Hey all, I was accepted to American through the Mentorship program. I thought I was more than qualified since I have a 1480 SAT and a 93 GPA. In addition, my mom attended law school at American. I’m not planning on going, but I thought the Mentorship program was for lower stat students. Does anyone know anything about the program?
Same thing happened to me- 1550 SAT, 4.67 out of 5 WGPA. Gotta love that.
Same thing with my child. Excellent stats, much higher than many of those reflected on the other thread. Admitted to much more competitive schools already. Other less competitive schools to which he was admitted offered him lots of money as an attraction to go to their school. I heard lots of different things about this; but bottom line is that this is not the way to entice excellent students to go to the school.
I think mentorship program must be another form of yield protection – I was admitted for mentorship fall 2019 with term of studies at AU for spring 2020. I’ve read on other forums that AU sometimes tends to waitlist candidates it thinks are only applying to AU as a safety. I’m above the mark for both GPA and SAT with decent ECs, so I was also a bit confused. I think the mentorship program along w/ the spring 2020 agreement is a way for AU to admit students they deem “qualified” but are scared won’t actually attend, thus hurting AU’s statistics. If I were to commit elsewhere and reject AU’s mentorship an spring offer, it doesn’t technically count as a fall 2019 rejection, so my choosing of a different school wouldn’t factor into any public statistic. From what I’ve researched dos far, it seems like a great opportunity for some of the maybe more qualified students to get a real workplace experience while also taking college classes; however, it also feels like a covert safety net that AU uses to protect its image…
@cavancork my assumption is the program was offered to students with higher credentials so if these students reject AU’s “spring 2020” offer, it won’t factor into the demographic of admitted 2019 freshmen who declined the offer.
“American has nothing to lose by offering Mentorship because it’s non-matriculating and will not be represented in admissions yield.”
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20469583/#Comment_20469583
They use the program for two reasons: getting unique applicants and yield protection. If they see a weaker applicant who is URM, geographically diverse, full pay, legacy, etc., they will put them in the Mentorship Program because they will improve the statistics of their diversity/give more money without hurting admissions statistics. Then there is the yield rate reason where they give some of the strongest applicants the Mentorship Programs because AU wants you to come but thinks you won’t go to their school. I wouldn’t say its just higher stats kids, but more special cases where they are just trying to make profits and make their statistics more appealing. It feels like a win-win in a way to me because the student gets a very good chance at an internship freshmen year and AU can offer this to top students without the yield rate being affected. I don’t think they offer anything in terms of merit aid with this however, just overall it seems like a downgrade to being admitted into the fall term.
Thank you!!
I will say that my high performing child was offended by this offer as the traditional January acceptance has been for students they want to admit for reasons other than stats but don’t have the stats they want to keep their averages up. He worked very hard over the years for those grades and SAT scores!! I agree with @beastmode69 that they don’t think these kids will come - but my kid was more likely to go there based on the program he wanted before this little game was played. It feels like a slap for very deserving kids because it’s sleight of hand: you’re on campus, you’re in an American program, you can automatically use the credits towards your degree but you’re not an official student until January? And what about honors and those other great programs you were very qualified for and wanted to participate in that start in the fall? My child is way less likely to go to American now after being excited about going for the specific program he wants. But then American will use this as further proof that these high stat kids won’t accept anyway, when the reason he will have decided not to attend has to do with they way they offered the spot and the bad taste left. (by the way, high achieving kids can get internships on their own. It’s nice to have them right there for you for the taking, but you don’t necessarily need that if you present well on your own).
@cavancork -ugh-we are feeling the same way! We want so badly to celebrate the acceptance but I’m struggling to find a way. I’d really love to hear from families that went this route to help “sell” this idea to us! It’s such a curve ball.
@penny1234, exactly.
My son was so excited to hear that he was accepted by American but when the fail finally came yesterday he was sad to know that he is in spring start. Just like other post, his GPA is over 4.0 and SAT close to 1500. He is really interested in the program but now he is discouraged. Has anyone know what is the percentage of incoming students get to put in spring start ? What is the historical acceptance rate for these offers ?