A simple rejection - or almost 40 of them - is not the end of the world

Applying to College
1

You spent 4 years trying to be as involved as possible, constantly challenging yourself and working hard to maintain a perfect GPA. Just like a sportsman getting ready for an important competition, you’ve been waiting so long for the culmination of your entire high school career – the decision day – to come, so that you could finally breathe the sigh of relief. “Congratulations!” you read. “On behalf of the Admission Committee, I am pleased to offer you admission to XXX!” Finally! “Years of hard work have paid off,” you say to yourself as you continue reading the beautiful letter which tells you what an impressive young person you are.

However, it is not a secret that the outcome is not always that triumphant. If you’ve ever been rejected by a college, the chances are that your letter went something like this: “Although we realize that our decision may come as a disappointment to you, we want you to know that it is not a judgement about your own potential.” What disturbs me here is that why an acceptance is widely considered to be a reflection of abilities and a direct result of the effort you put into your application, while a rejection is not? If the moment of truth you’ve been working towards for so long is not meant to evaluate your accomplishments, then what is?

Over the last few years, people have been discussing the flaws of the existing educational system and their negative impact on the accessibility of higher education. I have 2 years’ worth of experience in applying to American colleges, and I’d like to share my story with you just to throw some light on an important, and yet surprisingly under-discussed aspect of the college application process: international admission.

I am a 19-year-old high school graduate from a second world country, and, unlike many others, I have been fortunate enough to discover my passion in life and start planning my higher education as early as five years ago. Since it did not take me a long time to realize that it was practically impossible to pursue a career in neuroscience in my home country, I started looking for opportunities overseas, and, after much thought and consideration, I came to a conclusion that my best option was to go to the United States.

Coming from a different academic background, with my English language proficiency being what one could describe as “elementary” at best, I knew that there has been a lot of work for me to do before I could even consider applying to an American institution. For almost two years, I’ve been spending most of my free time trying to close the education gap between an average American high school student and myself. I even made special arrangements with my school so that I could take some of the exams early and spend more time improving my English skills and preparing for standardized tests. I read everything I could find about the application process, and I contacted dozens of universities trying to find the ones where I’d be happy to spend the next 4 years of my life. Being from a low-income family, I made sure to apply for all the available scholarships and grants. I flew over 2,000 miles just to take the ACT and SAT IIs. I wrote all the essays, filled out all the application forms, and, finally, there was nothing left for me to do but wait for 18 admission decisions to come.

After just a few months, it became clear that the whole “class of 2018” thing was not going to happen for me. I got rejected by 14 out of the 18 colleges straight away, while 2 others decided to put me on the waiting list before saying the final “no.” I got only one acceptance from the university I could not afford, and I also got one rather curious decision I am still not so sure how to classify. (We’ll come back to that later.) Happily, I’ve been toying with the idea of taking a gap year anyway, so such an unpleasant outcome turned out not to be a huge deal. I went to another country, had a great time there, retook my ACTs, worked on my weaknesses, and came back feeling confident as never before. I’d like to get straight to the point here by saying that my second attempt was not much better than the first one. Striving to find the truth behind all the unexpected rejections, I got some interesting results.

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The first thing colleges want you to know as an international student is how much they value diiversity on campus. They tell you all about the unique opportunities they create for people from all over the world, and they encourage you to apply by saying that the application process itself is not so difficult: all you have to do is to follow standard guidelines and then submit a couple of additional forms. So far, so good. All true.

Many schools go even further by suggesting that it doesn’t matter what country you are from, Tajikistan or USA, Bangladesh or Mexico, as long as they consider you a good candidate. Although the validity of such claims is not for me to determine, I am inclined to believe that they are true as well.
The fun part starts when it comes to financial aid. The majority of 4-year liberal arts colleges in the United States are need-aware for international students, which means that if you are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and you ask for financial assistance, you are automatically put in a separate, highly-selective application pool. Fair enough, considering that foreigners are not eligible to receive federal money. Let’s just appreciate the fact that many universities are still giving away millions of U.S. dollars in merit-based scholarships and need-based grants to students from around the globe, which is quite impressive. However, if we are to take a closer look at what exactly happens in many cases when it comes to providing internationals with financial aid, we’ll discover that it’s not quite as simple as it may seem at first.

