**** Yale University Class of 2020 RD Results*****

Colleges & Universities Yale University
1

Less than two weeks until we receive our decisions, but I created this thread in advance just because “When one has too great a dread of what is impending, one feels some relief when the trouble has come.” – Joseph Joubert

Whatever happens, happens… you’ll still be the awesome person you were before you found out about your decision. :slight_smile:

Please use the following format while posting the results. Good luck!!

MODERATOR’S NOTE:
This thread is only for results. Non-result posts will be deleted.

Choose One
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted [/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Waitlisted [/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected [/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments :

2

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2280 (700 CR, 780 M, 800 W)
ACT (breakdown): Never took it
SAT II: 700 Physics, 800 Math level 2, 720 Spanish Reading
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88
Weighted GPA: 4.38
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Didn’t submit
AP (place score in parenthesis): Comp Gov, US Gov, Spanish Lang all 5’s; taking senior year - Stat, Calc BC, Micro, Macro, Comp Sci
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A - school doesn’t offer
Senior Year Course Load: CP Senior Seminar, Advanced Debate Honors, APs listed above
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar (I think that was the one)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Lots of political volunteering/internships and community service stuff, too many to list; also super involved in Speech and Debate (captain); president of Young Dems club; varsity tennis; other stuff I’m forgetting
Job/Work Experience: I work as a tutor and I was a counselor at a speech and debate camp last summer
Volunteer/Community service: See above
Summer Activities: Internship on congressional campaign, debate camp counselor mentioned above
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 10
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 10

Teacher Rec #1: 10
Teacher Rec #2: 10
Counselor Rec: 10
Additional Rec: 10
Interview: 9

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Undeclared, but mentioned my intention to pursue an intersection of math/comp sci and gov
State (if domestic applicant): CO
Country (if international applicant): U! S! A!
School Type: Large public, very rigorous and well respected
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Literally none lol

Reflection

Strengths: SATs, essays, interview, extracurriculars, AP scores
Weaknesses: Probably could have taken more rigorous courses/had a better GPA
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I have no idea, was 100% ready for a straight rejection lol… humbled to know they thought highly enough of me to even bother waitlisting me
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted - Georgetown (EA); Waitlisted - Harvard, Yale, Cornell; Denied - MIT (after EA deferral), Northwestern

General Comments: Uhh, I don’t really know how I got waitlisted considering that I definitely should have been denied. Some crazy shit happens with college admissions I guess lol. Congrats to everyone who got in! Fellow waitlisters, there is still hope! For those of you who were denied, Yale just wasn’t good enough for you! You’re going to thrive wherever you wind up.

3

Decision: Rejected

Time to give back to CC for helping me tremendously with this process

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2220 superscore (750M/700CR/770W) 2130 single sitting (750M/700CR/680W )
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 790 Bio-M 770 M2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87/94.1 (VERY strong upward trend. I had a 3.6/92 average freshman year)
Weighted GPA: (No weighted gpa since all of my courses are either Honors or AP)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank THANK GOD
AP (place score in parenthesis): 3 (Only 5 available. The people who have gotten into ives from my school so far averaged only about 3 )
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: EMT, APUSH, Fitness/Health, AP Chem, Senior Internship, English IV, Medical Mathematics, Intro to Clinical Research, AP Calc, Forensic Medicine
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
1st for HOSA in Northern NJ
3rd in States for HOSA
National Qualifier

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

HOSA member and competitor 10-12
Student Movement Against Cancer 9 -11
Relay for Life (Team Captain for 11-12)

Job/Work Experience:
Babysitting my severely autistic cousin after school 10 weeks a year (she would sleepover a few weeks at a time throughout the year and stay with me in my room, took up the bulk of my time, did it for free though)

Volunteer/Community service:
Pre-Calculus Tutor 11

Summer Activities:
Internship/Volunteer at a Physician’s office 9-10
Kean Group Summer Scholars Research Program (Paid) 11

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Loved my Common App, talked about how I attempted to cook and made a borderline vomit inducing treat and how I became a much better cook after the incident. Most people laughed as they read it and loved it, very lighthearted. Supplements were ehh but it depends. At the end of the day it is really subjective. I have read essays where the owners would give it a 20/10 but most people would be like so I don’t really trust essay ratings.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: My english teacher, my favorite teacher, but also the reason my gpa is low lol. Talked about how I dramatically improved not only grade-wise but as a writer from freshman year. Said she would fight anyone who rejects me because she wrote such a great rec, also a New York Times writer so I know it is well written. 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: My math teacher: Did great in her class but couldn’t really stand out too much since my school has mostly people who are very good at math and science. 7/10
Counselor Rec: Also talked about how I improved grade wise and how I can adjust to different pressures etc I don’t remember everything but she takes it VERY seriously and tries to write the best rec possible for every student 9/10
Additional Rec: None
Interview: Will update laterz

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Heck ya
Intended Major: Accounting or Biology depending on where I decide to go
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant): Mei-Guo
School Type: Very Competitive Magnet, top 15 in the country based on stats (SAT, ACT avg AP Score etc) alone.
Ethnicity:African American
Gender: Girlz Rule
Income Bracket: 150k?
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Black Female interested in Math and Science, 1st gen

Reflection:
Glad it is over official have full blown Senioritis
Strengths: maybe Common App essay, subject test scores are A-OK, strong upwards trend in grades,
Weaknesses: Wish I had more ec’s and leadership roles, being from NJ probably, most likely had some hole in my app which is why I got waitlisted by a few but overall successful!

General Comments:
Most likely attending Howard. Good luck to the future applicants reading this probably freaking out and congrats to anyone who go accepted!

