College Decisions: Surprising / Shocking Acceptances / Rejections!!

I thought it would be interesting for people to share any really shocking decisions they’ve received from colleges this year or in past years. It would be great if some stats were provided to understand why the decision(s) were/was such a surprise!!

Past year common examples include:

  • "Overqualified" applicant wait listed at college that uses level of applicant's interest.
  • Applicant did not realize that his/her intended major was much more competitive than the college overall.
  • Applicant with high test scores but not as high grades had poor results from UCs in California, which more heavily weight grades over test scores.

Another common example:

  • Student admitted to several colleges, but finds out that the colleges are too expensive, because s/he never used the net price calculators or used them incorrectly or did not otherwise consider college costs before applying.
  • Student admitted to several colleges, but finds out that the colleges are too expensive, because s/he never used the net price calculators or used them incorrectly or did not otherwise consider college costs before applying.

^ that example really does not fall under the “College Decisions -Surprising / Shocking Acceptances / Rejections!!”
theme of this thread, imho.
it’s a consequence of not applying to colleges wisely. Rather than being shocked or surprised by the decision to admit or deny itself.

My D was mildly surprised she got into Haverford (score below their 25% and no additional scores from any source), but she was really surprised when she was rejected by penn state Abington. It turned out the penn state rejection was a mistake based on a clerical error. Moral of the story? If it’s a really shocking rejection, it can’t hurt to follow-up with the school and make sure nothing is amiss.

Do colleges issue decisions on April first ?

@Publisher Yes. I know NYU releases their decisions on 4/1 for regular decision.

Here’s one that was surprising. #110 class rank got into state public u while #35 and #44 were both waitlisted. It wasn’t a mistake. #110 was a URM while #35 and 44 were white. I knew URM was a hook, but didn’t realize it helped THAT much. Surprising.

Or did #35 and #44 apply to computer science while #110 applied to philosophy?

chb088, People are not ordered on a ratio scale by class rank. Maybe #110 was an amazing violinist or had won a prestigious academic award, or had higher scores or had better essays or , or , or etc. Why in the world would you assume the fact that #110 got a leg up that he/she was’t worthy of (which is what you imply). Oh, I guess I know why.

I’m a URM and i don’t take offense to your comment at all lol, I find that pretty interesting and actually am more hopeful that maybe as a URM, I’ll have a better shot at some of the competitive colleges I applied to. I doubt it will be the case, but hey, a small hook can’t be a bad thing!

@ucbalumnus No, at this school, you do not apply to a major, so all 3 students were equal in that regard.

@lostaccount 110 was not a musician or athlete or president of anything and did not start a charity. I know all 3 personally. It is exactly what it appears to be and I found it surprising. That was the title of this thread, so it seems applicable.

No matter how much you think you know your fellow classmates, you didn’t see what was in their application packet. What did their recommendations say? How were their essays? What life experience did they have that they don’t advertise to friends?

I will share that my daughter got some grief from classmates that she only got into schools because she was a girl in STEM because they were ranked higher than she was and they weren’t accepted. What they didn’t know is that she won a number of engineering awards outside of school, was asked to do a pilot capstone project in engineering, took the most rigorous STEM course load in school history (which was highlighted by the GC in his LOR), had some unique ECs outside of school, plus tons of volunteer hours. My kid is humble and didn’t talk about her accomplishments with friends at school at all. No one had any idea what she was doing.

Two components of the application that are invisible to everyone except the admissions offices: Essays and recommendations.

I’m a writer for a living, and people ask me to read their essays. I’ve read some shockingly bad essays from students who were in the top 10% of their HS class.

Agree 100% with this. No one knows what is in anyone else’s app. There are a lot of sour grapes (and occasional schadenfreude, I assume) among kids and parents about “surprising” results other applicants have. Hence a very good reason to not share your application list with anyone else.

If being a URM is a strong hook at a school, it is. No one here can say that it isn’t and could not have accounted for a decent amount of the reason why #110 got accepted. Colleges have different standards and prioritize different aspects of applications differently. Don’t assume that chb088 is sour because #110 got accepted… it’s just an idea about how significant a hook URM might really be. No offense taken. If anyone else has other comments regarding something other than the individuals in chb088’s circumstance or URMs, I’d love to hear! (:

MODERATOR’S Note:
OK. #110 was admitted. Someone was surprised. Let’s move on, please.

I hear similar things all the time. I hope these people are using it well…like to make wine or something. Females to Caltech (oh, its just cause she’s female), and I hear it about ethnicity. I rarely hear it about legacy and development admits even though that is by far the biggest leg up. I know many students who got into only one hyper competitive school and which coincidently one or both parents attend and nobody bats and eye. And that kid is busy saying things like “oh well she got into CalTech because…”. Yet there is no evidence that the women getting into engineering schools are less eligible or qualified than the males-in fact their outcome data is better. But legacy…another story. So best to take those sour grapes and use them for something more beneficial than putting down peers or the children of peers.

Without context, #110 vs. #44 may be a big surprise or not a surprise at all. In our school, the difference would be finite so it wouldn’t mean much.

It’s heard in my kids’ HS. To be somewhat cryptic, I won’t give full details. But seven students applied to one of the schools that has SCEA/REA. The only one who was admitted in that early round was the one whose parents own a professional sports team. As a sideline (no pun intended).