<p>Based on the numbers...we're qualified or at least close enough. If we were denied from our ED2 application, would it be advisable to ask the school for an appeal/reconsideration. No need for financial aid. It's a well known private school in the south.
Thanks,
Never take no for an answer parent...</p>
<p>Where did you get the idea that just having stats to be “qualified or at least close enough” will get an applicant accepted to a selective college or university?</p>
<p>I always viewed 75th percentile stats as the threshold of “qualified or at least close enough” for an unhooked Caucasian applicant at a highly selective school. Was your son or daughter at the 75th percentile?</p>
<p>It’s time to move on and focus on your child’s next best option. Learning how to deal with rejection is an important skill. Through your actions, your child will learn that a rejection is not the end of the world. That is, unless your actions show otherwise.</p>
<p>Appealing the ED II denial will be a waste of time. Focus your energy on helping her to move beyond her disappointment and look forward to the choices she will have in April.</p>
<p>I am so sorry to hear this, your child must be disappointed. That being said, I tend to agree with the others. Look at the stats and see how many students were admitted from WL last year. If they have a substantive Wait List and didnt clear most of the Waist List, I think that should tell you better where you stand.</p>
<p>Very interesting post. Not once did you mention your S or D was denied, instead you used the plural form (we’re qualified, we were denied). This decision appears to be more about the you the parent rather than the child. </p>
<p>Did “we” fill out the application, did “we” write the essay, did “we” take the SAT/ACT test? I certainly hope not.</p>
<p>Why not ask what your child actually wants rather than what appears to be what you want? You might be surprised at the answer.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that you use the word “we” to describe your child’s situation. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in this world, and lots of reasons why your son/daughter might have been rejected. My d was rejected at one school that had the same acceptance percentage and reported number range as another school she was accepted at. She had high numbers for both. I don’t understand why you would appeal. Your son/daughter is going to have to “take no for an answer” in this life. Show him/her how it’s done with grace.</p>
<p>(Edit: Beldar, we cross-posted on the “we” issue!)</p>
<p>I am having a hard time thinking of the grounds that might work for an appeal other than an obvious error such as some paperwork being lost or two applicants with the same name being mixed up. </p>
<p>My D was deferred EA at two selective schools and her counselor called the schools to ask if my D could do anything to improve her application. Both schools replied with a general answer that her scores and grades were fine but they received a lot of qualified applicants this year. I suspect you will get a similar response.</p>
<p>I will give only a bit of contrary advice: IF you have some reason to believe that there may have been an error, you may want to appeal or inquire. If this school is one that typically is highly number-based in terms of admissions, and your kid had the right numbers, it’s possible that the transcript was messed up, the scores didn’t get sent, etc. But if the school looks at more general factors, it’s probably not worth your time to pursue it.</p>
<p>I use “we” a lot too when it comes to college application, because there was a lot of joint effort - college visit, meetings with GC, reading essays. I do not see anything wrong in using “we.” I doesn’t mean our D was not the driver of this process. I think people are not being truthful if it was not a “we” effort.</p>
<p>Move on if your kid got denied. This is one time we must learn to take no for an answer.</p>
<p>Cynically, I might suggest that it makes sense to appeal only if you are prepared to submit an appeal that begins "Pay to the order of . . . " and contains at least two commas. Even then, that might not work. But it’s certainly grounds for an appeal.</p>
<p>Never take no for an answer. Well the buck stops here for you and many parents. Parents who were able to choose their kids classes based on friendships and what teacher’s they heard were best. Parents who were somehow able to “help” their kids get on sports teams or in casts of shows. Parents who thought their involvement in schools through PTA, fundraising or various committees would always lead to favorable oucomes for their children. A low grade? Mom or dad would often take care of that, too.</p>
<p>Well all of that is over (unless you are a celebrity or have the bucks for the college’s new library)! Getting into college is a whole new adventure. You cannot make your child get accepted by admissions counselors and fraternities. You cannnot form their friendships or argue their grades. Why, you can’t even talk to their doctors! Your child is considered an adult and for most of the process (except bill-paying) you are out of the loop.</p>
<p>In short, you have to help your child move on and learn that adults DO have to take no for an answer. Not every goal or dream is attainable just because you want it or think you deserve it. Now is the time for you as a parent to let go, because even if you try to control things, you can’t. Instead, help guide your child through alternatives that will work for them. Good luck!</p>
