Shocking rejections Forum

[bostonian]

UCLA rejected me for undergrad with a 4.35 GPA (4th in the high school class) and 35 ACT. Also, no red flags or anything on my resume or transcript. I was from San Diego too, so everyone was just really surprised.

Many of my friends with MUCH worse scores got into the school. It was really quite bizarre. I still think about it sometimes.

4.35 and you were 4th in the class? That had to have been weighted.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

I tried to give a chick the shocker one time and was rejected.

Shocker is beta. Spocker is credited

roflmao

[sparty11]

I got rejected by Michigan out of high school with a 33 ACT and a 1590 SAT (out of 1600). I had like a 3.4 gpa, varsity sports, band, orchestra, Eagle Scout, the whole deal. I suspected that the teacher that wrote one of my LoRs secretly hated me. Also, I'm not a URM...that apparently counted against me. Ftl.

[09042014]

I got rejected by Michigan out of high school with a 33 ACT and a 1590 SAT (out of 1600). I had like a 3.4 gpa, varsity sports, band, orchestra, Eagle Scout, the whole deal. I suspected that the teacher that wrote one of my LoRs secretly hated me. Also, I'm not a URM...that apparently counted against me. Ftl.

Isn't 3.4 bad?

[vanwinkle]

I got rejected by Michigan out of high school with a 33 ACT and a 1590 SAT (out of 1600). I had like a 3.4 gpa, varsity sports, band, orchestra, Eagle Scout, the whole deal. I suspected that the teacher that wrote one of my LoRs secretly hated me. Also, I'm not a URM...that apparently counted against me. Ftl.

Isn't 3.4 bad?

Yeah, but those ACT/SAT scores are the equivalent of 179 LSAT. I guess he assumed he'd do well as a splitter. Oops.

[sparty11]

lol...and I was a splitter once again for my law school apps!

[BaiAilian2013]

No. Thanks for sharing. I'm a bit surprised his references would send letters like that though. Wouldn't you think they would just decline when the guy came to them to write a LOR, if they felt that way? Guy must be scary crazy

I would guess evil rather than crazy. Declining to write a reference is TCR when the person is lazy, inefficient, unstable, or stupid, but if someone is really and truly a sociopath, I can see the rationale behind intentionally holding them back in life.

[09042014]

lol...and I was a splitter once again for my law school apps!

Luckily for us splitters do better at law school admissions.

BTW what kind (and how long) of work experience did you have to get that NU admit. That's some epic splitter win.

[sparty11]

lol...and I was a splitter once again for my law school apps!

Luckily for us splitters do better at law school admissions.

BTW what kind (and how long) of work experience did you have to get that NU admit. That's some epic splitter win.

3 yrs working with juvenile delinquents.

[rw2264]

UCLA rejected me for undergrad with a 4.35 GPA (4th in the high school class) and 35 ACT. Also, no red flags or anything on my resume or transcript. I was from San Diego too, so everyone was just really surprised.

Many of my friends with MUCH worse scores got into the school. It was really quite bizarre. I still think about it sometimes.

4.35 and you were 4th in the class? That had to have been weighted.

i don't know about this person's school, but at mine (also in CA) an A in an AP class was worth 5 points, a B was 4, etc. so if you got 3 As in AP classes and 3 Bs in regular classes, you got a 4.5. i got a 4.83 one year.

[hmlee]

Not law school, but this is a 100% true story

I was a slacker in HS, had like a 3.5 with a lot of As but a lot of really shitty grades on my transcript. But I had a 34 ACT.

I got rejected by my state university whereas some of my classmates with similar GPAs and essays but far worse test scores got in. Mind you, this was around the time they were supposedly letting in kids with connections. (Now you know which state school I'm talking about)

One of my buddies who was a year my junior went to one of their admissions info sessions and applied the following year. He said the adcomm told the group about a 34 ACT they rejected the previous year (i.e., they were making an example out of me). He said he gave the adcomm a total mindfuck when he went up to her after the session and asked her if she was talking about me.


To this day I have a vendetta against that fucking school, because I definitely would have gone there had they not rejected my ass. Fortunately, I eventually ended up at a much better school.

Illinois rejected me too back in the day! I had a lot of fun writing out "University of Chicago" on my "where are you going to school?" comment card that I had to send to them...

[gocubs2010]

lol...and I was a splitter once again for my law school apps!

Luckily for us splitters do better at law school admissions.

BTW what kind (and how long) of work experience did you have to get that NU admit. That's some epic splitter win.

3 yrs working with juvenile delinquents.

building up a future client base?

