<p>hindoo:
I think your negative view of the Washu marketing effort is understandable. No offense taken. However, I think my positive view of the same thing is also understandable, given that it helped my S find the college that is right for him. </p>
<p>Where we live in So. CA, Washu is not at all well known except among private prep schools, which my son does not attend. I think only one other student from our high school went there, about three years before my son. People around here really know nothing about the college, what it offers, where it's located, what the campus is like.... so for Washu to appeal to students here, officials have to find some way of getting the word out. I guess they decided that the mailings work for them.</p>
<p>sharpielove: very well said.</p>
<p>wonder123: Never mind. You are simply never going to "get it" that being admitted to HYPSM does not mean that someone is guaranteed admission to Washu or any other so-called lower-ranked university. College admissions doesn't work that way.</p>
<p>eleph--I also don't get the "over-qualified" for WashU argument. It seems ridiculous to me.</p>
<p>jazzymom--I live in Kentucky, which is right next door to Missouri, plus we had a nextdoor neighbor who attended WashU in the 1990s. That's undoubtedly why I was familiar with WashU, so your point is well taken. ... By the way, I'm from Southern California--grew up there (Upland/Ontario area). My daughter has also applied to Pomona, but her top choices remain in the northeast and northern midwest. ... My niece (in Tehachapi, CA) considered WashU several years ago, but didn't apply. I'm not sure if this was because she didn't know enough about it, or what, but she ended up at Wellesley. Maybe all of you other posters are right and I'm wrong about the WashU style of marketing itself. Perhaps I'm just cranky.</p>
<p>Hindoo said, "The assumption that smart, quality students won't know WashU exists because of its obscure St. Louis location doesn't work for me. WashU is an extremely high-profile school in a very sizable, well-known city that has a lot to offer."</p>
<p>Hindoo,I have to disagree with some of your comment. Wash U has become a high profile school only in the last 10 to 15 years. I love the midwest, especially the people, but it does not have the appeal of the more well known cities and their schools on the east or west coast. I'm also from St. Louis and it's a very nice city but it doesn't hold a candle to Boston or New York City or San Francisco. New Haven is another story but at least it is a train ride to NYC or Boston. The Wash U campus and the surrounding area on the other hand is as beautiful as any of the top campuses and even more so than some.</p>
<p>In Minnesota, just two states north of Missouri, most people do not know Wash U, so it's not even widely known in the midwest. </p>
<p>Regarding mailings, my son who is a senior at Wash U received mail often but I wouldn't call it a bombardment. My daughter, now a junior in high school, gets about the same. Judging from my daughter's mail compared to my son's, I think some of the mailings are geared to SAT or ACT scores as well as the high school attended. My daughter is attending a different high school than my son and the letters she gets often mention the academic quality of her public high school. My son's h.s. was just as good if not better academically but they had few kids applying to or attending top schools. I also am guessing that Wash U targets by zipcode, looking for parents with the ability to pay full fare. They may not filter for ACT or SAT scores in those mailings which might explain students with no chance of getting in being targeted. </p>
<p>Regarding the waitlist, the universities with a history of excellence and longtime national reputations located in desirable east and west coast locations don't have to work so hard to get students from all over the country. For Wash U, extending an invitation to a highly qualified east or west coaster is a bit of a crapshoot. I would venture to guess that more of the top 10% applicants that are waitlisted come from the east and west coasts than from the midwest.</p>
<p>Thank you, thank you Wash U for sending all of those glossy brochures to my son! He is now a junior at Wash U and it has been a wonderful journey. Most everybody he goes to school with absolutely LOVES Wash U. The seniors dred leaving! This college is a jewell---say what you want about their marketing technques, but I am sooooo thankful that they sent those glossy brochures, and so is he!!!!!</p>
<p>You're a real class act, missmolly. I'm sure you're quite proud of yourself as well. Hopefully, your son spells better than you are. ... See, Jazzymom--this is the type of person I was talking about. The type that really raises my ire and looks to be hurtful and insulting for no apparent reason.</p>
<p>I don't think missmolly was trying to be hurtful or insulting. I too am glad they sent the brochures, otherwise I never would have heard of the school. I would take the fact that you got so many mailings as evidence that WashU really did like you, and if it had been a different roll of the dice, you could have just as easily got in. I don't think it's really the fault of WashU's marketing, but the whole seemingly random decisions that are the college selection process when you have a room full of people that have to decide who (of the roughly equivalent thousands of applicants with similar stats) to admit.</p>
<p>Perhaps Wash U has become more difficult to get in than Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Yale. So many students accepted by Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Yale are waitlisted or rejected by Washu. This sure will make wash u community happy. If one act can both increase yield and make students and parents happy, why not do it?</p>
<p>I don't think WashU waitlists HYPS admits so that it can make itself happier. What, like, the Dean of Admissions will pat everyone on the back and say, "Well, we sure showed those Ivy admits who wears the pants now!" The waitlist as yield protection? Sure. As a way to gloat about some illusory victory in its vendetta against the Ivies? Not so much.</p>
<p>No, I'm not bitter, although I did admit in post #22 to being cranky. I've encountered some thoughtful and interesting people on this thread, but have been angered by by the lack of sensitivity in others. ...
