r/ApplyingToCollege

I’m a high school junior right now at a pretty competitive public high school.(800 ppl in my class) I took a lot of APs and advanced classes throughout my 3 years but in the end I’m ending with like 10Bs on my transcript. 8 of them are from APs. I’m ending with a 4.25 W GPA by the end of junior summer though according to my school weighting policy, 5 pts for an A and 4 pts for a B in AP/DE classes just to put it in perspective. A lot of them were close to being an A like an 88 or 89 but my teacher never bumped it up. Anyway I’m feeling really lost for college apps and I feel like I’m not even going to get into my state school at this rate. I wanna hear some stories of how you got in where you got in with like really bad grades like mine so I can have some hope LOL.

So ik someone amazing person already called Penn and asked about their waitlist (shoutout to them) but I wanted to call them myself as well. When I did, the lady that picked up said that hey had been actively taking people off the waitlist since May 1st and I was like okay. But like I thought other people had called the office and had other people tell them that they hadn’t started taking people off and they wouldn’t start till mid May. Any thoughts on that?

A Barnard professor offered to write me a recommendation letter. I'm currently on the waitlist at Columbia, will this help or should I do it? Also where should she email it undergrad admissions?

So, Now we know the waitlist is moving. (thanks to OkEgg)

is it going to be just small rolling acceptances, no larger waves, and if so, does that mean less students are likely to get off the wailist

Saw this for a boarding school called Choate Rosemary Hall. These schools had double digit matriculants:

Amherst: 13
Barnard: 15
Berkeley: 12
Boston College: 27
Boston University: 18
Brown: 24
Colby: 11
Columbia: 39
Cornell: 35
Dartmouth: 15
Emory: 13
Fordham: 11
Georgetown: 27
Harvard: 20
Michigan: 22
MIT: 10
Middlebury: 14
NYU: 54
Northeastern: 26
Northwestern: 16
Princeton: 17
St Andrew’s: 23
Trinity: 11
Tufts: 16
Tulane: 17
UChicago: 63
UConn: 14
UPenn: 25
USC: 22
Washu: 16
Wesleyan: 17
Yale: 42

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1759157056/choate/xot0zloyj9ckufbdd8qj/College-Profile-25-26.pdf

Title says it all. Here y’all go! (English is not my first language. From Sweden. Pls excuse any grammar mistakes!)

PERSONAL ESSAY:

My plonker pole had a flib that gronked on the skrizzle grout every few glips — a small, dry stuttle — and I had learned, by Sploober, to lean into it just sloombly to keep the crindle from splecking.

After the sixth glomping, I spribbled one afternoon as a flurp, eight floors down, crissed a parking splot with two plapper bags and a blorple pressed to her greeb. She was noffled about thimp or thamp. I wanted badly to be noffled about thimp or thamp, too.

Gleebwomp put zibbers on my plonkers the last time I was wiglebbed. Gripple, plubber-treaded, pritchy. I didn't gronk until the third dindle, when I floobed at the get-glabber cards scrobbled quamp to the flim beside the blinkdow: eight of them, snorfelopes fliskarded on the skrill, far out of plinch. One from my criss-crossle team had a stickle-figge runner drampled inside, mid-stromp, optimizzle: sniggles scrawlbeld throughout, each with glosber handwriting than the last. Zlorp wrote: "Grib me fribberty or grib me plorf!" I sloogled, which flurt.

Another dindle, I snerked the specific glumtony of Grazzleday morning pluzzuclus. If my Glooble Classroom "To-gloob" section were of any quampsequence, I was supplesed to be squambling myself Pibble's snorp.

The blundle stain above the sploxit's plorframe had sprangled into the flump shape of something quambling an upside-gown Florple or the Snrinch. A night shizzle murn agreebled, and from then on, around 5:00 a.flib., she'd pribble in the doorframe on her way splout to skrib how Jim Sporbley was snolding gulp.

Two grumbles down was a floy named Zimble. He'd splost both glabbers a few moomphs before I arrimp. We gabbled about floofball during phizzical blerapy — sometimes mid-snorfle, he'd go quipple and gringe, and I'd recognizzle it and flay northing. One splinternoon, the anesthizzoliogist who'd glomped on both of us cleebed by and plapped Slorpio Klorp with two kribs in blangchairs for an hour. After thrimp, when he adjimmled my floppofol glip, I didn't snip the gribble rail.

