Name: Mac

Home State: Colorado

HS GPA: 4.35 weighted, 3.45 un-weighted

SAT/ACT Scores: 640 Math, 690 Verbal, 730 Writing (2060 total)

How many schools did you apply to? 9 schools

Which ones?
From (approximately) West to East:
Stanford University (rejected), Claremont McKenna College (rejected), University of Denver (accepted), University of Michigan (waitlisted), Northwestern University (rejected), Vanderbilt University (rejected), Tulane University (accepted), Duke University (rejected), and University of Virginia (rejected)

Were you surprised by any of your admissions decisions? Yes, I definitely was. Before any of this happened, I predicted that I would be accepted at CMC, DU, Michigan, Vanderbilt, and Tulane. I expected to be rejected at Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, and Virginia. Obviously, I was surprised by how many rejections that I received, along with the waitlist offer.

Did you apply early decision/early action to any schools? Are you happy with your decision? I applied early action to Stanford. I personally wish, at this point, that I had applied early decision to Duke. But it is too late now, and although I would do it differently now, I am not too disappointed with the way I handled it.

Where did you get in? I was accepted at DU and Tulane.

Did you get waitlisted anywhere? I was waitlisted at Michigan, and I did accept the offer to be put onto the waitlist. However, Michigan supposedly does not accept very many people (if anyone) off of the waitlist. So I am not counting on this in any way.

Where will you be next fall? How excited are you? I will be at Tulane next year. I am not as excited as some other people are, nor as excited as I probably would have been if I had been accepted to Duke or Stanford. But I am definitely ready for high school to be over, and I am becoming slightly more excited for Tulane daily.

Why did you choose the school you did? I chose Tulane over DU because of the large academic scholarship that Tulane offered (although DU also offered an academic scholarship). Tulane also has a slightly better overall academic reputation. I also preferred the Tulane campus to the DU campus. Once I visited Tulane, there was really not much competition between the two.

What advice do you have for surviving the admissions process? DO NOT KILL YOURSELF. This means in school, do not study for 15 hours for a Physics final. Do not cry yourself to sleep if you don't get a 700 on the math section of the SAT. Do not go volunteer on Saturday morning and then spend the rest of the day doing homework. Leave some time to have fun. Relax a little bit. I am not saying not to care at all about school. I strongly believe that school is important, intelligence is important, and knowledge is important. I just think that some students, due in part to their overbearing parents, get too freaked out about school and the college admissions process. BE YOURSELF. I realize that I didn't have as much success as some people. So why should you listen to me? You should listen to me because my point is still valid. As Senator John McCain said, "I always just do what I think is right." It is not fair to ourselves if we spend four years in our rooms studying and doing homework. It is a rumor that that is what it takes to get into Harvard and Stanford. Well, if that is the case, then it isn't worth it to me—I don't want to go there. I am not saying that I actually believe this rumor—I am just saying to be yourself, and then worry about being accepted, not the other way around.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently, if anything? I might try to get a better SAT score. I would also apply to slightly different (although probably pretty similar) set of schools. I would apply early to Duke instead of Stanford. For the most part, however, I am satisfied with how I handled my admissions process and my high school career in general.

Anything else you want to say? There was, I believe, recently a Supreme Court decision against the University of Michigan concerning affirmative action. It essentially said that Michigan (and this applies, presumably, to all public institutions) cannot accept students on the basis of race. I commend the Supreme Court on this decision. I do not believe that it is fair to say that someone is more worthy of acceptance to a university or college simply because the color of his/her skin is different. Haven't we fought for equality? Well, is it really equal to have differing admissions standards for people of different races? My answer is no. Universities can see the high schools which the prospective freshmen attended, and can "judge the applicant within the context of his/her high school." This factor allows the university to understand whether the applicant has made the most of his/her resources (whether abundant or scarce). That is the key. If we say that one race has a lack of resources, that component of the application process should account for that. After that point, it should be based solely upon merit. May the best applicants get in. That is the way that it should be. Private universities cannot be forced to follow this new precedent (nor should they be), but I urge them to do the right thing, and accept applicants whether they are “black, green, blue, white, or orange” based upon the strength of their applications. That is my rant. I only applied to two public schools, so the Supreme Court's decision did not heavily impact me. But I hope that it impacts future generations of superb applicants.

And I apologize if I have misunderstood the ruling of the Supreme Court. My point remains, however, regardless of what the Supreme Court has done. My argument is against affirmative action in the college admissions process, and that point does not change with a change in the history of Supreme Court case rulings. However, I do believe that I'm right and that my account, while simplified, is accurate.

Thanks to everybody for reading. Congratulations to all seniors on graduating, and good luck to all juniors in your future endeavors.

Mac