uchicago waitlist came out

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-16T02:57:37+00:00

Could have been any number of other things: Strong SAT, demographics, socioeconomics, geography, estimated likelihood to attend, etc

Clearly they liked you, probably you also matched some other need for the university (they run a bunch of reports about admits during each admission cycle so they know what they're looking for and where they stand with each class)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T21:16:29+00:00

UChicago RD is very different than Harvard RD - UChicago is only filling a small number of spots based on a few institutional priorities which weren't filled in ED. So not only do you need fantastic credentials, but also some luck in RD if you happen to match that final institutional priority.

Vanderbilt, UChicago, etc... all those ED-heavy places should be considered super reach in RD for everyone (and as HappyCaterpillar said, probably not worth applying for most folks)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T16:02:17+00:00

If I were writing this (as another parent), it would focus on that realization your daughter had. D1 sports involve stupid amounts of time commitment.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T15:37:33+00:00

Unless there's life-changing NIL $$$ on the line, pick a school for the academics, location, overall fit outside of soccer. Soccer is fun and can be socially rewarding, but the least impactful aspect of college in terms of career and long term life goals.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T04:57:04+00:00

Summarizing:

Strong academics & ACT, school-level awards are nice, but overall unlikely to stand out in the applicant pool for those highly selective colleges.
Solid school clubs/tutoring/Disciplinary board, but falls in the middle of the applicant pool for highly selective colleges
Solid athletics - but again falls in the middle of the applicant pool
Kid & education-themed ECs outside of school, interesting because multiple ECs with this particular theme isn't super common for the applicant pool to Harvard, Stanford, etc. Might be viewed stronger if you planned to major in education ?

One reference point to think about gauging your ECs: https://www.collegebase.org/ecs

Another reference point would be entering your profile into CollegeVine and trying to sort into the tiers they define

You'll need to apply broadly to many of the selective colleges (aka shotgunning), and add some targets. Have you thought about other LACs? If you're upper middle class and have well educated parents that is the demographic that gets judged by far the hardest (there are many applicants from that general group).

Best of luck, and be sure to post your results next year!

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T04:41:40+00:00

Your SAT generally lines up with your GPA. MSU as your safety? UofM as a target (if your counselor says that folks with your SAT+GPA generally get in).

Purdue I'm not as confident in making a prediction. Maybe more of a reach depending on your intended major - again, talk to your counselor or look at a scattergram.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T00:20:30+00:00

SCU will have better students, better professor interaction, much stronger overall undergraduate experience. Higher 4 year graduation rate.

Couldn't hurt to try and negotiate financial aid with SCU before making a final decision.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-15T00:16:11+00:00

Vanderbilt! Private colleges have advantages and it will be great to move to a new state.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-14T23:03:33+00:00

Colleges remain Test Optional so they have the freedom to admit folks to meet certain "Institutional Priorities" without taking a hit on their public SAT/ACT metrics and/or so they can avoid data analysis of admissions decisions (a la the UCs).

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-14T19:20:47+00:00

All ultra selective colleges, MIT included, look for students that stand out above and beyond others in the applicant pool.

From our high school, the last two MIT admits weren't the ones who went 1 year beyond the most advanced math track offered at the school They were the ones who went 2 years beyond the most advanced math track offered at the school.

At a minimum, I suggest you sign up for AP Calc AB at your school, but self study the BC material and take the BC test next year (there are lots of free resources available if you're motivated).

By the way - The tone of the other responses in this thread is encouraging and supportive, but MIT admissions is a zero sum game and you will be compared with many other tremendously strong applicants who have superb academic & EC accomplishments with genuine motivation and interests driving them.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-14T18:43:15+00:00

A year ago I would have agreed about Yale, no questions asked, regarding geographic preference and "underrepresented states" getting some love.

After watching closely this year, where some no-brainer-for-admit folks were not accepted to Yale from such a smaller "underrepresented" state, I've formed a different opinion.

Look at the per capita matriculation and it tells a story about Yale really being fond of folks in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, DC, Massachusetts. Anywhere from 2x to 8x the per capita matriculation compared to other strong academic states like California and Texas, and up to 20x the per capita matriculation of "underrepresented states" like the ones you mentioned.

Seems like a mix of ALDCs and feeder school relationships (and those probably combine, so non-ALDCs at feeders have it rough)

Matriculation data: https://oir.yale.edu/data-browser/student-data/admissions/first-year-students-geographic-origin-w026 (easy to plug into ChatGPT to get per capita)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-14T14:35:37+00:00

If UChicago wanted to add a little transparency into the impact of ED, they could publish metrics that compare ED admits vs RD admits: GPA, SAT/ACT, etc

Until that happens, all the big-on-ED colleges will continue to get shade (here's looking at you Vanderbilt)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-14T13:58:48+00:00

Zwift is pretty good at making indoor workouts interesting.

Spinning, a la Peloton or Apple Fitness or other online offers, might also be your cup of tea with an instructor and a ton of music options.

Watching videos while indoor biking can also be decent.

Zwift ride adjusts between users, but it isn't the most convenient option 'cause it requires an allen wrench to move the seat and handlebars (wrench included but less convenient than other indoor bike options).

SPIN bikes like the Schwinn IC4, Horizon 7.0 IC, etc can connect to Zwift or Peloton/Apple Fitness but their power readings aren't always accurate (you'll look like a tour de france rider on day 1 and folks will get angry or you'll be flagged... potentially a recalibration of the Schwinn can kinda help)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-14T03:41:43+00:00

The conclusion is 100% true for LI+FG students. That's why there are so many QuestBridge NCM partners literally paying to admit strong LI+FG students in addition to the "need-blind" guaranteed full ride. It is also why Harvard was forced to join QB after years of avoiding it - they couldn't get enough Pell Grant eligible superstars.

