u/Good_Building_6059

Don't know why this got deleted but felt like reposting, I'm pretty sure it's because cause I didn't list the full names of the schools like the template requires.

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: South Asian
• Residence: The South
• Income Bracket: Middle Class
• Type of School: Public school fresh-soph year, transferred to a competitive boarding school junior-senior year
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): none

Intended Major(s): Business, Economics, Psychology in that order

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.59 unweighted for Early Action, 3.38 for Regular Decision
• Rank (or percentile): na/135
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: I took 2 APs at my old HS and got an Associates Degree at boarding school

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1490 (740M/750RW)
• AP/IB: Human Geography (5), World History (2)

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Research Assistant under a professor that I cold emailed
2. StockX/GOAT sneaker reselling + selling on Depop
3. TikTok account where I posted takes about the NFL and College Football
4. Founding member of boarding school's career readiness club
5. Oversaw funding for boarding school's club sports teams + captain and founder of the flag football team
6. JV Captain/Varsity bubble playing football at my old HS + played on a 7on7 team outside of school + ran track in the offseason
7. Coached a 2nd grade flag football team
8. Taught middle and high schoolers financial literacy
9. Volunteered at a local animal shelter + volunteered at a local food bank + volunteered mentoring special needs children for a local church + volunteered as a part of my church (about 250 total hours among these)
10. Played on an AAU basketball team freshman year

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. A/B Honor Roll 3x at my old HS

Letters of Recommendation

Math Teacher at boarding school (8/10) - did great in his class, built a great relationship with him and I still keep in contact with him to this day

Research Mentor (9/10) - I was the first and only high schooler he worked with, and even though I didn't know anything about his areas of interest I picked them up on the fly

Interviews

Dartmouth (8/10) - This was my only interview but he was from my hometown and we talked a lot about football, community, and the social life at Dartmouth. We went for the entire time the call was scheduled

Essays

I started the big essay in early June and finished in mid July, I thought it was pretty good and others clearly thought so too since it got leaked by my friend to my entire hometown. My smaller essays were decent too But I feel like the word counts made me condense a lot of my talking points. Overall I'd say the main essay was an 8.5/10 and the smaller school specific essays were about a 6-6.5/10.

Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)

Out of State for all of them, yes it was stupid to not apply to my state's flagship but I never wanted to go there anyways.

University of Mississippi (Rolling) - Accepted + full tuition scholarship

University of Alabama (Rolling) - Accepted + almost a full tuition scholarship

University of Colorado (EA) - Accepted + a tiny ass scholarship compared to the outrageous oos tuition

Texas Christian University (EA) - Accepted + decent scholarship

Southern Methodist University (EA) - Accepted + a nothing burger scholarship compared to tuition

University of South Carolina (EA) - Accepted + pretty good scholarship

San Diego State University (RD) - Waitlisted

University of Tennessee (EA) - Deferred -> Waitlisted

Indiana University (EA) - Accepted + tiny scholarship

Florida State University (EA) - Deferred -> Waitlisted

University of Georgia (EA) - Accepted

University of Wisconsin (EA) - Deferred -> Rejected

University of California, Santa Barbara (RD) - Waitlisted

University of Miami (EA) - Accepted + decent scholarship

University of Florida (EA) - Rejected

Tulane University (EA) - Rejected

University of North Carolina (EA) - Waitlisted

University of Texas (EA) - Deferred -> Accepted

University of Southern California (EA) - Deferred -> Rejected

University of Michigan (EA) - Deferred -> Rejected

University of California, Los Angeles (RD) - Rejected

Vanderbilt University (RD) - Rejected

Dartmouth College (RD) - Rejected

Feel free to comment any questions!

