<p>I’m saying people are getting off track, because there’s probably more to the story that may not be understood. So ask the questions, get more information. Perhaps the OP is mistaken about something or just has not explained some facts to satisfaction. I doubt that a long time, ethical and honest poster suddenly turns into a ■■■■■. The kids do sound exceptional, and there may be circumstances where schools are pursuing them. Just because the colleges aren’t beating down my kid’s door, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening to others!</p>
<p>Yes, a full-ride scholarship to any college in the country implies free money for extraordinary achievement. An ROTC scholarship is essentially a loan with a very onerous debt to repay in years to serve.</p>
<p>So, your daughter was accepted to UVA and never applied?</p>
<p>It is simply entirely inaccurate that a HS senior was offered admission to UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or UVA during the spring, without applying. </p>
<p>Hands down, this is beyond belief. I don’t care if the child was the #1 basketball recruit of the year or his/her last name was Gates. Not going to happen if they didn’t apply. I’m not saying random timings/exceptions are never made during the process (maybe someone’s file is completed late, for example, or is admitted at a strange time of year given unusual circumstances, but those students still apply before receiving any sort of admissions decision and CERTAINLY before being admitted!). </p>
<p>That said, there is often confusion among students who apply/enter the national clearinghouse for ROTC scholarships - or even just simply fill out a ROTC interest informational postcard at some point during their high school years. Officers of ROTC programs that are struggling to find students often use the database to send letters to prospective students, things along the lines of “You could have a $200,000 scholarship if you come to XXX University. . . .” (or whatever, etc etc etc). However those students still have to apply and be admitted to the school AND qualify for the ROTC scholarship - big hurdles that often result in the small program numbers at highly selective institutions. </p>
<p>If you believe your child has been admitted to schools of this caliber without applying, I urge you to immediately call the Dean of Admissions at the relevant schools. They’ll want to know!</p>
<p>I’m not sure which school your daughter was “admitted” to, but here is the relevant contact information for schools you mentioned - I would urge you to call. </p>
<p>UVA
Greg Roberts
Dean of Admissions
(434) 982-3200</p>
<p>UNC Chapel Hill
Stephen Farmer
Associate Provost & Director of Admissions
(919) 966-3992 </p>
<p>Duke
Christoph Guttentag
Dean of Admissions
(919) 684-3214</p>
<p>NYU - Stern
Susan Greenbaum
Associate Dean of the Undergraduate College
(liaison between Stern and NYU Admissions)
(212) 998-0211</p>
<p>As a side note, UVA admissions folks (I think even Dean Roberts!) post here on CC, so hopefully they can provide some more information.</p>
<p>I hope this post doesn’t come across snarkily or undeservedly harsh . . . .I think there is just some misconception/confusion going on.</p>
<p>DD opened her file with Columbia University and sent her scores but never finished the application as she got in EA in to MIT.</p>
<p>But Columbia went on sending her requests to complete application as late as February end. She also received a personal request from engineering head to complete the application.</p>
<p>She had been offered scholarship worth $100,000 at many universities without applying including University of Tulsa, Texas A&M etc…</p>
<p>Yes, POIH, but she was never admitted to Columbia.</p>
<p>Requests to complete an application - even coming from the university president 
- are pretty standard fare, particularly for an applicant viewed as particularly desirable by the institution (aka your daughter in this scenario, POIH). </p>
<p>Scholarship offers, particularly to schools that are not uber selective, are also fairly standard stuff for high flying high schoolers, especially if they are National Merit Finalists, for example.</p>
<p>Both of these scenarios, however, are a far cry from an unsolicited ADMIT letter from a place like UVA, UNC-CH, Duke, or NYU-Stern.</p>
<p>mathmom:
</p>
<p>Just because your DS didn’t get in doesn’t mean young women who got in had lower stat than your DS. </p>
<p>DD had better stat than all the young men at her school who didn’t get in. All those young men who had equivalent or better stat than DD from her school also got in.</p>
<p>MIT has a very large and powerful Humanities and Bio department to which a large number of non-technical young women get accepted. This might lead to an impression that these got into MIT with less of science/math credential than your DS.</p>
<p>Please compare your DS stats to young women who are pursuing technical courses at MIT before making such blatant statements.</p>
<p>The posts are getting a little…well…hostile.</p>
<p>First of all, full ride AFROTC scholarships aren’t just given to anyone. Airforce is one of the most desirable branches and full rides in general - even ROTC related - are only given to the best students and are most certainly selective. Those students I know on full ROTC scholarships are exceptional scholars who were admitted to Ivies in addition to the places they eventually ended up. The airforce is a dream career for many kids - not an “onerous debt” - even if it isn’t a dream career for everyone. Different strokes, different folks, mmk?</p>
<p>Second of all, athleticism in combination with good stats is not only a perfectly fine reason to get a full ride somewhere but actually could have even been assumed from the original post to some extent - full rides are not usually based on academics alone, but academics+exceptional talent in some other area (be it music, arts, athletics, etc., none of them being worth more or less than another). So OP was not “hiding” anything by not immediately revealing a somewhat predictable fact.</p>
