Interviews, inference from recommendations.
He was waitlisted at CWRU. That was the most unexpected as I don’t believe they discriminate against the Asian American demographic nor the science leaning applicant.
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That’s my point. No one should assume it was an easy admit.
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CWRU likes to see a lot of demonstrated interest. Does he want to go there?
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Did he apply ED1 or 2?
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'Second tier 'as per US News rankings.
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No. In retrospect that was a mistake. We also learned close to decision date that Univ of Maryland accepts almost all of its class w early decision. Had we known, we would have never applied there.
CWRU is #44 out of 443 national universities. That’s not second tier.
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Not after being wait listed. They certainly did make it seem w plenty of emails to him and us, even after being waitlisted, that they were eager to take him. Was very annoying.
Exactly. Big picture with 2,800 or so four year colleges, CWRU is likely top 5%.
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He wanted to go there if accepted directly but not if he was waitlisted? That seems…somewhat immature.
If it’s a school that interests him, then he should let them know that he will attend if he gets off the waitlist (if that’s true).
And yes – they shower students with emails etc. Did he open them and attend online activities or visit? Did he show demonstrated interest or are you thinking they were interested because of all the emails? They send them to everyone.
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I totally do “get” those emotions, from his side - and also yours!
It doesn’t really matter that one can “rationalize” it.
The answers is:
His success (and your’s) is having built-up the work-ethics, the ability to juggle academics with music and sports - without “dropping the ball” (pun intended).
For being fully prepared for a great college career, managing challenging/advanced courses, graduating with the good results needed for entry into grad school!
I realize it won’t help with the current “hurt” - but the answer truly lies in the “long view”.
His was not at all “wasted effort”!
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No, CWRU was not a top choice. He did show some interest but when you are applying to 20 schools, there is only so much you can do. It is a crazy process. Probably some people do a better job of demonstrating interest.
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Everyone works hard.
And if your kid isn’t in a favored demographic, it’s insanely hard to get into top colleges.
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I seriously doubt this works these days. After May 1st, schools look at what their unfilled institutional needs are - and then pick applicants off of the waitlist that satisfy those needs. I don’t believe they are going to read the tens of thousands of WL LOCIs that are sent in. Instead, say for example they figure they need another applicant from Montana - they’ll look up the 5 waitlisted applicants from Montana, read their profile and LOCI and make a pick. It simply wouldn’t be efficient for them to do it any other way.
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If I may - allow for the possibility that they truly DID want to admit him, but were (wrongly) assuming he might enroll elsewhere.
Maybe it’s worthwhile setting hurt feelings aside and take a look at what they offer.
Should be source of pride instead, and viewed as confirmation that he is a very desirable candidate - they just thought they’d never “get” him.
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You’re probably right. 
AP exams are in part a scam too. It is nice that it means the material is taught at a more advanced level but in reality, at least in the natural sciences, all these same courses need to be retaken anyway at college.
At many colleges you can place into higher level courses based on AP exam results. And some colleges will let them count for necessary pre-requisites for a major.
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At the risk of sounding obnoxious, many top and second tier schools I believe do not let you opt out and make you take their own exam to place out. And the equivalent class at these colleges is more rigorous than the AP coursework, particularly if you are taking the course for prospective majors, not the watered down, minimally mathematical version for premeds or humanities majors. At least that is what I think, I could be wrong.
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