<p>Many colleges issue these extended deadline letters to URM applicants. I recall Swarthmore doing it, for example. </p>
<p>Personally, I think it is unfair to URM candidates who got their act together and applied on time, but whatever. There are so many inequities in college applications that there is no point in bemoaning this one.</p>
<p>BTW, 75% of my ancestors weren’t even in the US during slavery, and those who were here were in the north and certainly were not slave owners. I do not feel one scintilla of guilt for slavery, although I abhor it. No one in my family participated in Jim Crow or benefited from the exploitation of blacks. The assumption of universal white guilt IMHO springs from the same kind of racist attitude that underlies race-based slavery, since it makes an assumption about human beings based on skin color alone.</p>
<p>DartmouthForever: “What’s wrong with recruiting the most talented minority students?”</p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with recruiting academic talent , minority or otherwise.
I just think Ivy League and other top 20 schools are deceptive in their approach. Encouraging applicants that have no shot of acceptance to increase their selectivity ratings and reduce admit rates is cruel.</p>
<p>I asked my daughter why she did not include Dartmouth in her applications. She responded that she had set a limit on only 9 schools (3 of which have accepted her with significant scholarships), and that any more than that was just overkill. She also said that Dartmouth was very smart to wait until after the deadline to write, and that she thought the letter was very touching (I agree).</p>
<p>After doing her due diligence on Dartmouth she got very excited. In response, I pulled up a webcam of The Green, and showed her what a blizzard looks like (we are in Florida); it didnt bother her a bit. </p>
<p>She enthusiastically applied to Dartmouth yesterday and her school administration and teachers finished their part today. Tomorrow her friend will send in her peer review.</p>
<p>Strange how life takes such twists and turns. No matter what happens, one must admit that Dartmouths admissions department is clever indeed.</p>
<p>Although, my DS would do anything to be admitted, I am over Dartmouth and the strategies they are using to climb the USNews ranking ladder. Our DD is a Dartmouth '03 grad, our cousin is '84 grad, and there are multiple great-grandfathers who have graduated from Dartmouth. Our DS is number 1 in his class, took an official visit in his sport (only to find out after ED came out, that his coach had one flag and had hoped for 3), he is Senior Class President (very large diverse public high school), not perfect, but excellent test scores, and a plethora of EC’s, including volunteering in a Haitian Refugee Village last summer. We have also found out that he is 1/4 Native American and have applied with the Cherokee Nation. This list goes on, and yet his chance of really being accepted after being deferred is about 1%. I am thrilled with his 10 other college apps and the positive feedback we have gotten. I am sorry we are so invested emotionally in Dartmouth. They disappointed me on so many levels when our daughter was there, and that trend is continuing…at the end of the day, I still support my son, but wish him new goggles to gain a perspective.</p>
<p>Your son went on an official visit and was deferred? I am so sorry to hear that. It looks like either: a) your son didn’t completely understand what the coach told him; or b) the coach screwed him. </p>
<p>It’s well know that academically strong student athletes do not get the same number of flags as the recruits who are weaker students. The coaches justify this by saying, “The weak recruit won’t get in without my help, but the strong student can get in on his own.” It appears that your son was unfortunately just under the bar to make it in on his own. The coach clearly misjudged the admissions office in your case.</p>
<p>I’m very sorry this happened, and wish your son the best of luck in RD. I really hope the coach feels awful about what happened, and is pulling his heart out to get your son in.</p>
<p>Thank you, and my son will be grateful for your words of wisdom. The coach told the 3 favorite recruits that they were his top three, that he needed three, but doubted Admissions would give him 3 flags. He was hopeful he could “do something.” After the bad news, my son was in touch with the coach who told him only one flag was available. He also told him to send in 2 additional recs (from alums, if possible) and to write an additional essay. We have the recs in, and the essay is in rough draft form. His interviewer and his guidance counselor were shocked he was deferred. We were not, knowing how dicey admissions and athletics can be. Brown’s coach and admissions are very positive and hopeful with their communication re the the athletic pitch…too late for a likely letter, but the communication alone is much better. However, my son would give his right arm to go to Dartmouth…so we wait!</p>
