<p>well, for your info, kenyon does send a semi-personalised acceptance letter that highlights your strong points that helped get you in.
It really felt great to get such a letter. Makes your day, and four years for that matter.</p>
<p>^JCOliver87 go to ucla awesome school to attend promise</p>
<p>common guys,
you don't really believe there is a solid logic in the whole selection process, do you?:)
i mean how come then a friend of mine with 3 gold medals in mathematics, perfect gpa and a 1500 sat1, sat2: math2c 800, physics 800 and writing 570 got rejected by mit? i mean do they look at the writing at mit? </p>
<p>that is why they cannot tell why they have accepted/rejected u</p>
<p>I have read somewhere on the CC website that an outstanding student who was dying to go to Penn was waitlisted, simply because she did not apply ED. Admissions are sometimes (or most of the time, I don't know) unpredictable, like the way teachers score free-response exams.</p>
<p>At the most selective colleges, so many well qualified candidates are rejected that they would be hard pressed to explain why one applicant was accepted or rejected. The extremes will be obvious, but the vast majority of "competitive" applicants may come down to the particular group the are being compared to at the moment, which member of the adcom prevails in a particular discussion. ("I let you have the math genius tuba player you wanted, how about if I get my tri-lingual poet?" ;))</p>
<p>Of course, even if they could tell you what was lacking in your app, they'd be very unlikely to tell you. Saying, "You had very little community service," for example, would open that topic up for debate; that's not the kind of discussion admissions staffers want to have. Sometimes, a high school guidance counselor can get some specifics about a particular student; even if he/she calls, though, the reply is likely to be something like, "just too many superbly qualified applicants."</p>
<p>Lake Forest sent a wonderful letter describing details of my D's high school career that they admired. It was very personable and inviting. UC admit letters were understandably a form letter. Perhaps if the adcoms had a code for each of thirty sentences they could make these letters seem more personal. Things like : We hope to consider joining one of our performance groups ... or Your leadership skills were admired...or winning the county fair pie eating contest four years in a row was not the EC we were looking for in a candidate.</p>
<p>IF I was an adcom, I would give an ice cream sandwich (or something) to any current student who sent a friendly email to a prospective student. As Jerry Mcquire would tell you, " Its all about the love."</p>
<p>"Bowdoin says in their letter what part of your application stood out."</p>
<p>that's not generally true - were you an early write?</p>
<p>an URM with low stats would not want to be told why they got in</p>
<p>I dont think its too important why or how you got accepted. Just think of your stats and essays as getting your foot into the door and be sure to take advantage of whichever college you decide to go to.</p>
<p>"common guys,
you don't really believe there is a solid logic in the whole selection process, do you?
i mean how come then a friend of mine with 3 gold medals in mathematics, perfect gpa and a 1500 sat1, sat2: math2c 800, physics 800 and writing 570 got rejected by mit? i mean do they look at the writing at mit?"</p>
<p>i have a friend with minus the 3 gold medals and plus a couple 800 in sat2s including writing, and still got rejected by MIT, he was shocked</p>
<p>I think MIT is notoriously weird in it's admissions.</p>