Accepted: Rutgers Honors with 13k a year, Howard (with Founders Scholarship Full Ride!!!) , Princeton, Cornell,
Rejected: Dartmouth and Yale
Waitlisted: Harvard, Brown, Columbia

4

Choose One
**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments :

5

**Decision: Waitlisted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (taken October sophomore year)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (only took once June freshman year)
SAT II: 800 Math II / 800 Chemistry / 800 Physics / 800 French / 790 Spanish
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/500ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): BC Calc (5), Chemistry (5), Physics C (5), English CompLit (5), APUSH (5), Chinese (5), French (5), Macro (5), Micro (5). Self-studied for half of these.
IB (place score in parenthesis): [N/A]
Senior Year Course Load: WHAP, AP Bio, AP Comp Sci, AP Music, Advanced French (higher than AP), gym, philosophy (AP not offered, just a chill class). Dual enrolled at UARK for real analysis and Honors Physical Chemistry. Independent study with the professor I did research with over the summer.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): made the USAMO 10th, 11th, 12th grade, (scored a 1 and 3, third time the charm?). Won state science fair but gave up my place at Intel fair due to a schedule conflict. National AP Scholar. National Physics Olympiad. NMSF. Some state and city piano things, idk if “major”.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Government (President). National Honor Society (President). Varsity Tennis (Vice Captain). Varsity Track (Vice Captain). Mathletes (Captain solely by virtue of making USAMO). Physics Olympiad (founded at my school, Captain of 4 people :wink: Played piano since I was 4, only some minor awards.
Job/Work Experience: [N/A]
Volunteer/Community service: Common Core tutoring for high school students and Boys and Girls club since sophomore year. Founded a districtwide college prep program to bring undergrads at UArk schools to talk to and provide one-on-one college counseling/test prep to students in underperforming public high schools. At one point had 20 college students and 100+ high school students. Habitat for Humanity (2 years). Charity drives through my high school to raise money for MSF in Syria.

Summer Activities: Did unpaid research in physical chemistry at UARK for 2 summers, have a paper “in the works”.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Thought it was a 10? I wrote about how working at different Arkansas public schools helped me to come to terms with my privilege middle-class Asian male with parents who value education. The interwoven exempli gratia was learning Spanish on my own outside school to communicate with a lot of students whom I tutored who were immigrants, which I am independently very proud of, in counterpoint to my having chosen French as a stupid freshman because I thought it was a more “elegant” language. My English teacher told me it was the best she’d ever read.

Teacher Rec #1: 10 - aforesaid English teacher, who taught me in AP English as the only sophomore in a class of seniors. She LOVES me :slight_smile:
Teacher Rec #2: 9-10 - Physics teacher, went to Columbia. He is more reserved but I got a really good vibe from him, like if no one in the class can solve a problem he mocks resignation and asks me to go up to solve it. He asked me if I wanted to help him start a Physics Olympiad team.
Counselor Rec: 10 - worked with him to start my program. Apparently the number of APs I took and how early I took them was “unprecedented” - he showed the rec to me and it was sincere but almost embarrassingly praiseful, to the point where I almost asked him to tone it down.
Additional Rec: Research supervisor at UARK. Honestly I don’t know how good - he seems to like me and was really surprised as a high schooler I knew what physical chemistry was and wanted to go into it, but compared to him I’m an idiot. He hasn’t had high schoolers in his lab before which could be a plus (I was very persistent) or a minus (no idea how to write a college rec).

Interview: 4 - Interviewed with an old guy. He kept asking me about China but in a very demanding way which made me slightly uncomfortable. I at no point told him I was Chinese.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Chemistry and Physics
State (if domestic applicant): Arkansas
Country (if international applicant): US Citizen
School Type: Large public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $200,000-250,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Research in physical chemistry in high school, enrolled this year in a PChem class, started a volunteer program, started a club. However even though my Spanish isn’t perfect what I am most proud of is learning Spanish independently

Reflection

Strengths: Loaded up on APs sophomore and junior year to show colleges evidence of being able to handle college level work. I test well.
Weaknesses: Asian. Possible weak add’l rec? Bad interview? Essay topic was patronizing? I don’t know, I really really don’t know. :frowning:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:

Accepted
UArk

Waitlisted
Yale

Rejected
Harvard
Columbia
Stanford
Princeton
Brown
Dartmouth
UPenn
MIT
Caltech

General Comments: I am speechless, numb, beside myself. Presumptuous as it sounds, I can’t shake the feeling that there has been some mistake. My first rejections were Caltech and MIT but I rationalized to myself that I wanted to do academia, not engineering and I think it showed. The first few were disappointing but I had braced myself; good people get rejected, the officers said, but they always end up getting accepted somewhere just as good, they said. As the rejects piled up however I am questioning my self-worth, everything I have worked for I did it not for college but because I wanted to. I was arrogant - or perhaps gullible - and believed the college officers when they said my “genuine passion” would shine through. I had the mistaken confidence that I fit the college moulds without having to compromise and force myself to do for the resume what I didn’t want to do.

Now I am consumed with regret. Is it really this hard? Gosh I knew it was a little harder for Asians but can it be this much harder? I keep futilely replaying scenarios in my head, even the really stupid ones, tormented by the ‘what if’ - what if I hadn’t dropped MUN because I hated it? What if I had pushed a little harder to be Track Captain? What if I had pushed my supervisor to put me on a paper I only did a little for? What if I asked him to show me his rec? Was there one thing I could change about my app to turn everything the other way around?

