<p>Congrats, simpkin!</p>
<p>Very congrats!</p>
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<p>Although rejections do hurt tremendously, a happy ending is often in the last edit of the script. Fwiw, the next phase adds a new dimension, as you are now, in a ironic reversal of roles, in the driver seat, and will have to make a … selection among several choices.</p>
<p>And you’ll probably make your selection holistically, and it may indeed be something as trivial as a general “feel” that your D had at one school versus the next, or a nicer tour guide, or a general feeling that the part of one campus you saw was prettier than the next campus, or your general impressions of people you’ve known who’ve gone to those colleges and what they are like. And that’s ok! It’s the same darn thing. There are no stats to tell you whether Penn, Cornell or Tufts are better for your D – they’re all excellent schools and the choice then comes down to subjective preference. No different for the schools. There are no stats to tell 3 highly accomplished students apart – they’re all excellent – so the choice then comes down to subjective preference.</p>
<p>First, congrats, Simpkin. I will say I am not surprised. The rest of this post has nothing to do with you; enjoy your day! :)</p>
<p>Secondly, the most depressing thing on this whole thread is the kneejerk, reactionary thinking. </p>
<p>“What, that kid made a joke. Great, all kids have to joke.”</p>
<p>“Whoa, non-run-of-the mill ECs are good? They hate rural kids.”</p>
<p>“Quirky kids??? Great, they hate high stats kids.”</p>
<p>They took some poor kids? they hate middle class kids. They took some URMs? They hate white kids. They took some middle class kids? They hate rich kids.</p>
<p>On and on and on. Black and white, polarized thinking. </p>
<p>YOu know who I wouldn’t want in my school if I were an adcom? People who think like that.</p>
<p>“They know it when they see it, but they admitted they couldn’t say what “it” was.”</p>
<p>Yes, and if simkin’s D chooses her school not knowing what she’s looking for, until she sees it- we’ve come full circle. </p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter Simpkin! She’s got some great choices!</p>
<p>It’s also depressing how people seem to think that the author of the chicken nuggets line had absolutely nothing else in his application. He had to have high stats, well-written essays (including one responding to one of Amherst’s supplemental prompts) and some sort of other activities besides studying in order to make it into that pile of 1000 or so apps culled from the initial 8000 received. Yet some people seem to think he’s some sort of low achiever who wowed the committee with a bizarre one-liner to leapfrog over a whole bunch of vals. </p>
<p>And simpkin, congratulations! They’re all wonderful schools, though in our family we happen to think most highly of Tufts. ;)</p>
<p>My son was rejected today by Harvard, Cornell and wait-listed at Brown.</p>
<p>My son is the same amazing, smart, generous and wonderful young man right now that he was before he got those results.</p>
<p>I still believe what I posted before-I don’t know how these schools decide who to accept and who not to. I do know that he had everything it takes to be a serious applicant for each one of these schools. We will never know why he didn’t make the cut but I will never take these decisions as indictment that he isn’t good enough-he is plenty good enough-just not what these schools were looking for this year.</p>
<p>That’s just the way it is.</p>
<p>I hope and believe someday they will interview an admission counselor at one of the above-mentioned schools and they will laugh and say they rejected a future Pulitzer Prize winner! ;)</p>
<p>Nobody has asked the really important questions yet.</p>
<p>Barbeque, honey, hot mustard, or sweet 'n sour sauce?<br>
Would you like fries with that?</p>
<p>simpkin, something told me things wre going to go your way.</p>
<p>Pepper, you’re absolutely right. Your ds will bloom where planted. 
