Thank you for this. I really appreciate it. You are right, the hardest part for my daughter was the fact that they took another less qualified student from her school over her. And I can say that this other student was less qualified because she was my daughter’s best friend, have known her for years. Didn’t even make the honor society. Oh well, my daughter committed to another great school that showed her a lot of love so we are all happy. Wishing you and your student all the best.
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Mine was waitlisted at Dartmouth. I’ll spare you the tale of how qualified she is because you all know the drill and have/are magnificent kids. We were made aware of a coaching service (former Dartmouth AO) that offers strategic advice on how to maximize your applicant’s chances for getting off the wait list. My gut tells me this is nonsense and a waste of money but am wondering if anyone here has had a positive experience with such guidance? Don’t want to leave a stone unturned here. Thanks in advance for your thoughts! I wish I’d known about CC earlier.
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I can’t say if there is truth to that, but (anecdotally) I think Princeton legacy can hurt a high stats kid at other schools, often leading to WLs.
There was a student here last year, very strong candidate, double legacy, who had somewhat disappointing results. The CC did some digging and at least one AO admitted to assuming she was going to Princeton. This kid wanted to do her own thing and hadn’t even applied.
Yes, my daughter was accepted and the dates on some of her docs in the portal had been updated to late March.
Dartmouth received 28,841 applications this admissions cycle—the largest amount ever. The entire undergrad population is 4,556. Do you honestly think they could accept EVERY high-stats kid or even every high-stats legacy kid? Do you think there is only a handful of students who meet those requirements? I understand the disappointment, but blaming rejections and waitlisting on “unqualified” URM or first-gen students sounds naive and seems like sour grapes. (And how do you know they are “unqualified” in the first place? Stereotyping URM and first gens?) Do the math and stop stereotyping URM and first-gen students.
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THIS!!! We have an identical case in my kid’s school where the student is an URM (in two categories!) that got into all Ivy choices despite having a standard test score that was waaaay outside the acceptable range for these schools (clearly not submitted). This student is very obviously not deemed in the top 10% of anything in that school academically or otherwise - the school community is stunned. Between having quotas for URMs and test optional/blind policies, a number of less qualified applicants are entering these institutions. It will be interesting to see how this pans out long term, meanwhile the hard-working kids that are not URM are justifiably frustrated and disillusioned.
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Seriously this. My URM daugher 34 ACT 98 GPA with lots of other stuff was rejected. I think people have a hard time understanding how many qualified applicants there are out there.
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@ProfSD All of this.
Any AO at any highly rejective school will tell you, truthfully and factually, that they could admit an incoming class several times over without any drop-off whatsoever in academic performance.
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My daughter was waitlisted, and I’ve found these threads somewhat comforting to see how many other incredible kids are in the same boat. This was frankly a brutal admissions process, and we’re still licking our wounds from the results. She only got into 2 of the 15 schools she applied to (Wellesley & Boston College) and was waitlisted or rejected from all the rest. We were pretty shocked since her stats seemed good: 1500 SAT, 4.0/5.2 GPA, ranked top of class, took every AP class the school offered, scoring 5s. Student body president, junior class president, freshman class president. Team captain all 4 years for 2 varsity sports. Won award for best student athlete in state (but wasn’t a recruited athlete). 500+ hours of volunteer work. Had part-time job thoughout. Good essays and recs (school principal shared his rec letter with her after where he wrote she was the best student he had seen in his 30+ year career), etc. Not trying to brag but just trying to demonstrate how difficult it is to get into these competitive schools now. She had always dreamed of going to an Ivy and worked so hard towards that goal, but it was not meant to be. It was never like this back when I applied to college. Kids have it so hard now and it is so demoralizing.
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Sorry to hear this. It is not only demoralizing, but also demeaning to the students. Colleges are saying that SAT Scores and AP Scores do not matter for ‘our’ academics!
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My DS was also waitlisted but this is nothing personal. I think we have to keep in mind all the 28K students who applied are more than qualified in their own way and the class size is 2K. so, they have to make hard decisions. IMO, the problem is students applying to the same 20 colleges and everyone expecting to get in, nothing wrong in aiming for it but when things don’t work out they have to accept the outcome and move on. We were lucky to have other incredible choices but in the end, they will all do well wherever they go.
