<p>Check any school listing on here when decisions are posted. No matter the "caliber" of the school, you always see the same issues. The process seems totally random and kids with grades and test scores on the high end are always mystified as to why they were not accepted. Only the admission staff knows, but for sure, this isn't a process where they simply rank applicants by scores and take the top group. There are many other factors like diversity, geography, etc. Feels random, looks random, but the admissions office had some plan they followed. It's unfortunate for those who had high expectations.</p>
<p>ridiculous! My daughter was waitlisted at Elon but accepted everywhere else she applied. All were higher ranked schools and she got merit scholarships at most. Elon must have realized from her stats that it was a safety school for her and needed to keep it's yield. How stupid, because if they offered her a merit scholarship similar to the other schools, she may have actually chosen Elon over the others because of size, price and location. I guess they want to remain a 2nd tier school.</p>
<p>HAHA!!
2kidsparent, that's a fantastic way to take your daughter's only non-acceptance. Of course Elon wants to 'remain a 2nd tier school', duh, I mean why else would they waitlist her, the opinions of Elon should always correspond with the opinions of other universities and stats are everything, right?
Great example to set for your kids on how to take 'defeat' (which you can hardly call a waitlist) gracefully, and way to make all the people who actually did get accepted feel better about themselves!!
The only thing 2nd tier around here is your attitude.</p>
<p>The main objective of the admissions boards at colleges is to get the best entering class, not to make sure that the kids with the best applications have the most choices of where they want to go to school. The board no doubt makes a judgement on how likely it is that a student will enroll and, based on that, tries to maximize the profile of the entering class. This would take into consideration grades and scores, but also ecs, geography, demonstrated interest in the school. They do not want to take up a slot for a student that will not accept and lose a slightly lower qualified student that would have accepted. Students with very high stats may see this as unfair, but fairness has nothing to do with it. The admissions board works for the school, not for the student, and their job is to look out for the best interests of the school. They may lose some very good students that they might have otherwise gotten, but overall they probably get the class they want.</p>
<p>I understand the disappointment of your child not getting accepted, safety school or not. But your comments are offensive and insulting to all the "top" students who have been accepted. My daughter was accepted with very high GPA and ACT scores, well above the Elon "top 25%". Many others were as well. I have said before and will say again, just because you don't understand the rationale for a decision, doesn't mean it is random, or unfair, or driven by a desire to remain a 2nd tier school. It only means that you don't understand the reason, that's it. And goodness, just because a school determines for whatever reason that your child isn't a fit for the class they are admitting does NOT make it a lesser school. I hope in the calm of afterthought you have realized the mistake of your post.</p>