<p>There is a 4 year age difference between my two D's...but they have similar interests and may end up applying to some of the same schools and may be candidates for the same merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Do schools have a way of tracking this or even remembering who has applied and turned them down in the past. Can it effect my younger D's chances?</p>
<p>I am talking about merit aid (not financial aid.) And I am talking about music and art scholarships that often required auditions and interviews. Some were in the $15K range.</p>
<p>I know that being sisters may act as a positive for the school my older D is currently attending...but I wonder if it will be a detriment to my younger daughter for the schools her sister rejected. </p>
<p>With hundreds (if not thousands) of applicants every year, I can guarantee you that no school is continuing to keep records on students who were accepted but chose to go elsewhere – much less spending any time trying to match those students with younger siblings who might apply years later!</p>
<p>Your older D’s experience will have absolutely no impact on your younger D’s chances.</p>
<p>I also know many kids who go to schools that their siblings rejected. My two younger ones included colleges on their lists that their siblings rejected acceptance offers. Not an issue at all in my opinion. Never even occurred to me that this would be an issue.</p>
<p>There was only one school that both my sons applied to. S2 was accepted, even though S1 rejected their acceptance offer (including merit aid). I don’t think schools would bother to use that info in their decision-making. BTW, S2 rejected them too.</p>
<p>I would not be so sure – it may, IMO, depend on the particular schools, especially their size (smaller schools more likely to pay attention).</p>
<p>Some schools do track the yield (rate of acceptees enrolling) from particular high schools. If the high school has a pattern of kids applying, being accepted, and not going, it can hurt future applicants. </p>
<p>I do know personally of a family in which a younger sibling applied to several of the same highly selective schools as her older brother. Older brother was rejected by the top Ivies but accepted at one of the top LACs. He ended up turning the LAC down to go to another university. His sister applied to a couple of top Ivies as well as that same LAC and was accepted at the top Ivies but waitlisted at the selective LAC that had accepted her brother. It may just be the way things worked that year, but it was hard for me to understand why the sis was accepted by both Y and H and not the LAC. I had to wonder if the LAC figured by putting her on the waitlist they could “test” her commitment to attending. She declined the waitlist spot.</p>
<p>In any event, all you can do is apply and see what happens.</p>
<p>Actually, I’m pretty sure many schools keep track of who they accept (and whether they turn them down or not).</p>
<p>When my little sister got turned down at her top choice school (a school that had benefited from large amounts of financial support from my grandfather and my mother, in addition to my grandfather’s company–and both of them were alums) and my mom and grandfather went to speak to them about it with the admissions office. Things were going great until they pulled up my sister’s name in a computer and saw me in there as well. I had turned that school down despite a generous merit offer. The admissions officer basically said “I can see that your family is not committed to our school since your son chose not to go here” or something to that effect, and ended the conversation. </p>
<p>In fairness, we were only one year apart, but still that was a pretty shocking story for me to hear.</p>
<p>They may have only kept track of us because our mom’s an alum or something else, but… geez.</p>
<p>Wow, lizzardfire, that stinks that your sister didn’t get accepted because of that. It seems like such a ridiculous thing to do, as you are both different individuals and are looking for different things in schools. It sounds like the school you rejected was a little (sarcasm included) bitter!</p>
<p>Many institutions do track those who reject admissions decisions via high school, area and even families. However, that does not necessarily mean a negative decision, especially if the school looks at applications holistically, and the sibling expresses a genuine interest in attending that particular school. Having said that, if two family members were to reject an offer of admissions, that may increase the chances that adcom would view future family applicants with increased speculation.</p>
<p>Maybe that is why they ask for the name and age of all siblings on the application and here I thought it was to send out more of those darn post cards that are filling up our mail box.</p>
<p>I also wondered about the effects of my second son applying to the same college list as his older brother. They overlapped on two state flagship colleges in VA and in one top ten research university. The two flagship state colleges offered second son the exact honors admissions turned down by older brother…and one even upped the offer to the top honors track limited to few students. The research institution admitted first son with zero merit dollars and admitted second son with a full merit offer. The two sons has similar profiles but no doubt different personal qualities, references etc.</p>