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: South Asian
• Residence: The South
• Income Bracket: Middle Class
• Type of School: Transferred from a normal public HS to a super competitive boarding school (avg GPA is 3.93 and avg SAT is a 1530) after sophmore year
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): none

Intended Major(s): Business, Economics, or Psychology in that order

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.59/4.00 at the time of applying, 3.38/4.00 after mid year report
• Rank (or percentile): 3rd quartile/120
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc: 2 AP classes, 20 dual enrollment classes + Associates Degree

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1490 (750RW, 740M)
• AP/IB: Human Geography (5), World History (2 - didn't report)

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Research Assistant at a local university (11-12th)
2. Founder of a small sneaker reselling business making $3k (10-12th)
3. Ran a TikTok account that posted NFL and CFB content with 10k followers (9-12th)
4. Founding member + exec of boarding school's career readiness club (11-12th)
5. Treasurer of boarding school's club sports + founder/captain of boarding school's flag football team (11-12th)
6. JV captain and varsity bubble of previous HS football team + played on a 7on7 team outside of school (9-10th)
7. Volunteered teaching financial literacy to middle and high schoolers (11th)
8. Coached a 2nd grade flag football team (11th)
9. Member and Volunteer for a local religious org (11-12th)
10. Club basketball outside of school (9th)

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. 3x A/B Honor Roll at my previous HS

Letters of Recommendation

Research Mentor: He let me read it and it was amazing, talked about me being responsible, mature, and said that my performance in his lab made him realize he needed to push his graduate students more

Math Teacher at boarding school: Got some really good grades in his class, and put in a ton of work going to tutoring outside of class and built a pretty good relationship with him so I hope he had some good things to say

Interviews

Dartmouth: The guy was from my hometown and also played football in high school so we talked a lot about that, didn't really even talk about Dartmouth until about 20 mins in, the interview lasted the entire time it was scheduled for

Essays

I personally thought they were pretty good, and they were good enough for my friend to leak my personal statement to every collegemaxxer in my hometown

Decisions (OOS for all)

Ole Miss (Rolling): >!Accepted (Got a full tuition scholarship)!<

Alabama (Rolling): >!Accepted (Got tons of scholarship)!<

TCU (EA): >!Accepted!<

SMU (EA): >!Accepted (Gave me almost nothing in scholarship greedy bastards)!<

Penn State (EA): >!Rejected (2+2 at the Harrisburg campus whatever that means)!<

Colorado (EA): >!Accepted!<

San Diego State (RD): >!Waitlisted!<

Indiana (EA): >!Accepted!<

Tennessee (EA): >!Deferred -> Waitlisted!<

FSU (EA): >!Deferred -> Waitlisted (Gut wrenching to open both times)!<

Georgia (EA): >!Accepted (I got jumpscared by this one I was sure this was a deferral)!<

UCSB (RD): >!Waitlisted!<

UCSD (RD): >!Rejected (I only applied here cause the UC fee waiver covers 4 schools)!<

Wake Forest (RD): >!Waitlisted!<

Miami (EA): >!Accepted (Dream School!!)!<

Tulane (EA): >!Rejected (This one hurt, I toured and fell in love with it)!<

UNC (EA): >!Waitlisted (Gave me a sliver of hope, then got accepted into Miami an hour later)!<

Texas (EA): >!Deferred -> Accepted (Never thought I had a chance as an OOS for McCombs)!<

USC (EA): >!Deferred -> Rejected (I had the biggest crash out ever after I got deferred)!<

Notre Dame (RD): >!Accepted (Genuinely still don't know how)!<

Michigan (EA): >!Deferred -> Rejected!<

UCLA (RD): >!Rejected!<

Cal (RD): >!Rejected (Same as UCSD)!<

Vanderbilt (RD): >!Waitlisted (Thought I had hope for USC RD after this)!<

Dartmouth (RD): >!Rejected !<

Harvard (RD): >!Rejected (I only applied just to say I tried)!<

Additional Information:

I have a lot to say, but I'll just let you guys comment your questions and reactions

i'm p sure i posted this back in march but it got taken down for some reason

Demographics

• Gender: male
• Race/Ethnicity: south asian
• Residence: oos for all the schools i applied to
• Income Bracket: middle class
• Type of School: large hs freshman and soph year, super small competitive asl school junior and senior year
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): none

