Disappointment

[Anonymous]

Anyone else facing a lot of disappointment during this cycle? DD got into a couple target schools + most of her safeties... Rejected or WL from the rest. She was (imo and told to us by many others) a great applicant - High stats, great ECs + essays, LORs... Her interviews all went very well, especially JHU. She applied to JHU EA and the rest RD, and we're from NOVA. Intended major is BME (biomed engineering).

Stats:
4.0 UW/4.7 W GPA
1570 SAT (800 M, 770 R&W)
14 APs, all 5s

ECs:
- A few regional awards (STEM)
- 200+ volunteer hours @ local hospital
- Founder of non-profit
- Research w/ prof at T30
- Competitive summer program for BME
- Lots of community service

Results:
JHU EA - Deferred -> Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
Brown - Rejected
Dartmouth - Rejected
Columbia - Rejected
Duke - Rejected
UVA - WL
Cornell - WL
CMU - WL
UNC CH - WL
VT - Accepted
W&M - Accepted
Lehigh - Accepted
UPitt - Accepted

DD is incredibly upset and so are we... JHU was her dream school but she relied on UVA + CMU as well. Anyone here confused and facing a similar situation?We all were convinced that DD had it in the bag - Worst of all is that many of her classmates w/ lower stats and worse ECs have gotten into a few of these schools.

[Anonymous]

I suggest you appreciate the schools that appreciate intelligence. A 1570 is probably the top 1/4 of the top 1%.

[Anonymous]

That's tough, and I can see why you're upset. Having said that, Pitt is the clear choice. It's an amazing school, and your daughter would thrive there in the biomed program.

[Anonymous]

She has 4 good choices. I understand that she's disappointed, because she's a teenager without perspective, but it's your job to provide that perspective, not be disappointed yourself and encourage comparison with others.

Go to accepted student day of those 4 schools, get excited about them, and choose one. There was a reason she applied to them, right?

[Anonymous]

W&M has a dual degree engineering with Columbia but other than that I don't know of any bio engineering program. Probably VT is your best bet for that kind of major.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why you or she are upset. She got into more than one target school. What else does she want from life?!

[Anonymous]

Yep, same thing happened to my DC 2 years ago. They are fine where they are now. Has an internship this summer that pays pretty well for this market.

It was an ego hit to be sure. But, they got over it. They still have 4.0 in college (had 4.0 unwgpa all throughout MS/HS, too, 4.92 wgpa, 1590 SAT).

[Anonymous]

Biomedical engineering probably makes it harder.

[Anonymous]

As impressive as your DD's profile is, unfortunately there are many kids around here with the exact same resume. Some of them have national and even international awards. STEM is way oversaturated and it is very, very tough for even high stats kids to get into a T-25 these days. It does feel unfair. Of course it does. Hope she gets off one of the waitlists but, if she doesn't, she is clearly a smart, hardworking young woman who will succeed wherever she lands!

[Anonymous]

Congrats to your daughter for having great options!! It’s ok for your daughter to feel disappointed and frustrated but it’s important that both you and she move on. She has great options so encourage her to be excited about those. And don’t look at what other people had or what they got. No one knows what goes on in the admissions committees. It’s very unpredictable at the top schools. Lots of kids are in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

I know of a national merit finalist this happened to. Now at a lowly regarded school for a highly rigorous STEM major. I'm guessing he got some kind of scholarship and will go to grad school somewhere nicer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's tough, and I can see why you're upset. Having said that, Pitt is the clear choice. It's an amazing school, and your daughter would thrive there in the biomed program.

Yeah, she's definitely leaning towards Pitt right now - Friends have told us that their BME program is great. We're planning to make a visit soon to get more of a feel (and we've never been to the city itself).

[Anonymous]

We went to William and Mary admitted student weekend and we’re very impressed. My kid ended up going elsewhere but your daughter is lucky to have a great option like W & M. We also know of a couple people at Pitt who have had a very positive experience there.

[Anonymous]

This has to be fake. People cannot be this naive.

[Anonymous]

talk to her honestly, as a (soon to be) adult.

- sorry this happened.
- I think we should revisit all acceptances
- these are great options
- but this is not a prison sentence.
a. you could pick best option with the plan of transferring - that would mean planning a full summer (not just senior summer goof off) and researching transfer options. (I bet she'd get into Vandy as a transfer). you end up loving where you are and not applying, so much the better
b. you could take a gap year and reapply. that would mean taking a good look at your application and list. rewriting essays. and planning a meaningful year.
c. you could look at what's open now. some UK schools will open in clearing that are quite good.

I bet she'll end up picking one of her good options, but make it a choice. college is a huge investment. nobody should feel pushed in.