The kids that were deferred from early action have been treated very poorly. If I could do it all over again would definitely do regular decision. It is obvious that they are unable to handle the amount of applicants that they receive and should reconsider their methodology in the future.
My son was deferred for Watson in January… but sent in a supplementary letter (letting them know his interest, and reminding them we’d sent in ACTs that hadn’t been in the EA application) and then waited. He got almost two weeks ago. And got letter this week. Don’t lose hope. He was deferred from Case Western and we still haven’t heard, although at this point it’s probably moot as he wants to go to Bing.
Monydad. I’m not sure how you’d know that “current applicants don’t give a hoot about” the scandals. Maybe they don’t but I do.
Can you trust the answers you are getting about the school your child is attending? That is a very important question. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Investigate their past behavior! Are they trustworthy?
Many schools have problems with hazing or in athletics. When a problem is detected, many schools try to change for the better. Binghamton seems to just deny, cover and blame the person that brought the problem to their attention.
With hazing, Binghamton denied problems until legally forced to release evidence including letters from frantic parents. The truth came out. They’d lied to the parents. Then they tried to withhold the evidence until the Press and Sun got involved.
Problems arise at all schools.Many schools have hazing & athletics problems. What is different is that Binghamton has a well publicized history of denying and covering up for as long as they possibly can. When people try to get the real story, the school lies, obstructs FOILs or denies. When finally forced to release information, it’s often redacted like crazy. Is this a sign of an honest university?
This is 2012: “State’s open government director questions BU’s redactions from FOIL documents” Not ancient history. Not my opinion. And seemingly about nearly anything.
The university covered, lied or denied about a sting of events. In each case, the truth came from outside investigations of the basketball troubles (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/02/12/binghamton), Sally Dear, the Williams Fiasco, the basketball investigation, the hazing, overcharging graduates of NY high schools (unless they were illegal aliens) and constructing barriers to refunding the money {"“I think it’s a little condescending, quite frankly, that the university thinks that, well, we’ll set our own rules for tuition,” Justice Lebous wrote. “The law says this is the rate, period.”} and about environmental protection of land {“We did go through the process to try to get it from them without bringing in a lawsuit, but this is what it has come to in order to get it – and we feel that it’s important to have it,” she said. “Whether or not we feel it’s important to have it, the law, from our interpretation, says we’re entitled to it.”}.
There is no end to it. I’ve never seen another school willing to refuse to provide information and cover quite so boldly or so often. Isn’t a university supposed to clarify not cloud?
Even the basketball investigation was a scandal itself. They ignored laws governing state hiring so they could hire friends to investigate. And they were caught and fined some more. In a 2012 NY Times article about hazing Applebome says “No one died. But the reports, mostly anonymous e-mails and phone calls, depict students, parents and alumni essentially begging the university to find a way to crack down on hazing.” The letters show the university to be the opposite of transparent. Strings of denials followed by claims by the school that nobody told them. They were lying to parents! Are you a parent?
Maybe they need a lawyer willing to be honest and reveal rather than cover. She appears to do the opposite. Apparently they ridded the school of some responsible for the worst scandals but not all. The lawyer remains after all these scandals. You think this is history that doesn’t impact on the present applicants. Is the school honest about how many students have been victims of assault or molested downtown? I’d bet they are as honest about that as everything else.
We have sent in supllementary material and made numerous phone calls only to get canned responses. Their early action process was obviously overloaded and should be rethought for the future. How is it fair that kids have to wait almost 6 months for a decision.
@migold22, I understand your frustration, as we are in the same boat. But I look at it this way. Consideration of my son’s application was deferred because he didn’t meet the criteria for early admission, but Binghamton wanted to leave open the possibility that there would be a spot for him with regular admissions candidates. The alternative to “deferred” at every step wasn’t WELCOME, it was NO.
No admissions office can speak with every candidate. Giving you anything but a canned response would open the floodgates to everyone calling, and everyone demanding personalized responses.