Yale is my last hope. I almost didn’t apply to UArk and /can’t/ go there - no disrespect to the school, but it doesn’t have the programs or the opportunities for me to pursue my dreams. The people I know there acknowledge as much. Creating this post was like a shot in the dark for me - I’ve read CC but never posted or even commented. I’m looking for answers, for closure. What did I do wrong? Please?

6

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2180 (660R, 740M, 780W) [1 attempt]
ACT (breakdown): Not Sent
SAT II: 710 Math 1, 790 Math 2, 750 BioE
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.44 (+.05 per AP, +.03 per honors [cumulative and per semester])
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/436
AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 Psych, 4 APUSH, 4 Bio, 5 Euro, 5 Lang
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, APES, AP Lit, AP US Gov, AP Comp Sci, AP French
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar (as far as academics go).
My Jazz Ensemble won 2nd place in the US at the Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival hosted by Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center in 2015 (the band won 1st 5 other times before I joined).
I won an outstanding Rhythm Section Player that same year.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): MUN (9-12, Pres 11/12, Historian 10), Green Team/Environment Club/ScienceClub (VP 11, Pres 12), NHS (10-12), and others (did not mention on application), Tucson Jazz Institute (Ellington Band Guitarist; 11-12)
Job/Work Experience:8hrs/week at a Locksmith Shop as a sales associate and dispatcher
Volunteer/Community service: On the board of a local, non-profit startup combating food insecurity in my community
Summer Activities: Boys States (did not mention, maybe counselor did), visited Yale, Jazz program (guitar)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Not for me to judge (sorry, pm me if you’re curious)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: English teacher (grades 10 & 12) - Do not know
Teacher Rec #2: Math Teacher (grades 11 & 12; skipped Calc AB [not done at my school]) - Do not know
Counselor Rec: Counselor for 10th and 11th grade, but also had as my Psych teacher junior year Daughter went to Yale, so probably outstanding. – do not know

Interview: I interviewed on campus over the summer while visiting. It was a nice conversation. I talked about my work with my non-profit organization, which I did not really mention in the rest of my application, so that is good. I talked a bit about music and jazz guitar, but stuck mostly on charity work. Stated that I planned on going into Math and/or Biology, which was not what I applied as-not sure if that hurt or helped me.

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): Arizona
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Guamanian (Pacific Islander)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: < 55,000/year
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Pacific Islander (we are a rare breed indeed)

Reflection
I am very glad that I did not listen to the advice of some of my peers and family members and did apply. I wish I had done SCEA, but did not feel that my application was as strong as it could be.
Strengths: Ethnicity, Well rounded, funny in essay, play a strange instrument (relatively) in a strange style (relatively)
Weaknesses: Did not get to talk about all that I wanted in my essays, my interview was based on math and biology, but applied as PolySci/Global Affairs/Music
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was accepted because of my unique Yale Specific essay, my well reasoned Why Yale?, which talked about some of the lesser known Yale Programs, and had some reputability as a Jazz Guitarist.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Vanderbilt, Colorado School of Mines, Washington University in St. Louis, Grinnell, Fordham, Middlebury, USC,
Waitlisted: Washington and Lee
Rejected: Tulane, Brown, Dartmouth
Pending: Reed College

General Comments : Apply no matter what the chances are. I knew that Yale was for me, and I think that the Admissions committee saw that. Also, do not apply under some abstract major because you think that there will be a higher chance of acceptance. This only gives you less emotion and power in your essays. If you want to do something, show that, and let the numb

7

Decision: Deferred–> Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2270 (CR 760, M 720, W 790)
ACT (breakdown): 33
SAT II: World 800, Math 2 790, US 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School only does weighted
Weighted GPA: 98.6480
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): World (5), English Lang (5), US (5), Physics 1 (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP English Lit, AP US Gov, AP Macro, AP French, AP Art, International Relations, Orchestra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): PSAT Letter of Commendation, Placed highly for national french contest, several regional art awards, many Model UN awards

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model UN (Chair, Overnight Conference Organizer, Fundraising), Orchestra (Social Events Chair), Robotics Team (Head of Communications and Website), USY (regional and divisional general boards), Varsity Quiz Bowl
Job/Work Experience: Tutor for a student with OCD/ADHD, Babysit for multiple families with children with special needs
Volunteer/Community service: Several different volunteer programs at art museums (most notably at the Guggenheim), painted murals and musical sets at my synagogue
Summer Activities: Art School (such as NYSSSA and Parsons), Museum Programs
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8/9, about my love of mythology and its impact on my life. I was really proud of it.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: prob 9, from APUSH teacher who I think knew me really well
Teacher Rec #2: prob 8, from AP English Lang teacher, supposedly she writes good recs
Counselor Rec: prob 8, he knows me pretty well for a guidance counselor
Additional Rec:
Interview: I thought it went pretty well. It was one of my first interviews but it was a good conversation.

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep
Intended Major: Art History
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection

Strengths: museum and art stuff, extra curriculars, essay, sat 2s, ap
Weaknesses: sat, gpa, lack of major awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My grades prob weren’t high enough, plus I’m a white person from Long Island so…
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted-Barnard, BU (with full Trustee scholarship), W&M, Grinnell (w/ 25K per yr), Kenyon (w/ 15K per yr), Macaulay Honors College at Hunter (free tuition/2 years free dorm/macbook/$7500 stipend), Binghamton (scholars program), New Paltz (20K and honors college), Temple (Full tuition, $8000 stipend, honors college),
Waitlisted- UChicago, WashU, Middlebury
Rejected- Yale and Princeton

General Comments : Really sad because Yale was my top and I applied early, but I’ll be attending Boston University next year as a Trustee scholar and I can’t wait!!!