<p>Come now, JHS. You are far too pessimistic! A single comma and four zeros surely would work for almost any school.</p>
<p>Arnold Shwarzenegger and Maria Shriver’s daughter was waitlisted at her first choice last year. My sister and I joked that the development office called the Governor’s Mansion and said, “There must be some mistake. When we opened up your daughter’s application we didn’t find the check.”</p>
<p>Is your child’s transcript difficult to read? I was concerned because Son’s transcript is full of very hard to decipher abbreviations and codes. One school publishes very clear criteria for merit aid on their web site and I got up enough courage to ask why he had not been given merit aid credit for all of his AP classes. On a second look at his transcript, the school admitted that they had missed 2 AP classes.</p>
<p>If your child is really *at the top *of the applicant pool AND the school is not highly selective AND the transcript is confusing, you might want to contact the admissions officer and make sure they caught everything on the transcript. </p>
<p>Otherwise, move on.</p>
<p>I think “appealing” would not be looked upon too favorably. However, you could try to ask why the child was denied. Hopefully you can get something a little more helpful than the stock answer. If that discussion reveals a material error “They say the ACT was low at 23”, and your kid got 32, then you have a chance to correct the record and ask for reconsideration.</p>
<p>What would be a constructive thing to do is to for your child (and you since you are heavily involved) to meet with the high school guidance counselor, and ask her for insights about what happened. Ask the counselor to inquire about the app, just in case there was some issue or mistake; yes, it does happen. I’ve known of a few cases where there were mistakes made. You do want to eliminate that possibility. It’s important to do this even if you are fully accepting of the denial because if there is some mix up, it could adversely affect the other application still out there.</p>
<p>Once that issue has been addressed, and it is rare that there is some mistake or problem, you need to move on. Your student needs to move on as the other posters have said. He can call the admissions director and ask for advice on his situation. He will get more feedback if he is the one to talk to the regional admissions person who did review his app and can go over any shortcoming in it. The chances are, however, there is nothing wrong with his app. He was turned down because there were more apps than places to offer and he was in the group of students where he was not a sure “in” and some decisions had to be made, sometimes arbitrarily. There is a group of kids who are often not accepted at any given highly selective school simply because cuts had to be made and decisions reached. I’ve seem kids accepted to schools even more selective after being denied by a school that everyone felt was a match. There just might have been too many premeds applying that year for the lab stations to accomodate, or some other reason that just is not explainable. </p>
<p>My husband spoke to a job applicant that he did not accept last week. The young man was a great candidate and there was nothing wrong with his resume, interview, etc. THere were just others that applied with some specific skills and experience that put them higher in desirability. Had they not been in the pool, the young man might well have been offered the job. So it goes with colllege admissions as well.</p>
<p>Good luck to your student regarding his other apps.</p>
<p>Questions about the reason for a denial/waitlist/deferral are best posed by the high school guidance counselor or college counselor, not by the student, and certainly not by the parent. And while there is certainly nothing wrong with information-gathering, the OP should note that it’s not the same as asking for a reconsideration of the denial.</p>
<p>Edit: Cross-posted with cptofthehouse.</p>
<p>Adcom make decsion base on many factors other than stats, frankly some of them are probably outright not too ethical (race, finance, special favor to whoever…). Even if they have made a mistake on your kid, it’s not likely (or beneficial) for them to revert it. The down side is if it be known applicants could appeal, then they would be opening up a flood gate. It’s better (easier) for them to not do reconsider. The upside is they could admit a great student (your kid) that they have missed, but there are 10,000 just as good of applicants out there, so not much of an upside for them to reconsider your kid again. </p>
<p>College application is like NYC co-op application, they don’t have to tell you why you were denied, so they wouldn’t get sued.</p>
<p>Can you get the guidance counselor to inquire about the rejection? It’s possible there’s a mistake, though like other posters, I think that just having the same stats as some accepted students is not enough for admission to many well-known privates. Is your child far above the average accepted student?</p>
<p>on edit: x-post with three other posters. I guess we all agree that the guidance counselor is the one to talk to the school.</p>
<p>Private schools rarely accept students based solely on the numbers. Chances are your child did not stand out in the application pool. It happens. If you really want to pursue it you can see if your child’s guidance counselor can ferret out a bit more of an explanation and verify that the transcript was correct.</p>
<p>BTW getting off a waiting list, is not the same thing as trying to reverse a denial. I only know of one anecdotal case where that worked.</p>