<p>I do find this idea of colleges accepting people who haven’t applied VERY interesting, however, and would like to learn more about it, for sure.</p>
<p>justmytwocents: That’s true. Unsolicited offers of admissions and scholarship only came from lesser known universities.</p>
<p>POIH, I don’t think mathmom was saying anything negative about young women at MIT at all! In fact, she was making the opposite point (at least in my interpretation of her post) - that although some women are admitted to MIT with lower stats (and stats are just that, one piece of the puzzle and certainly not all of it), such decisions serve a purpose for MIT and those young women end up out-performing other men. She was calling this fair game. </p>
<p>Mathmom - feel free to correct me if I have poorly described your sentiments.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly agree, and I hope that I haven’t hinted/appeared to think differently.</p>
<p>It is very challenging to earn - and keep - a ROTC scholarship. The ROTC grads I have known include some of the most intelligent, polished, and accomplished young people I’ve ever met. I do think, however, that those ROTC programs at many of the country’s more selective institutions find themselves trying to both solicit eligible students and land them over a competing ROTC program (another institution or even another branch of the military!), an Ivy League school, a top university offering big merit money, et cetera. It becomes a very small pool at the top and the officers I’ve known that have been involved in running ROTC programs describe it as a very challenging recruitment situation. </p>
<p>Similarly, trying to encourage high achieving students who may not have considered ROTC also becomes part of the recruitment effort for ROTC programs.</p>
<p>This thread is a hoot, for those whose kids were accepted by decent schools they love but would be agony for those still waiting or worse yet rejected by all their schools. Sure sounds weird! D only applied to two Us–flagship U (after being prompted by the CC & the flagship U) as well as the private U she transferred to. She didn’t generate any random acceptances or rejections. S didn’t either. Didn’t hear of any of their friends getting any either, but never inquired much.</p>
<p>About two months ago my D got a letter from Vandy saying that she needed to provide another recommendation. D did not pursue it at all. About two weeks back she gets a letter that her application is complete and is being reviewed for admission. We are still shaking our heads on that one.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What real value does an on-line respect have? And why should you “completely” trust the “source”? Do you know who is behind that screen? Do you know anything else about the OP other than her username? The OP might have many posts, but that doesn’t automatically make her an end-all be-all. Lies and truths can always exist at the same time. </p>
<p>I don’t have anything to say about the “acceptance” letters as I think it COULD happen, but I thought it was funny how there are people who accept things at face-value just because someone with a good online post history said so.</p>
<p>It seems to me that this is simply a situation where the OP did not carefully read the various college “acceptance” letters. My daughter has received similarly worded letters almost daily for the last year or so. This is purely a marketing push that most colleges engage in - a method to gain as many qualified applicants as possible.</p>
<p>The OP posted:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most likely the sentence continued on to say something like this:</p>
<p>“as soon as you complete the common application and the admissions committee reviews your extraordinary credentials.”</p>
<p>Clearly, the student still has to apply to the particular college. It is absurd to think that any reputable school will offer admission to a student based on so little information when they have equally qualified students who actually apply.</p>
<p>It is always a good idea to do a close reading. Like I tell my kids, “read it again…what does it REALLY say?”</p>
<p>I think Gourmetmom is probably right. Pima notes that “HPS” and ND “recruited” son, and that UVA, Duke, and UNCCH offered acceptance without applications. Hmmm…Pima, your son is at UMDCP as a Government and Politics Scholar. So is he in AFROTC there?</p>
<p>“What real value does an on-line respect have? And why should you “completely” trust the “source”? Do you know who is behind that screen? Do you know anything else about the OP other than her username?”</p>
<p>I’m sorry that you haven’t gotten to know anyone on here well enough to believe otherwise. There are many people on cc who have helped me and my family both with college and personal questions, that I might never ask my off-line friends. There are several other forums here, and people are often willing to share much more online than they do in person. And when you have corresponded with someone for a long time, over issues that you are intimately familiar with, you do gain a level of trust. Not with everyone, but with a few.</p>
<p>Even Duke’s star basketball players have to actually fill out an application- my goodness. This is right up there with the kid in town who got a “merit scholarship” to Harvard.</p>
<p>OP has no reason to make stuff up. Really, op, is a trusted long time poster who has nothing to gain from sharing this info. Take it or leave it. Op is just sharing info and I find it very interesting.</p>
<p>sax, while she has no reason to make stuff up, I am still waiting for a reply to a couple of people who inquired about VA schools that may have “accepted” her daughter without application. As a mom of a DS who is waiting to hear from VA schools, it is well, kind of odd to hear that someone is hearing now without applying when all who have applied have yet to hear a peep. I am also curious “pima” to know what you meant about VA schools seeming “private” including JMU?</p>