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I was deferred from Brown in December. It's still my first choice. My "credentials," if you will:

GPA: 5.7 Weighted (unweighted is 4.3 or something; our weighting is odd).
Rank: Not entirely sure. They did away with rank. I am "top decile." As of last May, I was 2/451. Don't know about now.
Scores:
35 ACT (my SAT I was 710 M/680 V; this was sent to only Harvard and Cornell)
710 Math IIC, 800 Writing, 780 Bio-E (grade 10) -- sent only to Harvard and Cornell.
Nat'l Merit Commended Scholar. (Missed Semi-Finalist by one point. NJ sucks.)
APs: 5 Bio, 5 Psych (both sophomore year), 5 US History, 4 German, 5 Chemistry (all junior year)--AP Scholar with Honor award.
Many, many ECs (among them, oboe, clarinet, tenor saxophone through all of high school including Clarinet Section Leader for marching band, have played entire Reed books in pit orchestras, etc; Managing Editor of school's student newspaper, NHS, German Honor Society [Vice President last year, President this year], German Club, Fencing [9th and 10th grade only; illness forced me to drop out], Science Olympiad, Chemistry Expert).
Volunteer and work experience: Here's where I'm a bit lacking. I've done "odd jobs" for neighbors for years, for cash and for free. I've also volunteered at the hospital in town for two years now. Additionally, I volunteered at my school's summer music program.
Summer Programs: 5 sessions of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program (CTY), where I took courses that enabled me to skip to APs in school. This past summer I went to the New Jersey Governor's school in the sciences.

As stated before, I applied early to Brown and was deferred. I also applied to UPenn, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Tufts, Washington University in St. Louis, Reed, Brandeis, Johns Hopkins and Rutgers. So far I'm in at Rutgers (surprise, surprise) and I was waitlisted at Wash. U. (?!?)

This year I am taking 4 AP classes (European History, Calc AB&BC, Physics B and English Literature). My grades dropped a bit this year, due to the incredible demands on my time. First to second marking period... same, pretty much; I got almost all A-s and a B+ both marking periods in English (traditionally my strongest or second-strongest subject, though my transcript doesn't show that, because I used to always have a 97.4 average and the cutoff for an A+ is a 97.5 at my school).

I was just curious if anyone could tell me what my chances are like for these schools. I wouldn't be as upset as I am were I not just waitlisted at Wash. U, which I saw as a reasonable chance for admission. Please note that I am a white male from an affluent suburb in Northern New Jersey, probably the worst situation to be in, diversity-wise.

Thanks for your help.

-Ross

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 10:15 am: Edit

I hate to be rude and type "bump" or whatnot, but does anyone have anything to say?

By Alv (Alv) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 11:58 am: Edit

You are right about one thing New Jersey does suck.

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 03:49 pm: Edit

Thanks for being so tactless.

By Ker12 (Ker12) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 04:49 pm: Edit

hey, i'm a CTYer too! what are your years/sessions?

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 07:27 pm: Edit

Lancaster, 00.1 Psychology; 00.2 Latin; 01.1 Chemistry; 01.2 Logic; 02.1 Physics.
oh and "Baby CTY"--Chestertown, 98.1, Shakespeare

By Ker12 (Ker12) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 10:51 pm: Edit

ahh... i was a skidmore kid. although... did you know a maggie w/red hair?

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 11:19 pm: Edit

Umm... naturally red or dyed red? I knew many different Maggies at CTY, some better than others. (For instance, some I remember merely as names and not people. It's been a while.)
Have many people on this forum attended a CTY program?

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 02:10 am: Edit

bump and stuff

By Jnatkins (Jnatkins) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 05:12 pm: Edit

I have to say Brown has the most random admissions in the world. They take everything from the 1600s down to the 1250s...Someone described to me the people who get in as well-rounded extremists. Whatever that means. I got in ED myself...I'm from central Jersey

1510 SAT, 780/720/710 SAT II's, 23/333, 3.78 uw gpa, good ECs, and lots of community service (I went on a medical mission to Kenya in November)

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 06:03 pm: Edit

I sent a letter in late February (as suggested by the admissions officer with whom I spoke) that tried to emphasize my creative endeavors. I've also done a lot of tutoring, which I didn't really put into my initial application, but I included mention of this in my letter. I didn't have an interview before the deferral but had one in January, which (I think) went rather well.
Some questions...
-Do interviews make much of a difference at schools? I had ones for Brown, Yale, Penn, Harvard and Tufts and am worried because I didn't have one for Cornell or any of the other schools I applied to. Jnatkins (or anyone else admitted ED), did you ahve an interview?
-Do letters to the admissions committee after being deferred help at all?
I'm a bit too worried about this all.

By Dreadpirate (Dreadpirate) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 07:36 pm: Edit

Moose: Can't explain the Brown deferral. Your stats are way above Brown's mean and well into its top quartile. You are likely to be way above most in the RD pool, so don't lose hope. You have an excellent chance at Cornell and Penn. Tufts is also a good shot if they think that you are serious (your stats could be too high. Tufts syndrome is real)

By Wobudong (Wobudong) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 07:43 pm: Edit

Jnatkins: Op Smile?

By Jjsmom (Jjsmom) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 08:29 pm: Edit

Re: Dreadpirate's comment about OP's stats being "too high" for Tufts. My son was admitted ED to Tufts and his stats surpassed OP's by 140 points, and he was in top 4% of class. His ECs were of similar depth. Oh, and we live in Northern NJ also. I believe RD candidates will face more demanding competition.

A very interesting website is http://admissions.tufts.edu/admstat.htm
Here the statistics for applicants vs. admissions by SAT and GPA for last year's class and how OP fits in:

OP's stats:
710 M/680 V
Top 10% of class

With Verbal SAT of 700-740, there were 2,635 applicant; 896 were admitted = 34%
With Math SAT 650-690, there were 3,909 applicants, 827 were admitted = 21%

Class rank:
6-10% 1,514 applicants; 375 admitted = 25%

However, I understand that Tufts is one of those schools that look carefully at dedication to ECs, essays and interest in Tufts., so it isn't only a numbers game at Tufts.

Good luck!

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 11:40 pm: Edit

In response to the comment above:
I applied to Tufts with my ACT scores:
Composite: 35, equivalent to a 1580 on the SAT I. The further breakdown, which I do not know if the colleges received, included a 36 on the English portion (equivalent, I think, to an 800 on the SAT II in Writing, which was my score on that, anyway), a 35 in Mathematics (sort of a compilation of SAT I math, SAT II Math IC and IIC) and 34 in both Science (which is not based particularly on knowledge but more on analyzing data, etc) and Reading Comprehension.
I think my Tufts interview went well. The interviewer called me "deep," for whatever that's worth. I wrote my supplemental essay at 3 AM, however.

Thank you all for your assurances and insight... we shall see in two weeks! (aah, I'm so anxious...)

Will not having had an interview with Cornell hurt me? They also asked for an "optional" writing sample of graded classwork and, well, when I submitted my application, I didn't have one that I felt confident enough in submitting, so instead, under the header of "optional supplemental essays" I attached two additional college essays...

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Monday, March 22, 2004 - 05:57 pm: Edit

In at Brandeis.

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 12:26 am: Edit

so... sick... of... waiting...

By Sepulchralmoose (Sepulchralmoose) on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 09:07 pm: Edit

got into Reed and Tufts.