Actually not receiving emails gives me anxiety too… makes me feel like that I already got rejected, even though it doesn’t mean anything.
Emma Willard moved up their decision to 4 pm eastern today because the 10th is a Sunday, so @TheSwami & others if interested, as promised: the chocolates were a good sign. She’s in! We’re psyched.
Emma Willard looks like a very exciting option, and they gave a good grant to boot. The grant isn’t as big as Bard’s Early College program, which admitted her yesterday, and that is a meaningful factor for us. (She doesn’t have a preference yet since she hasn’t visited either.)
This all feels like the Thursday Night football part of the NFL week with so much to come tomorrow. My daughter is heavy on the academics and a zero on sports so it would have been a bad sign if the two programs that don’t have an athletic focus didn’t admit her. We’d be happy with these choices if it’s it. But fingers still crossed for more options tomorrow.
After a few tense calls this week my kids were both admitted to one school today and one received a merit scholarship! Thank goodness! We will hear from two more schools on Sunday, but based on calls this week I have a sense of what will happen with each. Still so stressful! It’s hard to have two kids applying at once and have them feel like they are being compared. 
@DevonAultOrBust congratulations!!!
Congratulations on the acceptances @DevonAultOrBust and @busymommyof4 ! Always nice to start decision weekend off on a positive note. Fingers crossed for both of you and the rest of the CC members who are waiting for decisions! I can feel the tension rising in all the posts today!
Congrats to your daughter @DevonAultOrBust ! Exciting! Thank you @dramakid2 - you know I am anxiously awaiting more news! 
@busymommyof4 Do the kids have to go to the same school? I mean, is that what your family prefers?
@dogsmama1997 - we applied with that intention. It would work best that way for our family, but if push came to shove I would separate them.
Well…regardless of the intent the schools in questions, SwamiJr was admitted to both schools.
@busymommyof4 , so glad that worked out. I know plenty of families who have split up their kids for fit reasons, but I know that wasn’t your preference AND that geography had really whittled down your list. Hooray!
Congrats to your kids, @busymommyof4, @TheSwami and @DevonAultOrBust! A good friend’s daughter graduated from EW and had a wonderful experience there and is now thriving at an excellent college. I hope everyone gets more good news today.
My DC received an email of “What is going on at Hotchkiss in February” variety 4 days before the decision. DC was elated because the email seemed to hint at acceptance. It was personally addressed to DC, from the admission team. Presumably all decisions had been made, and there was no reason to send a marketing material to a rejectee just 4 days before the announcement. Nor was there a reason to boost its matriculation rate vis-à-vis a rejectee. DC’s full name (perhaps the admission ID of sort?) was written at the bottom too.
DC was rejected 4 days later. DC felt as if DC’s emotion had been toyed around by Hotchkiss admission committee. I told DC this must have been an honest mistake. But I could not help wondering myself: if the school sent an email to all applicants that may mislead them into having false hopes, at the timing they are most sensitive and vulnerable, knowing full well that 80% of them will learn rejection only 4 days later, what does it say about the school?
Callousness, perhaps – “We do not care about how you may feel.” These rejectees are all valuable sons and daughters who achieved much in their own ways and deserve better than this, I thought. Those who regarded Hotchkiss as their safety choices may simply shrug off and move on with other choices but to some who really had much hope on this (eg this was the only school they applied), it could be quite difficult.
Over the weekend, DC talked with friends who applied to Hotchkiss and they all reported the same weird experience. When they informed this to GC, the GC commented, “Hmmm, the admission process there must be managed by robots.” Harsh, but I tend to agree. What were they thinking?
I wish Hotchkiss, or for that matter any other schools, would at least have the decency to include a disclaimer of sort in the email, such as it does not hint at anything. Instead, it told them to stay tuned for more news – 4 days before the decision! That night, all excited, my DC foolishly went through every photo linked to the email (there were 90 or so) awed by how Hotchkiss students spend their awesome days, hoping DC would join them soon. Talk of dead-man walking. If they plan to continue this thoughtless exercise next year, I cannot think of faster ways to lose esteem among applicants. It is a very small community after all. Perhaps they do not care – who cares about the feelings of mere rejectees after all?
@enpassant2019 sorry to read what you wrote. Generally, I agree with the concept that the schools should shutdown communication after the applications are submitted and before decisions.
