<p>My son goes to a rural high school that never sends anybody to top schools. We don't know how the application system works, the guidance counselors don't know how the system works. My son applying to colleges that use the common app was new to the guidance office. Around here admission to West Virginia University is the pinnacle of achievement. But my son had an 800 on the SAT CR, 750 SAT Math, 800 on SATII Math II and 780 on SATII Lit, is a National Merit Finalist and valedictorian of his class of ~250 so we thought we would try some dream schools. He has applied to Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Princeton, Lafayette, and has already been rejected by Olin. He had his interview with Princeton and received an email from them saying they had received all of his materials. Lafayette has sent some emails. But we have heard nothing from Harvey Mudd or Haverford, not even an email acknowledging receipt of his application, just the robo responses from the Common App that the applications had been submitted. When we emailed Haverford and Harvey Mudd asking if they had received all required materials we received no response. Should we be worried? We had no interviews with Haverford, Harvey Mudd, or Lafayette. We did not know we should arrange those before applying.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I might call the schools that have yet to make contact, and confirm that they have received all of his application materials. Different schools have different policies - some might not contact you. I can attest to this. I applied to a lot of top-tier schools. Princeton, for example, sent me a link for application tracking. Northwestern, on the other hand, sent me nothing. I got an email from them about having missing application items, but nothing else. </p>
<p>Just to be safe, I’d check if I were you.</p>
<p>Ya, I would definitely call the admissions offices. Sometimes email can be unreliable and few ever hear back (from my experience). Just call to double check. I’m surprised they haven’t at least sent a confirmation email. I have received at least one email acknowledging my application from every school (about a dozen) that I have applied to, though some seem to communicate more than others. Also be sure to check your junk email folder…some of my college emails ended up in there.</p>
<p>Applications are up all over, so some may not be as organized enough to confirm they have everything. Depends also when the applications went out. </p>
<p>As for interviews: your son may not get them, just because there aren’t any alums in your area.</p>
<p>Congratulations about your son’s scores and gpa.</p>