8

**Decision: Waitlisted **

SAT I (breakdown): 2310 (760M, 770CR, 800W w 10 essay)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: math ii-800, latin-770, world hist-760, bio m-740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9/4.0
Weighted GPA: dunno
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/900ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): world hist, stat, chinese, bio, apush, calc ab, eng lang, latin, econs, studio art drawing, euro (all 5’s except stat)
IB (place score in parenthesis): didn’t take
Senior Year Course Load: lit, gov, calc bc, chem, art hist (all ap’s) latin v, art (honors)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): national merit finalist, ap scholar, questbridge finalist, national latin exam medals, some scholarships (not sure if these are major…)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): art(some regional awards, scholarships, etc.), academic decathlon (captain, regional and state medals), art museum volunteer, peer tutor, fbla (secretary), chinese culture club (secretary), anime club lol (pres), reading olympics lolll (pres)
Job/Work Experience: worked online over summer
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at art museum
Summer Activities: work, chilling (and having existential crises), overpriced summer programs that are generous with finaid e.g. stanford’s summer humanities institute (which is gr8)
Essays: alright, i think, mostly talked about being an immigrant

Teacher Rec #1: latin teacher 9/10-cool dude, likes me, also probably my best class/grade in school
Teacher Rec #2: english teacher 7/10-didn’t know all that well, but writes like a god, and i think/hope liked me
Counselor Rec: 7/10- my school is too big for any kind of real connection
Additional Rec: 8/10-professor from summer humanities institute!! rly short and kinda cliche but it probably helped.
Interview: first ever college interview. interviewer was real sweet and we had a real conversation. nothing spectagular though

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: heck yeah
Intended Major: not sure at all…classics or art history possibly??? but honestly zero idea
State (if domestic applicant): PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: oversized and underfunded public
Ethnicity: east asian
Gender: f
Income Bracket: <40k (broke af)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): hella poor, applied through questbridge program, and moved from china when i was ten so maybe that helped

Reflection

Strengths: grades, scores, decent at writing. also art supplement might have helped with yale’s artsiness. questbridge probably helped as well
Weaknesses: not all that special as a person. no major awards.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: no idea??? though i’m a tad bit disappointed since of all the ivies i applied to yale was probably my favorite. but oh well, life goes on
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted-brown, stanford, harvard, pton, dartmouth, swarthmore, williams, pomona, amherst; waitlisted-yale, uchicago, carleton

General Comments: IF UR AN UNDERCLASSMAN FROM A LOW INCOME/DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUND, CHECK OUT QUESTBRIDGE!!!

9

Wow, even if the prevalent Asian bias this is astounding. I would think you would have gotten at least a couple more wait lists. I would also be numb if I were you.

10

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Waitlisted [/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I: 2040 (CR: 680, M: 630, W: 730) (Did not send, but appeared on the transcript submitted)
ACT: 33 (R: 35, E: 35, S: 33, M: 27, New Test Essay: 31 with 11 on all subscores)
SAT II: Did not take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.940
Rank: 13/226 (School weights Dual Credit as a 4.5 and AP as a 5; I did DC primarily)
AP: Biology (4), Stats (4), taking 6 exams senior year
IB: None
Senior Year Course Load: AP Studio Art, Honors Journalism III (School Newspaper Editor), DC English 175, DC Art History, DC Hist of Civilization, DC Psych, DC Environmental Ethics, DC Anthropology, DC Chemistry, DC World Religions, DC Race and Ethnic Relations, French IIB
Major Awards: National Merit Commended, USAD National Medalist, JEA National Medalist, Scholastic Art Gold Key, BPA Regional/State Winner, JEA Idaho Journalist of the Year, selected by the president of JEA to be on a discussion panel about scholastic journalism

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
Idaho Academic Decathlon Nationals Team (2yrs), School Newspaper Editor (2yrs), Business Professionals of America (2yrs), Student Council (2yrs), Studio Art (4yrs), Administrative Bookkeeping (2yrs)

Job/Work Experience:
Designer and editor of 2 newspapers for my school’s administration: one was about suicide prevention and one was an intro-to-high school newspaper for freshmen and transfers
Created the ID card printing system at my school and did IDs / parking passes / etc

Volunteer/Community service:
Triathlon volunteer, Community Cancer Services, Rotary

Summer Activities:
Living in SE B.C., Canada
Publication design / summer projects with newspaper

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App Essay: 10/10 (Lucid and beautiful piece about living in Canada and the experiences/appreciation I have gleaned from rural life)
Supplement Essay: 10/10 (Very verbose explanation about the power of journalism in free societies; importance of storytelling – may have been too polished, idk)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
This is the weird part. I was contacted by the Assistant Director of Admissions about my LoRs because he wanted to see two more from academic teachers; so I actually ended up submitting five letters.
Teacher Rec #1: 10/10 AP Art Teacher who has known me since Kindergarten, extremely well written and poetic – if anything was the selling point, I would say it was this recommendation
Teacher Rec #2: 8/10 Journalism Adviser; well-written, a bit lackluster
Teacher Rec #3: 10/10 AP Bio / Pre-AP Bio teacher; extremely well written and convincing
Teacher Rec #4: 8/10 college english professor; not a very convincing or in-depth letter
Counselor Rec: 8/10 Poor writer, used most of my tips to improve it though

Interview: Went well; the woman seemed nervous and talked a lot about herself. It wasn’t a bad interview though – very casual. I talked a lot about how crazy public school is in Idaho. Really important to note that I had a lot of contact with the Associate Admit Director / Director for west coast interviews because of the LoR question, so maybe in some way that extra exposure helped me?

