Nope-- haven’t heard back yet. I would assume by the end of this week right?
Y’all should check old threads; I’m applying RD.
Yeah, I think we should wait a few days so we won’t be bothering her during Thanksgiving
It seems like each year it’s done a little differently. And 2 years ago they didn’t send out the recruit versus the not recruit letter (the good vs. neutral email); they only sent out the recruiting letter, and everyone else didn’t get a letter. Last year it didn’t seem like they sent out any emails. So I’m not sure last year if anybody even knew if they were officially recruited and had the support of Kelly Writers House last year. Although it’s hard to know for sure because not that many people write on college confidential about KWH. My guess is that students will have to contact Jamie Lee directly to see if they’re being supported.
Hmm I’ll probably send her an email Monday or Tuesday then
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to share some information regarding the KWH process that I went through last year. I applied ED to Wharton, got deferred and then eventually rejected with the support of the KWH throughout the whole process. I sent writing samples, met with Jamie-Lee in person, participated in the summer online book discussion, and filled out the recruiting survey. I didn’t hear anything from her so I eventually emailed her before ED decisions came out to see if my application was supported. She replied and said that she was supporting my candidacy. I know Wharton is difficult to get into but I think my application was very competitive so my take on the whole situation is that there are so many students who now know about the KWH that the support of an application does not help too much. At first I thought it didn’t help me because I applied to Wharton so I thought an admissions officer must have questioned why I was interested in writing but wanted to study business. Then I remembered reading something or having someone tell me that the KWH liked supporting applicants who were not pure English majors because of diversification purposes. My opinion is, regardless if you are applying to the College or Wharton or SEAS or Nursing, the support of KWH does not help a great deal simply because I believe there are many applicants who are in contact with the KWH. I seem to remember reading somewhere that around 200-300 applicants are supported each year, and that information is several years old meaning those numbers could even be higher. The support might push an application from the rejected pile to the deferred (perhaps like it did to mine), push a rejected to an accepted, or keep a rejected where it is. I think the support level varies because I think there are a select few candidates whose application gets supported more heavily than others.
My advice is to email Jamie-Lee individually and ask politely whether or not the KWH has been in contact with Admissions about your application. Feel free to ask me any questions about KWH or the college process in general.
@doorrealthe thanks for the info! I’m pretty surprised at the number of supported applicants—thought it would be fewer. I’ll probably email her tonight.
I just sent an email to Jamie-lee! Here’s to hoping for the best!
Just sent one, too. gl to us all haha
@angstyteen I think what I did was ask whether she got the chance to read all my submitted work. Not sure if I asked her about admissions but I think it was implied in the way I phrased it. I think it is a good idea to email her with something like: “Hi Jamie-Lee, have you gotten the chance to read everything I’ve submitted? Is there any more information you need from me?”
I wouldn’t ask directly if the KWH is supporting your application. She will probably let you know in her email response that the KWH is supporting your application
@Yarnweaver yeah when I heard that number last year or so I was a bit surprised. It may not be true but I think the KWH supports at least 50 candidates
Okay so whoops didn’t see @doorrealthe 's post before I sent the email to Jamie-lee. But I did phrase it politely haha.
She basically said to me that “they have read all the surveys and writing samples, but the Admissions office has the final word on everyone’s candidacy, so that’s why they don’t send individual student notifications. All that official correspondence comes from Admission.”
Did anyone else get this response? Was this a soft rejection?
@hamiltondebater Sure hope it’s not a soft rejection… I got the same reply.
@Yarnweaver @hamiltondebater I feel like it could just be a generic response that she was required to say by admissions. Maybe they changed the process this year
@vegucated26 yeah probably. I wonder why it’s different this year, though
So I dug up the email I received from Jamie-Lee after I asked her whether she got to read the writing samples I sent in. This was on December 6th of last year.
Here is what she said:
“I did indeed read your work! Thanks for reaching out. I made sure that Admissions knows that we’ve been in touch and that we at the Writers House feel strongly about your candidacy. They are now in the final part of their process. I hope you’re managing the end of this waiting period as well as possible!”
@doorrealthe hmm either they changed things this year (which is strange) or we received a rejection 
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Each year has been different from the prior year, and last year it seemed like KWH didn’t initiate/send any emails to their recruits unless a student emailed them first. If everyone this year receives the same email posted above, then it appears nobody is going to get a clear indication of whether or not they were supported. However, have to admit, that email did not sound too positive. If course many strong Penn applicants will be admitted based on their application alone, having nothing to do with KWH.
Anyone else get a reply?
Wow. Does that mean KWH recruitment isn’t quite the boost it used to be?
This is what I think - but it’s a guess, no information to back it up:
I think the KWH recruitment is the same boost it always was. However, my guess is that this “recruitment” idea was causing problems in admissions. Again, I’m guessing that students/parents of kids who didn’t get in would become very upset and call admissions and KWH to ask what happened, why didn’t they get accepted if they were “recruited?” So I think that KWH still has their top applicants that they want to accept, and they relay it to admissions. But they don’t announce “yes, recruited” or “no, not recruited” any more to the students.
Not everyone KWH wants will get accepted because admissions sees the whole picture. They know the applicant in the context of their high school and in the bigger picture. So someone KWH wants might not quite fit with what Penn is looking for at that moment. Therefore knowing you are “recruited” by KWH still isn’t a sure thing for Penn acceptance since there’s more to your application than you’re writing ability