First of all, let’s consider a situation where 7 foreign students apply for admission to the same college “A”. All of them have similar academic and personal background, demonstrate strong interest in A, and require financial assistance. 6 of them come from middle-class families and can pay around 85% of A’s cost of attendance, which is $60,000 per academic year. Person #7, on the other hand, comes from a low-income family and can contribute only 10% at best. The admission counselors now are forced to make a rather difficult decision. As you can guess, “6 students for the price of 1” sounds quite appealing, and, unless student number seven has something truly unique to offer, his or her chances of getting a place in the incoming class are extremely low. Do not misunderstand me; I realize that it is not always the case, and I have no doubts that, more often than not, accepted students with low financial need are wonderful people who truly deserve to be accepted. However, I cannot stop asking myself if all the universities that make such choices would make the exact same decisions if only they were need-blind?

You could discuss this topic forever, but, sadly, it is not the only problem one might face while going through the application process. Do you remember me telling you about this one admission decision I got for the class of 2018 which I was not sure how to classify? Let me tell you more about it.
University “B” was originally one of my top choices. They have an amazing neuroscience program, lots of research opportunities, and mind-blowing campus. B claims to be need-sensitive when reviewing admission applications from non-U.S. citizens. If they do decide to accept you though, they guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. Sounds like they are being pretty open about their policies, doesn’t it? You can get either accepted with enough money to afford attending B, or rejected, if the admission committee finds your not-outstandingly-strong application incompatible with big financial need. Is that right? Apparently, not!

The decision letter clearly stated that they would be more than happy to have me in their incoming class; however, they could not provide me with ANY financial assistance at the moment. “If you are able to locate $XX,XXX by May 1st, please, let us know, and we might be able to extend our offer of admission,” they said. It was not a rejection, and yet, it was not an acceptance either. As surprised as I was at first to receive such an unusual response, in the end of the day, I blamed my lack of success all on myself. Moreover, it wasn’t until later when I discovered that I could have submitted my application just a couple weeks earlier, thus making myself eligible for another major scholarship.
Since B was still high on my list, I came back after one year with better scores and all the important deadlines in mind. Was the outcome any better? No. I got the exact same letter, and this time it made me really furious.

What kind of game are they playing? And how exactly does it fit within their policy? Do they actually imply that I am not bad enough to get rejected, but still not good enough for them to invest in me? How come I didn’t even deserve a spot on their waiting list? There are lots of questions, but the one thing I know for sure is that I will not even bother considering this university in future, no matter how good their academic resources are. Their approach is unprofessional and disrespectful at the very least, and I do not want my name to be associated with a place like this.
Despite how it may seem, the situation above is still not the worst case scenario. The one bright side of the whole story was that the moment I read the decision letter, I immediately knew that it was all over, and that I won’t be attending B. Unfortunately, it was not the case with my application for the class of 2019 at college “C”.

C’s policies are pretty similar to the ones I described earlier: need-aware, separate application pool, and so forth. The only trick here is that it is up to the office of admissions and financial aid to determine how great your financial need is. The tremendous relief I felt while reading C’s acceptance letter was shortly followed by a heart-breaking disappointment. The financial aid package was what I can only describe as the complete opposite of generous. My expected family contribution exceeded our annual family income PLUS all of our savings! At first, I thought that there had been some sort of mistake, so I emailed the office of financial aid, asking them to reevaluate my application. After a few days, I got a response, saying that there was nothing they could do for me, and that the calculations were all correct. All I can say here is that it would have been fairer to rescind my offer of admission than to provide me with a downright laughable award. I find such treatment to be nothing but offensive.

