<p>Frazzled1, thanks for the clarification, but I believe if people looked they would quickly realize that I am rarely on parents forum, and 2K+ would tell you I am not a ■■■■■</p>
<p>Also, I would hope that people start looking at other posts and realize that this does exist. I only asked if this was common or a new trait.</p>
<p>I have seen others state that the following schools also do this:
Lehigh
JHU
WU
Northwestern</p>
<p>If you add in our children, it looks like colleges are not using this as a last ditch recruitment tool.</p>
<p>These schools are not no names like our DD’s acceptance from CNU or GMU…no offense who are waiting to hear from them, just an honest comment that they are not top tier.</p>
<p>I am going to be honest, I always get confused with ED and EA. I am going with the premise ED is not binding and EA is. Either way he applied Early, but not binding. I am under the belief Early Action (EA) is binding if you are accepted, you will attend and Early Decision (ED) means you got the answer before Regular Decision (RD)</p>
<p>Same with our DD regarding her top choice. She never applied binding acceptance, but applied for early, not regular decision.</p>
<p>^^^^You have it backwards. ED is binding, and you are only supposed to apply ED to one university. EA is non binding, and you can apply EA to any school which offers that option.</p>
<p>Like I said I always get confused about ED and EA. To me it is a non-player because they do early, but not binding. Back in my day (80’s) we only had the option of ED, there was no EA. You applied ED and the rest were all RD. Now you can apply ED, EA and RD. Also back in my day you could only take the SAT 2x before they averaged the score, there was no super scoring, which I am vehemently against. I am also against the written portion, since it is subjective…2+2 =4, that is not true for the written.</p>
<p>University of Virginia’s Office of Admission doesn’t have a letter in the system that would fit this situation. </p>
<p>Perhaps there was communication coming out of the ROTC office and perhaps we need to see that communication if it has been interpreted as an offer from the Office of Admission. Our first year offers have always been released at the same time.</p>
<p>The letters are churning out of the printers as I type this. :)</p>
<p>^^I saw similar letters auto admit – just give us a call – type letters with both kids but from outlier state schools. I assumed the (the colleges) possibly got information from the public high schools and since the ACT is required in our state for all students might have access to enough info (if they can get ACT info) to know they would admit the student without any additional information. Heck for our public school almost all the kids go off to college, the colleges could cherry pick public high school based on that type of info. If they can get ACT info many kids self report their GPA. If a college was going to fall short of total full enrollment or even wanted to increase enrollment,could target kids that had a decent ACT score and possible a GPA I could see sending a quick inexpensive direct mail type letter. If they garnered just a few kids it would be cost neutral or positive ROI. I would be surprised if the more selective schools who have zero trouble filling a class would do this but it’s a brave new world these days compared to decades ago…</p>
<p>THE LETTERS CAME FROM THE COLLEGE NOT ROTC. I openly admit that I believe the ROTC scholarship came into play. However, our DD is not ROTC and waiting on pins and needles for her dream school, yet at the the same time she has received “you are in” letters from colleges she never applied to.</p>
<p>I am not going to defend or argue the admissions dept of any college. It amazes me that what I posed as a question regarding if this is a new trend has become a personal attack on me and my children. I am one of those Mom’s who makes scrap books…I have each and every letter of acceptance, so if you really believe that I am BSing PM me and I will have no problem scanning in the scholarship letter and acceptances.</p>
<p>My question has been answered it is a new trend and colleges are willing to by pass the traditional system of SAT/ACT, Essays and application fees to get the higher quality student.</p>
<p>As far as the mid-year report is concerned, I don’t equate that at all to the OP stating that her DD and DS were both offered admission and never filled out or completed an application. Yes, it is suppossed to be part of the admissions process, but I’m sure every year they have some students that never sent them in.</p>
<p>It’s just hard to swallow with such prestigious schools - some kids are working for hours and hours on their essays and applications and some kids are apparently getting in and they aren’t even filling out an applicaiton. </p>
<p>Now we can add this to all the Hooked applicants and the open spots for everyine else is practically nill.</p>
