<p>Daughter was waitlisted at Skidmore. Stats: GPA 3.8, SAT 2100, SAT II's: French Reading 710, English Literature 770, AP English: 4. Great Extra Curricular's, recommendations, no hooks.</p>
<p>One of her classmates was accepted: SAT 1500, only occasionally on honor roll, few EC's, no hooks. The difference? Checked one of the minority ethnicity boxes on the app. Would be nice if student was actually a minority. The student is an ethnic mix, just like most of us; born and raised in a well-to-do New England suburb; the family has been here for three generations.</p>
<p>Don't misunderstand, my confusion has nothing to do with accepting minority students; however, this appears to be more of a desperate attempt by the college to increase it's diversity profile, at least on paper.</p>
<p>Sad part is this student doesn't even want to attend the school, and my daughter was denied a place in her top choice.</p>
<p>I have similar stats to your daughters- except her SAT II’s are a little better- and I was waitlisted after showing a load of interest. I looked in the past at Skidmore’s regular decision threads and people much lower who could pay full price or have other hooks, or even some who have absolutely no hooks at all, in while people with ACTs like 30-32 and SATs that are 2000+ get the boot. I can’t say I understand Skidmore’s criterion for admission.</p>
<p>I do understand completely that these people want Skidmore just as much as I do, often work equally as hard, or deserve it just as much. I just feel very offended by Skidmore’s blase approach to my application after all the time and effort I put into the school. I’m not going to lie, this has permanently affected my view of the school.</p>
<p>Well said. We also feel very differently about the school after this. No doubt there were many well deserving applicants to the school, but it seems like both you and my daughter are more than qualified and showed high interest in the school to gain admission.</p>
<p>It is very frustrating to know that highly qualified applicants are denied admission for reasons that seem so immaterial.</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck in the future; as the saying goes, things happen for a reason, and perhaps Skidmore was not meant to be. When one door closes, another one opens and I am sure a great future awaits!</p>
<p>I have heard that Skidmore sometimes suffers from “Tufts Syndrome” - ie., when a very well-qualified student applies, the AdCom assumes that they will choose a more well-known school. So they waitlist these students rather than reject them so that they can find out whether they really ARE interested. Definitely show as much interest as possible and send them a letter or email so that they know. Good luck! I still haven’t heard back (my letter got lost in the mail) but I’m very nervous!!!</p>
<p>I was accepted to the honors program with a 32 ACT, 2000+ SAT, 3.7 GPA, good ECs and recommendations, but no hooks. </p>
<p>I’ve heard that Skidmore does suffer from “Tufts Syndrome,” which may be why some candidates get waitlisted. I didn’t show a considerable amount of interest (just visited and no interview) but then again, I wouldn’t say I’m overqualified. ;)</p>
<p>The admissions process is hard. I was able to predict where I was accepted, rejected, and waitlisted, but there can always be big surprises. And it is very frustrating when you feel like someone less deserving than you gets admitted because of their ethnicity or athletic ability. I got waitlisted at my top choice while a boy in my class with the same GPA and an SAT score three hundred points lower got in because he was recruited…</p>
<p>Good luck in getting in off of the waitlist! Keep showing interest and hopefully you’ll get some good news!</p>
<p>Nymph, I was under the impression that students were chosen for the honors program at Skidmore after they matriculated and in September. That’s what it says on their website. Unless you are referring to the Science honors program (Porters, I believe)</p>
<p>My son was admitted and just received a letter stating he was selected for the honors program. They have a special luncheon for these kids on the re-visit.</p>
<p>Some students are asked to join the Honors Forum in the midst of their first semester, too, if they receive strong grades and get involved in the school; I know someone who was invited to the program at the end of her first semester as a freshman.</p>
<p>With that said, I got admission to the Honors Forum along with my Porter Scholarship, I believe, but they Honors Forum committee sent invitations to join the Forum earlier this week. If you didn’t get a letter, no need to worry! There’s time to still be invited during your freshman/sophomore year. :)</p>
<p>Also, my sincere regrets to ConfoundedDad’s daughter and iltli92, by the way. As much as I would like to disagree, Skidmore can (and does) suffer from Tufts’ Syndrome from time to time, and I am sincerely sorry that you had to experience it. </p>
<p>In any case, like Ivy_Equestrian said, definitely let admissions know that you still care about the school, should you choose to accept a position on the waiting list. However, perhaps Skidmore just wasn’t the right place for you, as ConfoundedDad said. Best of luck! :)</p>