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I presented you with three situations I encountered because I wanted to address an important issue, and now, with full appreciation of the fact that it is physically impossible to serve everyone, the only thing I am asking for is justice. The situation is getting absurd: in addition to the problems I described earlier, it appears that academic institutions are desperate to lower their acceptance rates by spending enormous amounts of money trying to attract applicants, many of whom do not stand a chance from the beginning. It results in complete unpredictability of the entire application process, leading high school students to apply to more colleges than it is necessary. Some may say that I sound naïve, but I am convinced that the situation where the cumulative number of applications is lower, while the acceptance rate is higher, is beneficial to both students and educators.

Although I put a considerable amount of effort into my applications, by no means do I consider my time wasted. I am glad to announce that, despite all the difficulties, I am still coming to America this year in pursuit of my dreams. I found myself a place in one of the community colleges, and I am beyond excited to start my first semester there.
In the end, I’d like to say that many of the rejections I got were not, indeed, a reflection of my abilities – instead, they were a vibrant reflection of a system that does not work properly. If the fact that I have reapplied after a gap year does not show my sincere interest, then I don’t know what does. If being a school valedictorian with standardized test scores that put me among top 5-10% worldwide does not show my academic excellence, then I don’t know what does. Finally, if pursuing several extracurricular activities over the course of 5 to 11 years does not show my versatility, then, once again, I don’t know what does.

I am now addressing all the universities out there by saying that, although making higher education more accessible for both domestic and foreign students is not something we can achieve within a short period of time, there are still some actions you can and should take right now.
Please, add additional requirements and set the cut-offs, if necessary. Be clear about what you are looking for. Do not try to attract students just to lower your acceptance rate, and, finally, do not make any promises you know you cannot keep. It is time to stop wasting each other’s time! You expect complete honesty from your applicants, and I can see no reason why they do not deserve the same level of honesty from you.

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Good luck with your upcoming school year and future career. Maybe we will see you as an admissions officer somewhere.

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Justice? All I read is a long, whining sense of entitlement. You think you’re the only student who works hard, has ambition, and put “considerable time” into their applications? Join the club.

Your low income family’s income can’t be that low if you can fly 2000 miles to take the ACT and pay the application fee for EIGHTEEN schools.

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@JustOneDad thank you!

@GMTplus7 What I am talking about is that there are hundreds of thousands of people like me, and I am sorry if you got a different idea. I have no regrets, and I am not complaining. As for my family’s financial situation, if I didn’t mention any of the difficulties associated with the flights, it doesn’t mean that there were none. Most of the application fees are automatically waived for students applying for financial aid.

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I’m sympathetic but fundamentally confused as to why any international student would expect a U.S. College to pick up the tab for his/her education. Regardless of the level of dedication or general awesomeness. There is no shortage of dedicated and quite needy students within our own borders.

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I usually do not have enough patience to read through entire paragraphs, but I managed to do it this time. All I can say is: good luck, and hopefully you have a bright future ahead of you.

@GMTplus7 While I won’t deny that there is a sense of entitlement here, most of what the OP said is actually true. Colleges in the US just write out long, obscure paragraphs of encouragement which basically scream “APPLY HERE!”. They tell you to be yourself, until they reject you and pick the next generic kid who founded an NGO and wrote a computer program or something. It is not as if that just applying and putting effort into it should get us into college. But they should just cut the crap and be honest with us, instead of building hope and demolishing it.

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tl;dr

tip: place spaces between paragraphs for readability. Summarize.

Agreed. Editing to add some spacing. - FC

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How much more “honest” do colleges have to be when they acknowledge an admit rate in the low teens or single digit percentage???

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@GMTplus7 Sorry, I wasn’t being clear enough. I’m not talking about admit rates, I’m talking about how they tell us to be one thing, and then expect us to be the opposite. Like I said before, it is not as if that just applying and putting effort into it should get us into college. Acceptance is just probability. BUT, they should just say what they want straight up.

