<p>Out of curiosity, if one is rejected from a college, is there a way to find out why? I've heard of people calling the college and the college saying that it was their grades, but I don't know for sure what the protocol for this sort of thing are.</p>
<p>Oh, and feel free to talk about personal experience.</p>
<p>Yes, you can call. But I have a feeling they tell everyone the same thing. It's either test scores or grades, usually. Or the universal, "We don't feel you are quite right for our school."</p>
<p>I tried it with NYU Stern w/ the rep for my school and he said the cliche "we've had a competitive pool this yr for ED with scores in the 1350-1450 range. I'm not saying this is the cutoff, but this is the most competitive range"...basically saying they only look at SAT's as the main factor. w/ev</p>
<p>There is a slim possibility that they might say something that you could then use to read between the lines. This might happen if you were a borderline case and the person you get on the phone is actually familiar with your application. The usually response, though, is a boilerplate remark about how competitive all of the applicants were this year.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend that you not worry about it, however. It is naive to think that an adcom committee knows anything at all about you as a person based upon your application even if it did include a short essay. They rejected the application, not you.</p>
<p>Well I have been posting my experience on some posts...this is the last hopefully( well no not really). I just called ISU today and I found out I was waitlisted. I really don't know how to deal with this because I know it's a red herring for whats to come in the very near future. Right now I feel awful, like really awful.</p>
<p>ISU could be a lot of things including Illinois/Indiana/Idaho/Iowa State University. Are you sure you meant waitlisted? If you applied early decision, they may have deferred you into regular decision which isn't nearly as bad as being waitlisted.</p>
<p>while admissions offices are often reluctant to deal directly with candidates, often they are willing to talk to your counselor.</p>
<p>I do mean Illinois State and yes I did apply early admission. I may have misheard them over the phone so I'l see what it says when I get the letter.</p>
<p>Indiana because of my Cumulative GPA. Didn't even consider ACT, ECs, or teacher recs. I called them up about it.</p>
<p>blue147: You could have been right the first time. I don't think that Illinois State really has ED, but rather a priority filing deadline where they make the decision early provided you file early.</p>
<p>If you were waitlisted, I would contact them again and ask what percent of people waitlisted are eventually accepted and whether you can improve your chances by sending them your mid-year senior grade report or by retaking the SAT (they have late registration up until Jan 4th). At any rate, there is a saying that almost everyone is at their first choice by Xmas of freshman year. Good Luck. In most cases, being waitlisted is the end.</p>