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: I put Journalism and marketed myself heavily as a journalism/humanities student, but I’m leaning toward Biostatistics
State: Idaho
Country: USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 100,000-150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Idaho

Reflection

Strengths: Unbeatable journalism profile for a rural student, very good art SlideRoom portfolio
Weaknesses: Scores, grades, maybe writing sounded too pretentious
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I am extremely lucky to be waitlisted in my opinion; I think just the contact I had with admission reps and my clear direction in the application helped a lot. I would really advise future applicants to market yourself as a certain student profile – show you have a passion without explicitly saying it.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Rejected Harvard, Brown, UW Seattle (I’m waiting on an appeal to UW though), accepted to Champlain, Western Washington Honors College w/ Highest Honors

General Comments :

Wow. I feel humbled to even be on the waitlist. I can only hope at this point that something goes through with Yale or UW in the coming weeks/months. Congratulations to everyone who was accepted!

11

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2360 - 800 CR, 770 M, 790 W
ACT: n/a
SAT II: 800 USH, 740 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (4.0 scale): 4.00
Weighted GPA (4.0 scale): 5.68
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5% of 378
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geography, World History, US History, Chemistry, Comparative Government (all 5’s)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Statistics, AP Physics 1, Spanish IV H, Juvenile Law H/Homicide H,
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, NHRP, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Four year Varsity and Club soccer (1 year as captain) - top nationally ranked teams, Spanish Honor Society (President), Pre Law Society (electives every semester and internship), NHS (Treasurer), Rho Kappa
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Sailing Instuctor every summer (~400 hours)
Summer Activities: sailing, soccer. Did an 8 day program on IR at GU.
Essays: Common App about teaching sailing
Teacher Recommendation: great
Counselor Rec: 10/10 great relationship

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: top ranked private school
Ethnicity: Hispanic (Spain, Mexico)
Gender: M
Income Bracket: high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection
Strengths: test scores, grades, URM
Weaknesses: course load could have been more challenging. Never took AP Calc, AP Lang, AP Physics C, or a few of the other more difficult courses at my school.
Where accepted: Yale, Penn, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, BC, UVa, WUSTL, USC
Waitlisted: Brown
Rejected: Harvard

12

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:[ul]

[]SAT I and/or ACT (breakdown): 2260 (800 CR, 760 M, 700 W)
[]SAT II (place score in parentheses): 2400 (chem, math 2, bio e)
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): NA
[]Rank/Percentile: NA
[]AP (place score in parentheses): NA
[]IB (place score in parentheses): NA
[]Senior Year Course Load: NA
[]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NA

[/ul]Subjective:[ul]

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
[]Job/Work Experience: Summer internship with doctor
[]Volunteer/Community Service: a couple of hundred hours (hospital volunteer + rotary)
[]Summer Activities: 150+ hours shadowing a doc (he even gave me a rec which I used for CA)
[]Essays: CA was good 8/10.
[]Teacher Recommendations: average to good prolly 7/10
[]Counselor Rec: didn’t know her, so probably very generic
[li]Interview: NA[/li]
[/ul]Other:[ul]
[]Applied for Financial Aid? Nope
[]Projected Concentration: History of Medicine/Science/Technology
[]State/Country: International, but US citizen
[]School Type: Private
[]Ethnicity: B
[]Gender: M
[]Income Bracket: NA
[]Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

[/ul]Reflection:[list]
[]Strengths: Def SAT scores, transcripts and ECs
[]Weaknesses: My mid terms were really bad (2Cs) and my ECs were not that unique compared to some other applicants. (plus no sports)
[]Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Average SAT 1, luck
[]Where else you are applying or have already applied: Some ivies and random colleges.
Already got into Tulane 32k/y merit, UCSD, UCLA, Case Western 31k/yr merit, Cal, UNC Chapel Hill
Rejected: Johns Hopkins, Grinnell, Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Tufts
[*]Advice: College admissions are a crapshoot. Good luck to everyone else!

13

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted [/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1980 - 650 CR, 630 M, 700 W
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 720 Literature, 540 Spanish with Listening
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA: N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t do percentiles/ranks
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP US History (3), AP Language and Composition (5), AP US Government (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus AB, AP Literature, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government, Ceramics, Drawing & Painting and Culinary arts.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar Award, and then some local level scholarships and awards from my extracurricular achievements.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mock Trial Club (President), National Honors Society (Group Leader) Black Student Union (Vice President), JV Basketball, Club Basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, started a small business with my friend, state book club, Tutor middle school kids, School’s Catering program (Head chef), Babysitting.
Job/Work Experience: I work at a grocery store anywhere from 8-25 hours a week.
Volunteer/Community service: 200 + hours of service, mostly as a Camp Counselor or a Tutor but also through NHS group projects.
Summer Activities: Volunteer as a Camp Counselor
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 10/10 honestly my essays were really good and I think that’s what made them accept me. I wrote my Common App essay about dealing with a family member’s mental illness and how it has inspired me to take control of my life. the supplemental essay was about my passion for writing and how it developed which was a more light-hearted funny essay.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): N/A I wasn’t allowed to read any of them

Teacher Rec #1: didn’t read it but it was from a teacher who loves me so it was probably good
Teacher Rec #2: didn’t read it, but i did well in her class so fingers crossed?? haha
Counselor Rec: couldn’t read it but i’m assuming it was good. i’ve known my counselor and she’s known my family since i was in sixth grade haha
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: My interview was fine but kind of awkward, then again interviews are always awkward. The guy and I didn’t ever run out of things to say but I had a hard time connecting with him sometimes! He had really good advice about financial aid to me though and his experience in cultural clubs which was cool! :slight_smile:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Ethics, Politics, and Economics or English