For example, look into UK universities’ webpages. They tell you straight up what grades/ECs/test scores they want. If you meet them, you have a chance. If you don’t, see ya later. In the US universities’ webpages? Nope. Just loads of gibberish on holistic admission processes, great diversity, great opportunities, how happy the undergrads are, how you should just be yourself and blah blah blah. They’re never straightforward with what they want.

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Okay, here’s the thing:
You didn’t have to apply to US universities. That was your choice. It was the universities’ choice to reject you.

The universities don’t owe you anything. You don’t pay a dime in IRS taxes to fund our programs, and you already had your app fees waived! Most US students don’t get that luxury.

Since when do citizens of other countries have a right to DEMAND changes of the US university systems because you didn’t get admitted with a full ride? When you apply to our schools, you are applying as GUESTS of our country. You are not entitled to the same rights that our citizens pay for and provide through their income taxes and sweat.

If US universities are so flawed in their admissions, why not just go to school in your country? Simple and problem solved. Then, you wouldn’t have to deal with our obviously flawed system.

I’ll tell you why: because you don’t want to return to your second world country.

I am often surprised by the arrogance of students who make flawed assumptions with admission to a US university, assuming that admission is tantamount to getting a job in the US and becoming a US citizen.

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Then apply to the UK

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@GMTplus7 I am. I’m applying everywhere. I’m not criticizing the education system, only what they say when it comes to admissions.

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I’m sorry… I worked all day, and have to be back at work in an hour. I could not make myself get through that wall of text. So I read bits and pieces.

My son, and his two younger sisters, are American. Our taxes help support the US schools.

I hope my kids can get some of those “millions of dollars” that US Universities are apparently so well known throughout the world for.

I personally, have never, ever found any offer of help to be “laughable.” The sense of entitlement I’m reading is mind boggling.

And my kids are applying to schools that, while certainly not “cheap”, will be somewhat close to affordable. Nope, nowhere that requires a flight, it would simply be too expensive.

Can you please tell me where you found those universities willing to meet 100% of the costs for non-US citizens? I wouldn’t mind writing them a letter.

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I really doubt a “middle-class family” can come up with $50K/year. You must come from a different strata of income.

You put this in quotes so I must assume you used their exact words. And I don’t believe a school would ever write that.

Good luck at the CC.

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Can you summarize, it’s too long. I have ADHD.

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@DarkEclipse

I’m an American and US taxpayer living overseas, with smart kids who don’t have the naivete & conceit that they are owed default admission or money to any university with scary low admit rates, simply because they spent “considerable time” on the application.

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US students get those letters all the time. It’s important to understand whose definition of need they’re talking about. “Need” is defined by the college; it’s not the difference between the COA and what you want to pay. If you can pay out of pocket to live in the US and attend one of our community colleges, your family can’t be doing too badly. Our state community colleges cost $4k for in state students who commute to school; it’s over $20k/year for nonresidents. Most families I know can’t pay $20k/year out of pocket for a US college and we live here. Several I know are struggling to dig up the $4k/year so their kid can commute to the local cc. Your situation doesn’t sound very dire to me.

What makes you think making US colleges MORE accessible for internationals is something Americans want to achieve? There are MANY families in the US whose income is too low to send their kid to their in state public college much less one in another part of the world, and many believe state students are already getting bumped for internationals, so making our colleges more accessible for internationals isn’t a problem we’re worrying about. Some of our state legislatures are now making moves to limit the number of international students, which will make admissions even more difficult, because their constituents have made it clear that’s the direction they want them to take.

I’m sorry you and your friends are disappointed. However, I don’t think US colleges will be moved by admonishments from disappointed international students. Most posters on CC recommend that US students apply to a safety or two; it sounds like that’s even more important for international students.

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That’s the same situation many US students are faced with at need-aware schools.