<p>If any of you watched the Dartmouth live streaming today, you’ll know now that they accept everything sent in by January 21 (: they didn’t specify if this only applies to a certain group of people, so I assume that it’s for ALL RDers.</p>
<p>I’m done everything. Just have to send in this month’s subject test score… final one and then I’m DONE with CB! Horray</p>
<p>Oh, boohoo. You think just because you had a squadron of relatives graduate from the school, your DS is nepotistically entitled to have Dartmouth kneel before him? Maybe they should have sent a private jet to pick him up and bring him to Hanover too, right? Here’s some advice: SUCK IT UP. People get rejected from Dartmouth all the time. Many that are even more accomplished than your DS. Your DS isn’t entitled to anything. I don’t care if you’re descended from Eleazar Wheelock himself. Dartmouth didn’t give you “positive feedback”? Well, excuse me. Sorry the Dartmouth admissions staff have better ways of spending their time than catering to you and your DS’s egos. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume your son isn’t the second coming of Ken Griffey, Jr. (or x famous athlete in whatever sport he plays). He can get in line like everyone else.</p>
<p>I’ll have you know Dartmouth does VERY LITTLE so-called “gaming” of the system, especially compared to other top schools. In fact, Dartmouth has occupied the same position in the USNWR for more than a decade now, except for a one or two year period when we DROPPED a couple of spots. Does that sound like a school using “strategies” to “climb” the rankings? No, but it sure does sound like sour grapes from someone who thought her DS was entitled to get in because of his pedigree and was in for a rude awakening.</p>
<p>If anything, YOU’RE the ones doing the gaming. Volunteering in a Haitian Refugee Village? Well, that was a complete waste of time now that your DS didn’t get into Dartmouth, right? I mean, seriously, who cares about helping some Haitian villagers if it’s not even going to get you into an Ivy League school? It’s not like its a meaningful life experience that stands on its own, right? Clearly it’s pointless unless you can validate it with an admission to a top 10 school, am I right? Being 1/4 Native American didn’t get your son in? Well then, cancel your membership! Is it too late to get your dues back?</p>
<p>If I were you, I would adjust your attitude, big time. College admissions is a crapshoot. For EVERYONE. Period. Having slightly more humble and reasonable expectations will serve your son well in college (wherever he may end up), and the beyond. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>I never once said that Dartmouth was MY be all end all for my son. In fact, I can tell you it is not, nor has it ever been. My daughter was a recruited athlete at Dartmouth, much less qualified than my son, with athlete roommates who were less qualified than she.</p>
<p>I am very well read, and I realize that each year it gets more difficult and many qualified applicants are rejected. I was not asking for a pitty party, merely writing from my perspective. My oldest son had perfect SAT’s and did not even apply to Dartmouth, graduated from UVa and as a parent, I loved that experience far more than our Dartmouth experience. That is only my perspective, and I am not judging yours.</p>
<p>I take total offense to your commenting on my son’s experience in the Haitain Village. You are presumptuous and arrogant to assume you know the circumstances and what he is like as a person. This sort of thing has always been something that is important to him. This was not the first or only of its type. In addition to college next year, he is weighing very heavily the opportunity of going to Tanzania for a year and volunteering and teaching. Please do not judge when you do not have the facts!</p>
<p>Finally, understand we are well acquainted with people in the Dartmouth administrative community and hear almost first hand the situation. These people are our friends and sometimes we agree and sometimes we don’t, but I am not ignorant to the admissions process at Dartmouth. </p>
<p>I wish you some human compassion, and I feel for EVERY student going through this process every year!</p>
<p>PS He is a 2 time All-American candidate, and All State and All-American Academic candidate this year.</p>
<p>Buy a good winter jacket, and you’ll be fine. I’m from the Deep South, and I’ve survived. Yeah, it gets cold, but if you dress appropriately, you won’t have any problems.</p>
<p>Please try to remember that a) this is not right-wing talk radio, and b) there is a human being on the receiving end of everything you say. There is always a more diplomatic, dare I say CIVIL, way to get your point across.</p>
<p>I’m Asian, too. Did you see the live streaming last week? Admissions said that the deadline for materials is Jan 21. It doesn’t matter because I already submitted everything (except for one last subject test which I have this week!)</p>