College Acceptance Letters Are Glitzier, but Rejections Are Harsher

Applying to College
1

<p>College Acceptance Letters Are Glitzier, but Rejections Are Harsher
By Kim Clark Kim Clark
Thu Feb 26, 9:50 am ET</p>

<p>College admissions officers are jazzing up their acceptance notifications--sending out fancy certificates, T-shirts, tubes of confetti, or Internet links to videos of fireworks--in an effort to inspire loyalty and lock in commitments from today's fickle and worried high school seniors.</p>

<p>While many students enjoy the new twists on what used to be just fat and thin envelopes, others are criticizing some of the changes to admissions notifications. Some students are less wowed by glitz than by old-fashioned personal letters that show an admissions officer actually read the essays. Some high school officials complain about school disruptions caused by midday fateful E-mails or text messages. And some students say the new electronic rejections--some of which are little more than "Admissions decision: Deny"--feel much harsher than the traditional letters enclosed in ominously thin envelopes.</p>

<p>The controversy over the best way to inform students of their fates is likely to heighten in 2009 as a growing number of colleges experiment with:</p>

<p>Text messages. Baylor University is one of a growing number of schools that blast out congratulatory text messages (though it sends rejections via snail mail).</p>

<p>Videos. Elon College has started informing this year's accepted students by E-mailing a link to a video of cheering crowds and the words "Congratulations. You've been accepted to Elon!" followed by inspirational music and shots of the scenic North Carolina campus. After receiving complaints that its Web admissions notifications weren't celebratory enough, Binghamton University added flash animation to its E-mail last year. The University of Georgia, which has for several years greeted accepted students with a link to an animated graphic of fireworks, says this year's fireworks will be flashier than ever. Bryn Mawr, which launched its video acceptance last year, is promising an even better video this year.</p>

<p>Goodies. St. Bonaventure University in western New York this year gussied up the acceptance package (which contains a T-shirt) that it sends out. MIT sent out a tube filled with a poster and confetti to its early acceptees, as it has for several years. Other schools are shipping bumper stickers, decals, and other knickknacks.</p>

<p>Fancy letters. Ithaca College three years ago replaced its single-page acceptance letter (contained in a misleadingly thin envelope) with what it calls its "Phat package"--a foot-long envelope emblazoned with the words "Something big is about to happen." Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., upped its game this year with a fancy new translucent envelope holding a green linen folder embossed with the college seal and the words: "You have been accepted."</p>

<p>Certificates. Baylor this year joined many other schools, including Rutgers and Elon, in sending out suitable-for-framing acceptance certificates. </p>

<p>Rejections, too, are changing, though not necessarily for the better. Some student posters on collegeconfidential.com have complained that after all their hard work on essays, electronic rejections can feel especially brutal. A Rice University rejectee said he felt awful when he logged on to read "Admissions decision: Deny" and then got what he called a "hard, cold" formal rejection in the mail. A Stanford rejectee said that school's preference for electronic rejections aggravated feelings of worthlessness. "They say they won't be sending you an actual letter because that would only make it worse. Ha ha like I didn't cry enough," wrote one poster.</p>

<p>Chris Mu</p>

2

<p>This all makes sense from my perspective.</p>

3

<p>I think emails are too impersonal. I applaud any college or university that is able to send out hand-written and personalized letters, but many are too big and too busy for that. The least they can do is make their acceptances meaningful and their rejections easier to handle.</p>

4

<p>Handwritten isn’t THAT hard from my perspective; all you do is write it once and then photocopy it. Some computer fonts are great at replicating the appearance of a handwritten letter. It’s kind of cheap, actually, but it has the feel of a personalization without requiring superhuman efforts.</p>

5

<p>when i get rejected, i want MAIL!!</p>

6

<p>This is now being replied to, it was posted last year. </p>

<p>I would prefer hand-written letters its more personal.</p>

7

<p>I think smaller schools have the advantage here when it comes to personalizing acceptance letters–wonder if they will capitalize on that to compete with the bigger names.</p>

8

<p>There are plenty of small schools with big names, ie Wiliam and Mary. Agreed on your central point though, but a lot of the bigger schools also have larger staffs and massive budgets to help outmanuever and overwhelm the resources of the bigger school. One rumor that I’ve heard bandied about is bigger schools submitting reams of paperwork to smaller schools under shady names in order to limit their smaller compet[i](<a href=“http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2010-10/small-school-big-ambitions.aspx?storyid=42672][color=“black”]i[/color][/url]tors”>http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2010-10/small-school-big-ambitions.aspx?storyid=42672)tors</a>’ ability to manage their enrollment effectively and increase revenues. It’s an unethical practice but there’s little that the NACAC can do to recognize this practice since its prima facie legitimate!</p>

9

<p>My thinking is that “I put a lot of time into my application, the least you could do is take some time to send me a letter that includes my admission decision, even if it is a rejection.”</p>