[84Sunbird2000]

I'm a native Illinoisan (3.76 out of 4.0, 33 ACT, sports, academic bowl, 1st place in every regional WYSE and ICTM comp, Eagle Scout, like 4 pages of legitimate activities) and I was rejected from Yale (actually got an interview and bombed it hardcore), Northwestern and U. of Chicago, and was stupid enough not to apply to any in-between schools. Needless to say, my UG is not the strongest portion of my law school app. I still have nightmares where I replay the Yale interview over and over.

[09042014]

I'm a native Illinoisan (3.76 out of 4.0, 33 ACT, sports, academic bowl, 1st place in every regional WYSE and ICTM comp, Eagle Scout, like 4 pages of legitimate activities) and I was rejected from Yale (actually got an interview and bombed it hardcore), Northwestern and U. of Chicago, and was stupid enough not to apply to any in-between schools. Needless to say, my UG is not the strongest portion of my law school app. I still have nightmares where I replay the Yale interview over and over.

Were you on scholastic bowl?!? What year did you graduate High School. Where did you end up at for UG?

[fonzerelli]

Several years ago I visited a friend in LA and we went to a bar in Hollywood. I then noticed Rebecca Gayheart with a relatively small entourage of 3-4 eccentric LA hipster types. I walked over to her and said, "oh hey, I really admire your work." (note: I don't know any of her work aside from old noxema commercials) We briefly chatted and she did NOT accept my offer to buy her a drink. This was a shocking rejection because I went so far as to say I admired her shitty work. She sucks.

[84Sunbird2000]

I'm a native Illinoisan (3.76 out of 4.0, 33 ACT, sports, academic bowl, 1st place in every regional WYSE and ICTM comp, Eagle Scout, like 4 pages of legitimate activities) and I was rejected from Yale (actually got an interview and bombed it hardcore), Northwestern and U. of Chicago, and was stupid enough not to apply to any in-between schools. Needless to say, my UG is not the strongest portion of my law school app. I still have nightmares where I replay the Yale interview over and over.

Were you on scholastic bowl?!? What year did you graduate High School. Where did you end up at for UG?

Yeah, we won regionals over a team that had won it like 16 straight years (Winnebago H.S.), but lost in sectionals. Graduated 2003. Ended up at Drake U. for a year, then Western Illinois for my degree. Yes, that's right, I'm a leatherneck! I felt I got a good education there, but "directional schools" never sound good on a resume.

[09042014]

I'm a native Illinoisan (3.76 out of 4.0, 33 ACT, sports, academic bowl, 1st place in every regional WYSE and ICTM comp, Eagle Scout, like 4 pages of legitimate activities) and I was rejected from Yale (actually got an interview and bombed it hardcore), Northwestern and U. of Chicago, and was stupid enough not to apply to any in-between schools. Needless to say, my UG is not the strongest portion of my law school app. I still have nightmares where I replay the Yale interview over and over.

Were you on scholastic bowl?!? What year did you graduate High School. Where did you end up at for UG?

Yeah, we won regionals over a team that had won it like 16 straight years (Winnebago H.S.), but lost in sectionals. Graduated 2003. Ended up at Drake U. for a year, then Western Illinois for my degree. Yes, that's right, I'm a leatherneck! I felt I got a good education there, but "directional schools" never sound good on a resume.

My brother goes to Western, he likes it.

[84Sunbird2000]

I'm a native Illinoisan (3.76 out of 4.0, 33 ACT, sports, academic bowl, 1st place in every regional WYSE and ICTM comp, Eagle Scout, like 4 pages of legitimate activities) and I was rejected from Yale (actually got an interview and bombed it hardcore), Northwestern and U. of Chicago, and was stupid enough not to apply to any in-between schools. Needless to say, my UG is not the strongest portion of my law school app. I still have nightmares where I replay the Yale interview over and over.

Were you on scholastic bowl?!? What year did you graduate High School. Where did you end up at for UG?

Yeah, we won regionals over a team that had won it like 16 straight years (Winnebago H.S.), but lost in sectionals. Graduated 2003. Ended up at Drake U. for a year, then Western Illinois for my degree. Yes, that's right, I'm a leatherneck! I felt I got a good education there, but "directional schools" never sound good on a resume.

My brother goes to Western, he likes it.

Yeah, there are a lot of nice things about it - the campus is enormous for the number of students, the rec center is amazing, and it's a nice little town. The professors themselves were of a very high quality in my department (favorite professors were from Northwestern and Penn respectively). I never applied to Illinois simply because the enrollment seemed too large and made me think it would be sort of an anonymous experience, even though I'm about the biggest Fighting Illini fan around and would have loved to be in the Krush. 4-0 in the Big Ten!