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I am a little scared to post in here, because I know disappointment is painful and I really don’t want to add to that. But my husband and I are also trying to make a big decision about how much an Ivy League education is worth and this group seems to know a lot. Please be kind. I swear I am not humble bragging or being unappreciative. I’m just very conflicted.
My son got into Dartmouth. We don’t know why, but he did. He has exceptional stats and good activities, but they are similar to what everyone is posting here. Of course, we think he’s wonderful and very deserving. There are SO many kids who are. We do not live on one of the coasts, so maybe geographic diversity played a part. My husband and I went to middle-of-the-road state universities. We live in a high cost of living area, have four kids very close in age, and have “normal” jobs. We have college savings, but nothing extraordinary. We didn’t expect this to happen but now that it has, we’re trying to figure out if a Dartmouth degree is worth the extra $100k that we had not allocated to his college education fund.
I would really appreciate any words of wisdom on this. I know there isn’t a single right answer. This is just very new and unexpected territory for us so others’ experience and anecdotes would be welcome.
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I think it is a matter of comparing where else he got in, what those costs would be, and how happy he would be at those schools vs. Dartmouth.
If loans are a factor, or if sending him to Dartmouth would compromise your other kids’ options, I would really hesitate to spend the extra $100K. I have friends who went to Ivies and friends who went to state schools, and honestly I don’t see a lot of differences in their success later in life (I’m a parent of a college-age kid).
I’d also consider what he wants to do job-wise. If he’s planning to go to medical school, Dartmouth might be worth it (of course factor in med school costs!), but if he plans to work in a low-earning field or if he wants to teach public school, the extra $100K is probably not worth the investment.
Sorry not to offer more concrete advice, but this is such an individual decision.
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You will get more responses if you post in the Parents of Class of 2023 or see the thread Difficulty justifying the cost Notre Dame. Good Luck!
I think I know the service. My kid was also WL and my husband came across their fairly unbelievable claims. Basically, for an exorbitant amount of money, they review your kids app to identify weaknesses and then help you address those in a LOCI. We concluded this would be a waste of money (which we can afford, but no sense in throwing it away). From what I have read, colleges are not looking for kids to submit a second application in their LOCI, and the letters should be less than a page. Best of luck to your kid!
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Congratulations to your son! In addition to some of the factors others have listed, I would seriously consider whether he plans to attend grad school. In that case, I would advise to save money for that; do well in college and go to the best grad school he can. I come from a big family and that is the advice my dad gave me, so that I was not overwhelmed with debt. I don’t think teens can really appreciate how heavy educational debt can be when they are starting out. I went to a top business school after graduating from my state university. Many of my classmates were Ivy grads, but we all ended up in the same place.
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Same situation! My S: top ten of the class, SAT>1500, applied for 18, got into 2, WL 3. I think the results were fair enough, too much time on sport instead of preparing for applications. Now, to get off the waitlist even harder than get in on RD, but still there is some hope here.
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I am seeing the conversation regarding why some qualified applicants made it over others, so as a recently admitted student I just wanted to add 2 things.
- The financial aid email is 99.99% acceptance, I’ve only seen 2 waitlists result from it. I was skeptical until the director of financial aid sent me personal emails with intricate questions regarding my family’s financial situation.
- Everyone who gets into Dartmouth or any top school is academically qualified to the schools standards, athletes may have a different standard but I’m unsure. I go to a large public high school, which usually gets 3 kids into Dartmouth every year. My rank 1 and 2 got in, and I got in. There were a few waitlists in between us. An applicant may not have been a good fit for Dartmouth or had lackluster essays to an AO standards. I think it’s really important to have a hook or spike, as AOs read applications they try to see if the applicant would be a good fit in their well rounded class. Unfortunately only 6% of applicants make the cut. This college app process has taught me that there is nothing that you can do to guarantee an Ivy acceptance, so don’t take any waitlists or rejections personally.
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@Momof2023applicant this was my girl, almost exactly, except she had a 1530 SAT. She did not get in to any of her reach schools. BC was the biggest disappointment for her. 
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Our oldest daughter graduated from BC several years ago, she worked for a big company in Boston for couple years, got a master degree, came back to teach at BC. BC is a great school. Our youngest son probably will go there too if Dartmouth (his dream school) does not want him from WL. Things will be OK for the kids, no reason to be upset.
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