<p>Hi, I have been admitted to a bunch of schools, and now, I am thinking about going to MIT. Is there a “polite” way to refuse? I’m sure if I had been rejected, they would give me a really nice letter, and I just feel really bad to refuse some of the top schools in order to go to MIT. </p>
<p>Also I have some questions:</p>
<li><p>How serious is it if we forget to deny our matriculation? (Not that I am planning to do that, I was just wondering what kind of horror stories out there…)</p></li>
<li><p>If a school doesn’t have a website to matriculate, what’s the standard way to not matriculate there?</p></li>
<li><p>Is there any other tip to not sound like a total jerk? (For example, you deny the admission offer of Harvard…)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The best thing you can do for the other schools is to inform them as soon as you have made up your mind, so that can assess their yield and possibly offer your spot to somebody on the waitlist. Just send back the cards that come with each admission packet. The only ones I would consider sending a thank you note to is any college that offered you some unique and valuable scholarship.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m in your shoes as well. I feel like a jerk for turning down Harvard for MIT, after they gave me a very generous financial aid offer and whatnot. However, MIT is the only place for me (plus MIT was extremely generous as well) :)</p>
<p>Im debating as to what to write on my “Where are you going?” line for the take me off the waitlist option for CalTech. Im thinking of either “MIT Ha!” or “The other place” or “MIT, might wanna keep your eyes on your canon <g>”</g></p>
<p>lol I visited MIT over my spring break last Saturday and in The Coop (their bookstore for those that don’t know) they have a shirt that says Cal Tech on top and underneath it says For those who can’t get into MIT :)</p>
<p>This is asinine. For one thing, being rejected from some college doesn’t ruin anyone’s future. For another, what this strategy actually does is jerk around the students on that college’s waitlist.</p>
<p>MIT admitted about 1,600 students and is aiming for 1,075 to enroll. Other colleges have much lower yield rates. Don’t feel bad about it; they expect a lot of people to refuse.</p>
<p>(For the record, I just put “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” on the “where are you going?” line to take myself off the Princeton waitlist and just hit a button to take myself off the Stanford one.)</p>
<p>I think the best thing you can do is to turn down the offers as soon as possible to the schools you are sure that you are not going to go to once you make up your mind. You’re doing the admission officers a favor so they can start assessing their waitlist spots. Definitely do not stay quiet past May 1, because your lack of a response may be costing a spot on the waitlist for someone who wants really bad to go! What if you were that person on the waitlist?</p>
<p>As for rejecting politely - I agree that colleges will understandably have to process a lot of rejected offers - even Harvard - and they will not think twice about your denial of their offer. For example, Harvard’s yield (the highest amongst the super competitive schools), is still only 78%. Do you think they have the time to assess why the other 22% chose to go somewhere else? There can be a myriad of reasons ranging from geographic location, financial aid, family concerns, campus culture…just to name a few.</p>
<p>I must admit that I felt bad when I had to turn down Stanford though, since their Dean of Admissions included a really long signed handwritten note with my acceptance letter. I reciprocated by including my own note thanking them for the offer but letting them know I will be attending MIT on the reply form. I doubt the admission office thought twice about what I wrote, but I thought it was fitting for me to do so.</p>
<p>As for Caltech - I rejected them the day after they sent me my admissions letter ;)</p>
<p>I don’t mean to single you out because you sound like you mean well, but there seems to be a tendency here at CC that seems troubling to me. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Denying the admission to Harvard could mean you are a jerk? Think about that. Statistically, this statement implies that ~20-25% of the people admitted are automatically jerks! Furthermore, most people accepted at Harvard undergrad have been admitted to other selective institutions; they are going to have to reject other great offers. They must be jerks as well. Anyone accepted to any selective institution must be jerks! </p>
<p>Secondly, are the people at Harvard (and other elite undergraduate institutions) so much better as human beings than everyone else in the world that you need to treat them differently? They are professionals. This is their job. It’s not their job to be your friend. I understand that this is a difficult decision for you, but you’re probably going to make more difficult decisions as you get older. This is part of growing up and becoming independent.</p>
<p>This stuff shouldn’t be beyond your reasoning. Just don’t insult people. Think about it - this isn’t rocket science.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m sure that person is a treasure to society.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed. People aren’t defined by what school they attended for 4 years from the ages 18-21.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m sure this is meant to be a harmless joke, but this type of joke only fuels the sentiment here that the people affiliated with one school automatically are better human beings than the people affiliated with another school. This is exactly what I was referring to earlier. Is this type of comment a product of the internet environment? Is this some story you tell in between classes?</p>
<p>I actually have a lot of respect for people who go to Caltech. Not to make any further comparisons that may be insulting to people, but I think I would not do as well if I went to Caltech just because of their very rigorous science requirements (especially their physics requirement) and their trimester system, which often makes learning even more fast-paced than a semester system.</p>
<p>MIT students loves to make jokes on Harvard and Caltech - if you haven’t noticed. This is true both in real life and on the internets. Likewise, Caltech (not so much Harvard), does the same in reciprocation. I’m sure what I say is not 100% politically-correct all of the time, but whose speech is? I realize perhaps that my comments may give wrong connotations about comparisons between two institutions, but I feel like people should also be capable of thinking for themselves. If one wants to be so naive and base their values regarding the “worth” of different students at different institutions solely on my comments or many other jokes made by college students at one school to another, than I only have one sentence for them - “grow up and go do some research.”</p>
<p>We’ll SDTB, I was posting this thread thinking yield rates were much higher for top schools… apparently I was wrong. </p>
<p>And also, since the top schools can make their reject letters actually bittersweet and sound good, I was thinking I should return the favors for the schools I applied to but won’t go. But apparently, it’s not necessary. I guess I overestimated my importance as a admitted person (those acceptance letters do tend to blow up your ego I guess)</p>
<p>I’m sure you are a great person, and I didn’t mean to single you out. I was commenting on the overall mentality of these boards, and I felt compelled to make my thoughts public in this particular thread.</p>
<p>I’m fairly aware of the jokes between the schools. I would even encourage them in most cases.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I understand where you are coming from. Just remember that it’s their job to make their letters sound good. We are talking about professionals, after all.</p>
<p>I know a little bit about how you feel after getting these kind of admittances. If you continue on for a PhD, you may be getting phone calls and personal emails from world class professors. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have a boost in confidence after these kind of experiences. I’m sure the same kind of feeling would be felt if you just got a great job offer. Just remember, recruiting is also part of their job; it’s a marketing game for these schools.</p>
<p>Actually, they do have the time, and they assess this very seriously. Just not now. Over the summer, most of the schools do very detailed analysis of their yield. The admissions departments are charged with producing a class of a particular size, and mistakes can be very costly. I can recall one large institution having to rent a hotel one year because a higher than expected yield gave them more freshmen than they could house. Intuiting WHY their yield ended up as it did is very important to the schools. Though I agree that right at the moment, any answer is interpreted as a check box.</p>
(those acceptance letters do tend to blow up your ego I guess)</p>