I applied to colleges last fall and received my decisions this spring. I have very high stats and good extracurriculars and yet I was rejected from many of the colleges and seemed to have gotten very unlucky compared to my peers with similar resumes. I had sent texts to a former friend about drinking/illegal activity and I’m just wondering if it’s possible that the friend could have shown these to colleges. Would the colleges take them seriously/look at them at all if the former friend did end up trying to show it to them? I doubt this happened but I would like to rule it out as a possibility because I can’t help but wonder.
Can anyone do that? of course.
Would it get to the AdComm? exceptionally unlikely
If it got to the AdComm would an anonymous text be enough to scupper your application? exceptionally unlikely
So, why would you have been unlucky compared to peers with similar stats & ECs? lots of reasons, starting with you essays and LoRs.
I think my essays and LoRs were pretty good too which is why I was so confused. But good to know that it was unlikely, thanks for the info!
You might ask your GC why, and he may already have an idea. He may know what the schools are looking for, he may know that an ACT of 32 is the lowest anyone from your school has ever had to get into that school without an athletic hook, or that 10 students with similar stats to yours applied and you were the one without a hook or an alum relative, or that Sally’s essays were really good or that Bob’s LOR just went on and on about his science project.
Don’t worry about it. Go the school that did want you. Have fun.
I had a 1580 sat which is part of why I was so confused but I guess I was over confident as to its weight and didn’t stand out. I ended up choosing a school that will save a lot of money so hopefully things work out for the best. Thanks for your reply!
Yes, it is possible. How to confirm it did happen is virtually impossible. Keep your social media clean.
I agree it’s unlikely. What does your social media look like?
It’s hard to compare yourself to others. While you may know their GPA and activities you don’t know how they packaged everything and what their essays and LOR’s looked like. When my D applied to colleges 2 years ago several kids in her class applied to the same T20. D was waitlisted and others rejected. I’m sure some of those kids who were ranked higher in the class than D wondered why SHE was placed ahead of them since they had higher GPA’s. But they didn’t know she had shown lots of interest and they didn’t see her essays or letters. Plus, while their GPA’s might have been higher, not significantly so. Like you have a 1580 SAT, which is wonderful, but that doesn’t necessarily get you a huge advantage over a 1530. That’s like a difference in answering 1 question right. Great stats will get your application looked at, but they are not the deciding factor. And sometimes kids with unique activities and stories might stand out over someone with “strong” typical activities.
Overall, it’s just really hard to know what someone was chosen over someone else. It could just be something in their application stood out. Or they checked a box that you didn’t. Often I think essays have more impact than people think and a good essay is maybe not what a student thinks it is. One admission person said in a talk I heard that they get SO many “I overcame an injury to lead my team to the state championship” essays (or some version of that) that it’s hard for one to stand out over another. Students think it’s a great topic and adcoms see it over and over and over.
This type of question is common and the first part of the answer is that, in theory, I guess anything is possible, but it’s soooo unlikely. The second part of the answer is that high test scores and grades only get you to the gate and you didn’t get into the schools you applied to for all kinds of reasons, the least likely of which is that someone emailed admissions.
Be realistic though. Pretend I’m an AO at Stanford. I want to admit Jimmy Page. I receive an email from a student, who I do not know at all, alleging that Jimmy has not done what he claims to have done on his app, or Jimmy posted pics of himself drinking beer at a party. My first thought is “duh, I’ve seen these types of emails before” and I ignore it. Or maybe I think, “looks like this kid has a grudge against Jimmy” and I ignore it.
Unless there was some kind of substantial proof of an applicant lying on the app, or evidence of some serious drug use, given by a NON anonymous person, I am not going to do anything about the random email I receive in regards to someone else. I would absolutely be questioning the motivation of the person who sent me such an email. And if I chose to take it seriously, I’d contact the school guidance counselor to get more information.
Busy AO’s have better things to do with their time. You don’t know what was on your friends’ applications. You don’t know what their recommendations said, or yours, for that matter. Maybe they had excellent essays. Or maybe they fulfilled some institutional need. You will never know.
My one student was in a daze after the first month at his school, wondering how he was accepted, given the high stats kids there that he felt blew him out of the water. His roommate had been rejected from the school with top flight stats—accepted as a transfer. 1590 SATs, tip AP courses, perfect grades. I know too many with that profile who have not been accepted to the most selective schools in the country. There are only so many spots, and once certain key criteria are filled for a class, there are simply not enough spaces for the highly qualified students remaining.
I come from an area where there are so many students applying to the top schools. It’s easy to see the difficulty of accepting any number of these applicants when some geographic diversity is the goal. I also see a lot of commonality in the applications, so that one looks just like a bunch of others. Looking for something different becomes the issue.
I’ve seen situations where the essay was the winning goal point, and times when I know the essay was not read or discounted. I know a kid accepted to top schools who forgot to change the name of the college he applied to in his essay, fretted about it right up to the acceptances. Another sent an incomplete essay that was clearly chipped off. Like mid sentence and made no sense. Accepted.
Too often, students think they have great essays… and they are not. Also an essay deemed not a good choice can be a winner. How do I know? One of mine got AO comments and accolades on an essay stuck in their last minute that was a discard unanimously by GC, parent (me) and any essay advice. My friend’s DD got questions and unfavorable comments from AOs directed to her GC, and she immediately discarded that essay from future applications. Don’t know if it was the essay, but she was not accepted to any of the schools that got that essay.
@Lindagaf are there any pictures of Jimmy Page without alcohol or other drugs in them?
Not to put fuel on a fire, but I do know of one instance when a student was the subject of such slander. This is about 8 or 9 years ago, when marijuana was still very illegal. The person in question had smoked in a park. Someone – anonymous – photographed this and sent it to at least one of the colleges that the subject was applying to. The Subject found out because the college notified her. The college still accepted her. Now this college was on the most liberal end of the spectrum. The philosophy of the school was tolerant of marijuana and intolerant of what it might perceive as tattling in this way. YMMV…
Best of luck, OP
Will do!
My social media is all clean. I’m sure you’re right that my results were due to other things though. Thanks for the response!
It’s not slander if it is true.