<p>OP- adolescents engage in magical thinking. That’s what makes them challenging to raise but fun to be around.</p>
<p>Although you may have wished for a more welcoming message by the person who answered the phone at the admissions office, you may want to consider that if your S’s call was the 50th or 100th call that’s come in asking the very same question- there is actually a granule of truth buried in what you perceived to be rude. Namely- this year we got thousands of applications from fine candidates and had to turn many of them away. Next year, we will get the same thousands from HS seniors, plus a couple of hundred from kids who were shut out last year and are trying again. The likelihood that you will hit on the secret sauce a second time around- with the only substantive change being a gap year to “mature”, is not likely.</p>
<p>It’s your money and it’s his time. But turning a one time disappointment into a two year ordeal strikes me as lots of pain for low probability of gain.</p>