Eleph--You are being entirely too rational to suit my mood right now! Of course, you're probably right.</p>
<p>
[quote]
That's just a sampling. There's plenty more of the same hogwash. So what are the waitlisters to take from this? That they don't have the ability to succeed, that they're not smart, friendly, outgoing, passionate, or "special" enough, that they only "dabble" in their ECs for the sake of their resume, that they are fake and ungenuine, that they are dull, stats-only kids incapable of contributing to the "vibrancy" of the college community. What a bunch of bull! It's not WashU I resent, but the arrogant spate of posters who think nothing of denigrating kids who are already dealing with a rejection of sorts.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Since you included a quote from me in there, I'll get in on this. To characterize the typical WashU student is not to say that those not accepted lack those qualities. Your logic is incorrect. On the contrary, there are very few slots in the freshman class at WashU; it is highly unlikely, and indeed impossible that only 4000/22000 applicants are smart, outgoing, and friendly. I can't help it if you draw improper conclusions from something I or others have said, but I would recommend thinking more carefully in the future before being derogatory towards another member.</p>
<p>Brand--You're 100% correct. It's highly unlikely that only 4,000 of the 22,000applicants to WashU are smart, outgoing, and friendly. Or, for that matter, special, passionate, genuine, and vibrant. Others, however, seem to disagree. Read back over some of the quotes I provided. Whether intentional or not, they come across as condescending and/or insensitive. I believe my conclusions and logic were right on the money.</p>
<p>I can understand that you are upset by the comments of other posters (those quoted) and can see how you've come to your conclusion based on some of their posts, but my post was not meant as you took it. That is the point I am trying to convey: my comment about WashU students says absolutely nothing about those rejected. If you or anyone else took it that way, I am sorry, but I think you should not draw conclusions so hastily; certainly within the context of my post, it is clear that I meant nothing of the sort and I really don't appreciate my comment being grouped with others and labeled as "hogwash."</p>
<p>Accepted. For the record, I see that attitude as well. In response, many waitlistees seem to be very vocal about their anger towards the school, and in my opinion, they have good reason to be.</p>
<p>Yes--As I said earlier in the thread, people should give them a break. It's disappointing to be waitlisted rather than accepted and some people just need to work through their feelings about this, and then move on. As I intend to do right now. Goodnight, all.</p>
<p>I'm sorry that you are going through this right now. I didn't realize that your daughter was waitlisted. I was reading this thread and another one off and on so I apologize if my comments sounded insensitive. I really know how you feel because we went through the same thing 4 years ago with my son, although the waitlisted college was not Wash U. We were very surprised by the outcome even though we had read all the books and thought we knew how competitive it was. </p>
<p>Sometimes, parents on CC can be unintentionally insensitive because they know so much about the process from a rational point of view. Four years ago one person said to me, "you sound bitter" and I replied much the same as you did, that getting over a loss is a process. It's not neat and tidy, no matter how much we know, and waitlisting just makes it more messy. It is still a very emotional process no matter how much "you learn to love thy safety."</p>
<p>Someone already mentioned this but I'll say it again, there seem to be two kinds of applicants who come here to vent about Wash U, one like yourself who has a daughter who really wants to attend and the other is the applicant who sees Wash U as a safety for HYPS. They get indignant when a school they see as inferior turns them down. It is the reaction to the latter that elicits defensive comments from parents and they are not directed to you.</p>
<p>Hindoo has made very honest and heartfelt observations about the pain that high achieving, hardworking students feel when they are not accepted--at WashU or any college. The pain and frustration are real and I think most parents feel the hurt almost as much as their child. I think for many real good kid setbacks have been few and far beween in their first 18 or so years. I do not think there is anything other than time that can help them deal with this. Although everybody can speculate about why and analyze it to death that will not chnage what happened. I will say that mallomarcookie apears to have a pretty healthy approach to the whole thing. Go in knowing that it is a high stakes, low probabillity "game" ,if you will. Find schoools you like but try not to get too emotionally attached. Do not think that anything is guaranteed. Stay confident and try to go with the flow. I might add, I do think it is important to only apply to places you really want to go. Like others I feel really bad for those who really wanted to go especially if some of their other places are long shots. For them I hope the waitlist opens.</p>