Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:37     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote: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.


This is very unfortunate. At our NJ private DD would have been into many of those schools. It’s such a crapshoot. She’ll succeed anywhere. She has the qualifications and drive. The process is awful. Work those waitlists. Can the school help?
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:37     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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.


Forgot to mention that she was a national merit finalist (1490 PSAT) but didn't ultimately win. She's already interviewed for the Chancellor's Scholarship @ Pitt and are hoping to get results any day now... She says the interviews went great, but after the rejections she's lost a lot of confidence...


PP. re Chancellors - well now you’re talking! That would be fantastic! Those are tough interviews to get - our kid did not and I was hopeful given stats. Fingers crossed for her!


Thank you! Yes, she is really keeping her hopes up for this after so many rejections. Best of luck to your DC as well!
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:37     Subject: Disappointment
Parents, especially highly educated parents with good incomes, seem to forget that there are so many "amazing"'kids out there with stellar resumes and grades and scores. You really need to make her realize that her choices are excellent. Because they are. And Pittsburgh is a terrific city.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:36     Subject: Disappointment
I'm sorry. It must sting so much. She's bright and qualified for all those schools.

Please go to admitted students days. If she has honors/special program options at any of the places she was admitted, it may take some of the hurt away.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:36     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote:If your DD was at least accepted by one or two T20, and rejected by most, that's normal. However, she was rejected by all T20s, that makes me believe there is something in her application that is seriously wrong. There are a few possibilities.

First, there is a red flag in her profile. Nowadays colleges sometimes verify the ECs provided by the applicant.

Second, are you confident that all her recommendation were good? Is it possible one of her teachers wrote a lukewarm letter?

Third, if none of the above occurred, most likely her essays were lacking.

Her stats are outstanding. However, she doesn't have a spike. For this type of applicants, if you ED Chicago or Northwestern, you might just get accepted.

Use ED and ED2 wisely.

Congratulations on Lehigh Pitt and WM! Those are really good schools.


2 of the teachers that provided an LOR had a close relationship with her, but maybe some sort of writing skill is lacking? They were both STEM teachers so not sure if that plays a part. She worked a lot on her essays and got a lot of positive feedback, so I doubt the essays harmed her application. She did tell me that she regrets not choosing more "unique" ECs and thinks hers might have been too "basic" - She put so much work in them and it really makes me upset that it apparently wasn't enough.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:35     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yikes. Bad personality maybe. But also just a very competitive cycle.


I'm definitely biased but she's a very motivated, hardworking girl... Always willing to help someone out. Watching decisions crush a lot of her confidence is so painful. I told her that she shouldn't compare herself to her peers, but idk how most people wouldn't be incredibly upset if a classmate w/ lower stats and less effort made it in instead of you.

There was something wrong with her application, most likely. Sometimes an "off vibe" is the actual cited reason for a rejection. Reflect and re-evaluate.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:31     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote:Yikes. Bad personality maybe. But also just a very competitive cycle.


I'm definitely biased but she's a very motivated, hardworking girl... Always willing to help someone out. Watching decisions crush a lot of her confidence is so painful. I told her that she shouldn't compare herself to her peers, but idk how most people wouldn't be incredibly upset if a classmate w/ lower stats and less effort made it in instead of you.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:31     Subject: Disappointment
If your DD was at least accepted by one or two T20, and rejected by most, that's normal. However, she was rejected by all T20s, that makes me believe there is something in her application that is seriously wrong. There are a few possibilities.

First, there is a red flag in her profile. Nowadays colleges sometimes verify the ECs provided by the applicant.

Second, are you confident that all her recommendation were good? Is it possible one of her teachers wrote a lukewarm letter?

Third, if none of the above occurred, most likely her essays were lacking.

Her stats are outstanding. However, she doesn't have a spike. For this type of applicants, if you ED Chicago or Northwestern, you might just get accepted.

Use ED and ED2 wisely.

Congratulations on Lehigh Pitt and WM! Those are really good schools.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:31     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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.


Forgot to mention that she was a national merit finalist (1490 PSAT) but didn't ultimately win. She's already interviewed for the Chancellor's Scholarship @ Pitt and are hoping to get results any day now... She says the interviews went great, but after the rejections she's lost a lot of confidence...


PP. re Chancellors - well now you’re talking! That would be fantastic! Those are tough interviews to get - our kid did not and I was hopeful given stats. Fingers crossed for her!
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:29     Subject: Disappointment
Public or Private HS?

These items are a dime a dozen and not needed. Ie mean nothing on an application.
Founder of non-profit
- Research w/ prof at T30
- Competitive summer program for BME
- Lots of community service

Regional Stem awards got her into the schools she was accepted at and her stats. Most of those schools are data schools ie SAT/GPA.

I am sorry OP but honestly your kid got in where they should be going. They will do well at any of their choices.

Pitt is the place they belong or VT.

You did not prepare your kid to be realistic



Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:29     Subject: Disappointment
I’m sorry.
Agree that it’s the major. My kid experienced this last year except did get in one of your kid’s WL schools. I’m surprised about the UVA WL with her stats. Did your daughter apply EA to UVA? What kind of high school does she attend?

VT, Pitt, Lehigh all were in the running for engineering for our kid. VT would be fantastic, Pitt too. Lehigh was in the running until the very end. Hopefully she can get excited at the admitted student days. Tough process for sure.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:28     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote: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.


Forgot to mention that she was a national merit finalist (1490 PSAT) but didn't ultimately win. She's already interviewed for the Chancellor's Scholarship @ Pitt and are hoping to get results any day now... She says the interviews went great, but after the rejections she's lost a lot of confidence...
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:27     Subject: Disappointment
Anonymous wrote: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?


+1

Disappointment is natural. Try to avoid grievance and the blame game.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:26     Subject: Disappointment
Yikes. Bad personality maybe. But also just a very competitive cycle.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:26     Subject: Disappointment
Pitt is a great college city. I hope she really likes it.