State (if domestic applicant): Oregon
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public School
Ethnicity: African and white (European)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $30,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, dad is a first generation American (idk if thats a hook)

Reflection

Strengths: Definitely my essays, URM, and my high GPA/strong course load despite facing adversity.
Weaknesses: My SAT test scores ESPECIALLY the 540 in Spanish with listening OMG i wanted to scream when I saw that haha
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think that they were able to see my personality shine through my application especially through my essays
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted - Dartmouth, Williams, Carlton, UCLA
Waitlisted - Amherst, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Berkeley
Rejected - Stanford, Princeton

General Comments: Don’t let anything stop you from applying to a school! I thought I would never get into Yale, especially after being rejected from Stanford, but I still got in. YOU CAN DO IT if you are considering it, even if you have slightly lower test scores like I do. You never know if you don’t try.

14

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t submit
ACT (breakdown): 35- 35E, 35M, 35R, 36S, 33 E/W
SAT II: Math II: 800, Physics: 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~5%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5- BC, AB, APUSH, Lang, CS, Mech; 4- World; 3-E&M
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: above-AP math and physics electives, AP Chem, Stats, Micro/Macro, Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NCWIT affiliate award

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of 4 clubs, some leadership and involvement in others, some state-level awards, ~15 hr/wk across all clubs
Job/Work Experience: summer research, 20 hr/wk for 6 wk
Volunteer/Community service: math and physics tutoring 5 hr/wk
Summer Activities: summer research
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 6ish for all of them. None of my essays were that good.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10, teacher really liked me
Teacher Rec #2: 8, teacher liked me but not to an extreme like the other one
Counselor Rec: 7, good but probably somewhat generic
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: 8, it was a pretty good interview

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: physics
State (if domestic applicant): SC
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: magnet
Ethnicity: white (middle eastern)
Gender: female
Income Bracket: ~100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection

Strengths: academics and extracurriculars
Weaknesses: essays
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: essays, lack of national-level accomplishments
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted- Duke, Rice, GA Tech, some other state schools
Waitlisted- Swarthmore

General Comments: Congrats to everyone, whether or not you got in!

15

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2200 780 WR, 700 M, 720 CR
ACT (breakdown):n/a
SAT II: 750 E-Bio, 760 US History, 700 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81 (had some b’s) 4.36 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A, probably top ten
AP (place score in parenthesis): US history (5), Art History (5), Eng Lang (5), Bio (4), AP Enviro, AP Lit + Comp, AP Calc AB, AP Poli Sci, AP Econ
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: 4 APs and honors class
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar w/ honors, National novel writing award, national merit commended, people to people international award (not that important), online writing awards, sports awards

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Varsity soccer and track (4 years + sprints captain),
Gender-sexuality alliance (pres + founder),
National novel writing month(s) -( won an award for this) -
Editor and writer of student-run lit magazine,
People to People Student Ambassadors,
Junior classical league (just a member),
Hip-hop Dance Classes (I have youtube vids and stuff)
Published on juke pop novels website + articles in Diverse Voices Quarterly, Blue Pencil and Teen Ink -
I also did a lot of club sports and got state/regional recognition. Not recruited though.

Job/Work Experience: N/A

Volunteer/Community service: LGBT Center OC, Heifer International, Hands for Africa, Food Bank, Gay for Good

Summer Activities: Stanford Summer College (took writing and sociology classes) - As in both, People to People Student International Trip to Italy Spain and France, travelled to Tanzania one year and track-trained for one.

Essays: common app is 10/10 - I wrote about how my afro helped me come out of the closet
Yale Supplements:
–Reflect Essay: talked about how finding my queer identity helped me start an LGBT organization
–Why this major: talked about how creative writing and literature helps us embrace differences/become less ignorant of each other
–Why Yale: talked about how I’m a creative learner and how it would help me at Yale.

Teacher Recommendation:
Art History teacher: 10/10 I participated a lot in her class and she really liked me + Art history was my favorite subjects last year
Bio teacher: probably 7-8/10 because I did well in his class but I wasn’t his favorite student or anything, but I stand out a lot in general.

Counselor Rec: Ehh… I would say 8-9/10 because I stand out a lot among my class and I had a really good interview with her but she has so many students so I’m not really sure.

Additional Rec: Fiction writing professor from stanford: 10/10 - I talked to her a lot over the summer and she helped me edit/polish a lot of my creative writing work. She knows me very well.

Interview: Great! My interviewer told me I was very fun to talk to.

Other:
I submitted a portfolio of my hip-hop dancing. I have no idea if this helped or not.

Applied for Financial Aid?: marked yes but ended up not applying.
Intended Major: English/Creative Writing, Womens’ Gender and Sexuality Studies
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: SUPER competitive public school probably will work against me.
Ethnicity: I’m mixed - half Nigerian and half American (so I put down African-American)
Gender: XX
Income Bracket: ~200k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, and I’m not sure being queer counts but I emphasized that too in my app

Reflection

Strengths: ESSAYS ESSAYS ESSAYS - if the rest of my app wasn’t strong enough, my essays got me a second chance. Also SAT 2 scores and unique extracurriculars - but honestly i think my essays played the biggest part.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: QWOC who wants to be a writer? Idk.
Weaknesses: GPA probably, not a lot of super prestigious awards, super competitive class, I have a lack of work experience.

