My College Decisions

This is literally just a list of all of the decisions of the schools I applied to. Eventually I’ll come back and update my funny commentary for some of them.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Applied: Early Action 10/29/17
Decision: Deferred to RD 12/13/17
RD Decision: Rejected 3/28/18

My Commentary: Ah, the dream that was Princeton. Sigh. This was my dream school (before Rochester and REMS came along) and it sucked getting deferred in December. Like heartbreakingly, gut-wrenchingly sucked. And then I slowly got over Princeton (cause the deferral was basically a soft rejection to me) and by the time Ivy Day rolled around I had stopped caring. Complete desensitization. Which made the rejection hurt less, at least. Still stings though. Pton will forever be my dream school. Too bad they don’t have a med school.


UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Applied: Rolling admissions 11/6/17
Decision: Accepted 12/8/17
Honors College decision: Accepted 12/10/17
Scholarship notification: $25k per year + Chancellor’s Scholarship Invite 12/24/18
Chancellor’s Scholarship application completed: 1/7/18
Chancellor’s Scholarship Interview Invite: Not invited to interview 3/5/18
Invitation to apply to Pitt GAP (8 year medical program): 12/10/17
GAP Application completed: 1/10/18
GAP Interview Invite: Selected to interview 2/10/18
GAP Final Decision: Rejected 4/5/18

My Commentary: This was a school I applied to on a whim, last minute, because I had gone to visit Carnegie Mellon and ended up visiting Pitt too. Decided I didn’t hate it, wouldn’t mind coming, and found out they had an 8-year as I was filling out my application. Again, decided to apply, not really thinking anything will come out of it. But funny how things work out (and why I support applying on whims), Pitt GAP is now my number one choice, if I get in, I am going. (Their med school is almost at soul mate level, their undergrad… well, we can just say it’s nowhere near Rochester - nothing will be - but their neuro program makes up for it considerably.) Now all I have to do it wait for their decision. (Update after decision: Okay, I got rejected. I was pretty sad when I got the news - although looking at how competitive this program is, I should've seen it coming - and it sucked. That was the one decision I was waiting for and after I got rejected my future was considerably narrower and bleaker. Still, let's see what happens. At least this means I might end up at U of R and REMS (possibly) after all.)


UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

Applied: Regular Decision + REMS (8 year medical program) 10/29/17
Decision: Accepted 2/19/18 (I technically got accepted when I got an interview invite to REMS, but this was when I was officially accepted.)
Scholarship Information: $10k per year 2/28/18
Appealed Scholarship: $15k per year 4/19/18
Nominated for Handler Scholarship: 10/24/17
Handler Scholarship Decision: Rejected 4/10/18
REMS Interview Invite: Selected to interview 1/26/18
REMS Final Decision: Selected as Alternate (waitlist), awaiting final status 3/16/18

My Commentary: Ah, Rochester. I didn’t even know you existed and was definitely not planning on applying until I came across this one paper written by an old PhD student that basically was everything I want to research in my life. And then I visited and I fell in love. You and Princeton are the only schools where I genuinely had the gut feeling (yes, it exists). But it wasn’t until after REMS Weekend (the interview) when I realized I am in absolute love with this school. The Open Curriculum, the people, the environment, the snow storms. Everything. It is my undergraduate soul mate. 100%. The med school is great, not soulmate worthy, but your undergrad man. Too good. If only you weren’t so damn expensive. And if only, you know, I had actually gotten into their program. Man, I was so upset when I found out I was an alternate. Sigh. It still sucks when I think about it. Sigh. So sad. I love it so much. So, so much. Still holding out for alternate list movement though (and might also go to U of R regardless if I can convince my parents it's worth the price tag), so the soul matetitude can still become a reality. (Please take me.) (But also, give me more money.)


RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Applied: Early Action 10/27/17
Decision: Accepted to SAS, SEBS, and EMSOP 12/20/17
Honors College decision: Accepted through SAS, SEBS, and EMSOP 2/7/18
Scholarship notification: Presidential ($27.4k per year) through SAS and SEBS, $22k per year through EMSOP 2/10/18
Rutgers-NB/RWJ Medical School 8-Year Medical Program Notification: 2/16/18
8-Year Program Letter Completed: 2/28/18
8-Year Interview Invite: Selected to Interview 3/19/18
8-Year Final Decision: Rejected 4/9/18

My Commentary: RUUUUUU. Looking like more and more the reality. Which I don’t necessarily mind anymore. A full ride is not something to be taken lightly, as the cost of my eventual education is slowly dawning on me. Plus, I randomly got invited to apply to this brand-new 8 year, but idk how I feel about it, there’s like a 98% chance I’ll apply out of it anyway, even if I do get in/go. Tbh I don’t want to stay in NJ for that long.


