My son was recently denied by OSU which really caught us by surprise. He met the criteria for the OOS Buckeye scholarship: 28 ACT (but just fell short of the SAT - 1230 instead of 1260 but it’s either the ACT or SAT you must meet), he is 29% in a class of 550 (unweighted) 3.7 gpa, 4 AP’s with a 5 score on AP history, student council, golf team, 2 jobs, awards, great essay and letter of rec. So we’re stumped. The only thing I’m thinking is that 5 kids from his HS were accepted prior to him and he didn’t call/email during the adm process (didn’t want to be annoying). Can anyone shed any light or maybe let me know if anyone had luck appealing?
Well, that is supposed to be on a competitive basis so higher stats were needed. Studies have shown a bump in applications for football programs that do exceedingly well. I believe that plays in this. Also, the min ACTs for the buckeye scholarship are actually near the 25%ile for admitted students and your sons class rank is in the bottom 6%. http://oaa.osu.edu/irp/publisher_surveys/Common%20Data%20Set%202014_15%20OSU%20Columbus.pdf
If his heart is set on OSU, is there a possibility of applying for admission in January? I was admitted to a very large Big 10 University many years ago by applying for the Spring term. My theory was that there would be a number of freshmen who dropped out after a semester for various reasons. It worked for me, but that was over 20 years ago.
Did he apply ED/EA or RD?
I don’t know how successful appeals can be, but it’s worth a shot if your son really really wants to go there. Demonstrated interest tickles any school pink. If your son expresses how much he really want to be at OSU, then it might work in your favor. Might.
@TheDidactic According to the College Data Set Ohii State is one of the few schools that does NOT consider an applicant’s level of interest.So I dont think that tactic would work. But I think the applicant should contact his or her guidance counselor and ask to contact Ohio State’s regional admissions representative to find out why he was rejected outright and why he at least was not deferred.Because this applicant’s stats seem pretty strong.
Oh ok, thanks for clarifying that.
Looking at OSU’s published undergrad profile (http://undergrad.osu.edu/admissions/quick-facts.html), it seemed like OP’s son was at the lower-middle end of applicants for SAT/ACT score.
Also, going off of the scattergram on Cappex, kids with his test scores and GPA have been rejected. That could have been a factor along with the possibility that the other kids from his high school just had better stats/EC’s etc.
It doesn’t hurt to get your GC to ask why though.
A public university like OSU has a lot of discretion in determining admission for OOS applicants, who to begin with really need to be better than the average Ohio resident candidate both in grades/rank and test scores to be considered favorably. Spending time to guess the particular reason why one may not have been accepted is generally an exercise in futility that simply delays getting over the pain and concentrating on admission elsewhere. The lack of calling or emailing the admissions office during the process had absolutely no effect on the decision. OSU does not consider demonstrated interest in the university as a factor and those persons you might communicate with in the admissions office aren’t even the ones who make the admission decisions.
Thank you everyone for your insight and advice.
Erin’s dad…I believe your comments regarding the bump due to the success of the football program…many people jumping on the bandwagon. But my son has been a fan forever. I don’t quite understand your comment about him being in the bottom 6% of his class. He’s 161 out of 558…not outstanding but not bad either. Thanks for your help.
I must not have been clear - Bottom 6% of admitted students for OSU. 94% of admitted students are in the top 25% of their class and class rank is very important. Look at section C in the link I provided.
I understand, thanks for explaining. However, for the buckeye, they required top 40%. So we thought he’d be ok. Guess there are just many more that ranked higher. Maybe it’s for the best.