Intended Major(s): business

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.68 for EA, 3.54 for RD (unweighted)
• Rank (or percentile): na/185 (im p sure the avg gpa at my school is like a 3.9 tho)
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 2 APs freshman-soph year, pursured an associates junior-senior year (around 60 dual credit hours)

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT: 1490 (720RW, 770M)
• AP/IB: human geo (5), world history (2)

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

gonna try to be p vague so as I don''t get doxxed

1. reselling business making $5k (10-12th)
2. finance research under a professor (11-12th)
3. co-founded a career readiness club (11-12th)
4. tiktok account about sports with 10k followers (9-12th)
5. managed finances for school's club teams and founded/captain of flag football team (11-12th)
6. founder and president of schools FBLA chapter (11-12th)
7. co-founder and marketing guy of a small startup (12th)
8. played football at my old school before transferring, was JV captain and varsity bubble soph year, got consistent first team reps during spring ball, played on a 7on7 team outside of school, did JV track in the offszn (9-10th)
9. 100 hours of financial literacy volunteering (9, 11th)
10. volunteer youth football coach (10-11th)

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. A/B honor roll x3 (9th, 10th)
2. research accepted to conference (12th)

thats all i got😬

Letters of Recommendation

Counselor Letter - describes some family stuff, reason for my transfer, rigor, and vouches for my leadership roles

Research Mentor - I was actually able to read this one, chatgpt summarizes it like this: Strong recommendation highlighting rapid self-learning, initiative, and meaningful research contribution despite limited initial experience. Emphasizes independence, leadership, and entrepreneurial activity alongside academics. Overall tone is confident and supportive, presenting the candidate as driven and capable without obvious weaknesses. Rating: 9/10

Calculus Teacher - I had a great relationship with him, he saw me grow a ton academically and one of the few classes I actually did good in. He also saw me help other students with the material once I got the hang of it.

English Teacher - mid tbh, only asked him cause a few schools required a humanities rec

Interviews

Georgetown - shit the bed on this one tbh, we just didn't have much in common and the interview felt kinda stand off ish, only took like 15-20 mins i think

Dartmouth - this one was a lot better, the guy grew up in the same hometown as me, played football at the rival high school, and we had a lot in common overall. genuinely had a great convo with him, took the entire 45 mins the zoom call was scheduled for.

Essays

Put my heart and soul into these icl. Here's how chatgpt summarizes my commonapp essay: Engaging narrative built around a small, relatable moment that expands into a broader reflection on socioeconomic perception, family values, and opportunity gaps. Effectively ties personal background to a clear motivation, while showing growth through a failed attempt turned learning experience. Strong voice and memorable framing. Rating: 9/10

Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)

Acceptances:

• Ole Miss (Rolling)
• Alabama (Rolling)
• TCU (EA)
• SMU - Cox (EA)
• Colorado (EA)
• Georgia (EA)
• Indiana - Kelley (EA)
• UMiami (EA)
• >!Notre Dame!<(RD)
• >!UT Austin - McCombs!< (deferred EA)

Waitlists:

• Tennessee (deferred EA)
• Florida State (deferred EA)
• San Diego State (RD)
• UC Santa Barbara (RD)
• UNC Chapel Hill (EA)
• Georgetown - McDough (RD)
• Vanderbilt (RD)

Rejections:

• UC San Diego (RD)
• Wisconsin (EA)
• Florida (deferred EA)
• Tulane (EA)
• USC - Marshall (deferred EA)
• Michigan - Ross (deferred EA)
• UCLA (RD)
• Cal Berkeley - Haas (RD)
• Duke (RD)
• Dartmouth (RD)
• Penn - Wharton (RD)
• Harvard (RD)

Additional Information:

i wanna give yall advice, but quite honestly i dont know how i did it either. i wanna say its cause of my essays (don't follow the advice from those big ass college admissions tiktokers), rec letters, and the fact that my activites were super different from most people at my school, since most of them focused soley on stuff like research, competitions like deca and hosa, and those fake ass non profits. if you do take anything away from this post though, don't be afraid to shoot your shot, and don't listen to advice from randoms on tiktok or your school.