<p>When I suggested to look at the wait list situation what I meant was that a student who is denied admission is behind the kids who are on the waitlist, and while unfortunate for OP, it might help view reality.</p>
<p>There is a famous Westchester county story of a kid whose guidance counselor gave the wrong recommendation. As a result the application and the rec did not jive. The young lady was applying to highly selective schools and had gotten some denials when this was discovered. Upon correction, subsequent offers were more positive, but none of the denials reversed themselves even after being notified of the mistake. </p>
<p>So mistakes do happen. It’s scary to think that the wrong test score, wrong rec or gpa could somehow get into the student’s consideration file at a college. It is worth while for the GC to make sure that is not an issue.</p>
<p>We had a minor problem with our first son where his records got mixed up with someone with the same name and similar SS#. It was caught only by accident.</p>
<p>Not sure of the stats of the University/College your child is applying for, but the facts are every year kids are denied admission into school despite their qualifications, their picture perfect ECs, their charm, their handsome looks, their talent, their parents money, their gene pool…whatever. There are only so many slots out there and the fact remains that well qualified, passion filled, great kids, get the door slammed every year. I believe (like alot of parents) that I have a bright, academically focused, community service, type A kid, and I feel certain that she will ge denied from 50% or MORE of the schools she applies to. She will “have the numbers” to every schools she targets, but the fact remains, so does everyone else. No one knows the magic formula, but I certainly know what “no” means. It means, move forward, press on, and find a match that thinks you are a match too.</p>
<p>If OP can pay full freight at a private school, my child’s GC (from a top public HS in a very affluent area) is saying she has never seen a year like this when many many children will take a public school. She is saying yields are going to be screwed up at all except the ivies and that parents of type A students who are willing to be flexible in May, June etc as the schools realize not only are kids not putting down deposit, but the WL isnt either. Stay close to GCs.</p>
<p>"However, you could try to ask why the child was denied. Hopefully you can get something a little more helpful than the stock answer. "</p>
<p>Colleges are far more likely to be honest with GCs who call for this info than with parents and students.</p>
<p>While I took my kids on college visits, and offered other support in their quests for admissions, I didn’t consider their applications to be “ours.”</p>
<p>Just having stats that are within the range that colleges admit doesn’t give one a basis for appeal. Particularly private colleges look for more than stats. If one’s stats are at the low end of a college’s range, in most cases, admission is unlikely because those with low end stats are likely to be recruited athletes and offspring of wealthy donors.</p>
<p>Does your child’s school have Naviance? If so, how do his/her stats stack up against other applicants’? I’d be more inclined to appeal if my child’s rejection stood out in a sea of acceptances of students with similar stats.</p>
<p>Agreed, Northstarmom. Even though many are saying that private schools are taking a bath this year in full pay admissions, the more selective schools are just about as selective as ever. They are not suffering in applicantion numbers. Many have had record applications this year. This is also a large group of kids that are applying.</p>
<p>I’ve known kids who were at the top of the heap in terms of academics and stats get turned down by any number of schools. Sometimes kids with profiles not as strong are accepted. When you are looking at schools that attract kids with many talents and strong academics, there is no guarantee of entry even when you are in the top % of their academic stats.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang,
I think you are 1-2 zeroes too few…at least 5 are necessary to gain anyone’s attention in admissions.</p>
<p>“Based on the numbers…we’re qualified or at least close enough.”</p>
<p>There are so many problems with this statement:</p>
<p>1) The “we” has already been discussed by other posters. But no matter how involved you are, WE did not apply - your child did. If your child’s application conveyed a “we” attitude, instead of your child’s “me” attitude, that could be your rejection reason right there.</p>
<p>2) “We’re qualified” - I don’t know of any schools that will put out a hard line on figures and say, “Above x gpa, x class rank, x test scores is an automatic admit.” I think you may have a fundamental misunderstanding of the stats colleges put on their website. The mid 50% shows the stats of the kids who were admitted - but no one ever gives the stats of the kids who were denied. I’m willing to virtually guarantee there is some overlap between these two groups. Colleges admit and deny based on many factors, and many are not quantifiable. If your kid is in the mid 50%, that only means they are in the ballpark - not that they are guaranteed admission. </p>
