<p>Did anyone else get an email saying that they will be informed of their decision online? I am not an international student, so I was very surprised by this email.</p>
<p>Yes, I am a USA student and I got one from Andover. </p>
<p>I’m guessing they will be using this for future years, most likely. </p>
<p>yuppers… good luckers!</p>
<p>The line in the email “admission decisions are best received when surrounded
by those who have helped” sounds rather ominous.</p>
<p>We also received notice today that Andover would provide decisions online after all. Had spoken with them twice last week and they were emphatic that only international candidates would hear electronically. Glad they had this change of heart.</p>
<p>@brownsrecliner-yes, apparently they have had more applicants than ever, many more than they can admit, so having support when students look at decisions would be a good idea</p>
<p>Finally! I found the way they told everyone that nothing was mailed until the 10th, but then put admits overnight on the 9th to be somewhat unkind, or at least not very NICE.</p>
<p>@neatoburrito: You are kidding right? How is it “unkind” to time the admission decisions so they arrive on M10? I sense soreness from some of your posts about Andover. I don’t believe its because they rejected your student. Did Andover somehow mislead you before? Did it have anything to do with their claim of looking for “nice kids”?</p>
<p>It’s a dig at the whole “nice” kid thing. 
But honestly, it did bother me that students would directly ask about when decisions would be mailed and would be told something that clearly wasn’t true. I never liked that.</p>
<p>It was unkind in that the director would say things like, “if you are selected, do not think of yourself as being annointed” which was great advice, then proceed to “annoint” those who had been accepted by letting them know essentially a day before those who were not. So every year, there were thousands of kids waiting at the window for a fedex truck that never came. It just was not very thoughtful and no, not very “nice,” the very things that the director said they prized above all others. My kids were WLed at Andover…must not have been nice enough. ;)</p>
<p>I agree with Neato on this one–it was heartbreaking on CC to watch kids come up with reasons why their admit might be delayed as March 10 rolled on. Letting everyone know at the same time is much nicer.</p>
<p>@neatoburrito: Your opinion about this practice is valid, but the way you put if citing “niceness” is snarky. And, you are just making a fuss, which IS not “nice enough”. That’s all.</p>
<p>@Benley, neato was snarky but not mean. You are just rattled because he struck a nerve. </p>
<p>I’m sorry, but Andover has chosen that “nice” brand themselves. They market the heck out of it as a concept, and it’s all over everything they do and say. So it’s not unfair to call them out when their practices are less than nice. And it’s why their recent issues of racism on campus sting twice as badly, because they’ve set that ‘nice’ bar so high.</p>
<p>Neato is right - for them to have a policy that basically says “if you’re one of the chosen few, we’ll notify you on the 10th, but the rest of you can just come to your own sad conclusions by bedtime and/or wait for a lesser letter on another day” is, at best, unprofessional, and at worst, mean. Clearly, Andover has reconsidered this approach as well. Let’s hope it’s for the right reasons. </p>
<p>I so dislike watching the panic and unhappiness countless applicants feel as they try to interpret why their notification has not yet arrived, usually ending in sad relaizations. I don’t care how high and mighty any of the top 25 schools think that they are, and I despise the early winks and nods that happen with athletes and the very rich, these schools need to publish and stick to a “release date/time.” Nothing before, nothing after. Any variations in the arrival of the decisions should be entirely due to third party carriers or email services. If March 9th at 9am is the release date, fine, just say so. If March 10 at 8am is the release date, just say so. Stop screwing around with the emotions of all the candidates and their parents who have worked so hard throughout the process.</p>
<p>For the kids out there, learn from the adults how to make a fuss , relate, escalate and present yourself as a high maintenance case, and then avoid it. It wouldn’t serve you well in the admissions process and you would be more likely to have an happy experience once you are on campus.</p>
<p>@benley - can’t really figure out your comment. Are you digging on some other poster who you think is the example of a high maintenance adult whose behavior should be avoided? I really hope not.</p>
<p>Also for the kids out there, you know what else will make you successful at boarding school? Not assuming you always know better, and listening to those with dissenting opinions without attempting to insult them. </p>
<p>Funny to watch Benley get worked up when Andover takes a few jabs! Yes, kids, please do observe.</p>
<p>No. Just a word of caution for kids. Carry on.</p>
<p>My grandmother made a point when she said that they may be worried letters won’t arrive with the strange weather that we have been having all over the country. I think the best way to learn that you have been waitlisted or denied is to read it in black and white and not assume you were waitlisted or denied because a FedEx truck did not stop at your house on the tenth. </p>
<p>I also didn’t think it was “nice” to encumber Fed-ex with hundreds of anxious “is there a package for me” calls. I’m sure the carrier will be happier with Andover this year.</p>