Frustrating timing changes

What is the Case Western administration’s problem with the admissions announcements?

Yesterday they tweeted that they would be released “on the 15th.”
Later yesterday they tweeted that they would be released “on or before the 15th.”
Today they are sending out emails saying that they won’t be released until the 19th.

This is frustrating for everyone and makes it look like the school is being run by idiots. I am sure that they are trying to get it done, but if you aren’t sure yet, don’t announce it. Once you announce it, stick to it. Do not change it 3 times in 2 days. It makes the entire administration look incompetent.

I agree. And it’s really frustrating because now, S will be on holiday break when the announcement comes out. CWRU is low match for him and he was counting on knowing a result before RD decisions came out. If something unexpected happens, he might have to change his RD strategy and there is now no way to add additional colleges to the list or send more transcripts, etc. since school office staff is on winter break. Sigh.

Because they want to “avoid disruptions during the typical school day”. (((:

@momofzag I was thinking the same thing. Is it possible to just have some transcripts sent now, even if you don’t end up using them, if all goes as you hope next weekend?

@drmom123 “Is it possible to just have some transcripts sent now, even if you don’t end up using them, if all goes as you hope next weekend?”

That is what we are doing.

CWRU is in the process of transitioning from a safety school to a target school, and that requires a different approach. When you are everyone’s safety school/backup plan, no one cares when you announce your decisions, but when you are a target school, people do. I don’t think that they are used to people caring very much. They need to get used to it because they are increasingly attracting the attention of top students as a preferred choice.

Unfortunately I am not sure that I could convince S to add another college to the list right now. Sigh

Add one or more attractive low match to your transcript request list and if you get in to Case, don’t submit it.

Tell S to be less sentimental and just do what he needs to do. Case admission will likely be more selective every year and they may defer more people which does not equal an actual admission. It’s no insult if this doesn’t work out and his reach schools don’t work, but having one or two good match/safeties is better than looking for options in May or June or going to community college or taking a gap year.

It will be an ugly 12 days if he doesn’t have a low match setup, but at that point, you can also just take the high reaches off the list too (they can be a total waste of time, since acceptance rates at many top 20 schools are <5%)

That said, there is not much better than getting that ED and maybe even a matching merit scholarship offer before Christmas. Good luck.

Case does sometimes accept people off the wait list with merit awards … but that is awfully late in the game.

Incompetent is a strong word, and the delay may mean they have too many students picked out for acceptance. Case is one of the few schools that distributes merit aid with the acceptances, which is fantastic if you get one, takes a lot of schools off the list.

S is not being all that sentimental–there just really aren’t any other schools that he knows of where he wants to apply. He doesn’t actually have any real reach schools on his list. He is only applying to 5 colleges – one of which is our state flagship and I would be shocked if he doesn’t get accepted there (although they are being slow this year in responding.) The 3 other colleges (other than CWRU) are small research Universities/LAC with engineering that are ranked in the 30s or so with about 35% admit rates. And I am likely worrying too much. His academic credentials are pretty much at the 75% for all on his list: 32 ACT (33 superscored), 3.89 UW and 4.5 W GPA, 10 AP classes (including all 3 sciences and Calc BC as well as humanities) with 4s and a 5 on the 5 tests he has already taken, a couple of science SAT IIs in the 700s, he is a varsity athlete and is in the marching band and advanced concert band, a small bit of volunteering as coach, worked as a camp counselor (his ECs are the weakest link). He visited all 4 of his top choices twice and interviewed at all (including CWRU). He is a very personable kid, smart, and a hard worker so I think his recommendations should be strong.

The real issue is that he mostly has the small/midsize colleges with engineering (but not tech colleges) on his list already (or he visited and didn’t care for). I wanted him to consider Pitt (and maybe he still could) but he is confident he will get accepted somewhere and so is his GC so he is not very motivated to scramble and add more colleges at this point. I suspect his GC would think I am panicking for no reason as well.

@momofzag I think it is likely that he will be admitted to CWRU with those stats. However, as a parent, you are worrying about the 1% chance that he gets rejected at all of them. That is normal.

Maybe you could find a couple of rolling admissions schools to have in your back pocket in case of emergency. I think Michigan State and Penn state are rolling? They may not be ideal for him, but could be life savers for a long shot, emergency backup plan. I doubt that you will ever have to use them, but it may give you piece of mind while you wait for his acceptance. Knowing what your plan B is can give a lot of comfort.

@momofzag - Pitt is rolling admission. He should definitely get in there. How about WPI?

They delayed admissions decisions because there was an unexpectedly high volume of applications. Simple. Not because of incompetence. Incompetence would be rushing through every application to meet the deadline. Instead, they are spending extra time to make sure they review every application thoroughly.

“They delayed admissions decisions because there was an unexpectedly high volume of applications. Simple. Not because of incompetence”

The multiple announcements are the problem. When they are far enough along to know what is reasonable, they should make one announcement. Announcing that it will be on the 15th, then that it will be on or before the 15th, then that it will be the 19th is the part that makes them look like they don’t know what they are doing.

Dealing with the high volume is fine. Just make one announcement.