Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:58
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My high stats nephew applying for Chemistry (white male) with a 3.9 UW GPA and 35 ACT along with some great ECs (including paid research) did not get into a single UC they applied to (7 of them).
This is why people should want schools to require test scores. Your nephew looked like every other applicant because the UCs never saw the 35 ACT. That score sets him apart from the all the other kids with 3.9 GPAs (and there are a lot of them). Oh well.
Wrong. 35 ACT did not help my kid one bit.
And it definitely didn't hurt. Your kid was rejected for other reasons. 35 is outstanding and should alway be submitted
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:52
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Somewhat surprisingly, my black daughter with a 4.0 and 35 ACT (one sitting) didn't get into Berkeley OOS for engineering, albeit the ACT score wasn't submitted.
they don't consider race or scores and I assume she was OOS
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:45
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My high stats nephew applying for Chemistry (white male) with a 3.9 UW GPA and 35 ACT along with some great ECs (including paid research) did not get into a single UC they applied to (7 of them).
This is why people should want schools to require test scores. Your nephew looked like every other applicant because the UCs never saw the 35 ACT. That score sets him apart from the all the other kids with 3.9 GPAs (and there are a lot of them). Oh well.
Wrong. 35 ACT did not help my kid one bit.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:42
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:I understand the sentiment behind your question. I can't provide insight into rejections for a high stats kid, but I can give you my impression of the class of 2027 admissions cycle.
A few thoughts:
Test scores are very relevant, even at test optional schools.
Interviews can make a big difference, particularly in demonstrating interest.
Essays are critical and the best place to focus one's energy during senior year. After all, it's impossible to meaningfully raise one's GPA or alter one's ECs in 12th grade, but your student can absolutely write killer essays that tie his/her achievements into benefiting a particular institution. Personalization to each school is key.
Bottom line... top stats, great ECs, demonstrated interest and amazing essays lead to admission success.
I agree. I also want to add that as much as I respect teachers, they are not necessarily experts in college essay writing. Some require the essay to be written as part of English class. Mine wrote an essay for the class that they did not submit - wrote their own essay for admissions. They just disagreed with the teacher's direction and felt they wanted to write it completely on their own and with no guidance.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:33
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:My high stats nephew applying for Chemistry (white male) with a 3.9 UW GPA and 35 ACT along with some great ECs (including paid research) did not get into a single UC they applied to (7 of them).
This is why people should want schools to require test scores. Your nephew looked like every other applicant because the UCs never saw the 35 ACT. That score sets him apart from the all the other kids with 3.9 GPAs (and there are a lot of them). Oh well.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:26
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:My high stats nephew applying for Chemistry (white male) with a 3.9 UW GPA and 35 ACT along with some great ECs (including paid research) did not get into a single UC they applied to (7 of them).
In state or OOS?
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:23
Subject: Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Gotta love those kids who got shut out of top schools & weren’t too proud to settle for Georgetown & Boston College.
GU>BC
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:23
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
I don't think it was a typo. This reflects what we saw in real life last year. This year should be different, assuming there's really no more "affirmative action" for up-market white men.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My Asian female mainly CS kid couldn't broke into T20ish schools.
Ended up at Northeastern and very satisfied.
Do you mean Northwestern?
??
Isn't Northwestern a T20ish school?
Yes, just assumed "Northeastern" was a typo.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 16:22
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My Asian female mainly CS kid couldn't broke into T20ish schools.
Ended up at Northeastern and very satisfied.
Do you mean Northwestern?
??
Isn't Northwestern a T20ish school?
Northwestern is T20. Northeastern is not. If kid couldn’t break into T20, I’m assuming she is at Northeastern.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 15:57
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Among by dd’s friends, kids with top stats that were shut out wound up at Georgetown and Boston College. Another with incredible extracurriculars (won the school service award) and great grades shut out everywhere but Maryland.
So much of college admissions to the top colleges appear to be a lottery.
It’s a lottery because the kids are all the same.
UMC, suburban, 1450+, 3.8+, classical instruments (piano/violin NEVER accordion or blaster beam), Key Club, Shadow a Doctor (parent or parents friend), STEM (NEVER classics or poetry or basket weaving), essay is about dead grandma/dog or trip abroad opened my eyes, Model UN (France, NEVER Papua New Guinea) there are only four future professions: law, medicine, engineering or finance.
You’re the AO at an T25 and you get 25k applications that look like this-100 alone from TJ.
Now what?
Anonymous
09/19/2023 15:45
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:similar stats kid and interested in CS. What were the safeties your DS applied to?
RIT, RPI, UMBC, Stevens
UMD CS not a safety unless don't care about being direct admit.
UMD CS is not a safety for someone with very high stats?
It is not. In fact there are kids in the honors college that were not direct CS admits. The honors college has an average GPA of 4.65, middle SAT 1480-1560, ACT 34-35.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 15:39
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:white male 1580 SAT (800 math) 4.7W GPA (4.0UW) Eagle, national CS awards, patent for a product he designed, leadership roles and volunteer roles. APs in all core subjects with 5s on exams. Math through multivariable calc. Teachers proofed essays and loved them. CS major
No: CMU, Stanford, Wisconsin, Washington, Boulder (offered exploratory studies not CS)
Deferred then WL: Ga Tech, Rice, UT Austin
Yes to all "safeties" but I don't believe in safeties for CS
Attending and happy at Purdue.
Wow!! Your boy looks amazing!! Don't know what else can the "no" schools asked for? Purdue is great! Congratulations!!
Not the PP but parent of a similarly accomplished kid with similar results. There are just way too many kids for too few spots. Kids with bad scores just go TO so high scores are just one other data point. Unique interests seem to help as well as obviously being having a hook or from an under-represented group. No one really knows. Have you kid apply and see what happens. Trying to guess what your kids results will be is not helpful.
I wish there is a TO equivalence for GPA. My kid has really high SAT/ACT, but not stellar GPA from TJ due to the tough Math department ... No hooks and no place to hide ...
NP. I understand. In theory, the context of the high school is considered. But, in practice, I don't think this happens at many colleges across the country.
Well and the TJ kid in competition with the other TJ kids, some of which probably got through with high GPA. Magnet schools definitely not a help in this process.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 15:38
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:similar stats kid and interested in CS. What were the safeties your DS applied to?
RIT, RPI, UMBC, Stevens
UMD CS not a safety unless don't care about being direct admit.
UMD CS is not a safety for someone with very high stats?
Anonymous
09/19/2023 15:37
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:similar stats kid and interested in CS. What were the safeties your DS applied to?
RIT, RPI, UMBC, Stevens
UMD CS not a safety unless don't care about being direct admit.
Anonymous
09/19/2023 14:58
Subject: Re:Top Stats students that had difficult admissions last year
Anonymous wrote:similar stats kid and interested in CS. What were the safeties your DS applied to?
I would like at Purdue, UMD, VATech, maybe Pitt, UIUC, GA Tech. Last two are not quite "safeties", though.