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Essays, unique ECS, prevalent academic focus. Also getting straight As in senior year probably helped too.

Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: still waiting on all the ivies except Dartmouth
-Accepted to: Stanford, Yale, Brown, Cornell (CAS), NYU, Tufts University, Barnard College, UCLA, Emory University, Sarah Lawrence College, UCSB honors program, UC Santa Cruz Regents scholar, University of San Francisco, Boston University Honors
-Waitlisted: Columbia and Harvard
-Rejected: UC Berkeley, Princeton, Upenn
Your “Big Red” factor - the most unique thing in your application: … Probably just getting a second look because my essays are pretty good, but I don’t know. College admissions are part crapshoot.

16

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2010 (650 CR, 710 M. 650 W)
ACT (breakdown): 34 C
SAT II: 710 World History, 720 Biology E, 720 Math 1
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.45
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/300ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 for Computer Science and Calculus BC/AB Subscore, 4 for World and European History, 3 for English Language (no studying/class)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP English Language/Lit, H Physics, Government/Econ, Basketball/Volleyball
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Questbridge National College Match Finalist if that counts

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of Key Club 12th grade, Co-President and Co-Founder of Armenian Club 11th-12th grade, Co-Captain for Basketball and Volleyball 12th grade, Treasurer of National Honor Society 12th
Job/Work Experience: Helping my dad since middle school
Volunteer/Community service: Senior Housing Volunteer for around 200 hours over 3 years
Summer Activities: Basketball summer league, helping my dad

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

Essay #1: 10/10, went through at least 10 edits, had probably 5 different people look at it including an admissions officer, and wrote about my life story, heritage, family, etc.
Essay #2: 7/10, talked about my neighbors suicide and how it led to my appreciation of everyday experiences, went through many edits as well but clearly not as strong. However there were a few people who said both essays were moving. Had a spelling mistake (wrote o instead of to) and grammar mistake (omitted a word).
Why Yale?: 7/10 Not too good, cited cliché reasons but not the worst thing you’ve ever read.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 7/10, from my AP Comp Sci teacher, more like a brag sheet turned into an essay with some nice commentary thrown in.
Teacher Rec #2: 9/10, from my Math Analysis teacher, much more heartfelt with great commentary but less sophisticated language (other teacher had a Ph.D. In linguistics lol)
Counselor Rec: 5/10, at the time didn’t really know the counselor well but she did go to Harvard… Not even sure if she wrote a rec. actually now that I think of it
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: 9/10 Started off just a little awkward but ended up great. Had a cool guy that only wanted the best for me in the application process. We even ended up talking about Yale girls lol.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Underfunded Public
Ethnicity: Technically White but 100% Armenian and emphasized my heritage
Gender: M
Income Bracket: <65k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Possibly URM? and am a twin

Reflection

Strengths: Good essay topics, rounded extracurriculars, 2 sport athlete?
Weaknesses: Test scores, although I was basically a legend at my school for getting a 34 on the ACT (gives you some perspective of the expectations here)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Admissions is a crapshoot, honestly very fortunate to have gotten in.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at UCLA, Berkeley (Regents candidate), UCSB, UCSD. Rejected at Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and Penn

General Comments : Been a long time lurker on cc like most everyone who applies to Ivy leagues. Before I heard of this website I really thought I had like a 85% chance of getting into an Ivy League. All my college apps were turned in (and many cc threads were read) and by Ivy Day I thought I had a 1% chance of getting into any. Although this is cliché, you should really try to apply to these schools, you never know what could happen (6 rejections but accepted to the one school that I actually truly wanted to go to). I would have to note though that I worked really hard throughout high school to maintain my GPA and get my subpar (for these schools) test scores, and even harder on the applications just to muster a competitive one. Lastly, don’t be upset if you get rejected from most or all your top choices; it’s not the end of the world.

17

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 34M, 33CR, 36W, 28S (oops)

  • one attempt
    SAT II: 770M-II, 710Literature
    Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
    Weighted GPA: 5.1
    Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/300
    AP (place score in parenthesis): 5-APUSH, 5-ENG.LANG, 4-CALC.AB, 4-COMP.SCI, 3-CHEM, 3-BIO, 3-US.GOV
    IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
    Senior Year Course Load: AP CALC.BC, AP ENV.SCI, AP STATS&PROB, AP PHYS, AP PSYCH, AP HUME.GEO, AP ENG.LIT, GYM
    Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Numerous publications (editor)
  • Environmental Coalition/Commission (vice president and liaison)
  • Student Council/Government (president, student rep for board)
    Job/Work Experience:
  • Video game guides at home
    Volunteer/Community service:
  • Key Club/local foodbank/tutor at library
    Summer Activities:
  • Courses taken at Boston University
  • Interdisciplinary program studying climate change
  • MIT’s Online Science, Engineering, and Technology Community (MOSTEC)
    Essays (rating 1-10, details):
  • Common App - 10.1/10: very personal, anecdotal, interesting metaphor utilized (came from the heart)
  • Areas of Appeal - 10/10: posed a rift in humanity through a series of questions
  • Why Yale - 9/10: very casual free verse poem, talked about the humble community at Yale
  • Supplemental Essay - 9/10: talked about incense and how such smells serve as my culture (universal and boundless)
  • I admit some essays were a bit poetic/non-sequitur, but I was happy with them overall.
    Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
  • Biology Teacher - 10/10: knew him since I began high school, worked with him in various clubs, talk to him a lot outside of class
  • English Teacher - 9/10: although she was my 10th grade teacher, she knew my love for literature, and I think that’s what she talked about in her letter (Socratic circles, research papers, etc)
  • Guidance Counselor 10/10: her letter essentially captured my story but also revealed my love for learning by talking about my various projects in the summer programs
  • Supplemental Recommendations from MOSTEC Professors: first one was quite bland (so was he somewhat) but talked about an above-and-beyond attitude; second was much more casual and talked about my love of writing.
    Interview: I did not receive one.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Humanities
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Lower Bracket
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Personal story (? - I never specifically referenced it but I think it could be inferred from recs)