My son was an applicant to Hotchkiss. I have to ask him if he even read that email. I saw it along with the one from Feb and Jan and viewed it as “more marketing dribble.” I certainly did not dive into the links to view the awesomeness that is Hotchkiss. Since many of the schools sent similar emails I just assumed it had no bearing on admission status. However, it is a little less than sensitive for them to say “We thank you for exploring Hotchkiss, and stay tuned for more news!”
Fortunately or unfortunately, for my child, he has developed his parents’ skepticism about things and would never read into an email like that despite them using his name in it.
I find the whole process strange. In a good cycle they reject 75%-85% of those who apply so why the push. The schools spend resources on this stuff which cannot have a great return…can it?
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Now that I think about it, this is not some vain exercise; there is a clear purpose to this from the school’s point of view: increasing matriculation rate without breaching the TSAO agreement.
Think about it. All who receive such email from the admission office they have been communicating 4 days prior to M9 without any disclaimer would obviously think Hotchkiss wants them - including both acceptees and rejectees. It is important for the acceptees to believe so - they will form favorable feelings to Hotchkiss, which should affect their decision once they receive formal acceptance letter 4 days later.
But why to the rejectees? Because any move that treats the acceptees and the rejectees differently (ie sending suggestive email only to the acceptees) prior to M9 has the potential to be deemed as breaching the TSAO agreement. So the school sends to both; both groups would have early hopes and form favorable opinions of the school; the acceptees will feel special and more will feel inclined to matriculate on M9; rejectees will feel they have been misled on M9 - but who gives a hoot about their feelings anyway? They were used in a way - not to breach the TSAO.
So the school achieves dual goal by making all of them feel accepted: giving acceptees early hint (thereby raising the matriculation rate) without breaching the TSAO.
Smart, very smart.
At a time like this, it could seem like a callous and hurtful act, but I suspect it is simply a product of unfortunate lack of communication between the actual admissions office and those handling marketing for the school. These schools are of the size that they can suffer such miscommunications as we parents see in the companies that we work for. Just as we may say “how could IT have…” or “how could accounting have…”, I bet that if/when the AOs are made aware of that email and how it was read by some, they’d say “how could our marketing person/firm have…”
The school might be smart in doing this - if they are doing this for the reason I think they are doing. But then again, I could be wrong. It's just a guess, a logical guess. Anybody wants to chime in with more logical explanation?
Perhaps there is a benefit from the school’s point of view: increasing matriculation rate without breaching the TSAO agreement.
Think about it. All who receive such email from the very admission office 4 days prior to M9 (ie decision announcement date) without any disclaimer would obviously think Hotchkiss wants them - including both acceptees and rejectees. It is important for the acceptees to believe so - they will form favorable feelings to Hotchkiss, which should affect their decision once they receive formal acceptance letter 4 days later.
But why to the rejectees? What purpose does it serve? Perhaps because any move that treats the acceptees and the rejectees differently (ie sending suggestive email only to the acceptees) prior to M9 has the potential to be deemed as breaching the TSAO agreement (ie no prior announcement). So the school sends to both; both groups would have early hopes and form favorable opinions of the school; the acceptees will feel special and more will feel inclined to matriculate on M9; rejectees will feel they have been misled on M9 - but the school may not care about them as much. They were used not to breach the TSAO.
So the school may achieve dual goal by making all of them feel accepted: giving acceptees early hint (thereby raising the matriculation rate) without breaching the TSAO.
Purely my conjecture. What do you think?
PS I heard from someone who applied last year that Hotchkiss does this every year (ie D9-4 email “marketing”). Anybody knows this is true?
If indeed this is not just one-time occurrence but an annual occurrence by the same school, I have two questions: is it not an attempt to circumvent the TSAO at the expense of rejectees’ feelings, and shall we not warn the future applicants about the D9-4 or D10-4 “marketing” mail from the admission office?
But I need to get the facts first - I do not know if this really happens every year or not.
It was a marketing email…period. Unfortunate that you and/or your child read more into it than that, but no conspiracy theories need be applied.
I think email lists are built that include all of that year’s applicants and they all get the same mass marketing emails. It wouldn’t hurt to contact admissions to let them know the effect they have on applicants. Maybe they could suspend the marketing emails in January and restrict them to just accepted students starting after M10.
@enpassant2019 please take it easy on Hotchkiss. We received similar emails in the same time window from a number of other schools. As noted, I thought it was marketing. It does not make it right but many schools do it. Did you read above your post about the chocolates and the receptions? A marketing email is nothing.
I think you have to let this one go…unless you choose to send the school a bit of feedback.