<p>I am a URM, but I don’t think that’s why I was accepted (strong EC’s; good GPA and competitive scores, 2000+ SAT and great (650, 730) SAT II, true interest in the school, and I was invited to the program as well… But from some of my friends’ experiences, they are quite quick to accept many Tufts’ Syndrome-d students of the Waitlist… so I am quite sure that your daughter will be accepted quickly. It’s a really bad way to choose accepted students in my opinion…</p>
<p>Hmmm. Interesting. I got in with the same stats as the OP’s daughter. I’m white. I go to a well known competitive school for my area, maybe that’s why. My college counselor said there is a specific reader at the admissions office that just reads applicants from my school, so maybe they are more familiar with it and its academics? Not sure. Or, it could be the whole “Tufts” syndrome phenomenon as you all were discussing.</p>
<p>My D was accepted with similar stats as OP, but higher SAT I, and showed interest, too. Caucasian girl from Northeast into theater and art, so no diversity at work for her! It’s just a crapshoot.</p>
<p>My D was accepted, but waitlisted at 2 schools she really wanted to get into.</p>
<p>Her stats:
Sat 1: 2170 (M) 630 (CR) 740 (W) 800
SAT 2s History 680, Eng. Lit 710
AP Eng. 5, AP US Hist 4</p>
<ul>
<li>Editor-in-Chief school paper</li>
<li>School Gov’t.</li>
<li>Various awards in Latin, French and English</li>
<li>School requires 80 hrs. commun. Svc. in order to graduate</li>
<li>No other ECs, but spent 3 summers taking college writing/psych courses, not for credit</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA 3.8</li>
<li>Small (under 100) HS, rated top 60 in US NewsWorld Rpt., although they don’t rank, they
use some percentage system and there were 19 students whose GPAs were higher than
hers. (public school but feels like private)</li>
<li>She’s not into natural sciences or math</li>
<li>very into the humanities</li>
<li>white, also from the Northeast</li>
<li>She also worked both summers when she returned from summer programs.</li>
</ul>
<p>Agree with SDon – it’s a crapshoot, nut I can understand how you feel, OP, because I feel the same way about the schools my D was waitlisted at, and she is really bummed out. I want her to make peace withher options. Best of luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>Can anyone shed some light on the honors forum? Opinions? My friends and I are confused about the presence of an “honors” section of a small, liberal arts school.</p>
<p>Hues, I just got back from the accepted students day (and Honors Forum luncheon), and from what I gather it really offers another dimension to the Skidmore community. So many other like-minded individuals are a part of it, and you get the first offers of internships and whatnot. </p>
<p>That isn’t to say that you can’t graduate with honors WITHOUT membership to the Forum, which is completely feasible if you take the required number of honors courses and provide the thesis at the end, but being a part of the Forum seems to be a great thing! It is a bit of a time commitment, yes, but every Honors Forum student who I’ve talked to has found the experience (thus far) extremely rewarding, and the time commitment is really a non-issue. The citizenship project that you wind up having to complete is really cool, too! Oh, and professors of honors-level classes or who are part of the forum committee find that the honors forum kids only add to their experience with working at the school.</p>
<p>Not sure if that answered your question? Basically, it gives you more opportunities than even non-forum kids get, which amounts to a LOT. You also get your own trips, lectures, etc. I’m very excited to join it!</p>
<p>Oh, and it is by no means a label; being an “Honors Forum student” will not be part of your identity, unless you want to make it known. :)</p>
<p>almostover, Hamilton and Bowdoin (I really want her to get off these waitlists, because I think Skidmore is her PERFECT fit – but – it is her decision and I have to respect that.) I just hate the thought of being in limbo until mid-June. She absolutely loved Skidmore, too.</p>
<p>Her friend more than likely got in because not only did she “tick off” that ethnicity box, but also because she has low income. Consequently, she becomes considered for this program at Skidmore(and many other colleges have this program) called HEOP/AOP. This program accepts students who have a good chance of succeeding at the colleges yet they show some difficulty in some areas(maybe a bad GPA during freshman/sophomore year, or just a low SAT despite the high GPA). I got into a difficult to get in to school, on the same level as Skidmore, through HEOP, meanwhile, people with GPAs .4 or .5 points higher than me got either rejected or waitlisted(my GPA is only 3.0-3.1ish). So don’t fret, they were most likely in different applicant pools.</p>
<p>If this is not true, than Tufts syndrome it is, but usually the people with low SAT scores or GPAs get placed into that program.</p>