<p>Andi, you brought back fond memories of my Law School days, when it was common to post rejection letters on the "Tube Board" (a student led tradition). You would think that writing a rejection letter just wouldn't be that difficult. Thank you for your interest, large number of well qualified applicants, difficult decision, etc. etc. </p>
<p>But no -- these letters, written by professionals, ranged from the cruel to the ridiculous, including one that appeared to have been written by a zen buddhist, and was so inscrutable that you couldn't really tell whether it was a rejection or not. </p>
<p>The real benefit to the board, though, was that it made everyone less stressed -- you could easily see that pretty much everybody else, including the top of the class, were (as you say) in the same boat you were in.</p>
<p>My D's h.s. is smallish. Despite the fact that its emphasis is mutual support, collaboration, etc. -- from the administration, from the parents toward all, & among the students towards each others, the reality is, that for a small class at a small school, there are few secrets as to rankings, ability, accomplishment, etc. And that is for a school that does <em>not</em> rank. Therefore, when seniors' college acceptances are not published, it cancels whatever learning experience would have been there for all the families. What would be helpful for people to know would not be the rejections, deferrals, or even a complete list of acceptances for each student, but merely -- where each student will be matriculating, if choosing college in the immediate future. It's absolutely true that it is technically not anyone else's business where this person is going to college, it is merely helpful. So we (as a whole family) are disappointed when we have to guess, ask 12 people for info, etc. We learn a lot from this whole process, esp. for siblings. The complete list of college acceptances (not matched with students) is not terribly helpful. For example, if it is generally known that the student has a particular area of interest (performing arts, hard science, political science, journalism, etc.), it would also be helpful to see where he or she is matriculating. That is merely very useful information -- not necessary, just helpful.</p>
<p>((I like the idea mentioned above about publishing the chosen/accepted college in the final student newspaper edition for the year.)</p>
<p>at my school we have a board near the gc office where we post where we will be matriculating by writing our names and our colelge's motto/colors on a piece of paper that looks like the banners people would wave at athletic games,</p>
<p>its a fun and creative way to wrap up the year</p>
<p>At my S's school there are general announcements made every Wednesday and Friday in Chapel. S did not apply to any school EA or ED, so listened to a vast number of announcements about other kids before he got the first acceptance, which only came early because of merit money. I think this is unnecessary, as many of the kids don't get into their favorites, and in a small class, that becomes clear as well. Oh well, it is a tradition that will probably not change. I know they also publish a list of students and their final choices in the local paper.
The wall of rejection is a fascinating concept. Love the creativity of kids!</p>
<p>Our school announced ED admits (not EA) to Parent Council, and it went into the newsletter. Very few students apply ED, I don't know if they are trying to encourage ED, or just publicize that the option exists. I think at senior banquet they may announce where kids are actually planning to attend, the kids have "wear your college shirt" day toward the end school, and they may announce very large scholarships, oh and service academy placements are announced publicly, because a service member presents the appointment at school-wide awards day. Everything else - total scholarships, all admissions, etc is done anonymously or cumulatively.</p>
<p>Now athletic signings get press conferences with refreshments - a highlight of senior late fall/early spring is attending the signings to get cake</p>
<p>Our school's student paper does a senior issue every June that publishes a list of all students with their post-high school plans. It usually includes the name of the specific college, though I've also read about kids choosing the military, travel, a dance career, etc. It's edited and compiled by the students themselves, and the issue also includes the class will, class prophecy, etc.</p>
<p>The graduation program prints the names of recipients of local scholarships bestowed at the annual awards night. No awards from individual schools are included, though many parents put a blurb in the local paper about their child receiving a Dean's scholarship from XYZ. The program does NOT print a list of which student is going where.</p>
<p>digmedia, that's an insane amount of private information your school puts out! What's their point, other than fostering a hypercompetitive environment or enabling a certain obnoxious element to feel superior to everyone else? It would be helpful to have the info about acceptances and scholarships kept anonymously in the counseling office to help future seniors figure out their likely results. But it seems tasteless to me to make this public.</p>