In Grumpril, a glorker and four blubber tips met the parking splot tarplack for the first toime, plonkers bare beneath the gripple blubber-snolled zibbers I plonked on myself that morning. Across the stroop, a flurp strode with her plimpers full and a blorple pressed to her greeb, noffled about thimp or thamp. The glorker's blubber tips caught breephly on a snidge in the tarplack — a small, dry skuttle — and I leaned into it.

Hey guys,

My friend applied to Harvard with a 3.74 GPA despite all the warnings on Reddit saying only to apply with a 3.75 or higher. Was only a couple hours before his head exploded in the living room. Figured it was the dean of admissions telepathically exploding his head, maybe with some psychic signal amplifier from a Boston (Cambridge, sorry, don’t want my head exploded). Should I contact a lawyer? Advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Concerned friend

Waitlists are genuinely worse than outright rejection, and I wish more people talked about it. I know that the point of one is to objectively determine the yield of the school, and balance institutional needs, but the amount of mental exhaustion it places on the student should be deemed objectively criminal.

In theory, a waitlist is supposed to mean hope, but in practice, the odds of getting off one are close to zero, and none of it has anything to do with how badly you actually want the school. If a school knows they’re only realistically pulling 5-10 students off a waitlist, why are 800 people on it? It’s not really a courtesy at that point. I got waitlisted at 5 LACs, have visited every single one, stayed in touch with admissions officers, sent letters of continued interest, and made it crystal clear that each school was a top choice and that I would commit immediately if accepted. I did actually mean every word of it, but I haven’t heard back from a single one.

The worst part is that there’s genuinely nothing you can do to improve your chances once you’re on one. And people are kind of lying to you when they say that you can. It’s entirely about the school’s yield, and once their enrolled class hits the numbers they need, the list never moves. You have zero control over the gaps that the school may present that year, which is what makes the waitlist so much more demoralizing than a straight rejection.

I truly think that these schools need to reevaluate how’d they’ve let students become attached to false hope. At some point you just have to cut your losses. I’m heading to a school I’m genuinely not happy about, paying close to sticker price for it. It’s embarrassing to admit, but it’s the reality a lot of us are facing after this cycle.

For all the high schoolers who say it’s Ivy or bust I want you to know there’s an extremely high likelihood The reason you say this is not because it really would genuinely be important for you and your goals, it’s most likely based on validation because there’s a hole in your heart. If you go to an Ivy, your parents won’t love you anymore than they do now, the comparisons will just get more granular or in many cases is switched to different things. You won’t start suddenly getting popular or cool, at most you’ll have a single year of atta boys and then the unpopularity will start all over again. For a large percentage of you, especially though who apply to 30+ schools, the entirety of your focus is finding a purpose, as if a stamp from the school suddenly make your life worth something. I’ve met plenty of losers who were from Harvard, in fact they’re more likely to be losers because a lot of them use Harvard as the only positive thing they’ve done in their lives.

There are some people who an elite school genuinely would matter to them and their goals. But no, I’m not talking about those who wanna do investment banking or become a lawyer or whatever other high paying career because the money is really the thing that these kids are using to try to make meaning of their lives. This shit ain’t YouTube, you going up to your mom with $100,000 check won’t make her stop roasting you on something else.

I say this as an older person who’s sick and tired of all the talk because high schoolers are just larpers. I’ve met hundreds of bankers who quit because they realize their entire pushing on themselves was worth nothing because at the end of the day they weren’t that guy. Most of y’all aren’t. And that’s completely OK.

Hi everyone! Part 2 of my waitlist series is here. I called 35 schools this time. To everyone DMing me and commenting other schools, I promise I will get to them! 

