<p>I ask because my son was waitlisted at a school that we were sure was a huge safety. VERY surprised as was his advisor and anyone who knew he applied there. HOWEVER he got into a much much higher ranked school since then (yesterday) and of course was so elated!
Is anyone familiar with this phenomenon? I don't know what else to call it. My son has a low GPA 3.0 but respectable SAT scores 2000, and wrote a moving essay, good ec's, supposedly great recommendations,etc......do you know how and why this happens? Do you think the "safety" school saw him as just that or that the higher ranked school saw his potential given his scores and upward trend and the fact that he is a really rigorous curriculum this year? We were both just so surprised, and this further supports how random and totally arbitrary this process really is. Anyone else go through this?</p>
<p>The joke around here is that WUSTL will wait list anyone whom they feel did not choose WUSTL as his first choice. (And, then send you 13,000 more pieces of mail.) So, perhaps your son's safety felt insulted.</p>
<p>That said, my neighbor's son got into UPenn, but was waitlisted (or deferred, I can't remember which) at Pitt.</p>
<p>I know a kid who was rejected from Rutgers but accepted to Carnegie Mellon. He definitely deserved the latter, though.</p>
<p>Same in my neighborhood with WUSTL. Sometimes admissions counselors see that they admit lots of kids from High School X but nobody ever matriculates so they deny/waitlist everyone from High School X the next year.</p>
<p>That's why people apply to more than one college, and why I recommend making sure that the "safety" is sure-bet safe, and preferably with early rolling admission or nonbinding early action admission.</p>
<p>my friends was deferred by catholic university of america but accepted at case western</p>
<p>ctmom: Congrats on the admittance! Just curious..Was one school private and one public?</p>
<p>I have a good friend who was rejected (in-state!) by the University of Michigan but is currently attending the University of Chicago. Granted, he did apply in January, but still....</p>
<p>"Is anyone familiar with this phenomenon? I don't know what else to call it."</p>
<p>Is this not the proverbial "Tuft's Syndrome"?</p>
<p>that's exactly what it is, and the WUSTL thing isnt a rumor. they really dont like being treated as second rate by kids who applied to the ivies and other distinguished privates.</p>
<p>some1 i know was rejected at UC riverside, but accepted at columbia/Yale...</p>
<p>I think he might have cussed purposely in his UC essay to see what would happen</p>
<p>One of my son's friends was rejected from Tufts but got into MIT</p>
<p>i know a girl who was waitlisted (or maybe outright rejected) by WUSTL but accepted at duke</p>
<p>sister was rejected at rice, accepted to duke and columbia</p>
<p>Sockpuppet and auraeight, that doesn't surprise me, considering the seeming randomness of admissions at top colleges...</p>
<p>You can never be completely positively 100% sure that a school will accept you until you have an acceptance letter...and for that reason I would classify a safety as 90%+ shot at getting in. For that reason, I would recommend applying to 2-3 safety schools in case the highly unlikely does occur and you don't get in.</p>
<p>I was accepted to a school with a 1300+ SAT avg and deferred at my lowest safety with a 1150ish avg. For what it's worth my stats were similar to the OP's son (3.1 2080)</p>
<p>if wustl is the school you are referring to, i wouldn't sweat it. they practice strategic admissions like a mofo; it's 100% yield protection</p>
<p>An international student was rejected by UC Davis but accepted to Stanford. I do not know what he did.</p>
<p>I know a girl who got rejected from Scripps but got into Stanford. It definitely happens.</p>
<p>
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I have a good friend who was rejected (in-state!) by the University of Michigan but is currently attending the University of Chicago. Granted, he did apply in January, but still....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Does applying close to the deadline work against you? Crap.</p>