BROWN UNIVERSITY

Applied: Regular Decision + PLME (8 year med program) 1/1/18
RD Decision: Rejected 3/28/18

My Commentary: Lolol my application to Brown is just too funny because I keep forgetting I applied to their 8-year. Literally people would ask me what programs I applied to and I would completely forget about Brown’s. But I applied because of their Open Curriculum, not the program anyway. Not too upset by the rejection, wasn’t expecting anything. The 5-stages of grief were over before they even started.


UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Applied: Regular Decision 1/5/18
Decision: Waitlisted 3/28/18

My Commentary: Wow. I am honestly surprised I got waitlisted. Was not expecting this at allll. Wrote their application on the last day, was an absolutely crap essay, I was literally watching the movie The Social Network during my interview, I really had no interest in Penn (it’s just too expensive to be worth it). So this waitlist is a pleasant surprise.


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Applied: Regular Decision 1/1/18
Decision: Waitlisted 3/28/18

My Commentary: My Columbia story is even funnier than my Brown story. If you read my article on What I Wish I Knew Before I Applied to College, you know that I absolutely loveeeeee the campus and the environment but absolutely hateeeeeee the Common Core. With a passion. This (and maybe CMU) is the only school where even if I got in and got a substantial amount of money, would not consider going because of how much I abhor the concept of a Common Core. I am still mildly perplexed as to why I applied.


JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Applied: Regular Decision 1/3/18
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Application Completed: 1/22/18
Decision: Waitlisted 3/16/18

My Commentary: In all honesty, I was expecting to get in. I was completely expecting to get in. So this waitlist stings. Most likely, I wouldn’t have gone anyway - I just don’t like the school that much - but still, it sucks. I really thought I could get in and getting waitlisted was not a pleasant surprise.  


AMHERST COLLEGE

Applied: Regular Decision 12/29/17
Decision: Waitlisted 3/23/18

My Commentary: Yet another school where, looking back on it, I have no idea why I applied. It’s the second-best liberal arts school and it is in the middle of absolutely nowhere. But I applied because they have an Open Curriculum (if you haven’t noticed, that’s a common theme in my applications) and I had a fee waiver. Pretty cool to be waitlisted though, was expecting to be rejected.


BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

Applied: Regular Decision 12/29/17
Decision: Accepted 3/22/18
Scholarship Notification: Justice Brandeis Scholarship $20.5k per year 3/27/18

My Commentary: This was a safety, so it’s not like I wasn’t not expecting to get in, but I remember at one point in time I was seriously considering Brandeis, especially their 4 year BS/MS in neuroscience. Plus the people there are so nice. But eh, idk, I just stopped thinking about it and it sorta dropped off the radar. Plus the money isn’t enough for it to compete with my current options, so looks like this one’s off the table.


CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Applied: Regular Decision 1/1/18
Decision: Accepted 3/31/18
Scholarship Notification: $5k/yr 4/2/18

My Commentary: Lolol as I was writing their supplement I was just thinking to myself, why am I applying here again? Expecting a rejection, even if I get accepted will most likely not attend. (Update after decisions: LOLOLOLOL I got accepted!!! Wow. This is like the only good school I got accepted to. Waiting on financial aid to completely rule out attending, in case they give me a crap ton of money or something. Not really considering attending at the moment, but will wait and see what happens. I just was really confused when the decision came out, because I was not expecting it at allllll.) (Update after financial aid: Nope. Not happening. But it was nice knowing you, CMU, thanks for being the one selective school I was not waitlisted at. Hopefully my spot goes to one of my friends.)


NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

Applied: Regular Decision 12/16/17
Decision: Accepted 2/13/18
Honors Decision: Accepted to Honors Program 2/13/18
Scholarship Notification: NEU Honors Scholarship $28k per year 2/13/18

My Commentary: Yet another safety school where I wasn’t really sure what I was thinking I’ll get out of applying here. I got a lot of money, but it isn’t enough to make NEU worth it, so it’s off the table. I will, however, be milking this scholarship as I use it to appeal to other colleges for more money (read: Rochester).


COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY

Applied: Regular Decision 1/1/18
Likely Letter Received: 2/23/18
Decision: Accepted 3/5/18
Scholarship Notification: James Monroe Scholar 3/5/18

My Commentary: Decided to apply, literally not even joking, 1 hour before the application was due. Copied and pasted my Princeton essay as their supplement, didn’t even submit my SAT scores until like two weeks later, not sure what I was thinking would happen. Clearly, I got in, but also clearly, I got no money, so idk why I even applied. At least I got my Likely Letter article out of it.


FINAL DECISION

I committed to… ​
Rutgers Honors College as a Presidential Scholar :)
For my longer and slightly angsty commentary on committing, see this post

Update as of 2/20/19: To read my much less angsty post about how I love where I ended up, click here.