<p>Maybe our DS was considered a “hook” because of Olympian. His father and I never saw it that way. We saw it as an equivalent as a Varsity Soccer player since it was TKD.</p>
<p>I am tired of beating my head against the wall! DS did not apply to these schools, period, end of subject. You can say you don’t believe me, and that is fine by me. You can say it is BS and it doesn’t happen, I am okay with that too.</p>
<p>Now let’s remove me, are you willing to also say Lehigh. JHU. WU. NW also don’t do it when others say they got the same letters?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Bullet and I were hard arses when it came to essays…both our DS and DD were not allowed to cut and paste or duplicate any of their essays. Please don’t jump to the conclusion that they took an easy route. They did not apply for the colleges that they got the acceptance letter, AND neither of them took up the offer.</p>
<p>I am incredibly proud of them because of their humanity. They have/had no intention on taking up the offer because they knew it was not for them. They did not have them on their list.</p>
<p>B & P, I don’t think anyone’s really attacking you and your children. I think that perhaps some people feel you could have misinterpreted the exact meaning of the letters you received. The fact that the Dean of Admissions for UVA has stated that they do not send out letters of admission unsolicited is only going to fuel that opinion. I would not let it get you so upset and I wouldn’t view this as a personal attack on your integrity, just doubts that you have remembered completely correctly events of 2 years ago. If you have the documents that support your position, I’m certainly not going to argue the point as I know very little about these programs you have described.</p>
<p>After getting beat up the entire thread I can see how my statement would come off negatively. I never said your kids took the easy way. I’m merely stating a fact that your kids did get an acceptance without applying and that just stinks for the kids that applied to those particular schools and did work their arses off. </p>
<p>What if your kids never recevied those letters and what if it was one of the schools your DS and DD worked hard to get into and then a friend comes to school and says "oh, I was accepted to “your” college and I didnt even apply. First, I don’t know for sure, but I think they might say “You are totally lying” and I’m sure your DS and DD might be a little upset.</p>
<p>I don’t think the people here are out for you or your children - it the system that allows these types of letters to go out that stinks.</p>
<p>A few people have said that they and/or their friend got into certain schools “without applying”, but then clarify that they just didn’t complete their application. To me, that’s very different than not applying at all. To me, if a person did not apply that means they did not fill out any part of the application at all. I think it’s a lot more likely that a college might offer admission to someone who did not complete the application than to someone who never even started an application.</p>
<p>Look, it is utterly ridiculous to suppose that more than one major university, contrary to all other experience, singles out the OP’s son for letters including the line:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even the follow-up case with the D is totally different, because she did open a file, and not for a highly competitive school.</p>
<p>A medal for TKD is not sufficient reason for Duke to make such a gesture. The student is not Emma Watson level of desirability for a college - for her MAYBE a college might try to pass along an informal invitation - still an invitation to fill in the form and apply.</p>
<p>I suggest the OP should scan the Duke letter and send it one of the prolific posters (say 3,000+) on this thread. If that person posts on here to confirm its kosher, we will have to kow tow to the OP, eat humble pie, and admit our suspicions were unfair.</p>
<p>When Dean J, the UVA Admissions Officer, specifically states UVA does NOT send out these type letters then it seems pretty clear to me that bulletandpima is confused about the whole matter. I don’t think she is purposely lying, just confused.</p>
<p>The thing I’m missing is everyone is ganging up on the OP and I cannot find anywhere she stated that it was UVA that offered admission without applying and yet that seems to be the largest part of the upset because everyone is assuming it was UVA she was speaking of. Perhaps I missed that post but I think it’s been more like watching a game of telephone where each poster has slightly changed the previous post until everyone is reading that the OP got a full ride with no app to every coveted school out there. I believe some kids get the letters, I don’t believe every school employs this tactic.</p>