Fun Fact: I made some of these calls while at the gym and walking to and from the gym. Gotta lose that freshman 15….And little update on my life, I’m gonna go San Francisco for a few days tomorrow because my cousin is graduating from UC Berkeley and we visiting her, and then I’m heading back to college for internships 😎😎So I probably won’t respond to requests the next few days :)

PSA:  If you are on the Barnard waitlist, dm me directly instead of asking to call! I don't have specific info abt their waitlists but I have info on what they like to see because a lot of my friends got off

Also, I know that some of you were commenting that people you know got off before or around May 1st for some of these schools and that my info was inaccurate - some schools do this so that they can consider those students as part of REGULAR YIELD and not part of waitlist admissions, so whenever I call a school, they do NOT count those types of students as part of the waitlist when they are telling me info about the waitlist

Amherst: Called Amherst on 5/19. They have not pulled anyone off yet and as of now, do not plan to take anyone off the waitlist this year due to the class being full, but there is still a small chance they might. They do not have an anticipated date where they plan to close the waitlist yet. I know that some of you were commenting that people you know got off Amherst before or around May 1st - again, some schools do this so that they can consider those people as part of regular yield and not part of waitlist admissions, so when I called Amherst, they likely did not consider those people as part of the waitlist when giving me this info. 

Bates: Called on 5/20. There has been minimal waitlist acceptances, and it hasn’t officially closed but waitlist movement is definitely winding down. The waitlist could remain open as late as August 1st, but that is highly highly unlikely. Students are informed if they get off when a Dean or Counselor will reach out via phone or email, and you have a couple days to respond. Decisions are made rolling until they close the waitlist

Princeton: Called on 5/20. Princeton has taken students off recently, and they will take people off until the end of June. She’s not too sure how many students they will take off but the counselor who picked up estimates it won’t go past double digits.

Virginia Tech: Called VTech on 5/20. They have pulled people off 3 times in the last few weeks, not sure if they will pull more students off because they’re working on crunching those numbers. It could go up to July 1st but it likely won’t. They pull students off entirely based on what majors they need. 

UW Madison: Called UW Madison 5/20. They have accepted people off the waitlist so far and they will have a mass waitlist release on June 5th. 

Duke: Called Duke on 5/20. Duke has admitted some students and once they admit students off the waitlist, they give students a certain amount of time to decide if they want to commit, and they look at class numbers again and see if they still have space in their class. They are getting close to the end of the waitlist process but there is a possibility that they will take off more students but they’re not sure how many will be taken off. They prioritize students who send LOCIS. They don’t care about if you need financial aid when looking at the waitlist, and alert students through rolling admissions. 

Haverford: They typically approach waitlists as a rolling process. They have taken students off so far and they plan to take more students off the waitlist. They usually take 10-20+ people off but it can vary a lot by the year. 

Pomona: Called Pomona on 5/18. As of right now, they’re still looking to see where they are in terms of numbers for their incoming class and the AO who picked up is pretty sure no one has been taken off. They probably won’t take anyone off until early-mid Juneish. The waitlist will likely close late June. 

UPENN: Called Upenn on 5/20. UPenn has been taking people off since May and they will continue until the end of June. They release decisions on a rolling basis. They don’t care whether you are international or not when evaluating the waitlist. Last time I called them, they said that decisions will be released in one big wave, but it seems that is no longer true (?)

Colby: Called on 5/18. They have started their waitlist process and are planning to accept more people off the waitlist. They usually accept people off till August. Decisions are made on a rolling basis so there is no specific date where they will notify people in terms of getting off. She also said “there is no specific set of characteristics we are looking for in our waitlist population since we do holistic review, so we consider a bunch of different factors and context when making our decisions”:

Hamilton: Called on 5/19. They likely have not taken anyone off yet. At this time, the team is going through the waitlist every day and doesn't have an exact deadline of when the waitlist closes, but it typically closes mid summer. They will likely pull people off in waves. 

Cornell: Called on 5/20. Waitlist decisions have been going on a rolling basis. The latest they will go is the end of June, and in extreme scenarios, the start of July. Waitlist admissions entirely depend on the specific college and the yield of that college. Cornell CALS usually accepts the most off the waitlist. I tried calling Cornell CALS, Dyson, Brooks, and Engineering after this for more specific info but none of them picked up.

UIUC: Called on 5/20. UIUC does admissions on a rolling basis and people have been getting off and students will continue to be pulled off. You will hear back by the end of June. 

