<p>The author of the Peabody rejection letter responded to comments posted on CC. I posted a link for him when I had some email communications with the school. I was very glad that he responded and addressed some of the concerns posted. Here is the text of his letter for those interested.</p>
<p>Dear Barb,</p>
<p>Thank you for sending us the College Confidential link to the discussion
about our rejection letter. It is a valuable discussion for an
admissions guy like myself to read--almost like sitting in on a family
conversation. </p>
<p>Clearly, no one is going to receive a rejection letter and be happy about
it, so the choices available are limited. Your discussion highlights
them. The majority seem to favor a simple letter that announces the
rejection and not much else. Cartera45 said that if we wanted to be
helpful we could put personal details in the letter. I agree, that would
be nice.</p>
<p>I wrote the letter under discussion, so I can accurately represent the
intentions of the wording. I am also well aware that the atmosphere in
which a rejection letter is opened has a lot to do with how it is
interpreted. The age of the applicant, their parents, and reactions from
other schools are also involved. (If our letter is the fourth to arrive
in a series of rejections by other schools, it will have a different
effect than if our letter is the only rejection received by an
applicant.)</p>
<p>One of the most difficult things for parents of a young musician is to
measure how a student's level of development compares to others. Some
apply to major conservatories as something of a "test" to see how their
son or daughter's level of development fits with the larger world of
music. The pattern of acceptances and rejections over a number of
college applications may be the only time a parent or student can get a
"read" on it. </p>
<p>If you think about it, there is no reason for a school to be interested
in what happens to rejected applicants. Many years ago, under the
mandate of a dean, we revised our graduate rejection letter to simply
say: "Your name was not on the list of applicants recommended by the
faculty for acceptance to Peabody this year."</p>
<p>We got complaints of being cold-hearted.</p>
<p>So, yes, we could write a simple "sorry" letter and be done with it. The
larger question, though, is this: Is there anything we can do to make
the process of applying to Peabody useful to those we reject? After all,
those applying have paid an application fee, and the process has
generated data. Is there any way we can lend a perspective to this
thing, so that something useful comes out of it? Can we do it without
putting a lot of personal details in the letter (which would kill our
ability to mail the letters by April 1)?</p>
<p>Our rejection letter is an attempt (although, not a universally
successful one) to do just that. We do want to mention that this has
been an opportunity to get a read on your level of development from
faculty members who are hearing an international group of applicants.<br>
(Thus, you can be a really good performer, and still not be accepted to
Peabody). </p>
<p>BEK quoted this passage:</p>
<p>"Hopefully you have been accepted at other schools. In our experience
this acceptance/rejection process ultimately leads applicants to a school
where they will thrive, and since their classmates will be working at a
similar level of development, rapid growth is more likely." </p>
<p>Her interpretation was: "sorry you haven't met OUR standards..we hope you
found a place where there are people of LESSER ability so you can all
progress together."</p>
<p>I can see how BEK interpreted it that way, although I have to admit it
was the last thing from my mind when I wrote it. I avoid terms like
"ability," since the same student we reject one year may simply not have
had enough time to develop their performance skills to our particular
acceptance level. A couple of years ago we had a voice student who was
rejected, but re-applied the following year and was offered a partial
scholarship. We were thrilled. Clearly, her "ability" had not changed--
just her level of development.</p>
<p>The larger truth is that students progress most rapidly where they get
the most experience. When it turns out that Peabody accepts a student
who is not a good match in performance level relative to the rest of our
population the student is often unhappy. They recognize it pretty
quickly, and sometimes transfer to a different school. The problem is
that performance credits do not always transfer, so it's messy. It is a
far better scenario for such a student to go to another institution
first, then re-apply as a transfer student or take another shot at a
conservatory for master's work. I don't know how to explain this in a
rejection letter without implying "lesser." But I would like our
rejected applicants to know that their rejection can point them toward a
situation where they will progress more rapidly.</p>
<p>Violadad and others seemed to question if we were serious about: "Should
you wish to talk to us about your career goals, feel free to contact us." </p>
<p>Rejected applicants take us at our word and they do call. I've worked
with two during the process of writing this response. Sometimes we hear,
"Your letter said I could call, and I wanted to find out why I was
rejected, so...um...I'm calling." Other times we are working with a
concerned parent (and a distraught applicant in the background).</p>
<p>In a typical conversation we talk about the faculty ratings (1-10 scale),
the range of ratings (high-low), and where the average of the ratings
placed the applicant on the overall list of grads or undergrads in that
major. Sometimes there are faculty comments I can share. We can go over
placement test results, and any academic problems that may have
contributed. The value is in knowing the extent of the rejection. Some
rejections are clear, based on low audition ratings. Others are
"squeakers" involving the faculty being split, and a review by the dean.<br>
I'm happy to say that in 99% of the cases the caller feels the
information is valuable, and (more to the point) unavailable from other
sources.</p>
<p>Once again, thank you for letting me know about this thread. Feel free
to forward this reply back to the group. We will certainly take another
look at the letter in light of the comments. At the same time, we do
(believe it or not) get compliments on it from rejected applicants--which
is a sign that at least in some cases the message functions as intended.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>David Lane</p>