<p>I think we shouldn’t have worried. Make sure your second child visits the colleges and that their essays reflect personal, direct, and current contact with each campus and in general…I think such reviews are fair to siblings.</p>
<p>I know a family where the eldest was accepted by, but turned down, the Ivy alma mater of the parents. The next two kids in the family were respectively rejected and waitlisted, and the waitlisted one was accepted at H & P.</p>
<p>I agree with the posters that said it depends on the size of the school. My older kids both applied, were accepted and then declined the offer to attend one of our state schools. I don’t think it mattered. However, both were also accepted at a small private that the oldest ended up attending and the second declined. The admissions counselor was very surprised since the merit offer was quite generous. We’ll see what happens when #3 applies there next year.</p>
<p>I guess DD will be a test of this in the fall. She is applying to several of the same PNW LACs that her brother turned down two years ago despite generous offers. I’m hoping that they are used to competing for the same students - but I guess we will see…</p>
<p>I have been of the opinion that this is bc the school might also like to access how much aid a student might need in future years. For example, if there are 2 children in the family and brother Johnny will be a rising senior in college (when sister Mary starts), there might be only one year that there will be 2 in college at the same time with an EFC of 15k, and they can then anticipate that IF Johnny graduates within a year assuming he remains on target for graduation, that applicant Mary, the applicant’s EFC will double to 30k if income and assets remain relatively steady.</p>
<p>I know someone who had 3 children who were going to be in college at the same time, and the youngest applied to a safety school that should have been a shoe-in. This school has a very tiny endowment. She was rejected. I cannot help but think the rejection was bc there would be 3 in college (all private schools, btw) at the same time for 2 years. Family was a middle class income family. JMO.</p>
<p>SCUalum my DS will likely be in that position as well but 4 years from now. I can’t imagine there will he hard feelings at Linfield if he ends up applying since they are holding DDs file and merit award for her in case she changes her mind</p>
<p>I’m curious what your D’s ultimate list is but don’t want to hijack this thread.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose two older kids applied to Tufts, were accepted and turned it down. Their third child was accepted as well (the third time was a charm–he’s there!) I don’t think any of us even thought that the previous kids’ rejections were going to be an issue.</p>
<p>However, one thing we all should remember is that admissions directors are human too, and it is certainly a possibility that one may remember a sibling rejecting a school and take some umbrage. You can get all types in any job, and someone who looks at things that way is not being professional, but, yes it could happen. Individual character flaws like that can always crop up and affect a situation.</p>
<p>I have heard schools lament about large numbers of their students declining offers from particular colleges that accept a lot of their students. I have read that it can color the admissions offices of some colleges when this sort of thing happens. Shouldn’t but could. A bad experience with a school, a family, a student could color the atmosphere for the next student who applies from the same source. </p>
<p>However, I have seen multiple cases of kids accepted to schools their siblings declined and have not heard that this is an issue even regarding some pretty small colleges. </p>
<p>We went through this with high school selections many times. All of my kids turned down their acceptances to a particular high school until this last one who chose it. Still each were accepted and some even offered scholarship money. In this case, they knew that the siblings rejected the school for a rival one, but still all was done fairly.</p>
<p>Although siblings are not considered legacies in terms of admissions at most colleges, a tip is often given if a sibling is at the college. So the question about where the siblings are going to school is relevant in that way. It does not tell the admissions office which colleges the sibling declined. </p>
<p>At some selective colleges, siblings are given a pretty big preference so that is a something they would want to know. I have never heard of a case where someone suspected a rejection because of too many kids at college at the same time. With our private school history, my kids would have been rejected a lot if that were the case.</p>
<p>I think it would be extraordinarily unfair of a college to reject a student based on his or her older sibling’s choice. They are two separate people, with different interests and needs, and the younger sibling has virtually no control of which college their older sibling chooses. It’s like a reverse legacy, but even more unfair.</p>
<p>Halie, a lot of things are unfair about the process. I don’t think that an admissions office tracks siblings to use that info. What a pain that would be. However, if an adcom remembers a sibling and there was something unsavory about the process, I could see where that could affect the student applying. Still could be unfair, but things like that could happen. On a widespread basis, I don’t think it matters a whit.</p>