[los blancos]

Not law school, but this is a 100% true story

I was a slacker in HS, had like a 3.5 with a lot of As but a lot of really shitty grades on my transcript. But I had a 34 ACT.

I got rejected by my state university whereas some of my classmates with similar GPAs and essays but far worse test scores got in. Mind you, this was around the time they were supposedly letting in kids with connections. (Now you know which state school I'm talking about)

One of my buddies who was a year my junior went to one of their admissions info sessions and applied the following year. He said the adcomm told the group about a 34 ACT they rejected the previous year (i.e., they were making an example out of me). He said he gave the adcomm a total mindfuck when he went up to her after the session and asked her if she was talking about me.


To this day I have a vendetta against that fucking school, because I definitely would have gone there had they not rejected my ass. Fortunately, I eventually ended up at a much better school.

Illinois rejected me too back in the day! I had a lot of fun writing out "University of Chicago" on my "where are you going to school?" comment card that I had to send to them...

hahaha that's awesome. (i ended up at the school in your avatar after spending my freshman year at another big ten school). fuck illinois

lots of IL natives in this thread...

[GeePee]

I got rejected from NYU (and all the top 25 UG programs I applied to, but those were less surprising) with a one-take 1480 SAT and ranked 4th from a top 30 HS. My school was in shock that I went to the TTT that I ended up at.

[ShiftyOne]

UCLA rejected me for undergrad with a 4.35 GPA (4th in the high school class) and 35 ACT. Also, no red flags or anything on my resume or transcript. I was from San Diego too, so everyone was just really surprised.

Many of my friends with MUCH worse scores got into the school. It was really quite bizarre. I still think about it sometimes.

4.35 and you were 4th in the class? That had to have been weighted.

i don't know about this person's school, but at mine (also in CA) an A in an AP class was worth 5 points, a B was 4, etc. so if you got 3 As in AP classes and 3 Bs in regular classes, you got a 4.5. i got a 4.83 one year.

That's how my school worked too. Ended with a 4.5 and still was only 5th in the class. It's a pretty dumb way to do it in my opinion, we ended up taking study halls and non-graded classes because normal classes would hurt our grades.

[billyez]

I loved AP classes. Not exceptionally harder than normal classes, GPA boosters, and prepared you for a test that got you out of college classes. AP classes were the best decision I made in HS.

Oh, and no shocking rejections for me yet.

[Na_Swatch]

UCLA rejected me for undergrad with a 4.35 GPA (4th in the high school class) and 35 ACT. Also, no red flags or anything on my resume or transcript. I was from San Diego too, so everyone was just really surprised.

Many of my friends with MUCH worse scores got into the school. It was really quite bizarre. I still think about it sometimes.

4.35 and you were 4th in the class? That had to have been weighted.

i don't know about this person's school, but at mine (also in CA) an A in an AP class was worth 5 points, a B was 4, etc. so if you got 3 As in AP classes and 3 Bs in regular classes, you got a 4.5. i got a 4.83 one year.

That's how my school worked too. Ended with a 4.5 and still was only 5th in the class. It's a pretty dumb way to do it in my opinion, we ended up taking study halls and non-graded classes because normal classes would hurt our grades.

At my Highschool (T50 public) they did it like this: AP/College Courses = 6.00, Honors = 5.00, Regular = 4.00. Taking Regular AND Honor courses hurt my GPA... I think I had like a 5.8 Junior and Senior year.

Thus shocking rejections from the T3 UGs with a 5.3+ GPA (Valedictorian Rank 1 out of 400) and 1580 LSAT + decent/good softs. Oh wait, I'm Asian, guess its not too shocking after all Things turned out fine though.

[hoopsguy6]

I hope everyone bragging about their 9.0 high school GPAs realize that like LSAC, any real college will re-weigh your HS gpa using their own metrics (i.e., no college cares that you took "honors geography" in high school).

[Na_Swatch]

I hope everyone bragging about their 9.0 high school GPAs realize that like LSAC, any real college will re-weigh your HS gpa using their own metrics (i.e., no college cares that you took "honors geography" in high school).

Oh, I know our high school GPAs were clearly inflated, just providing context for some disappointing rejections. But still I did get straight A's thru 10 AP courses and 6 college courses at a Top 30 College in high school. Couldn't overcome that -210 SAT score they tacked on.