<p>My child submitted an ED application last week. Today she received a message with her activation code and checked her portal. It says that they received everything: common app, application fee, SAT scores, supplement, school report, and recommendations.</p>
<p>However, the line that indicates the school she is applying to is blank. Then, at the bottom of the screen, there is a box with a note that says, "Please let us know as soon as possible what school you are applying to."</p>
<p>We checked back on her common app, and she quite clearly filled in the school that she is applying to. First it says, are you participating in Cornell's primary/alternate program, and she clicked NO. Then it asks which school she is applying to, and she filled it in.</p>
<p>Obviously, I advised that she call first thing on Monday, and she will. In the meantime, she is freaking out that they will think she did something wrong and that it will be a strike against her.</p>
<p>Has this happened to anyone else? Any Cornell admissions insiders have any insight on why this would happen?</p>
<p>I think the same thing happened to my son last year when applying primary only ED. Granted, the Common App experienced tons of glitches last year, but IIRC, my son contacted someone at both Cornell and Common App. Unfortunately, I do not recall how the situation was resolved, but wanted to let you know that your daughter is not the first to have this issue.</p>
<p>Please assure her that this will not be considered a strike against her. I have not seen the stat for a few years, but perhaps three years ago, as many as 1000 applicants were rejected for not selecting a college. This process is not intuitive on the CA.</p>
<p>Silly question, but I assume she completed the college-specific supplemental essay? (I see supplement in your intro paragraph, so I assume the answer is yes.)</p>
<p>Wait. The two sentences above are contradictory. First you say that it is NOT a strike against her. Then you say that a thousand applicants WERE rejected for not selecting a college. Which is it?</p>
<p>It is reassuring that the same thing happened to your son (and I assume it turned out ok, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading the Cornell forum). I was thinking that it might have something to do with not choosing an alternate college.</p>
<p>And, yes, she did complete the college-specific supplemental essay. She’ll call on Monday. If you happen to speak to your son before then, would you mind asking him how it was resolved? Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. Sometimes I think it was a lot easier in the days of paper applications. No glitches could be ascribed to machine error.</p>
<p>Sorry if I was unclear. Since you said she would be calling Monday, I meant that this temporary message/glitch would not be held against her. Now, if she had never checked her portal and had not seen this message, then yes, she could have been rejected for appearing to apply w/o a college selection. She probably wants to confirm that Cornell received her supplemental/college essay and that they do, indeed, have her listed as applying to A&S or Engineering or whatever.</p>
<p>IIRC, my son had two issues, but also remember that last year was the nightmare CA year where everyone had problems with many parts of CA for every college. Early on, he had considered applying primary & secondary, and then changed his mind, but b/c he had checked primary & secondary, he could not get the CA system to ‘un-do’ this choice. He had to contact CA support to have the primary/secondary box unchecked.</p>
<p>Again, if I am recalling correctly, this school choice originally did not appear on Cornell portal. He contacted someone in admissions for his college and they confirmed that they had the info but some glitch on their end had prevented the info from rolling over to the portal. The person he spoke with had to reach out to a tech person. He may have had to follow up a second day. The info seemed to update in stages and I have no idea why as I would have thought it was an automatic process. Again, may not be realistic to compare to last year’s experience as the new CA format rollout was an absolute debacle in the ED round. Application deadlines were pushed off a week or two, schools started accepting Universal College App, CA servers crashed nightly, etc, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t think your D should receive this message simply b/c she did not select a second choice as that is not a requirement. </p>
<p>And, yes, everything did work out and son is happy at Cornell. I follow this thread b/c I went to Cornell also and have another child at home still. I don’t know if younger child will consider Cornell, but I keep it in my sights.</p>
<p>I think if you call admissions they can help you clarify or rectify the situation. Good thing you checked. Glitches always happen for no specific reason. When my daughter set up her account to check her status, I asked her to please give me the password etc. These seniors seem to be so busy these days that they may not check regularly and then they could find themselves in a situation that can’t be fixed in time. I think a lot of stuff happens as the Nov 1 deadline approaches because the schools and the CA are processing so many applications. Stressful!</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. My daughter called admissions today. They were as perplexed as we were. The woman on the phone said she saw in the application that the school was clearly indicated and had no idea why it didn’t show up in the portal. She said if it wasn’t corrected by the end of the week to call again.</p>
<p>Not a good sign that she is freaking out over something that is so easy to fix. What will happen when there is a less fixable glitch or problem and no parent hovering to make it better?</p>