30 years experience with students in the school each year.
I’m not following you. You work for the school and know the stats of the students?
If he gave you more details he would lose his anonymity. For that reason, I won’t give details either, but will say that he is a well recognized admissions expert (no, he’s not Jeff Seligo!).
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I think it is pretty clear, that if a student has not applied for a program, they should not be “accepted” to the said program. BU could offer a place at a different program, after being honest about denying the student on the program they had applied to. The OP and daughter have read “the contract,” but only after having been told congratulations, so they were disappointed. The other program may be a good one, but the way it was delivered seems dishonest. If my DD had applied and got this result, I would advise her to choose another school.
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I will take your word for it. Obviously college admissions have changed a lot in 30 years and BU is not a safety school anymore. My son’s stats were outstanding and based on comments on other threads about another college I will just disregard this person’s “expertise.”
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Yes, but most of those years were when the acceptance rate to BU was 35% and none of them followed a year in which BU overenrolled by almost 1,000 students. Looking thru CC results THIS year (a self-selecting sample, to be sure), I find the stats of the denied, waitlisted, CGS, CAS posters indistinguishable. While CGS admission may have traditionally been about preparation and stats, I’d suggest that this year it’s far more about yield management and maximizing revenue.
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Thanks!
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My impression this year is that it is more about yourself than stats.
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As recently as 2002 BU had a 70% acceptance rate.
While true, for current high school seniors, 2002 was literally a lifetime ago. 
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The BU application on the Common App asks if the student is interested or willing to be placed in CGS if they don’t get their first choice. I can’t recall the wording but it does ask this question. My daughter selected yes but was admitted to her first choice CAS. Do you know if students are being placed in CGS without answering that question yes on the Common App?
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Thank you for this. I knew the old BU application asked if a student wanted to be considered for CGS…but didn’t know if the common application had this question. Glad to see it does.
ETA…When my kid was there, BU had a pretty strong core course requirement. I think it was 8 courses. Taking these in CGS with other courses isn’t a bad thing.
And at the end…CGS students get bachelors degrees from BU…just like those admitted to CAS.
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It turns out our daughter did check the box in the Common App. But…when filling out the Common App she didn’t really know what it meant. She never would have checked the box if she knew it was about being re-directed into what basically amounts to an expensive junior college with a pathway into BU.
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I really do understand why your daughter is upset, but I think this is a good situation for her to really take personal accountability: she didn’t read the letter she received and she apparently didn’t understand the box she checked, but all the frustration and ire is being targeted at BU.
Admissions is an emotionally charged process, but I found that as a parent it has been really important to keep my own feelings in check. When I took things in stride and maintained perspective, my kids were able to do so, too.
My older student is at a T25 school and my younger one is at a T50ish school, similar to BU. For the younger, we know many kids who weren’t admitted for the major/program to which they applied at the two most popular colleges where her classmates attend. Most choose to go anyway because there are often multiple pathways to get where they want to be and they value the specific university over the specific pathway. Others are committed to the specific pathway so choose to enroll elsewhere.
Along the same lines, my older student was deferred EA. I know parents in similar situations who bashed the school. I chose not to do that because it was still the first choice. I explained institutional priorities, reasons for deferral, etc. A month later she was accepted and had no ill-will towards the school. I am not always the most even in my emotions, but I was grateful that I was in that situation.
Of course you want what your daughter wants for her, but she can learn a lot from this situation by how you react to it.
Edited: And maybe this is where you are venting and are maintaining a different tone with your daughter. That makes sense.
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I do understand why your daughter was disappointed with the delivery and ultimately the decision of her acceptance into this program. But I guess I’d just caution you about calling it a junior college experience, for her sake and for the many students who were admitted or who choose it. It just doesn’t seem like an accurate characterization. We read about it on the website before my D answered the question and I thought it sounded like a worthwhile experience for a student. I think NYU has a similar program. The program is at BU and on the campus. One of the tour guides on my D’s virtual tour had done the program or was in the program, showed us the building, and talked positively about her experience. The website says there are special research opportunities for the students, a Capstone project and research paper, and the time spent abroad. The students can fulfill their HUB requirements and take electives toward their major.
Btw, I’m not trying to convince you that your D should consider it, and I understand it may not be what your D wants. I also understand that you may not believe it’s worth what it costs; frankly we’re having a hard time justifying the cost of BU vs. liberal arts honors at UT, our state school, so I get that. But it does appear–at least on paper–to be more than a typical junior college experience.
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This is a really terrible way to think about it.
I imagine you’ve already told your daughter that this is how you perceive CGS, and as a result she won’t consider it, but you’ve really taken a completely wrong perspective on the program.
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