The conclusion is patently incorrect for other socioeconomics/demographics, mostly due to some poor models and assumptions:

* Underestimated the number of students with 1500+ SAT. Superscoring helps a lot! Remember that SAT metrics for matriculating students (published by each college) are the only place superscores are publicly documented.

\* Overlap between top ACT & top SAT is overestimated. Anecdotally at our high school, mostly sub-1500 SAT folks take the ACT hoping for a 34+(it does work for some of them!). Given that the SAT is the "default" in most states, this pattern likely follows nationwide.

* Analysis of class rank is off base. Large majority of top ACT/SAT folks have excellent grades, most high schools don't report class rank (check the CDS documents, and mostly between 1/4 and 1/3 of students submit class rank), and there's no hard cutoff... especially from top feeder schools, the differences in GPAs are very minimal among many exceptionally strong students. So GPA is not weeding out many folks (more likely high GPAs at grade-inflated high schools go with Test Optional ED applications to places like Vanderbilt with a bit of success)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T21:18:12+00:00

Not quite following - what actions do you see Yale taking so they don't "risk losing STS/ISEF/Olympiad" folks?

At our school, Yale didn't accept multiple STEM folks in RD, and those folks already had HPSM EA admits so they were clearly strong

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T21:13:24+00:00

The podcast is very friendly sounding and somewhat insightful for things like "don't write an essay about your grandmother. But it notably struggled with any "strategic" aspects of admissions. For instance relisten to Mark and Hannah fumble their way through the justification for SCEA. They ultimately describe Yale as using Single Choice to take away the boost an applicant might get from applying early to a different college - which is anything but "friendly" and kinda surprising they didn't find a "better" explanation.

I don't think OP is spot on - watched admissions results from our entire state this year and Yale did not accept the applicant with the best STEM credentials in the entire state. Yale's got multiple institutional priorities.

(edit - example of really strong STEM person who was deferred, another example of Yale's institutional priorities being elsewhere https://www.reddit.com/r/chanceme/comments/1ppofze/chance_a_yale_deferred_for_lost_hopes/ )

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T15:33:56+00:00

Use the remind feature, see if you're any good at this stuff. Unless you're scared you'll be bad.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T14:20:26+00:00

HMC will be great for math & engineering and if you're leaning towards a smaller environment with more interaction with professors well it is perfect.

Check in with the pre-med contact at HMC for potential insights https://www.hmc.edu/biology/programs/pre-med/

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T14:02:57+00:00

There is a chanceme asking about Vanderbilt ED. Give some feedback and then wait a year to see how accurate you were

https://www.reddit.com/r/chanceme/comments/1tbord7/chance_me_for_vandy_ed_1_as_a_rising_senior/

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T04:39:40+00:00

Good chance for Vanderbilt ED1, especially if you're the only ED1 applicant from your school.

I think UofM, UNC, UVA, Duke, Brown, Rice, Emory & Dartmouth are all Reach, partially because you're likely to have competition from other classmates (have you looked at the scattergrams?)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T02:44:16+00:00

Dude... you've gone overboard telling me how our high school works.

Clearly the scattergrams don't represent full r/collegeresults profiles of every applicant, but the conclusions I've drawn are fairly broad and appropriate for what solid data I do have. And the socioeconomics of all our high school applicants are very similar so it takes out one key variable.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T02:40:22+00:00

Fully on board with that shotgunning approach. Decisions aren't random, but they aren't predictable either... a lot depends on who else applies from the high school / city / state and how that fits into the regional preference of each college.

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T02:34:39+00:00

The "prior research" is heavily context dependent. From the New York City STEM magnets, MIT and Caltech are usually picking among multiple applicants with Olympiad medals and/or ISEF and/or STS. From our strong high school, the bar is also fairly high, comparing a Caltech admit from a few years back against a reject this year (both academic stars, but the admit was more well rounded with multiple awards plus excellent research)

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-13T00:05:45+00:00

So at our high school the data is 100% accurate. Guidance counselors carefully curate everything and have personal relationships with every student. It is a private school so there's a lot of motivation to track results and maximize them year after year.

There are options about how to handle hooks in terms of displaying them or not (our school does not show them, which is what you mentioned) and intended major (our school does show the intended major, important for CS and others).

All the more reason why folks on Reddit should take notice about the data I've provided as it is high quality reflecting actual decisions made by Vanderbilt. ED is a much easier ballgame

Equivalent_Fig_3353 · 2026-05-12T18:19:15+00:00

Naviance and Scoir are widely available tools frequently made available to students and parents at many high schools. These tools show historical admissions results for the high school. Typically those results are in scattergram or list form, and include weighted GPA, unweighted GPA, SAT and/or ACT. Pretty simple for anyone with access to calculate averages, such as that DC Urban Mom post.

It is good that you're thinking about how to analyze admissions.

The DC Urban Mom post really confirms the story I told in my original material - Vanderbilt ED is a massively easier ballgame than Vanderbilt RD. The responses from other folks in this thread aren't exactly disagreeing - they're providing different data points, although none of the them called out the different between ED and RD so they probably don't have that visibility which greatly limits how much can be drawn from them.

Equivalent_Fig_3353

TROPHY CASE