Maybe it was a test, which your son obviously passed (and congratulations to him).
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@kokotg, Hamilton was not the only college my daughter applied to that had an additional question once you submitted the common application. The poor kids–just when they think they are done with an application, there is yet another box that requires a response. Fortunately, it was a short one!! I am so glad this is my fourth and last child through the process. It has gotten more onerous, more expensive, and the schools have become progressively more difficult to get into since my oldest went through this process in 2011. With each successive child, the schools seemingly added more information and more hidden doors. Sigh. Good luck to everyone.
@JWU1964 that’s what terrifies me–I’m going through it with my first of four right now; what are things going to look like in 12 years when the last one is applying?!
Oh no @kokotg! Fingers crossed for some market disruption in higher ed admissions. I feel your pain. Binding early decision, plus schools protecting their yield at the expense of high school seniors is just wrong on many levels. When the reach schools are more akin to a winning lottery ticket and the target schools won’t take you based on the flawed assumption that acceptances are pouring in from more competitive schools, many kids are left without options. God forbid the targets are candid about admission up front—we might all save a few dollars in application fees:
@JWU1964 - I agree - it’s tough out there. But I think there will be market corrections. When enough families start deciding “enough is enough” and flood to public schools and smaller, less “prestigious” schools because of merit aid and/or yield protection instead of investing time and money into a losing proposition, then perhaps schools will have to start courting them again. My high-stats kid only applied to two reaches. If he doesn’t get in, he’ll most likely end up at a 2nd tier LAC or a public school. He will get a great education, and the school will benefit from his high SAT score - which a lot of other schools threw away either by assuming he was not interested or by commanding a cost of attendance that we’re just not willing to pay.
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@Trixy34 Your S won’t seriously consider Hamilton?
@wisteria100 - Ooops - I forgot I was in a Hamilton discussion. He applied and was accepted, so it’s a consideration, but he has received very high merit aid offers from other schools. My ex and I are both Hamilton alums. I would love for him to go to Hamilton. It’s an excellent school! But we would be full pay, and honestly, we just don’t see how we can justify $70,000 for an undergrad education. Now, granted, I was admitted in 1990, and my ex the next year, which was notoriously a “less qualified” class, so perhaps we don’t have a full picture of Hamilton as others here have suggested. (Rolling my eyes a bit). If my son knew he wanted to go into finance or politics straight from undergrad, that would be a different story - then I think the connections would definitely be worth it. But I think he can get a great education at a school without a climbing wall, individual studios for art students, etc.
@Trixy34, the problem is that some of the solid second-tier LACs won’t take kids with high stats on the assumption that the kid does not want to attend. My daughter was wait listed at two schools she loved and absolutely would have seriously considered attending, but because her metrics were above the standard student, they took the choice completely out of her hands. She is bloody fortunate she got an acceptance somewhere else, but she could just have easily been rejected from all her competitive schools and been left without any options at all. The mid-level LAC’s are just as guilty of making this process more difficult and random as the competitive schools. If you don’t apply ED to a mid level LAC, no matter how qualified you are, you have a very limited shot at an acceptance. And it’s no use sitting on a wait list because there is no financial aid. The mid level schools she got wait listed at we visited and interviewed. So, it’s not like we just threw an application at the schools. And, those applications aren’t cheap!!!
@JWU1964 - I hear you. It’s a crap shoot and it’s incredibly frustraing. S19 applied to 13 schools (11 privates, 2 public) We have a couple waitlists in our pocket from schools that we didn’t show any love to. And I was very concerned that S19 would have that problem at a lot of his “safety” schools, but we rallied in January after he was deferred from his ED school and finally realized he needed to get his act together and apply to some more schools, and we went to interviews and tried to demonstrate as much interest as we could - including offering to drive through a snowstorm to meet a St Lawrence AO for an off-campus interview. He has 3 great offers from 2nd or mid-level LACs that are really working hard to bring him to campus. And the thing is - they have a LOT to offer him. It feels nice to be wanted and recruited rather than just being another in a long line of thousands of kids passing through the admissions office every day. Perhaps we just got lucky in the schools that we chose, because i have seen a lot of posts from kids with great stats who interviewed, showed interest, and still were wait-listed.
@JWU1964 - I am so sorry about your daughter’s experience. For the schools that she loved where she was wait-listed, perhaps it’s worth a shot sending a letter stating her continued interest. Seems like Case Western likes to play a game with high-stats kids - put them on the wait list and then make a financial aid offer later to see if the kids still stay on the wait list to gauge whether there is still real interest there. I’m sure other schools that do yield protection have similar practices. There might still be a possibility of admission for her with financial aid. Or, she can say “screw them” and go where she is wanted and have a wonderful time!
