<p>Oh, dear, PickUpSticks! Have you read TheDad’s comments on this thread to your dad so perhaps he could get some good ideas about what to say? Maybe after that, you could brainstorm with him and remind him of some of the family stories that seem to epitomize you? He could write about one or two of those. Sometimes people just need a boost. Let us know how it goes!</p>
<p>We did both of the above right before he wrote the letter. He sounded so excited and I had hope that he was going to produce an amazing letter… but alas it was far worse than I had expected. I’m hoping he’ll think of something decent sometime soon.</p>
<p>I was writing up additional comments for all those waitlisted, and then saw your immediate post, PickUpSticks. Have you reminisced about your childhood and the funny and/or significant stories that have happened? Sometimes they take a while to bubble to the surface. Maybe if you show your dad your college essay, that might help him understand colleges don’t want generalities, but stories with specific detail. Or maybe a phenomenal parents letter just isn’t in the cards, but perhaps someone else who’s known you for a long time–a relative, a minister, an old family friend–could really write a knock-out one and you could work better with that person.</p>
<p>All wait-listed, if you really want to go to Smith, do take TheDad’s advice: call Admissions and find out what you need to do.</p>
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<p>She’s very much into the soul-selling, but her odds of getting into Wharton are next to zero, especially considering that she didn’t get into the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (she can re-apply, though, since she was accepted to Michigan). </p>
<p>What bothers me is not the fact that she wishes to commit prematurely to this, but rather her condescending attitude toward Smith and Bryn Mawr. It’s very disappointing.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping she goes to the Ross School of Business! It really doesn’t sound like she wants to go to a women’s college.</p>
<p>I concur with everyone…</p>
<p>Still, why bother applying to schools in which she has not the slightest bit of interest?</p>
<p>I mean, I’m a person who would donate scads of cash (if I had it) to Smith even if I wasn’t a Smithie…its just that kind of school. </p>
<p>She doesn’t know what she’s denigrating…</p>
<p>I keep hearing advice about calling admissions to see what I could do about my waitlist, but could anyone tell me what to do while on the phone with them? Do I ask for my regional admissions officer, or just tell them that I’m on the waitlist and I really want to go to Smith? I’m awful at talking on the phone (fail anxiety issues), and would appreciate any words of wisdom. Sorry if I sound like a wimp!</p>
<p>Nightpwnsj00, I’m not entirely sure about this advice, as we didn’t have the experience, but I think I’d suggest you ask for your regional admissions officer. I think it’s always helpful to connect, if possible, to the person who’s going to be working with and advocating for you. It’s worth a try, anyway. Take a big breath and just be yourself. You had an interview, right? So you’ve already talked to Smith admissions people and they probably didn’t bite your head off. Write down beforehand some points you want to make and some questions you want to ask and then go for it. And let us know how it went. Good luck!</p>
<p>PickUp, among other things I <em>am</em> a writer and I’m always running into people who think their writing is great. It requires a delicate combination of tact and unyielding pressure to get them to consider that something they’ve written might not be adequate to the task. Umm. Check your PM.</p>
<p>NP, ask to speak to the your regional admissions officer or, if she’s not available, take a deep breath and ask for the director of admissions.</p>
<p>I agree with Carolyn: make a list of bullet point ideas so that your conversation is focused and you don’t babble all over the place under stress. That should help with your anxiety about talking on the phone, which I have some sympathy for. Otoh, you’ve reached the stage of life where the world is playing with “live ammunition” and you need to start sucking it up and handling adult responsibilities, like making important phone calls, to the best of your ability. Trust me, it gets better with experience. The first time you do it you may feel like a fool. The second time like an improved fool. By the third time you may become delusional enough to think that you know what you’re doing…you probably really don’t but are sounding so much more confident that the effect is much better. So you might as well start now. Get to it. Good luck.</p>
<p>I just found this on Smith’s admissions fan page on Facebook. It’s from a week ago:</p>
<p>“First-year and nontraditional students will be able to check their decisions online via BannerWeb. The system doesn’t currently allow for us to properly display transfer decisions online. Transfer students will receive their decisions in the mail.”</p>
<p>NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!</p>
<p>At least I won’t have to spend tomorrow in a state of anxiety, I guess?</p>
<p>Oh that’s terrible Citoyenne! I wish they had the transfer info on the web for you. Hopefully you get a letter soon.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry the wait is so interminable for you, Citoyenne. We’re rooting for you!</p>
<p>Ada prospies! We find out in 7.5 hours…</p>
<p>I could barely sleep last night…kept having bizzare Smith related dreams and nightmares.
Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>Don’t knock the girl who blew off her Smith acceptance. Priorities change from the fall to the spring of senior year. She may have already gotten into a school that she’d rather attend. I know that my own daughter tossed aside, with barely a look, the acceptances from Mount Holyoke, Bucknell, and Dickinson because even though she would have been happy to go to those schools had she not been already accepted to others she liked better. </p>
<p>The parental letter can play a role in an acceptance or a waitlist-into-acceptance by giving your application a more personal dimension. In the letter I wrote for my daughter, I talked about something she refused to put her in application – how she was uprooted after her freshman year of high school, from the only community she knew, and adjusted to a new life. I explained how she dealt with the hardships of our move and how that prepared her to adjust to leaving home for college. I also gave examples that illustrated her character, including her sense of humor and generosity toward others, aspects that her teachers were unlikely to address. While I can’t say the letter had an impact, she did get in. 
Parents should consider the letter a character sketch of what the applicant is like off outside the classroom.</p>
<p>MWFN, I think it’s the snootiness, especially in context that the desired acceptance is not in hand, that is rankling.</p>
<p>I just went back and found my parental rec letter for D. I had forgotten large parts of its but as with MWFN’s case, it has material that no one else could or would have written about. Even when talking about events that D could have spoken of, she would not have had the larger interpretative framework to put them in.</p>
<p>to re-cap: parents should talk in specifics, not generalities, about facets of their D that won’t be captured in the D’s app by D, other rec letters, and transcripts. E.g., don’t even bother talking about grades, homework, classroom attitude, etc. It should illuminate personal qualities.</p>
<p>WOOHOO!</p>
<p>Smith totally just made up for their Bannerweb fail by calling to tell me I’ve been admitted!</p>
<p>Thank your for your support, everyone! :)</p>
<p>Citoyenne, I am so thrilled for you! Congratulations! What a wonderful phone call!</p>
<p>I GOT ADMITTED TOO!! They just called me…
I gotta wait for the financial aid package!</p>
<p>Thank you, Carolyn!</p>
<p>And congrats, vannecriss! I hope you get the fin aid you need. I’m nervously awaiting it as well.</p>