<p>Oh, that’s not my reaction. I think St. Olaf is a lovely school and wish all the Buntrock candidates the very best. It’s my KID’S reaction. Kid showed me the letter and told me why it was upsetting.</p>
<p>There was a thread a while ago about good and bad rejection letters from colleges. I don’t think it was a particularly bad letter. However, I think they could have left out the number of candidates since it was rather large and really served no purpose. (Better to let non-selected kids think it was fewer.) It just left a bad taste in my kid’s mouth and I don’t think that was the purpose of the letter.</p>
<p>Again, congratulations to the Buntrock candidates. St. Olaf seems like a great school and everyone I know who is there is quite happy.</p>
<p>Just a FYI, no opinions, but a recent speech on website said they received a bit less than 4200 applicants for about 770 spots, and they have accepted 30% of the incoming class ED. So that leaves 70% of the incoming class to fill. I wouldn’t give up hope yet. </p>
<p>I do believe, as many of us suspect, that word is getting out on this college, and so it is becoming more competitive than when it was more of a regional option.</p>
<p>We all have to brace ourselves now to be there to support our children when they get the wait-list and rejection letters – that’s only 5 weeks away for most colleges.</p>
<p>My daughter had exactly the same reaction to this letter. At one point St. Olaf had been in her top two school choices – it is now at the bottom of her list. (If we were in the St. Olaf admissions department we would probably send St. Olaf a letter advising them that my child has two favorite schools – they are not one of them!)</p>
<p>A tongue in cheek response, turning their letter around almost verbatim –</p>
<p>Thank you for submitting your scholarship update for [daughter]. While [daughter] continues her work on reading her admission and scholarship offers (and that will take a while with the number [daughter] has received a record!), I wanted to give you an update on the college selection process. In your scholarship update you indicated an interest in having [daughter] continue consideration of St. Olaf. Six schools have already admitted [daughter] and she is reviewing their merit and talent scholarship offers which range from half tuition to full rides. She also continues to review letters and emails from schools to which she did not apply offering full tuition scholarships. While she cannot offer you a spot on the list of schools currently under consideration, you are still being considered for safety school status. As you know, consideration as a safety school doesn’t require any demonstration of serious interest on your part. [Daughter’s] attendance decisions will be mailed April 2nd, and her contract with enrollment deposit for her selected school will follow a few days later. I know you are eager for both, and we are working hard to get decisions in the mail.</p>
<p>I understand the emotions around the Buntrock acceptance/rejection letters. My daughter was in your shoes last year. St. Olaf was her absolute number one choice, but she knew money was an issue, and a final decision could not be made without having all the offers from the schools she carefully chose to apply to all on the table. </p>
<p>To her horror, she was not selected as a Buntrock finalist, despite being National Merit, a ton of AP’s, captain of a sports team, all-conference honors in 2 varsity sports for 3 years each, etc. Tons of service, too. Her reaction was not one of being turned off, because her desire for a Buntrock did not involve her ego at all. Her desire for a Buntrock was so she could afford to attend her top choice school. She spoke to her school counselor, who in turn called St. Olaf and spoke to them on her behalf. We helped write a letter from the heart on what attending St. Olaf would mean to her. The Admissions staff was wonderful and helped her fulfill her merit hole without a Buntrock so she could in the end attend. In the meantime, she had been offered half-tuition to full-tuition offers from her other LAC applications and was extremely worried her dream school was slipping through her fingers despite her great performance in HS. </p>
<p>A year later, she is ever so grateful to St. Olaf for their help. It’s all about fit. If your kids are turned off and not turned queasy, perhaps they prefer another school anyway. Remember that St. Olaf does not say anywhere that the Buntrock scholarship is based solely on pure academic performance. It can also help the school matriculate students with more diverse backgrounds, interests, locations and races.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone in this very stressful time! I do believe things work out for the best. Don’t be afraid to call and discuss any outcome you do not agree with–just do so humbly and communicate from your heart–no loss in trying (and this is true for any school).</p>
<p>Great story and helpful advice catpb. We are in a similar situation – extremely high stats student who needs scholarship assistance to make St. Olaf and similar schools a reality. (According to FAFSA and Profile, we don’t have any need at this point, though that will likely change when D2 heads to college.) I do think that “the letter” provided a good tool for my daughter in looking at her school list–all seniors need some way of winnowing their list. The Buntrock letter made my daughter realize that she wants to attend a school where they are excited about what she brings to the school. She isn’t interested in a school where she is in the “second” pool. So though we won’t be making a call to St. Olaf to try to negotiate support similar to the Buntrock – it would be unfair to negotiate resources away that could go to other kids who DO still love St. Olaf – I think that your advice is good advice for students who still have St. Olaf at the top of their list despite the Buntrock letter. </p>
<p>Though it is clear that the Buntrock isn’t all about stats, test scores and activities, the prior threads show that St. Olaf passes over some kids for the Buntrock who are at the very top of their applicant pool. (Maybe this is a Tufts syndrome thing, maybe they have other priorities – it is certainly their right to choose who they wish to interview.) However, it doesn’t make sense to alienate some of their strongest candidates before admissions decisions even come out. I do think that St. Olaf would be well advised to take a look at the text of the letter and consider revising it – it isn’t even really necessary to send the letter at all – but it definitely shouldn’t read “you aren’t in our top 200, but don’t worry we may have some money left for you.” Thanks for sharing your experience, encouragement and helpful advice.</p>
<p>Paying4collegex4,
I agree with everything you are saying, and I bet the letter will be revised next year, but that doesn’t help everyone right now. One more thing I got a sense of from talking to their staff last year is that because St. Olaf caps its merit aid at 50% cost of attendance, they really do not like to give a Buntrock and the National Merit finalist awards together. I think they see a $10k Presidential Scholarship + $7.5k National Merit scholarship as beating a Buntrock. I really do not know how many kids receive both the Buntrock and the National Merit, but it’s not as many as you might think–they are looking to stretch the reach of their merit money to as many top students as possible. I hope this helps heal the wound!</p>
<p>Very interesting point and I would bet that you are correct – that may very well be why many National Merit finalists find themselves on the disappointing end of the Buntrock letter. Again, thanks for your insight. I am sure that it will be helpful to students studying these threads this year and in years to come.</p>
<p>This may have changed from last year - but D was offered Buntrock and NM last year - she chose a different school (VERY difficult decision!) - but last year it did not seem that NM finalists were overlooked for the Buntrock. Best of luck to everyone!</p>
<p>has anyone heard of a buntrock finalist who had a lukewarm/bad interview that still got offered the scholarship? my interview wasn’t amazing. i felt like there were a lot of pauses/awkward moments and i was very nervous so i didn’t articulate myself as well as i should have. is the interview the sole determinant for the decision?</p>
<p>My D was one of those who got “that” letter regarding the Buntrock Scholarship, so I can’t speak to that one specifically, but she did receive two scholarship awards last week from St. Olaf. Good luck!</p>
<p>One of the admissions people I spoke with at the scholarship weekend said that they were planning on sending the letters out in about two weeks - which would mean they would go out tomorrow. So we should be hearing shortly.</p>