WaitlistWannabe (2022-2023)

No real extra curricular activities. No sports, clubs, or organizations. Graduated in 3 years. GPA based honors every semester, yearly honor award for high GPA and full schedule load, need/merit 'Presidential Endowed Scholarship' from my university. Interned for the spring legislative session at the Texas State Capitol for a state representative.

2 Bs fall of my freshman year, all As before and after that semester. Fall 2009 our university switched to plus/minus grading and I got 3 A-s, 1 B , and 1 A for the semester.

4 LORs:
1) One from the State Rep. I interned for
2) One from my business writing professor who is very good at writing letters and had written two for me before
3) One from my management capstone class professor
4) A final LOR sent in January from my business law professor who I had a little contact with but no real connection (I was desperate to show something good in my file at that point after my GPA dropped)

Wrote a good Why Duke essay and poor/average Why Michigan & Penn essays.

Timeline
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11/13-- PT acceptance email from Duke
11/16--Acceptance phone call from Texas
12/3-- Scholarship form received by Duke.
12/18--Acceptance email from Cornell
1/4-- Updated status checker date at UVA.
1/12-- Courtesy "hold"-ish email from Mich.
1/12-- Held E-mail from Penn.
1/14-- Acceptance phone call from UCLA.
1/15-- Held E-mail from Harvard.
1/26-- Request for fall grades e-mail from NYU.
1/27-- Sent fall transcript to LSAC. GPA dropped from 3.91 to a 3.87.
1/31-- NeedAccess.org & FAFSA application sent out.
2/2-- Held E-mail from NU.
2/10-- Waitlisted via E-mail at Virginia.
2/10-- Waitlisted via E-mail at Chicago.
2/12--Need based grant information from UCLA.
2/13-- Held via snail-mail from Columbia.
2/16-- Scholarship offer mailed from Duke.
2/18-- Rejected by E-mail from Berkeley.
2/19-- Scholarship offer received from Duke.
2/25-- New LOR sent to remaining schools.
2/26-- LOCI received at Michigan.
2/26-- Waitlisted by a 11pm email at Michigan.
4/4-- Need based aid grants from Texas.
4/6-- Cornell emailed my scholarship letter after calling and asking.
4/12--Stanford rejection letter arrived.
4/12--UCLA denied an increase in my scholarship awards.
4/13--UT offer increased from $7,000/yr to $15,000/yr through matching program.
4/15--Duke offer increased from $60,000 to $67,500 through appeal process.
4/16--Withdrew from Cornell, UCLA, and missed UT's deposit deadline and was automatically withdrawn.
4/20--Email from Cornell increasing my scholarship from $60k to $75k after appealing my original award.
4/20--Deposit sent to Duke. I'm a Blue Devil now.
4/22--Found my NU waitlist email on the status checker instead of a hold email. They have not notified me of this waitlist decision yet, but the letter is there in the status checker.
4/23--Reserve letter came from Columbia along with a waitlist letter from NYU.
4/23--Today is not my day: rejected from Harvard. It stings, but it ends my cycle and I will 100% be at Duke in the fall.
4/27--Waitlisted by email at Penn. Cycle is complete, just have to decide if I want to hold out on any waitlists.
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Scholarship and Financial Aid Details
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$4,800 a year need based tuition grant in addition to $45k from Texas ($59,600 total aid). Texas resident so my scholarship was $45k instead of $93k since I already had in-state tuition.

$9,150 a year need based tuition grant from UCLA.
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Scholarship Negotiation Information
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UT increased my scholarship offers based on $60k from Cornell, $60k from Duke, and $75k from UCLA. Request sent 4/12 9am, increase awarded by 4/13 8am.

Duke increased my scholarship funds based on my increased $45k $15k UT scholarship. Tried since 4/12 to get ahold of someone in the FinAid office to negotiate. Sent an email to Dean Hoye at 11am on 4/14, he responded back at 8pm saying he will try to get the committee together to review but they weren't scheduled to meet till 4/19. He called me around noon 4/15 and told me they met and increased my award. It was the effort Dean Hoye put into helping me meet my UT deadline.

Cornell increased my scholarship based on my $21k UT scholarship, $60k Duke scholarship, and my $75k UCLA scholarship. Sent a negotiation email on 4/6 the day I received my original scholarship, and got a response by email on 4/20 after withdrawing and missing the deposit deadline a week before.

UCLA rejected my increase request based on my $21k UT offer, $60k Duke offer, and my $60k Cornell offer. Email sent to Schwartz on 4/6, he responded back on 4/12.

I did not go into a second round of negotiation with any school. That just seemed greedy and tasteless.
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