It’s probably 2 more weeks at this point. Good luck.
@scaffold33, “No admissions office can speak with every candidate. Giving you anything but a canned response would open the floodgates to everyone calling, and everyone demanding personalized responses.” So, why does Binghamton have admissions counselors? I guess they need them to visit high schools to market the school. I believe if a candidate reaches out to state their intent they deserve more than a canned response.
My issue is with the early action process in general. It has become obvious that some schools can not handle the high volume of applicants that they are now receiving early action. So they defer a lot of students and I was told by one admissions counselor that a lot of these deferred students get put “on the bottom of the pile”. How is that fair that a student that has had their application in since mid Oct will hear much later than a student that applied regular decision and had their application submitted in January. I voiced this displeasure to an admissions counselor at Binghamton and they really did not know what to say except that they received a lot of candidates this year. Binghamton was originally my sons first choice but now he is not so sure as he has become disenchanted with the process. He has received substantial scholarships from schools that are comparable to Binghamton and put them in the same dollar range as Binghamton. In the end it is his call but as the days pass without a decision our hopes of being admitted are fading away.
And also if they are so swamped and overwhelmed with candidates than why are some of their admissions counselors currently out of the office visiting high schools? They obviously don’t need any more candidates.
Agreed, @migold22. My advice for future applicants is to apply Regular Decision. It seems those applications were reviewed more thoroughly while applications were judged strictly on GPA and SAT/ACT test scores. And it seems impossible to have your application reviewed in a timely matter once deferred to regular decision.
I agree 100% with what you stated. I guess lesson learned for my second child unfortunately a high level of frustration this time around.
Problem is when you wait to apply in January you potentially risk the scholarship money. My son applied to 12 colleges. He has been accepted to 10 so far with a deferment from Bing and waiting on RPI. All early action schools with the exception of Bing gave him money including 3 SUNY schools. His cousin who has similar grades only applied regular admission and didn’t get any scholarship money. This is just my experience and opinion.
@migold22, they have admissions counselors for lots of reasons. First, they’re the ones reviewing applications. Next, they speak to students, generally, about the school. Third, they talk to college counselors at high schools. As of this week, they were still talking to high school counselors about applicants. Binghamton has over 30,000 applicants. If even 50% of them called, and were given “personalized” responses about their applications, at even 5 minutes a pop, that’s 1,250 hours of time, or 35 solid weeks of time just giving “personalized” responses.
Yes, it is frustrating. Yes, I wish my son would have received a yes already. Yes, I check the website a dozen times a day. Obviously, Binghamton must be your kid’s top pick – as it is my son’s – or he would have elected one of the schools he already got into. Then what? He’s still not going until next year.
But if you guys all hate Binghamton so much because they haven’t answered yet, please, withdraw your applications. It can only help my son’s chances.
I share in everyone’s frustration. My son applied to 6 other schools and has heard from all except Binghamton. There is a definite psychological rejection that one feels after being deferred EA which is in sharp contrast to the warm fuzzy feeling we have gotten from the other schools’ quick responses. This has ultimately turned us both off to Binghamton. Seeing as he has been accepted into the rest of the other 6 schools he applied to including 2 top SUNYs with generous merit scholarships, Binghamton has taken itself out of the running. At this point, I’d like to contact Admissions to say “thanks, but no thanks. He will be attending elsewhere”. Good luck to the rest of you!
Agreed @gardenlvr! I’m having a hard time accepting the defense of Binghamton’s admissions process. Seems they may be overwhelmed but that is not acceptable to the applicants who applied EA in good faith and seemingly are now on the “bottom of the pile”.
They should reconsider their process for the future. Penn State , which is a state university, stopped doing early action because they couldn’t handle the volume. I believe Binghamton is now in the same boat and should take a step back for next year and analyze their admissions process. When early action first started it was a good idea but now more and more students are applying via early action and it just isn’t working as well. Maybe like Geneseo do an Early Decision and then regular decision. I am not an expert. This is just my humble opinion.
