Any idea how to find out if we have already been accepted by a place or not before the decision date?
You could try and hack into the school’s system but that could get you rescinded.
No. Patience is a virtue.
Why do you think colleges have set notification dates? Consider that and then work backwards
check the app portal, it is sometimes a day faster
build a hot tub time machine bro
Go down the Rabbit Hole and turn left.
I guess you could call and ask…but you’ll most likely just get a no or wait until the notification date haha
@T26E4 Why not explain it to us? Should a kid who’s rejected in February really have to wait until the end of March to find that out?
@RightHand Because one runs into the trap of “how early is too early?”. For example, what should the cut off date be? If a kid is rejected February 29th, is that much different than March 1st? And what of the kid rejected March 2nd? Should not he or she have equal access to that knowledge?
A unified notification date works for everyone, as people won’t be stressing everyday, checking their email for the dreaded rejection letter. Only one day!
Because that is the way colleges choose to do it.
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by having a stated notification time, they don’t have to field 10,000 daily inquiries of “is my decision ready?” Why should they clog up their phone lines/email with this nattering when they receive no benefit?
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For the Ivies, they are bound by the joint-ivy agreement which was established so that no one school would try to one-up the others by announcing early in order to elbow out front and get their offer into the accepted student’s hands. This also means students who have been rejected as well. Likely Letters are the exception. Also, decades ago, some schools would send a postcard that said “You are unlikely to be admitted” as a courtesy.
I suspect they’ve gone away from the latter practice because again, it serves no benefit to the colleges.
- If this is unacceptable, then choose to apply to colleges with rolling admissions. Plenty of them.
@T26E4 Then don’t entertain those inquiries? I’m sure they receive hundreds of emails/calls regarding decisions even with the fact that there is a stated notification date. When decisions are released on the stated date they probably get thousands of people calling to ask/complain about their decision for weeks afterwards anyway, so does it really make a difference?
Also regarding your comment about the ivy agreement
http://ivyserver.princeton.edu/ivy/downloads/rulesummary/ivysummary.pdf
So unless I’m missing something even the ivy agreement itself states that an applicant may be notified of rejection before the notification date. If that’s the case then why not have “rolling rejections”, sounds silly but I think it would actually benefit an applicant in the long run.
@RightHand , I just looked at that. I am very certain this only pertains to athletes. The document is for Ivy coaches and only discusses circumstances surrounding athletes. Unless I have read it wrong.
Here’s a serious answer that could potentially (unlike calling and asking): Make friends with students who work in the admissions office. Some schools give students access to the admissions files to answer questions they are too busy to answer like “Did you receive my SAT scores?” or “Did I meet the requirements to be considered for admissions?” and sometimes it includes the decision as soon as the committee makes it. I have heard this from people working at multiple schools’ admissions offices.
The chances of you actually being able to get your decision this way is pretty much nil, but that’s the only way you could possibly find out before the deadline. Information like this is kept on a private, secured network that can only be accessed if you’re in the admissions office connected to their private network.
You’re better off waiting.