A bit late, but got accepted for CS OOS with honors college.
ACT: 35
SAT: 1570
GPA: 4.0uw, 4.5w
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What school had an AO comment on an applicantâs essay??
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A deferral or denial can be for a variety of reasons. Itâs not fair to discourage many on this thread who otherwise had excellent stats and package by implying that their essay was not good.
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I apologize if I was adding to the stress. That was not my intent. You are generally correct that there could be a variety of reasons for denial. But I think things are more complex. A kid from our school did a study on many years of data of kids applying to colleges from our school. His conclusion was that excluding the top 10% and the bottom 20% of the kids, the middle 70% of outcomes are tightly determined by grades and testing. For the top and the bottom a whole lot of other factors come into play. Essay is a key factor at the very top. The same essay may work at one school and not at others. For example, the same common app essay did not work at Stanford. Last year another friendâs kid was denied at Yale EA, and with the same essay, the application worked at Harvard RD. More subjective at the âtopâ. There is less reason to seriously stress.
I think itâs impossible to hypothesize on institutional balancing of a class. Yes it could be the essay, but it could just as easily be geographic diversity, or needing a tuba player for marching band, to having too many CS majors.
Popular schools have limited number of seats. They turn away highly qualified applicants every cycle. It isnât personal. Thatâs why everyone tells students to have a well balanced list of schools that contain true matches and safeties. Too many students look at the overall acceptance rate, and not those for their intended program.
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Donât disagree at all. This is just our lived experience.
I didnât know the school would write a letter to ask students to commit. I guess those students are very special.
Amen! All the speculating increases the stress of college applications. There is no âperfectâ application. There are so many factors to decisions BEYOND personal achievement statistics. As I have said (somewhere) before, the committee on the other side of every application is trying to make the best decision they can with all the factors they are working within. Additionally, there is no âperfect fitâ schoolâŠeven if with all of oneâs heart they believe that there is. Sometimes, âunanswered prayersâ are the best blessing ever given.
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I donât think the kids are special. The school probably doesnât write a letter if it is a large public like Purdue. If it is a smaller private school, they really care about converting every one of their acceptances into matriculations. I think it is pretty normal. My son got his decision in mid Dec but did not commit until April 26th or something. So they send a letter.
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Not true at all. There is no way to know if the rest of the application package would have gotten you in otherwise, unless someone from AO gives you insider information
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Still canât figure out how to edit typos 
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Agree on the fit issue. Essays are a major determining factor but not the only one. Tough to get in the minds of the admissions committee.
For post edits, I think CC restricts based on upon when the account was created?
Admission is by unanimous vote of the AC. The dean of admissions at U Chicago said they allow upto 1 dissents in the vote, and that places like Harvard / Princeton need unanimous consent.
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They donât make calls for normal academic candidates. But they make physical calls for kids that fit particular needs â e.g., sports / music. My sonâs friend was strong in academics. But Stanford called him personally because he was a Trumpet player. They really wanted him. If you are a generic CS kid, nobodyâll bother to call you in person.
Quite a lot of Princeton talk on the Purdue thread! Maybe this could be a separate topic?
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My apologies. That will be the last of it. Thought it is general color on how the process worked. I can just delete all of them tomorrow.
I appreciate your insights and would be interested in a separate thread 
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