extremely likely admits that you would be happy to attend. That’s where we need to focus now.

Think about why you originally applied to some of the schools. For instance, in one of your earlier posts you wrote:

Has George Mason’s relationship with the Smithsonian ended? Start thinking about the good things that are available at your acceptances. Look at special interest dorms, faculty you’d like to study under or do research with, clubs you’d like to join, special study abroad opportunities, etc. Do this for all the colleges that have accepted you.

Previously you were planning on applying to Ithaca. What was it about the school that made you change your mind?

Did you look into some of the other SUNY campuses, like Environmental Science & Forestry (which allows students to take classes at neighboring Syracuse), Brockport, or Oswego?

Have you looked into Stockton in NJ? I’ve heard good things about its marine bio opportunities. Since you’re open to the west coast, what about Cal State: Monterey Bay? The aquarium there is amazing and it’s a great place for marine studies. Cal Poly: Humboldt would be another option to consider.

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Again, thank you for the advice (on all of my various threads), you’ve been a big help and I really appreciate it.

GMU has not ended the Smithsonian program, however they do allow students from other schools to apply and participate in the same manner. The campus wasn’t super accessible while I was there, and it’s a little far down south for my liking. I can definitely consider it again, but it isn’t really the vibe I am looking for.

For Ithaca - I got caught up with family stuff and missed the app deadline, is all. If they have a secondary application window, I’ll look into it again. Same with Skidmore.

For ESF - I may apply, but I’ve heard it isn’t a great school overall. If their apps aren’t already over, I’ll consider it. Brockport and Oswego aren’t what I’m looking for, and my friends at those schools (who are at least somewhat similar to me) aren’t enjoying their times there.

My dad grew up in NJ (went to Rutgers NB) and doesn’t want me to apply to any of the non-reach schools there, as he says we’ll get a better deal for the same or better quality in NY.

I considered Monterey Bay, but my parents talked me out of it for a similar reason as above.

My parents are a big reason for why I’m not applying to too many schools to be honest, and their mentality has definitely (unfortunately) rubbed off on me. Budget is not an issue for us, but they’re not willing to pay for a school that they think sucks, or that they haven’t heard of. I think they’re also kind of gunning on me getting into SBU, which makes it hard to think of going somewhere else.

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Only apply to these if you would consider attending instead of Roger Williams.

Besides caring about you and your next step, none of us can see your whole app. I doubt you did anything ‘wrong’. It’s not clear to me how many A’s and B’s you have, and if you have any C’s or lower. Your grades and rigor are the primary factors in admissions, and the highly rejective schools were probably not realistic.

I would encourage you to consider Roger Williams and GMU (neither of these schools are ‘mediocre’)…attending those schools could better for you than gap year and CC. For a gap year, you will only have about 5 months or so before application deadlines start. It’s tough to make an impact that way, and your HS grades and rigor will still be most important in admissions decisions, and obviously nothing there would have changed.

Ithaca’s RD deadline is Feb 1. Skidmore deadline just passed, you can contact them and ask if you can still apply. I would do that today if you are interested. You might just check in common app if their app is still open as many schools leave their apps open a couple of days after the deadlines.

Many of the supplemental essays are “why us?” essays and these generally aren’t the place to talk about covid or your autism/ADHD. Schools want to see that you’ve done your research and can talk about a major, classes/profs, research, programming, and/or activities that you would engage in if you attended. Just wanted to throw that out there, obviously I don’t know exactly how you handled those essays.

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Roger Williams and GMU are definitely not the highest quality in terms of education outside of very specific majors, so they are mediocre in my eyes. One good program does not make up for the rest of the school to me.

Thanks for the info on Ithaca and Skidmore, I will look into it.

For supplementals, I did handle the “why us?” essays in the proper way; the ones I mentioned were mostly asking specifically about the student’s struggles and whatnot.

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