<p>Posting names of schools admitted is just as bad as posting schools the kids didn't get into......students know which schools kids are applying to......it would all be very embarrassing, I would think.....Most parents I know don't even discuss where their kids are applying to in case they don't get in......it's really nobody's business.....</p>
<p>Interesting. My S's school posts their list of who decided to go where at the end of the school year when most kids are ready to move on. It seems voluntary since I know it isn't a complete list.</p>
<p>My S does say that the kids in his school have quit talking about all this as a rule. Too much stress this close to the deadlines. Don't know if they'll start talking again once they're past it and things are finalized, though.</p>
<p>
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Posting names of schools admitted is just as bad as posting schools the kids didn't get into
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</p>
<p>The information is also on the school's profile to colleges (which gets updated as students get admitted into new schools) parents of juniors and seniors get a copy of anyway. These are usually the ones most interested in the information.</p>
<p>At My daughter's school they no longer list the schools which people apply to.</p>
<p>Our school has the seniors voluntarily submit their college plans and posts any submissions in a newsletter later that summer. It's kind of nice to connect with kids from recent years who attended colleges the senior is interested in. The senior then has the opportunity to get some first-hand information about the college experience.</p>
<p>I would not mind if students provided, anonymously, information about all their college acceptances, not just their eventual choice; this information would be useful to juniors.<br>
A friend of my S, who has been admitted to an Ivy EA is waiting on an RD decision from a second-tier university where she is likely to get a scholarship and also a major that would be a better fit for her. Her Ivy acceptance would be of interest to juniors, not just her RD decision.</p>
<p>Iderochi Yes, you're right, it is rather interesting to read how rejection letters are phrased. One of the funniest pranks a kid played on the wall of rejection was when he copied the letterhead of one of his university letters and wrote a bogus rejection letter, which he posted on the board along with all the others. He wrote such things as 'why would you even THINK of applying to our college.....you might consider flipping burgers instead etc' It was very funny watching all of these people reading the different letters and then doing a double take when they got to that one.</p>
<p>sempitern555 love the idea of the banners... what a festive way to move on and celebrate the positive</p>
<p>One of the bragging points of the school is the amount of scholarship money offered to the students. And it is impressive (for a normal suburban school) to hear - almost $20K per student average. Of course a lot of that money is left on the table since the total includes scholatships from all schools where students are accepted, not necessarily from the ones attended. You also have to factor in that every Colorado student attending a state school gets $2400 per year (almost $10K total) from a state fund.</p>
<p>Marite, you are right, the under classmen are the most interested in the information, and many use it as a take-off point for their own college planning. However, posting all acceptances would only be useful to the under-cm, if you knew the identity of the student., and they could match up the grades, activities, etc. with the schools the kid got into, and then do your own comparitive analysis. I always enjoyed that when my D was younger.
Unfortunately, a few kids started getting obnoxious, and now I fully agree that there should be no laundry lists.</p>
<p>D's HS also has the "wall of shame" posted in the hallway outside the dean's office. Students say that it makes them feel better that they weren't alone in getting rejected.</p>
<p>The African-American Scholars program at the school does post the names of students and the schools to which they were accepted on the wall of the hallway outside the program office.</p>
<p>Out school does something similar to texastaximom's. Could be because we're both in Texas. Students are recognized senior awards night for scholarships. Most scholarship mentions are based on information supplied to the guidance counselors by students and their parents.</p>
<p>What if one student in a very small high school receives over $200K in merit money alone from five or six schools? When that becomes public knowledge it will make that student very uncomfortable and isolated further from their classmates. It just seems very important to allow the student to decide whether they want all their offers known, especially if it is just March and tensions are high anyway.</p>
<p>My school publishes a senior issue of the newspaper, where it lists every senior and their post-high-school plans, like some other people mentioned.</p>
<p>The guidance office also has a book with every application listed with GPA, SAT scores, etc., and whether they were ultimately accepted or rejected, and whether the student attended or not, but all without any names. I think you can ask for the names of students who actually attended a particular college after being accepted, in case you want to contact them.</p>