<p>3) “Or close enough.” In today’s competitive market, there is no “close enough.” Selective colleges have anywhere from 2 - 10 applicants for every opening. There are too many kids who ARE in the mid 50% range. The kids below that range who are admitted have something unique the college wants - recruited athlete or other special talent, diversity (minority, socio-economic, geographic) legacy, etc. </p>
<p>Also, you said the denial was ED2. If your kid was close to being admitted, they’d have been deferred. A flat-out denial ED is a pretty firm “no.” </p>
<p>You can ask your GC to find out why, but I don’t think it will help. Sometimes there has been a big mistake, but from what you wrote above about being “close enough” I doubt that is the case here.</p>
<p>Hopefully your child has applied to a range of schools, and has other matches and safeties that he/she could be happy at. I know that if he/she applied ED, this was the first choice, and that’s a tough rejection to handle. I don’t mean to sound harsh - you have my sympathy. But this will probably turn out to be a valuable life lesson and hopefully they will end up at a school that turns out to be right for them.</p>
<p>Oh, I think if I waltzed into the Development Office at, let’s say, Carleton, mentioned my son’s deep interest in the History Department and asked if they had any needs in the $50,000 range [notice four zeros there] they’d get the message.</p>
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<p>There was a thread where an article said that $500,000 wouldn’t cut it this year.</p>
<p>Half a million wouldn’t cut it where? Where is this article?</p>
<p>I’m thinking half a million would be a golden ticket to almost any college in the country.</p>
<p>Many years ago, I was denied at my safety. All my stats were above 75%. I had a year’s worth of APs (unusual back then), was years ahead in school, fluent/ studied 4 languages, etc, etc… I got up my nerve and called and was told, “We have enough of your kind.” For years, I thought it was a racist statement. It might have well been (especially considering the time and the small, southern school) but, after reading enough on CC, I’ve come to believe perhaps they just had enough of however they classified me: eg suburban NY girls, whatever. What I did <em>wrong</em> was to panic, withdraw my apps at a bunch of appropriate schools and apply to a bunch of safeties. What I should have done-- and I suggest you do-- is have someone (guidance counselor?) look at the application, correct if there are any glaring faults, revisit the college list and add a few more choices if you have overshot your dd’s chances. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang, read Golden’s The Price of Admission. Half a million won’t cut it at any top school unless you can successfully BS them that much more is imminent.</p>
<p>Agree. $50,000 is chump change, not much more than a single student’s tuition for the year.</p>
<p>$5 million seems a more likely amount for a true developmental admit especially if you are talking about HYPSM-levels of selectivity.</p>
<p>Very few private schools have any appeal mechanism. Generally, the decision, which involves a lot of discretion, is final.</p>
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<p>There was another of me in my law school class…high grades, law review, married, brown hair, education degree from ___ State University (neighboring states that started with the same lettter). We didn’t get asked for office interviews by the same firms…made sense…why would they need two of us? Of course, at one office visit I could tell by their questions that they thought I was her.</p>
<p>I have read elsewhere on this board that safeties will sometimes reject applicants who are overqualified because they know that they are at the bottom of the kid’s list and don’t want to add to their accepted-but-not-attending stats. That makes sense to me.</p>
<p>This may or may not be OP’s issue, but it does point out that acceptances are at the discretion of the admissions people and is not objective.</p>
<p>I’m assuming EDII is like ED and that the student agrees to attend if accepted, so it feels unlikely that the school rejected the applicant out of some “Tufts syndrom.” Frankly, the “we” usage in the original post made me wonder if there was some heavy parent involvement detected by the school in the admission procedure and application. At this point, it seems to me that the student that was rejected needs to own and take over the process and ask the GC to make a call, but a deny in an ED round feels more affirmative than a a referral from ED to regular decision. Regardless, the parent needs to quickly disengage from the process and the student needs to take over if this EDII rejection is of major importance to the student. Some kids adopt a “they don’t want me, I don’t want them” attitude and others take it very personally. Bottom line is at this point, the student needs to fight or walk away…not the parents.</p>