Dunno if it really is that odd but everyone always gives me the “What the…” when they find out UCLA rejected me but UC Berkeley accepted me.
@prezbucky lol not sure how I didn’t catch that. Those are the numbers according to Naviance so the ED rumor is obviously not true!
There have been threads on this specific question.
@homerdog I think they can see where else you are applying based on your FAFSA but I’m not entirely sure. I heard that for your FAFSA you should alphabetize your schools so to keep them from knowing your priorities – or thinking they know. That sort of thing. I’m not entirely sure though.
Oh now I see that someone else brought up FAFSA already. :">
I got into Case but not Kenyon as a transfer, and that one still makes little sense to me. I’m happy at Case but I did like Kenyon :D.
FWIW- my (Cali) kid accepted to UMich, UWash (direct to program), USC with Merit Aid, McGill, NYU for ME. WL (then rejected) from REA at Stanford, also turned down at Columbia, UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD. Accepted at UCSC (didn’t apply to Riverside or Merced).
And she got tons of shiny colorful brochures from every private she so much as sent a note to…
Never know how it’s going to fall out. Everybody needs a back-up plan, or two or three. The application process has gotten sillier and siller. But if you cast a wide enough net there are lots of good choices, just make sure you budget a few extra Bennies for the app process.
I have seen kids rejected at Oberlin and accepted Juilliard.
@ClarinetDad16 wow.
One weird result -
Accepted Amherst
Waitlisted Conn College
(one was supposed to be a similar-but-easier-to-get-into school…)
More typical results:
Accepted Vassar, Oberlin, Emory
Waitlisted Brown
Rejected Yale
That was me in the 80s 
@OHMomof2 wow, WL at Conn but accepted at Amherst- I haven’t heard that one before!
@CaliDad2020 that is definitely surprising.
My son got into places like Case Western, McGill, and Bates… but not in Maryland, which is our own state school. He would have gone to Maryland had he gotten in. He didn’t even get waitlisted. Bizarro world. He went to McGill and loves it. I somewhat understand when schools ‘protect their yield’ stats with out of state applicants, but they should never do that for an in-state student. Doing it at all is wrong, but to screw over in state applicants is wrong wrong wrong.
@swivelneck and others. McGill admissions is not holistic. If you have the GPA and test scores needed you are admitted. There is no yield protection. No one is “overqualified”.
@swivelneck That stinks. Really yield protection gone very wrong. You would think the state schools would table yield protection for kids from their own state. Sorry that happened to your son.
My S16 was accepted at U Rochester, RPI, WPI, Wake Forest, BU, CU-Boulder. WL at Villanova (with legacy), U Chicago, Case Western. Rejected from BC and some long reaches.
S1 accepted at Olin and Vanderbilt, not to UVA.
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1526 indicates that “level of applicant’s interest” is “not considered” at Maryland.
CWRU and Bates entries are here:
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=966
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=125
Looks like CWRU and Bates have similar HS rank profiles, but CWRU has higher SAT math and ACT ranges. Maryland’s SAT ranges look similar to those of Bates (which is test optional), but does not publish HS rank profiles. Maryland publishes a HS GPA profile showing an obviously weighted GPA average of 4.22, but neither of the others publish HS GPA profiles.
The three schools’ weightings of other admission factors like extracurriculars vary.
Did he apply to a more competitive major or division at Maryland?
A friend of mine was rejected from Northwestern, Tufts, WashU, JH and Michigan but accepted to UPenn. So weird how admissions work. I’ve yet to understand how admissions work.
My sister’s step son was rejected from SUNY Binghamton (applied EA and both his parents were alums) and accepted ED to Vanderbilt.