Reflection

Strengths: Genuine essays that were essentially entries to a diary, lackadaisical approach towards admissions process (I never really followed proper procedures in handing in documents/submitted my scores quite late)
Weaknesses: Scores (although I have a theory that really high scores can hinder a person)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My application process was never superficial: it was revelatory for me, and I think such effect transpired for the adcoms.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

  • Accepted to Princeton
  • Accepted to Stanford
  • Accepted to Harvard
  • Rejected from MIT
  • Waitlisted from Duke
  • Waitlisted from Columbia

General Comments: So I think the most important lesson I garnered from such a long, drawn-out (and sometimes horrifying) process is that the result is simply just a copied-and-pasted letter (a digital one, in fact). Prior to beginning any of my college applications, I reflected on the tumultuous journeys of myself and of my classmates, and I couldn’t help but to notice how there have been so many pressures that have alienated us into believing and subscribing to such a superficial dream of what “success” really is. Thus, I took the entire admissions process as a source of inspiration for myself, and only myself. My essays mirror that of a senior thesis of any college student, and they weren’t written with the intention of impressing the admissions officers (bragging is quite useless and unnecessary), but rather with the genuine desire to cohesively put together the snippets of my own story. And I think that, if an institution is compelled and intrigued with your story, it’ll check its acceptance marks. If not, then there isn’t a compatibility, and that’s totally okay. And if you have no story at all, I plead you to go write it for the sake of knowing yourself.

As someone has already stated in another thread, “people aren’t lying when they tell you to just be yourself.”

18

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted [/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): [1780-(I sent the ACT score)]
ACT (breakdown): 32 composite
SAT II: N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.31
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/50
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Completely dual enrollment classes with a local college.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): I don’t believe I have any major awards.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Chess/Game Club (Member),
Student Government/Council (Secretary),
Homecoming Committee (President),
Model UN (Vice President),
School Yearbook (President),
Key Club (Member)
Member of a Apprenticeship Mentorship Program
Founded the NEOUCOM branch at my school

Job/Work Experience: N/A

Volunteer/Community service:
150+ hours at the Humane Society
60+ hours as an office aid
20 hours at two different nursing homes
10 hours with habitat for humanity
Summer Activities:
I didn’t really do anything…
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
I would like to say my essays were around 8-9’s because I can honestly admit I had nobody else proofread or

check them before I turned in my application. However, I did talk about medical injustices I’ve seen. I also talked
about how the week before I turned in my application I had been threatened with a weapon in my neighborhood. If I
may quote myself in what I had said in my essay, I said something along the lines of “Hopefully this works,
because I must be doing something in my life right.”

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:English Professor–9?–He liked me as a student, and I got an “A” in his class.
Teacher Rec #2:Physics Professor–8?-- I excelled in his class, and he genuinely knew me as a person.
Counselor Rec:Hmm–5-7?-- I honestly don’t know if she even knew my name when I asked her for a recommendation.
Additional Rec: None?

Interview: It was really amazing!! We had met at a Starbucks, and talked for a few hours! It was as though I as talking
to an old friend of mine!

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Of course! School is expensive!
Intended Major: History/Math (I’ll be completing my pre-med requirements as well)
State (if domestic applicant): OHIO!!!
Country (if international applicant): -USA-
School Type: I would say that it is a normal school, but student start taking PSEO classes their first semester so that
we can graduate with an Associate’s degree.

Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Around $70,000-ish
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college student, I graduate HS with a dual Associate’s
degree in General Science and General Arts if that matters? I also
explained in my interview how I’m a licensed cake decorator and Ham
Radio Operator?

Reflection

Strengths: My interview? She seemed to enjoy the interview. My grades and my hooks perhaps? Maybe the essay.
Weaknesses: Oh man, where do I start? Test scores for one!
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Honestly, I have no idea. A lot of the people on threads like these are much better than me in all aspects of
life…except volunteering with dogs. I love dogs… Perhaps that compassion helped?

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

Accepted: NEOUCOM [NEOMED]- B.S./M.D. PROGRAM
Waynesburg University,
The Ohio State University-Main campus,
Kent State University,
University of Akron,
LaRoche College,
Lake Erie College,
Youngstown State University,
Cleveland State University,
Ursuline College,
Hiram College

Waitlisted: Case Western Reserve University [My parents were like…“Really?”]

Rejected: Nowhere… I didn’t apply to any really major school because I didn’t expect to get in…

General Comments : Apply to as many places as you can if you are unsure. I had originally applied to this school as part of a bet with myself. My principal had told me I would never go very far, and let’s just say I have I have a stubborn streak a mile wide. But now, I get to decide between a guaranteed seat in medical school or an ivy league college!
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! EVERYONE IS UNIQUE IN THEIR OWN WAYS!

(Please forgive any grammar mistakes, I don’t always “English very well”)

19

Accepted ahhhh!!! Most of my stats are on the Princeton SCEA 2020 results thread.

20

Yeah. Accepted! Excited!!! Accepted in Yale, CASE, OSU, NEOMED BS/MD. Waitlisted in Harvard. Decision Yale (No brainer) .Stats - 35 ACT 4.8 GPA detailed stats later.