@Trixy34, the two schools that wait listed her (one of them really gave us the ED hard sell during the interview) we have set free. The ED hard sell school was so positive in the interview and gushed about her achievements and what a great fit she would be for the school, that we sort of felt misled. And, the other college specifically said in the wait list letter that there would be no financial aid. The hardest part about the early wait list decisions was that she got nervous about whether she was actually qualified for the more competitive schools. Protecting your yield for some meaningless ranking at the expense of a 17 year old high school senior applying to your school is wrong on so many levels. On another note, the ED process of filling up 50% of your already small freshman class before getting to the larger pool of applicants is troubling. It really hurts those who don’t have support in the college process and/or struggle from a socioeconomic standpoint. My kid has support and though we will need a bit of financial aid, she will be fine. But, education is supposed to be the great equalizer! If those who are trying to better their situations are shut out of many of these schools, how is that equalizing? As for us, we are waiting on two more–one is a great LAC (again who already filled half its spots with early decision) and the other is the only Ivy she applied to. But, we are moving forward with the acceptances, and have visits set up, so we are good. I mentioned this is my fourth kid, and the process felt, I know there is a better word here, but all I can come up with is-- icky. LOL. She was accepted at Hamilton, which she really, really loved and we are going to visit soon–love the school that loves you, I read on the forum somewhere. And, she will spend a day on the BC campus as well. It will all work out, but having watched the process evolve since my oldest graduate high school in 2011, there need to be some corrections.
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@JWU1964 I’m not sure which mid tier LACs turned down your D but S19 was accepted to both Dickinson and Kenyon as two of his safer schools. We were flat out told at Kenyon that they do not do yield protection.
@JWU1964 - I completely agree with you. This process has been icky - and very eye-opening. Bottom line is, schools need to come clean with their processes. I truly believe the cards are very much stacked in favor of the kids whose parents are willing to pay full freight. If that’s the case - OK, fine. But at least be upfront with the families who aren’t willing to pay full sticker price and/or want to shop around. It’s unfair and dishonest - really despicable - milking families for application fees when the kid has absolutely no shot of being accepted. I’m really disgusted today.
Send her to Hamilton. She’ll love it!
@homerdog but Kenyon ranks level of interest as important on the Common Data Set (the only school I’ve seen rank it as higher than “considered”) What would be the purpose of that if not to try to determine which people are likely to attend if admitted? I also think, given their relatively modest endowment and the economic profile of their students, Kenyon is a lot more need aware than many of its peer schools. Oberlin is tied in USNWR rankings, also need aware, but has 3x the endowment of Kenyon. The plural of anecdote and all that, but my son applied to 3 LACs ranked between 20 and 30 in USNWR. Waitlisted at Kenyon, admitted with top merit to Oberlin and Macalester. We have significant financial need; he didn’t visit any of them, but interviewed at all (full disclosure: he’s also a legacy at Oberlin, though certainly not from a donor family).
@kokotg I agree that Kenyon is VERY need aware and that comes into consideration for sure. And they said they didn’t yield protect but, of course, one would have to show some interest. We were able to visit but I have a friend in CA who did not and her daughter did an interview in CA for Kenyon and she got in.
@homerdog, I wouldn’t consider either Kenyon or Dickinson mid-tier schools, but excellent schools.
We are fortunate to have received acceptances from schools that were clearly identifiable as a safety for my daughter because those schools rightly left the choice to attend in her hands. But there are certainly schools out there that want to protect their numbers and are taking the choice right out of kids hands, regardless of demonstrated interest.
There are many systemic problems with the entire college application process and access to higher education in general. We went into this process knowing full well that my daughter would be fine because she does not experience many of the hardships that lots of students struggle with in the college admission process. We selected only certain schools and did not blanket the top schools, as many applicants do and she will definitely bloom where planted and she is fortunate in that regard. But two schools she applied to gave her every indication she was more than qualified (she was), they would love to have her, and one begged her to apply ED and then wait-listed her before she began to hear from more competitive schools and THAT is not right. Period. And, our GC called to find out what the issue was with one of the schools and they said, they did not think she would attend if they took her. In fact, she may very well have because she did love it, but at 17 she didn’t love any school enough to apply ED and money is a factor for us. They should get rid of it completely or limit it to students who have been traditionally shut of higher education opportunities.
I wish you the best with your son’s choices. We are expecting our Ivy Rejection today:-) And that will be okay. While she is qualified, there are so many qualified applicants who apply and the odds of acceptance are low. She chose only one that she visited and loved and had no interest in the others. After tonight, we move on to choices and again, she is more fortunate than many.
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It has more to do with other factors that lead to increased applications such as dropping the supplement and sending marketing materials to under qualified applicants.