We don’t know that. Nothing will stop them from admitting you if they really want you.
It’s based on institutional need
I saw a similar post on the Trinity page “I don’t want to discourage anyone but if you are an international student, you need a substantial amount of finaid, and you applied RD, then you made the wrong move. It should be common knowledge by now that most int’l students at Trinity applied ED, and many of them got 2200+ on the SAT. Compared to most people who pay full, yes your stats maybe are better. But in the strong pool of international students who all have stellar records and all need fullride-ish finaid, you are, urmm, just another applicant. Why accept RD applicants who can change their minds when you can accept ED ones with similar stats? FYI, 19/20 students from my country applied ED!” so I was just a bit worried.
Now see 3 flaws here:
- This is from a Trinity thread, every college is different and has different strengths of their applicant pools.
- Colleges do not deny EVERY SINGLE PERSON that's international RD asking for much aid; they need evidence that they they have a good percentage of international students at their school (to get more international applicants), and doing that will just drop that percentage.
- The person that wrote that, is he/she on the admissions committee? I don't think so. Because that is just an awful thing for admission officer to say to applicants and may probably be tracked down. That person is just inferring from his/her own personal experience or from a few other people's experience.
Let me even come down harder. I have a friend who applied to Tufts (TUFTS) as an RD (NOT ED!) international student asking for A LOT of aid. Guess what? He’s in his 3rd year there now…
It really isn’t our place to conclude on what goes on in the admissions office. All we can do is guess and hope for the best really. That’s all.
That’s really reassuring to hear! I was pretty much dissapointed after reading that.
Yeah don’t be. Just be hopeful and we’ll see in March.
@munit123 preach that comment
Look we’ve all done everything we could’ve. We can’t change our colleges now. Neither can we control what the outcome is. Everybody on this group should know that they are qualified and deserving.
Nobody should lose hope at this point.
@AstralWanderer If it helps, I’m someone from across the border stuck in the same situation. So I’m here for you.
Fingers crossed.
Sounds like a lot of you are international students. Just curious, why do you want to study in the U.S.? Do you have more affordable options in your own countries? I wish we did here.
(public) education is free here in Greece so all Greek universities have no tuition fees, they even provide the books for free. the examination (Panhellenic Exams) to enter these Universities is highly competitive, especially for Universities in Athens. the University (&the area) you’ll get it depends solely on your scores in these Exams. Also note that every University offers study on just one department, so you basically have to know what you want to study by 17-18 - the idea of “switching majors” is pretty much non-existent here. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Greek University that provides a neuroscience degree at the undergraduate level and this is the field I want to pursue as I’m so passionate about it. So I decided to apply to US colleges because I found that only they offer everything I’m looking for - most importantly financial aid to international students. Now, since the possibility of getting such a big amount of financial aid as what we need is so low, I’m also preparing for the Panhellenic Exams, so that, in case I’m not admitted to any college with enough aid, I can study here in Athens, hopefully Biology, which is the closest field to what I’m interested in. Yet again, the University of Biology in Athens is hard to get into, so I still have to do my best.
So basically the reason I chose the US is because universities there offer neuroscience degrees & financial aid to internationals!
Sorry for the essay-long response haha! Hope that was informative!
@neuromaniac. Thank you for the answer. Some schools in the U.S. look mainly at test scores, though that is becoming pasee all around. But here we do have the advantage that good schools do more of a “holistic review”, meaning they take the whole person into account. We all know of many kids who were great test takers, or nerd types, but have no social skills. They aren’t necessarily the ones who are successful in life. You have to have people skills, common sense, street smarts, the ability to think outside of the box, come up with creative solutions, have varied interests that develop your brain in different ways, etc. So I think that is what schools want to see as well. I have a brother-in-law who is wildly successful. Yes, he went to a good college, but he is not what you would think of as an academic type by any means. But he has a winning personality, makes everyone feel special, is very funny, and is great at golf and tennis. So over the years, he made all his business deals on the golf course or tennis courts. Now he’s in charge of a large commercial real-estate company.
@sca1999 That’s incredible! And thanks for your word.
@sca1999 that’s so interesting! thanks for your input.
Does anyone know what day RD decisions come out? Also, how are you notified (mail, e-mail, portal)? I can’t seem to find an admissions portal on their website. Thanks!
@colleger111 RD decisions will be released sometime from mid-March to late-March; there is no specific date announced yet. Skidmore doesn’t use an applicant portal, and they would contact you via email if any application material is missing from your file.
If you are a domestic applicant, you will get your decision via post mail. If you are an international applicant, you will get yours by email.
About a month left to RD decisions. The class of 2021 is estimated to have about 200 students now, so Skidmore is expecting about 450-500 more students to enroll to fill up their class. Let’s hope for the best.
oh my god i don’t know if i can wait for another month!!!
The time will pass anyway - Earl Nightingale
munit123; Are you sure about that 200 number? Skidmore historically accepts 50% of its entering class via ED. Last year, the exact number was 49%.
http://www.skidmore.edu/admissions/facts/class-profile.php
With the 2021 class size estimated at 660-700, and with both ED period now past, the expected current number of accepted students would be in the 330-350 range, thereby leaving about 340 remaining open spots.
That makes it tough odds for the remaining RD applicants. Assuming the same 50% ED acceptance rate as in years past, that means that only approx. 700 of the 10,000 total applicants have been decided upon during the ED process. So, there are still about 9300 prospective RD students fighting for the remaining 340 spots. Assuming a typical 25% RD acceptance yield, that means that only around 1360 of the remaining RD applicants will receive good news. Very tough odds indeed at a 14.6% acceptance rate.
Brilliant!