Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

My son got into Berkeley with the same stats as PP.

And I know a local kid who was rejected from Berkeley with the same stats.

So what do y'all think made the difference? Essay?

I thoughtuniversit of california schools just had stats reports, no big essays

Do NOT go to Occidental College. It's a cesspool of infighting between admin/professors/the President and the board. From the most recent alumni magazine:

Accountability Issues

The letter by Sean Goldrick ’78, which questions the rehiring of President Veitch (“Dissenting Opinion,” Fall 2014), is right on target. He should not have been rehired. The Orange County Register recently reported that in 2011 President Veitch was paid in excess of $630,000 for his services that year. The following is some of what that salary bought the College:

1) The public humiliation and side effects of a negligent conduct policy that has resulted in several disparaging articles about Occidental printed in the Los Angeles Times over the last year.

2) An especially egregious out-of-court settlement with high-profile attorney Gloria Allred and her 10 student clients.

3) Two federal complaints, yet to be settled, filed against the College regarding handling of the sexual assault cases under Title IX, which may result in substantial federal penalties.

4) More than likely millions of dollars paid in litigation costs, penalties, and settlement awards.

I am not aware that President Veitch has yet publicly apologized to alumni, students, parents, and other supporters for the mess the College finds itself in. Additionally, the Board of Trustees should be ashamed of themselves for their lack of demand for accountability, and for being complicit in allowing this kind of situation to develop. This didn’t happen in a vacuum. They knew or should have known what was happening. There should also be some trustee resignations resulting from their apparent lax oversight of the College administration.

What has been going on at Occidental is the same kind of coverup that occurred on Wall Street, at Penn State, and more recently with Roger Goodell and the NFL. Where is the integrity and responsibility of the College administration? In my opinion the College and its leadership seem morally bankrupt.

Gil McFadden ’54
Fullerton

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS was accepted to UC-Berkeley and JHU.

Can you share the stats for UC-Berkeley? It is DD's dream school....

2350 SAT I, Math II & Chem subject tests: 800, 800, unweighted GPA : 4.0, weighted GPA: 4.58, top 1% of class, US Presidential Scholar nominee, National Merit Finalist, National AP scholar, Scholastic writing award etc. etc.

Our children had almost identical scores and other credentials, it is uncanny. DC was also admitted to Berkeley.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to hear this... we're headed out on a college trip later this afternoon and Oxy is on our list. Is anyone out there who has something good to say about the school? I can't believe with all of the supposed hordes of kids beating down the doors to get into decent colleges that it would be in trouble... But I never thought Sweet Briar would close either. So I obviously know very little. All I'm sure of is that if your child is female trying to get into a decent SLAC, you're (and she's) sh*t out of luck.

It is a beautiful campus with nearly perfect weather. My sister graduated from there in 2005 in science and had some amazing research opportunities while an undergrad. From Oxy she went to Harvard Medical School. She loved it there. My best friend's niece is there now and loves it.

Nearly perfect weather? My DD knows at least 20 current students at Miami Ohio and one thing is universal: the winters suck. It snowed last weekend. Other than that, they all seem pretty happy. I haven't heard any of the complaints the pp is going on about.

PP is talking about Occidental in California, not Miami of Ohio.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to hear this... we're headed out on a college trip later this afternoon and Oxy is on our list. Is anyone out there who has something good to say about the school? I can't believe with all of the supposed hordes of kids beating down the doors to get into decent colleges that it would be in trouble... But I never thought Sweet Briar would close either. So I obviously know very little. All I'm sure of is that if your child is female trying to get into a decent SLAC, you're (and she's) sh*t out of luck.

It is a beautiful campus with nearly perfect weather. My sister graduated from there in 2005 in science and had some amazing research opportunities while an undergrad. From Oxy she went to Harvard Medical School. She loved it there. My best friend's niece is there now and loves it.

Nearly perfect weather? My DD knows at least 20 current students at Miami Ohio and one thing is universal: the winters suck. It snowed last weekend. Other than that, they all seem pretty happy. I haven't heard any of the complaints the pp is going on about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

My son got into Berkeley with the same stats as PP.

And I know a local kid who was rejected from Berkeley with the same stats.

So what do y'all think made the difference? Essay?

I'm sure that there were kids with a similar profile to "DS Awesome" who weren't accepted, just like what happened with the two "Not-Quite-As-Awesome-With-Respect-To-Stats-Only" who were accepted and the one who wasn't. So who knows what made the difference in the outcome in any individual case. It could simply be that a different admissions officer (or the same admissions officer on a different day) would have made the opposite choice. It seems to me that once you're in the zone, it's a crap shoot whether you get in, get wait-listed, or rejected. I followed a kid on CC who was rejected at UCLA and wait-listed at Berkeley but accepted to Princeton

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is currently waitlisted at Davidson & will go there if eventually admitted. If not, she's headed to Vassar.

Awesome. If my DD ends up with those choices I'll be thrilled.

Thank you Her dad & I are pretty thrilled -- and, more importantly, so is she!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

My son got into Berkeley with the same stats as PP.

And I know a local kid who was rejected from Berkeley with the same stats.

So what do y'all think made the difference? Essay?

Maybe the degree? Engineering is super selective.

Anonymous wrote:I hate to hear this... we're headed out on a college trip later this afternoon and Oxy is on our list. Is anyone out there who has something good to say about the school? I can't believe with all of the supposed hordes of kids beating down the doors to get into decent colleges that it would be in trouble... But I never thought Sweet Briar would close either. So I obviously know very little. All I'm sure of is that if your child is female trying to get into a decent SLAC, you're (and she's) sh*t out of luck.

It is a beautiful campus with nearly perfect weather. My sister graduated from there in 2005 in science and had some amazing research opportunities while an undergrad. From Oxy she went to Harvard Medical School. She loved it there. My best friend's niece is there now and loves it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

My son got into Berkeley with the same stats as PP.

And I know a local kid who was rejected from Berkeley with the same stats.

So what do y'all think made the difference? Essay?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

My son got into Berkeley with the same stats as PP.

And I know a local kid who was rejected from Berkeley with the same stats.

Anonymous wrote:Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

My son got into Berkeley with the same stats as PP.

Anonymous wrote:I hate to hear this... we're headed out on a college trip later this afternoon and Oxy is on our list. Is anyone out there who has something good to say about the school? I can't believe with all of the supposed hordes of kids beating down the doors to get into decent colleges that it would be in trouble... But I never thought Sweet Briar would close either. So I obviously know very little. All I'm sure of is that if your child is female trying to get into a decent SLAC, you're (and she's) sh*t out of luck.

Start googling. Lots of problems. Every college has hordes of kids beating down their doors now due to the increase in no. of high school Americans who go on to higher education and the huge influx of Chinese students. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/04/the_things_professors_say.html#.VRwZSeArgWs.email

Wow 14:01: your DS sounds awesome (congrats to him and you) but I'm scratching my head and thanking my lucky stars about my DC's acceptance to Berkeley because DC's stats are SAT I <2200, SAT IIs <700, UWGPA <3.8, and not even a NM semi-finalist, and also no "hooks" (URM, first-gen, low-income). Even though it hasn't been quite a week since the decision came out, I guess DC would have heard by now if the acceptance had been sent in error .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS was accepted to UC-Berkeley and JHU.

Can you share the stats for UC-Berkeley? It is DD's dream school....

2350 SAT I, Math II & Chem subject tests: 800, 800, unweighted GPA : 4.0, weighted GPA: 4.58, top 1% of class, US Presidential Scholar nominee, National Merit Finalist, National AP scholar, Scholastic writing award etc. etc.