Help concerning Special Invitation Apps šŸ˜•

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
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<p>So, I understand from previous threads on the Brandeis forum that these S.I. decisions were mailed out from Waltham on Feb. 13th, which is good to hear since my son was worried that it would not come on schedule because of the Presidentā€™s Day federal holiday. Of course, weā€™ll probably receive it later this week because of the delay in the post office, but itā€™s still VERY early as opposed to Apr 1.</p>

<p>Iā€™m still a little confused about something. Iā€™ve tried looking on previous threads, but to no avail. We still donā€™t ā€œreally knowā€ why he received this application in the first place. Donā€™t get me wrong; he was absolutely overjoyed to receive it, as was I, but he wants to know what he did to earn/merit it. Is there any particular reason behind these applications, such as a better likelihood of acceptance (or is that just ā€˜wishful thinkingā€™ on our end)? Any guess or even knowledge about these S.I. Applications would be kindly appreciated.</p>

<p>My son is SO excited to hear from Brandeis; he has been running to the mailbox everyday to see if his Brandeis decision letter has come. Now that his letter is en route, he can barely sit still! Itā€™s his #1 choice after all!</p>

<p>Good luck to everyone and best wishes!!!</p>

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<p>I'm pretty sure it's determined by SAT scores. As far as I know, that's how I received all my priority apps.</p>

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<p>See, that's what I THOUGHT. But, my son hadn't sent any scores to Brandeis before it came.</p>

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<p>Did he take the PSATs in October of his junior year? If he checked the box for colleges to be able to contact him and if he scored well on those (something like 210+), then he might have gotten it that way.</p>

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<p>brandeis has been offering some form of special application for a few years -- it used to be called a blue ribbon application (i wouldn't know if there have been any changes over time as the name changed). and official information regarding why people received it was never really forthcoming at least from what i saw.</p>

<p>i've heard a lot of people speculate why they got one, but there just never seemed to be much consistency among their theories. and one person's theory sometimes conflicted with another person's situation. (some of the theories -- prior demonstrated interest, under represented groups, simply a marketing tool to increase applications)</p>

<p>unless someone from brandeis is willing to say what the criteria are, i think anything anyone else posts is pure speculation.</p>

<p>be glad your son got it and don't worry about why. (and don't assume it gives him a guarantee in terms of the admissions decision or merit aid -- i think i recall one poster here a year or two ago getting really upset that even though their son was admitted he didn't get merit money since they assumed the special application meant he was a desired candidate.)</p>

<p>if you do a search for "blue ribbon" in the brandeis forum you may find prior threads -- but again, i have no idea whether what used to be called the blue ribbon is in fact the same as what you refer to as the special invitation (either in terms of the nature of the application itself or the criteria used for sending it).</p>

<p>good luck to your son!</p>

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<p>These special invitation apps have got to be triggered by something outside of your control. Like Blink stated, I am guessing that it is tied to the various achievement tests. When a student signs up to take a test, they complete a whole profile about themselves including GPA and other parameters. Then of course the test company has the students achievement test results. I believe that this information gets distributed (I am guessing sold) to colleges.</p>

<p>My interpretation of the special apps is that the applicant must logically have a higher likelihood of getting in due to the fact that a certain level of pre-screening was completed before the mailing of the special ap invitation. The only thing that I have been warned (only after the fact) about some special apps is that there are colleges that send these out to primarily to increase applications, decrease % accepted, and therefore raise their selectivity rankings. I do not know this is true and I certainly do not want to imply that Brandies is participating in this but it was a parent of an '08 senior who warned me that not every school's special ap is the complement that I thought it was (Her daughter was rejected by her #1 choice that was also an invitation ap).</p>

<p>Either way, we were thrilled to receive this opportunity from Brandies.</p>

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<p>shootingstar: He did take the PSAT, but didn't do that well; I forget the number, but I don't think it was that high.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your input, and good luck to everyone in this crazy time of year. I'll be sure to research Blue Ribbon Apps.</p>

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<p>I didn't mean to imply that he had sent scores specifically to Brandeis... I got a ton of priority apps from schools I hadn't even heard of. I think it's all tied in to whether he checked off for colleges to contact him when he took PSAT/SATs... but I suppose I'm wrong.</p>

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<p>Hmm...it may have been from the PSATs...who knows what the cutoff was...</p>

<p>It doesn't matter too much I suppose; we were just curious.</p>

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<p>I thought my PSAT was relatively low (at least to be given this app from Brandeis) but it wasn't. I'm still curious though why I really did get it. I guess it's just a mystery! :)</p>

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<p>Oh well...48 hrs. to go until he receives his decision...thank goodness it's a 3-day weekend, right?</p>

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<p>He got in!....but we can't afford it. We needed a grant/scholarship to matriculate, but they didn't give him anything.</p>

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<p>collegebound_09 - I don't think that anyone has heard about any scholarships yet. His still could be coming.</p>

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<p>Really?? Oh, that's a relief. I'll certainly be calling Financial Aid office soon! Thank you for letting me know!</p>

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<p>My letter said something about financial aid/scholarship but I'm not sure whether it was referring to merit-based or need-based, or maybe both of them.
Does anyone know which one(s) the letter informed us of?</p>

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<p>We received something about financial aid, but that's it. It was behind the online account sheet. Nothing about the merit scholarships, though...</p>

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<p>did the letter specify the title of your award(s)? alumni & friends is considered need-based and the others such as dean's award, presidential award, etc. are merit.</p>

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<p>sulsk: I don't know if you are talking to me or jbinder, but my son's didn't say anything concerning alum/friends or deans/presidents (it had a loan option on the financial aid page of the packet/folder).</p>

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<p>Collegebound: My S received his letter last night and it did include a letter from FA regarding receipt of a Dean's scholarship. So my assumption is that if they have info in for FA, (CSS, etc...) they should have made a decision about merit aid at the time of the acceptance letter.</p>

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<p>Redsox - Thanks for helping us with that information and congratulations to your son.</p>

<p>Collegebound - Due to RedSox's post, I just call Brandeis and "merit is USUALLY in with the admissions decision" and "but you have to have filled out the CSS to be considered".</p>

<p>BTW It would have been much easier for us all if BrandeisOfficial responded to this thread. We would not all be sitting here guessing.</p>