<p>With all of the competition and accompanying angst among college applicants this year to the USAs most elite colleges, I see some backlash towards admissions committees that might have selected statistically inferior candidates over others with better numbers. Referred to by some as the Tufts syndrome and practiced by colleges like Wash U and others, this has historically led to a lot of (misplaced IMO) anger toward these colleges. </p>
<p>I want to post now in favor of the admissions committees that are taking a holistic approach to their work AND who are looking to admit students who really want to be there and arent just lobbing in an application as part of their 10-15-20 college application mass blanketing. Such students just drive the admit rates down and the anxiety level of everyone up. And for the adcomms, the predictability of who is coming to their college after acceptance and who is not has never been more difficult. </p>
<p>My view is that it is perfectly appropriate and perhaps even necessary for adcomms to take into consideration the true level of interest of their applicants and try to build a class that is not only outstanding, but that also really wants to be at their college. Maybe taking steps such as requiring a Why ABC College? essay would be helpful in ferreting out the students who are seriously interested and those just mucking up the system to the detriment of all applicants. Anybody agree?</p>
<p>I find it irritating to read posts by disappointed students who are complaining about getting waitlisted at 5 or 6 schools, and then when out of sympathy I look up their back posts, I find that they also were accepted by 5-6 schools.</p>
<p>Even more irritating are the people who are posting describing their "problem" of selecting which college to go to from the dozen that accepted them.</p>
<p>As long as decent amounts of those waitlisted are accepted, I'd say it's ok. The point of waitlisting uninterested applicants is to see if they are truly interested, and then admit them.</p>
<p>But how would they know if the students are seriously interested are not? I got rejected by my 1st choice and waitlisted by my second. I had constantly made it sure they knew they were my top choices.For one of thm, I wrote a 4.5 page essay "why I want to go there". Heck, after coming to CC and reading "demonstrated interest" over n over, I DEMONSTRATED my interest.
So wht about those students like us who are really serious in our choices and intent and still got the losing end?
However, in defending the adcoms, I think the problem here is that they are unable to handle the huge number of students. They didn't see it coming. And it is extremely difficult especially for the small schools, to go through everything in that short amount of time, in assessing each and every student subjectively(essays, intent, etc) and objectively(grades, GPA, EC). </p>
<p>Anyway, the process is in whole left many students who really do CARE about their top choices at the losing end.
Hawkette, u want my suggestion? I say Common application should put a limit/cap on the number of applications to be submitted 10 or less. And maybe each college should hv a different "main app" and not use the same one. The one school tht has been kind to me, I didn't use the common application to apply :)</p>
<p>Here's a good way to avoid this problem, I don't see why many people didn't do it:</p>
<p>Apply to 5-6 schools EA/rolling in early October, including your safeties. Know by Mid-December.</p>
<p>After knowing your acceptances apply during regular decision to only reaches and matches, and mabye a safety just for the heck of it. Saves a lot of applications and a lot of stress.</p>
<p>skygirl,
I am completely with you-it is students like you that I am thinking about. I have no idea why you didn't get in wherever you were applying, but undoubtedly there are large numbers who did get in and probably had nowhere near your interest in attending. The schools with a greater than 40% yield this year will be in the single digits, so there will be a lot of dislocation for students as the month of April unfolds and perhaps all summer. What a mess! I think your suggestion about a cap on the number of Common Apps is a good one. I'd probably make it an even lower limit-I mean, when did applying to 10 or more colleges become the norm? I just don't see that as healthy for anybody or for the system at large. You can only go to one.</p>
<p>thank you, Skygirl and hawkette....how frustrating this has been (and I'm thinkin' more frustration to come).....</p>
<p>Skygirl: my D is on the same train as you are....there was NO way her top choices couldn't see that she wanted to be there......it was right there in black and white......(i would quote her "Why_____" essay" , but she'd kill me....)</p>
<p>This is an unprecedented era of hedging your bets, both as a prospective student and as an adcom. The adcom may have more sophistication in trying to make a determination in how many to admit, waitlist and deny, how much to offer and to whom to get desired yields from, but in the end it is forecasting human behavior and that's not easy. The student has the same dilemma, who will accept me, and for many FA is a consideration. For the latter one isn't good without the other, and we are also seeing alot of bemoaning in that regard.
Some have been more fortunate in their options hence the who should I choose posts, and others have been less fortunate, and those are of the they should limit the number of apps crowd. App fees are a significant source of revenue for many schools, so I don't see that happening and in the end most will get in where they fit in.</p>
<p>Adcoms do have a tough job and it is hard to really get a feel for someone you've never seen face-to-face. D got into all of the schools she really wanted to attend (Oberlin, Grinnell, Case, Lawrence, Reed) but was waitlisted at UNC (our big flagship school). She only applied to UNC b/c is was affordable (instate) and very good academically. Socially the school would have been a disaster for her. It big, very sports oriented-not a good match for someone shy. Her application was "going through the motions" and I imagine the adcom saw it. Sadly, she was planning to accept UNC in order to save $$. I know D is thanking the UNC adcom 10X over for their wisdom!</p>
<p>I do wish there was a limit to how many schools kids could apply to. It is horribly unfair to great applicants like skygirl who was clear about what they wanted. We are in the process of visiting schools and will make a decision on schools as quickly as possible. I encourage everyone to respond quickly to schools they know they will not go to. There is someone out there with their heart set on those schools.</p>