UCLA: Called on 5/19. They are currently offering waitlist admissions right now on a rolling basis throughout the summer. The waitlist will close by August

William and Mary: Called William and Mary on 5/19. They have pulled some off the waitlist and will continue to pull off people. Most of the offers will be made around now but sometimes they can go all the way through summer. They want to see continued interest so it’s best to reach out to your regional admissions dean with continued interest and continued engagement with William and Mary like virtual tours. Your regional admissions dean will have more specific detail on how many spots are currently available for their region or if they are full so they recommend emailing them if you have more specific questions. They sometimes do look at if you are state vs out of state, boys v girls, etc but it varies year to year

Stanford: Called on 5/19. No new updates since my last call (the person who picked up recognized me), this is what they said last time on 5/13 - “At this time they have yet to go to the waitlist because their yield was very high. The latest people will get a decision is by end of July”

UMIAMI: Called UMiami on 5/18. They are continuing and planning to take more off the waitlist. They don’t know a set date for when the waitlist will end yet. Decisions come out in waves. 

Vanderbilt; Called on 5/20. They take students off on a rolling basis. Waitlist admissions are made on whether a specific school in Vanderbilt has space or not. No info besides that

Columbia (CC and SEAS): I called Columbia three times on 5/18, 5/19, and 5/20. Every single time, they said they have absolutely no updates and they said they have absolutely zero information, which probably means they’re still reviewing and haven’t begun taking anyone off yet. They will make all decisions by June 30th.  I can still call them in the future, However, I will say that historically based on last year's calls, Columbia and Dartmouth are the schools that generally give me the least amount of info regarding the waitlist. 

Swarthmore: Called on 5/18. The lady speaking didn’t know too much information. The waitlist is still open and she is not sure if they’ve made any waitlist offers at all, but she knows there is still movement in the class because some students have withdrawn from Swarthmore after getting off of other waitlists. The class will close by July 1st. She said it wouldn't hurt to email your regional admissions officer.

Reed College: No updates. She said the waitlist will be moving anytime in June-August if they end up taking people off

John’s Hopkins: Called JHU on 5/20. JHU will finish sending out acceptances in the first or second week of August, and will send out decisions in the next couple weeks. Admissions officers cannot see financial status when reviewing applications or majors unless biomedical engineering so they don't consider that

Smith: Called on 5/20. They have offered acceptances recently and the rest of the waitlist acceptances depends on how many of those students take their offers. They don’t care about financial need when taking off the waitlist. Students will hear back by the end of June

Georgia Tech: Called on 5/20. Students have likely been taken off and will continue to be taken off. They don’t have a list regarding the waitlist but they have a bunch of clusters where they group students, ex: mechanical engineering students, rural students, etc. No updates besides that

UMICH: Some decisions have been made but they expect to admit a few more people off the waitlist, but not too sure how many. So right now it's just a waiting game. Admissions will be rolling. They try to close the waitlist by mid-June. 

UMICH Ross: Students will receive waitlist decisions throughout the next few weeks. Admissions will be rolling. All students will get a decision in mid June-late june. 

Rice: Called on 5/20. The movement on the waitlist varies from year to year and they are not sure if more people will be taken off, and it comes out in waves. They did not give me any more specific information. 

Dartmouth: Called on 5/19. They’re still reviewing and likely haven’t taken anyone off. They will likely take people off in waves. I can recall them, but again, historically Columbia and Dartmouth give me the least amount of information when it comes to waitlist calls. 

UT Austin McCombs: Called on 5/19. The info they gave me was honestly very confusing. The person who picked up said they have not evaluated any of the admissions for McCombs yet or made any waitlist decisions, and that any final waitlist notifs will be by July. However, they also said they don’t know this info and that all of this is decided by UT Austin undergraduate admissions. I tried calling UT Austin undergraduate admissions twice, both times in which they left me on hold for 20 mins and never picked up

Wesleyan: Called Wesleyan on 5/20. People have been taken off and people will likely gradually come off until July or August, and they are likely to take a good amount of people off. They will text you when you get off the waitlist and you will get a few days to decide yes/no. 

