<p>Not sure where to post this, but this forum sounds good. My daughter is valedictorian of our suburban public high school, active all four years in sports, extracurriculars, music, student government, and had a total SAT of 2120, and two great recommendations that I was able to read. She's a sweetheart that works really hard at everything she does.</p>
<p>She got deferred Early Action from Catholic University of America in DC. (for engineering). She is above all the listed stats for the school, and I am dumbfounded. She is shocked, and disappointed too. I did call the office of admissions and they could give me no obvious reason for her deferral, other than to say they sometimes don't clearly see a "level of interest" from a student, and are not sure why that student thinks CU is the right for for them.</p>
<p>I should tell you there was no supplemental essay requested. We visited Catholic in November and she is sponsored by our parish priest, although she did not go to a Catholic High School. They suggested she show an interest, so she wrote an email right away.</p>
<p>My older daughter, with a lower GPA, SATs, rank and fewer activities, was accepted early action with a merit scholarship there a few years ago, although she had attended a Catholic high school so I'm not sure if that was the difference. In the end she did not attend Catholic, though; she chose to go closer to our home.</p>
<p>I know this is not the end of the world, but I'm devastated for my daughter and truly puzzled.</p>
<p>My understanding is that some schools will not accept a student if they believe that the student won’t matriculate there. Universities are concerned about the percentage of students who were accepted that actually end up enrolling at their school. My guess is that your daughter’s stats are way above the typical student at this school, so just felt that she was not going to attend. Did she interview there? Pehaps your daughter’s email will help.</p>
<p>I think it would be perfectly acceptable to have your D’s GC give a quick call to the admissions folks. Sometimes there are no logical answers, but at least you’d know…</p>
<p>The important dictum, Love Your Safety, has at least two meanings.</p>
<ol>
<li> Choose a safety that the applicant would be happy to attend if necessary.</li>
<li> Be attentive to the needs of that college, not just to the needs of the applicant.</li>
</ol>
<p>An applicant’s safety school does not exist solely, or even partially, to provide a place to land for students who seem uninterested in the school but unfortunately, and against all odds, are not accepted elsewhere.</p>
<p>Therefore, students whose record is far above that of the average applicant to their safe college should be aware that their application may appear out of place, and thus should make certain to convincingly demonstrate their true interest.</p>
<p>In OP’s situation, northeastmom could well be correct: Catholic may not have been convinced that the student was truly interested in their school. That is consistent with OP’s report of her conversation with Catholic admissions:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Luckily, the applicant has time to try to correct any such impression.</p>
Of course I understand that. I don’t get that vibe at all from what her mom wrote here. In fact, I’m not even sure it’s not one of her top choices from her mom’s presentation in her post.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your support. I need it today! We’re feeling pretty low about this. She did like the atmosphere at CUA and could see herself as involved there as she was in high school. Had she received EA acceptance and merit $$$ it would have been right up there as a top choice. She hasn’t heard back yet from her email, but will follow up and show continued interest. Also she will check with her GC, just to be sure there wasn’t some glaring problem with the app. I wouldn’t think so, since she’s received two other acceptances, one with a $17K merit scholarship, from “safety” schools in the northeast. It’s a crazy business!</p>
<p>You know, the whole college app process does stink and this is a fine example. Many times decisions seem way to arbitrary and the whole process could be improved if the colleges just posted somewhere what an applicant needs to have and do to be accepted. Many colleges do not have interviews are “demonstrated interest” but will still reject kids because their stats are too high and they think that they won’t attend. So I guess adcoms are mind readers. If a kid has the stats for a college that has a high acceptance rate then they should NOT be denying those kids. That’s not right.</p>
<p>Do you think the fact that your older daughter declined her acceptance might have been a factor? My younger daughter is applying to a school that her older sister turned down, so this has been on my mind :)</p>
<p>She can certainly follow up, if she’s interested, but it seems to me that if she’s gotten into two out of three “safeties” she’s pretty well set, and you have done a great job with the application process. Even safeties are not guarantees.</p>
<p>If she still wants to attend, write that up next month. (Let the shock and awe wear off.) A one page letter describing how she fits in well will demonstrate interest and signal that her attendance at CU is a real possibility, not just an early trophy to be discarded when other (“better”) colleges come calling.</p>
<p>That is just too wierd - should easily have gotten in. one would think filling out an application, sending it in and paying the app. fee is showing interest. Apply to Fordham - they are not afraid to take the higher stat kids.</p>
<p>I actually believe that public school children have a tougher entry to Catholic schools in comparison to those who attend parochial HS…i know many parochial HS students who have been accepted to these schools with much lesser stats then some public school grads…not complaining,just pointing it out</p>
<p>Fwiw, the OP child should have been escorted by limo into Catholic U with thise stats</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your D’s deferral, Mom. My D also applied to CUA as an engineering major and I have a funny (bad funny) feeling that she may be getting the same response. Her stats are also good: 3.9 UW GPA, 33 ACT, ranked 4 of 370, very involved in community service through school and town, 2 varsity sports (captain of 1), etc, etc. She hasn’t received the official word yet, but when she called this afternoon they said that the letter was in the mail. From the CUA forum, it looks like the kids who got accepted were informed of their acceptance when they called. She flew down to DC over the summer to visit the school and liked it a lot. Like your D, if she got in with merit aid, it would be a top choice. Luckily, she also has 2 other acceptances so far. The admissions process is so hard to understand!</p>