<p>If you interpreted my first post in this thread as a tirade against the use of URM status in shaping college admissions decisions, I invite you to reread my post. (The italicized and bolded text were used for nothing more than emphasis. If I wanted to shout, I would have used ALL CAPS, which is something I avoid on Internet forums.)</p>
<p>In case you were curious about my personal feelings on the matter…
I think having an ethnically, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse student body is probably one of the most important things a college can have. It contributes to diversity of thought in religion, politics, economics, social justice, etc. In fact, it’s one of the top reasons I give to prospective college students for applying to the top-tier schools. One of the worst things to happen in my state (CA) was the passing of [Prop</a> 209](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_209]Prop”>1996 California Proposition 209 - Wikipedia) in 1996. It skewed the ethnic representation at many of the University of California schools even further away from that in the overall CA population (far fewer African American students, much higher numbers of Asian American students). It has really changed the “feel” of UC campuses…to the detriment of all who matriculate there.</p>
<p>College admissions committees are sophisticated enough to know when an applicant is disadvantaged (economically, socially, etc.), a URM, or both. At this point in time, the URM with an affluent background has a significant advantage in the admissions process at top-tier universities for the reasons I previously enumerated. That’s just the way it is. And, I think that’s the way it should be…for now. We need a growing number of URMs in high profile/leadership positions in business, academia, politics, and white collar professions so that non-white children know that, for them, success in these areas is possible. It also potentially opens up more mentoring opportunities for URM students who are truly socioeconomically disadvantaged.</p>
<p>Go in to see your GCs and see them both talking about you before you talk to them. They both tell you that they didn’t see it coming, but you will now apply to that ED2 school that was almost your ED1 school. And that they will have a little chat with ED1 school and let you know the results.</p>
<p>There is more that goes on behind the scenes than we know. Thank the gods for awesome GCs, they are worth their weight in gold.</p>
<p>It is safe to say that discrimination of all sorts still exists, and you have to be careful what you ask for. All I remember about Columbia from a friend who attended years ago was his story about being thrown into a head-lock and mugged crossing the street while fellow pedestrians ignored the situation.</p>
<p>Ok I have horrible guidance councilors mine wasn’t even available to talk today! They honestly don’t care about me an that’s the #1 thing I hate about high school.</p>
<p>Hey everyone who got deferred or rejected: I’m sorry. I was rejected from my number one university, and I was extremely upset for several weeks because you wonder what you could have done to get in. And the fact of the matter is that you probably were good enough to get an acceptance, but admissions is partially luck because they want to keep the class diverse and maybe the ten applications they just read looked too similar to yours and you got lost in the paperwork. The reason it hurts so much is that admissions is not “fair”; it’s subjective. Still, it sucks that despite all of you grueling hard work in high school, you couldn’t get into your top choice.</p>
<p>But life goes on! Trust me, I’m a senior in college now, and admissions seemed like it mattered so much in high school, and getting into the “best” or your dream school is the most important thing in the world. Guess what? It’s not. Once you get to college, those rankings, that competition, that longing all goes away because no matter what university you go to, you can be happy. You will meet awesome people, do new things, and learn from impressive people whether that is at a state school close to home or one of those “elite” universities. University is what you make it; it will not make you.</p>
<p>So cry if you need to, talk to your counselors and parents and friends, and don’t dwell on the what-ifs. Keep your head held high, and don’t let other people’s excitement or sorrow bring you down because you can be successful at any school, and that school will be sure as hell lucky to have you!</p>
<p>My GC was a clueless dirtbag who told me to take the automatic acceptance and not to waste 80 dollars on applying to two Ivies. He was very wrong.</p>
<p>Like dating, there are multiple colleges that will be a great choice for each student. And like dating, the experience is very much related to what effort you put into it.</p>
<p>My son got rejected from his ED school today, and although I know he felt hurt and disappointed initially, his friend who was over reminded him that he had also been recently accepted EA at a really decent school, Tulane, with Honor’s invitation and nice merit money. He decided tonite to stop the rest of his applications and go with Tulane, since he really has loved that school for a long time. The ED school was dazzling and perfect, but in reality, nothing is perfect and we know Tulane so well, with my oldest son having graduated from there. His brother is still in NOLA at Tulane Law, and I feel good about him having big brother there. So what started out with him thinking, I was rejected, it’s Friday the 13th turned into us all celebrating his decision to continue the family tradition and go to Tulane.</p>
<p>The other way to get over rejection/deferral - get accepted somewhere else. It makes the world seem a little brighter and sets a floor at where you’re going to go. The whole world doesn’t hate you.</p>
<p>Accepted at Case Western with a 15K merit scholarship. Applied on a flyer and never visited, but they bugged D to apply EA for free with no supplemental essay. Why not?</p>
<p>New rule - when applying ED to a reach, apply EA to a lesser school where you have a good shot. It’ll lessen the pain of not getting in to the reach. It really does.</p>
<p>Honestly, I was just rejected from a school that would’ve been cool to get into, but I feel generally unaffected. The reason? When everyone said that it’s almost arbitrary for selective schools in terms of which amazing applicants get in and which amazing applicants are rejected; when they said that you have to remove yourself from the process and not attach your self-worth to it; when they said that you will end up at the best place for you - I took that to heart. A) There is nothing you can do about it. This will change all of our lives when we begin to truly feel this. We have to let go about the things we have no control over. B) Columbia’s 7.4% (2012) acceptance rate ensure that over 92% of the people that apply - who are almost all seriously gifted students - will not get in. Think about that. If Columbia has some sort of magic crystal ball that allows them to pick the 7.4% that will be most successful in life, sue me. But I’d bet no on that one.</p>
<p>There are so many good schools out there – no one school can rightly claim
to be the be-all & end-all.</p>
<p>Most are what you make of them. If you can get admitted to a ‘match’ school
and pursue studies that resonate with you, the ball’s in your court.</p>
<p>I got my rejection letter from Duke on the 12th and Harvard on the 13th. It hurt a lot especially because I love both those schools so much, and the rejections were in a row. I just allowed myself a couple hours to be upset and moved on. It’s very hard but you can’t dwell on it or it’ll hurt even more. Hope you get in!</p>
<p>mdancer1996 - I’m sorry that you were rejected from both, but my question is how could you have applied to both?? Harvard does not allow you to apply to another private school if you apply to them SCEA - so how could you have applied ED to Duke also???</p>
<p>so many kids have a silly fixation on a handful of schools. they are not necessarily the best schools for those future students (academically,socially etc…) but they think going to one of the ivies somehow validates them. I wish more of those hyper competitive students would expand their horizons when they decide where to apply.</p>
<p>It’s not just the Ivies, if you read around the different threads, people have fixation on all sorts of schools. The Ivies are most prominent here, but people are despairing over Case Western, Haverford, Trinity, etc., basically any school that has the ability to say “No”.</p>
<p>School is only a stepping stone. Figure out if one the schools that accepts you can be the base for future grad work at Columbia (or elsewhere).</p>