Northeastern: Called Northeastern on 5/19. Any admissions decisions for the waitlist is entirely based on availability in certain programs. Northeastern is still reviewing the waitlist and all students will hear back by August 1st. 

NYU Stern: Called 5/20. The waitlist is very variable so it’s very difficult for them to say how many they will take off this year. Students offered from the waitlist have an opportunity to indicate what schools and campuses you are, and if you filled out the form and if you indicated interest for other programs you will be considered for that as well. She refused to provide me with specific information without my N-Number so maybe calling them yourselves would help.

Grinnell College: Called on 5/20. They have taken some people off the waitlist already, and they anticipate not taking anyone off anymore. 

Tufts: Called on 5/18. The class is full as of now and there is a possibility that they will pull from the waitlist, but no guarantee. The waitlist will stay open through the month of June. If you received a form to stay on the waitlist for the summer, make sure to fill it out. They do rolling admissions so there is no specific date where you should expect to hear back

Purdue: Called Purdue on 5/20. They are still taking students off the waitlist and June 1st is the last day they will be taking students off. Students are taken off on a rolling basis. 

There were a lot of schools that did not pick up such as Yale, UCSD, Harvard, so I can try calling those later. Take my info w a grain of salt because different ppl who pick up may have different information. I’ll do a couple more parts throughout the summer too. Good luck!

Much Love,
~OkEgg 

so I was at my friend’s house the other day, and he’s a big cricket player so he put on a game for us to watch. he called it t20 cricket which is so confusing to me. why is there cricket specifically for the t20 colleges? is this the new method to get into the t20s that I don’t know about?

where can I watch hypsm cricket, and how good do I have to be to play that? I’ve never played this sport in my life but if it means I can get into the t20s sign me up

- started a multi-billion dollar AI startup with daddy’s money
-donated 5 buildings with daddy’s money
-bought all the ivy leagues with daddy’s money
-Won a Nobel peace prize
-president of the United States
Is this application competitive for the ivy leagues?

Hi, so I’ve been on the Columbia waitlist, and my friends said I needed to “demonstrate interest”. To all the WL Warriors out there, would gooning be a good way to do that? In my eyes it shows the unrelenting drive you have to one up the competition in any way possible, and shows how much you LOVE the school.

sat: 1776

gpa: 12.0

ecs

-President and vice president of the United States of America and Russia.

Navy Seal

Doctor from Harvard

Governor of Vermont.

Astronaut , in a rocket I built myself!

when i applied for undergrad, i got into one of my top three dream schools, one of which was in state. the issue was that the one i did get into was across the country and way too expensive. i literally sent them a letter begging for financial aid and was declined (in hindsight, don’t do that y’all lol). taking out loans wasn’t an option for me, so i went with the school that gave me the most money, which happened to be in my area.

that opened up opportunities such as being able to live on campus and be able to be close enough to home without living there. also, during my time at my undergrad institution, i got to explore my dream career path with various internships, specifically, in my state’s legislature. because of this, i found out that i wanted my career to be in state politics. also, less financial troubles significantly reduce stress and takes up headspace that could go toward studying and being an academic weapon.

now that i’ve graduated from the school i reluctantly chose and subsequently fell in love with, i’m doing a joint law degree and master’s degree at the one of my top three dream schools that is in my state this fall! it all works out. your undergrad experience is what you make it! never lose hope, know that whichever force you believe in has a path to success paved for you.

keep on slaying <3

Confusing

Yesterday I was accepted to West Point, and they told me I have 3 days to make a choice. Right now, im debating between West Point and the Naval Academy. If I chose WP, I would be admitted into the class of 30’, for the naval academy, I’d take a prep year and be admitted into the class of 31’. I have a plan for both options, at WP I’d do my years then get a civilian job and have a family. At USNA I’d stay for 20+ years and the end goal would be to become a rear admiral. Both option are of equal quality. I know the extra prep year won’t be much in the grand scheme of things, but I really don’t know what to choose. If you’ve got some advice I’d love to hear it. Maybe some notable differences between the 2 school? Thanks so much!

Any ideas how to find someone who can advise one of my students who is Protestant at our Protestant school and dying to go to Notre Dame?