<p>Just curious, has anyone else had this happen. It just seemed so odd to me last night after hearing my S got into a high reach yesterday afternoon, and deferred to an in state match almost safety last night. He is a NMF and I am bewildered by this...just looking for thoughts...this is my first rodeo BTW.</p>
<p>Don’t tax yourself in trying to figure it out- often it makes no sense to us on the “outside”! It could well be that your S fit into the overall demographic pool that they wanted at the “reach” school-offered something in the way of interests,location, achievements, etc-but didn’t bring anything new to the mix at the “safety”. It sounds like he did great though- congratulations!!</p>
<p>It happens a lot - often a school knows that, given the kid’s stats, grades, recs - he or she is using them as a safety and they decide to defer or waitlist them. When the dust settles, if the kid still hasn’t gotten admitted somewhere (it happens), and they get the letter saying that ‘if admitted, I’ll come,’ they offer admission only at that point.</p>
<p>elle --</p>
<p>I say celebrate!!! Better to get into your high reach and rejected at a match than the other way around, right!!</p>
<p>At the end of the day – no one really knows how the admissions process wroks at specific schools. Continue to check this site and you’ll see how common your situation is.</p>
<p>State universities may be reducing capacity under budget pressure, so they may be much more selective than last year’s stats indicate.</p>
<p>Also, many state universities and some private universities admit by division or major, so if the applicant chose a popular division or major, s/he may be facing a much higher bar than most students applying to the school. For example, for fall 2012 freshman admissions, a 2.9 GPA with 900 SAT CR+M would get into many majors at San Jose State, but a 4.0 GPA and 1390 SAT CR+M would get rejected into one particular popular major.</p>
<p>I don’t know for sure which schools you are referring to, but if they are the ones I think you are speaking about, the higher acceptance rate at the school that admitted your S may be the answer. This would then make the in-state school slightly more selective than the school that admitted your S. Of course, this is pure speculation on my part, and made even more difficult by not knowing the other components of his application.</p>
<p>Thanks, it just seemed bewildering to us, and a bit counterintuitive. Actually the reach is pretty darn selective, more selective than say, the state school. It was just unsettling is all, but yes! We were thrilled for the admission, and for several others that came earlier in the year. Several more to hear from this week and off we go on the decision tree. But yep, a jaw hit the floor moment for sure…nothing is safe I guess.</p>
<p>Congrats on the high reach!!! (Your S can only go to one school, so that high reach is the only one that really counts!)</p>
<p>But, I think M’s Mom may have hit on it. Some schools engage in Tufts Syndrome, where they waitlist applicants who the school believes are using their school as a safety.</p>
<p>George Washingon University has been doing that for years with over qualified applicants. If you are waitlisted, GW then asks you to call the Admissions Office on certain days in late April if GW is still one of your top choices.</p>
<p>That way, by late April the kids who got into their reaches are out of the picture and the kids who did not get into their reaches can now be admitted to GW.</p>
<p>This whole process allows GW to still get the kids who used GW initially as a safety, while allowing GW to have a lower acceptance rate and higher yield.</p>
<p>From the GW forum, based on the postings from last night (GW announced decisions last night), it has occurred again this year.</p>
<p>Good luck with the remaining decisions next week.</p>