Real profiles & essays — Ohio State

Student profiles

Representative applicants for Ohio State — a mix of admits, waitlists, and rejects across the admit pool. Stats, hooks, and outcomes shown for each.

• GPA / Test: 3.92 / SAT 1460
• Major: Business (Finance)
• Geography: Ohio
• Hooks: Legacy (parent alum), in-state
• Standout: Summer internship at local venture capital firm, led financial modeling for two seed-stage startups
• Other: Student government vice president, DECA state finalist
• Why ADMITTED: Strong academic fit for the Fisher School of Business, legacy + in-state status and clear demonstrated interest through internships made her a low-risk admit.

• GPA / Test: 3.78 / ACT 31
• Major: Engineering (Mechanical)
• Geography: Texas
• Hooks: First-generation college student, URM (Latino)
• Standout: Led a robotics team that placed top 5 at regional competition and secured a small patent-pending design for a low-cost prosthetic component
• Other: Part-time job at hardware store, volunteers at community makerspace teaching kids STEM
• Why ADMITTED: Strong project-based engineering experience plus first-gen and URM background aligned with diversity and retention priorities.

• GPA / Test: 3.66 / SAT 1320
• Major: Psychology
• Geography: Pennsylvania
• Hooks: None
• Standout: Founded a high school peer counseling program that reduced reported bullying incidents and trained 40 student volunteers
• Other: AP Psych score 5, school newspaper editor
• Why ADMITTED: Borderline academics but excellent demonstrated fit for psychology and leadership that shows likely contribution to campus mental health initiatives.

• GPA / Test: 3.85 / ACT 30
• Major: Biology
• Geography: Ghana (international)
• Hooks: International applicant from underrepresented country, strong letters from research mentor
• Standout: Co-authored a poster at a national conference based on work in a university lab on malaria vector behavior
• Other: Captain of debate team, founded a science outreach club for local schools
• Why WAITLISTED: Strong research and extracurriculars but limited space for international admits and slightly lower quantitative EC depth compared with other admitted bio applicants.

• GPA / Test: 4.00 / SAT 1510
• Major: Computer Science
• Geography: New Jersey
• Hooks: None
• Standout: Multiple gold-level coding competition medals at state level, started a profitable tutoring business
• Other: AP CS A score 5, strong teacher recs
• Why REJECTED: Highly qualified but rejected due to extreme competition for CS and engineering seats; capacity constraints and yield balancing led admissions to favor applicants with more specialized research or diversity hooks.

• GPA / Test: 3.40 / ACT 24
• Major: Communication
• Geography: Ohio
• Hooks: None
• Standout: Produced and hosted a well-followed podcast on local arts with 10k cumulative listens
• Other: Part-time job, active in school theater
• Why REJECTED: Creative and engaged applicant but academics fell below Ohio State's mid-50% GPA and test ranges, and limited AP/rigorous course background made admission unlikely.

Real essays from Reddit

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