But it’s OK to be sad tonight if you want.</p>
<p>Not meaning to be insensitive to anyone waiting on or just receiving admission news. Best to you and your families!</p>
<p>I’m just on a roll with the Chicken McNuggets as I’ve both eaten and served far too many in my time. Can you tell where I worked in high school?</p>
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<p>Very well said, garland. </p>
<p>And my kids certainly didn’t know what they wanted in a college until we toured a whole bunch – they knew it when they saw it. It wasn’t some objective spreadsheet of having to be X miles from a city and a student body of Y size and a peer group with Z stats. There were certain things that were deal-breakers … and certain things that they didn’t think they wanted, but appeared more intriguing upon a closer look. It’s EXACTLY the same. Exactly.</p>
<p>You made me laugh. :)</p>
<p>Gee, this thread is moving quickly…
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<p>Just had an international exchange student as a house guest who applied to Cambridge. She told us about the process. There was one personal essay, but she said it is highly proscribed. Basically, one discusses one’s specific interest in the area to which one is applying to study and what one has done to prepare for same. None of these creative prompts. The process is largely based on grades and O-levels. She qualified for an interview, had to take a university-administered exam for her major, and having gotten through those hoops, was then invited back to take yet another subject exam which was notoriously difficult. All of this for a BSc.</p>
<p>The adcoms critique the students and we critique the adcoms. Based on our superficial 7 minute look into their world it apears many of us (myself included) feel they do an equally superficial analysis in their task. Hopefully reality is not so.</p>
<p>Wow Calmom. I must not only take you to task I have to nearly flame you for this.</p>
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<p>This was in response to the notion that a parent stated that a kid in East Mooselick, Nebraska might only be able to do EC’s at school or church. First, the KID wasn’t making an excuse. Second, if they don’t want a kid like that, then I wouldn’t want to attend that school either. What a complete b.s. argument you make! It’s total b.s. that EVERY obstacle to a kid in that situation is an excuse, or something to be overcome. Gee, I wonder how he’ll overcome the fact that his parents are farmers, or that he’s a Lutheran, or a Catholic, instead of a Hindu, or Jew. C’mon. You can do much better than that Calmom. Your post is offensive.</p>
<p>And further, they in fact ARE turning down Pulitzer winners. Check out Margie Lundstrom of the Sacramento Bee, Pulitzer winning journalist. School. The award winning J-School at the University of Nebraska. Sorry Harvard, you missed on that one. LOL</p>
<p>I think you’re understating the resourcefulness of Nebraskans, myself. </p>
<p>And to JHS’ point about the young Republican having a better shot at Oberlin than the indie-rock flowy-hair girl … I wouldn’t underestimate the power of being a farm kid whose maturity is demonstrated by getting up at 5 am to milk the cows or who participates in 4H and the like. Why wouldn’t that be of interest? It’s called a breath of fresh air.</p>
<p>The admissions committee process is naturally subjective. Luckily, there are enough spots in college admissions, I would say, for most qualified student to get a chance. It might not be at Harvard, but you don’t need to go to the most famous school to succeed.</p>
<p>For those who critique the admissions process, what do you think is a better alternative. One alternative I can think of is to simply list students by a national test score and say the first X are accepted, the next Y are weightlisted, and the rest are rejected (That’s how my parents had it in Central Europe). Alternatively, you can create an admissibility function based on scores, grades, etc and use a similar list method. You could even add a subjective “component” to the function. Another is to guarantee admission liberally, but actively try to weed out students during college with coursework/exams. I am not saying these methods are worse than the current, I am just pointing out alternatives. </p>
<p>A suggestion I have to the perennial issues about SES, race, etc., is to blind the adcoms. Create a national clearinghouse for college admissions that receives applications from students. This way, applications can also be standardized (with individual colleges still being able to add “supplements” as the do in the Common App) with only one application necessary. The clearinghouse gives the application a unique number and passes it on to colleges, with adcoms being unaware of the applicants identities until they are accepted or denied.</p>
<p>Not sure I disagree Pizzagirl. But you might have missed the point. If I’m a ranch kid, and have EC’s available at church or school in a town of 2,000. Am I going to be thinking “o.m.g, what about my college resume? How will i ever explain away my lame EC’s?” No of course not. They do the best they have with what’s available. They don’t think about being lame on EC’s, and having to borrow their friend’s motorcycle in order to volunteer at the halfway house on the Indian reservation which is 3 hours north. They just help put the new addition on the Methodist Church, read to kids at preschool, and captain the cross country team. If an adcom is thinking “what a lame kid…i can’t believe he didn’t figure out a way to commute 3 hours a day…what an excuse maker.” Then I say…the adcom deserves to see that kid excel somewhere else.</p>
<p>^Mitch–my kid was the outer-ring urban neighborhood version of that kid you described. Lower middleclass school, no paid for EC’s, etc. His out of the box happened right in the box. He did what made sense in the context of HIS world–including his job as the sexton of the Methodist church we belonged to. He got into an Ivy being that kid.</p>