First, I do not have any clear facts about what is actually happening. I did however call Binghamton admissions to find out about the process (I will call that my second hand understanding). Given that, I am inclined to go along with most of Scaffold33’s line of thinking. I will be careful distinguishing between my opinion and what I heard from the admissions person. Assume my opinion unless otherwise stated.
If one has marginal credentials, applying early action will likely be a long wait, since the decision process has multiple steps. This may send you close to, and up to April 1.
I cannot see anything that would indicate that applying RD gives any advantage, despite the many expressions of such.
From the BU admissions person: there is no distinction between an EA deferred person and an RD person.
The RD folks who have not yet heard, are practically in the same situation as the EA deferred folks. They may not have waited as long, but they are nevertheless hanging in the same hangout, presumably with similar credentials.
There is a process for getting offered admission in a part of the university you did not apply to, but nevertheless, the different schools operate independent admission processes. For Binghamton, from discussion today.
It is also true that other schools with EA (e.g., UMass) still have deferred, and RD applicants waiting. Schools without EA (E.g., Stony Brook) also have applicants still waiting.
For the record, my D is deferred and waiting, has been a long wait. I find nothing surprising, it is not the only one where she is still waiting. The two she is still waiting for are the ones where I thought it might be a bit of a reach.
Applying EA (several) was more for the psychological value of not going too long without options, rather than any belief that it would materially raise the chances of admission.
Hope this is a bit helpful. Mostly my opinion.
Schools that are explicit about when and how students will be contacted prevent frustration. I have no advisees applying to Binghamton this season so I can’t get clarity on this.
Binghamton labels its admissions processes as "rolling’ which means they usually handle applications as they come in but not always. Rolling always means there is no hard deadlines for admissions and there is no set decision day. There are always deadlines for Early Action. Students applying EA generally have to apply by a “hard” deadline. Usually schools provide a specific date by which they will inform the students.
A while ago applicants were claiming that Binghamton could not meet their own deadline so they just dumped a lot of applicants into the regular admissions pile by deferring. I don’t know if they did that. If they did, those applicants become subject to the rules governing rolling admissions which means there is no explicit notification date for them.
On top of that, there appears to be a lot of guessing on the part of applicants due to students perceiving there to be a relationship between changes that they see on the portal and their status. This speculation has been going on for years and leads to angst. They know this and should change it. Why add angst to the process? If you work for the university, maybe you could suggest they make some changes. The few students thrilled to see signs that they are accepted are far outweighed by the angst of students driven to click on excessively and all need to wonder. There is no need for it.
Rebecca, you disagree but I bet a web site modification that takes two minutes will prevent loads of future grief. How admissions is run gives a glimpse into the school. Shortages of officers and support staff can lead to problems. Certainly this school has shown that to be true
EA applicant who was deferred to RD. I applied in October.
African-American male from NJ
2.8 GPA
2000 SAT
Great essays and decent recs
Solid ECs and course rigor
Top 30 school in the nation that has a good relationship with many schools (including this one)
I’ve basically already picked another school, but I am still waiting on Binghamton, as well as Syracuse and Bentley. Let’s hope all the frustration with everyone else subsides soon!
I’m curious, have students been notified that they haven’t been accepted? Or is there going to be a mass mailing in April telling everyone who has been waiting that they did not get in? I have a daughter who has borderline credentials; great grades 98 weighted GPA but ok SAT/ACT scores. She applied RD and all paperwork was posted as received on November 17. Submitted mid year grades, 2 APS and college math. FAFSA complete and received. Application complete and ready for review since November. Not a word otherwise. Her number one school, this has been a tough wait.
@nymom44 to the best of my knowledge, no one has been rejected. All of the rejections, waitlists and Binghamton Advantage offers will go out at once, along with the final group of acceptances. Probably on or just a couple of days before April 1. What are “ok” SAT/ACT scores?