<p>If your child was just rejected or waitlisted by one of their top choices, what would you like to say to the admissions office but you know you cannot? </p>
<p>Personally, I'd love to know WHY they rejected my daughter. Maybe they had a good reason, and we'll never know.</p>
<p>Dear Wash U,</p>
<p>Yes, we know the competition was fierce. Yes, we know that you waitlisted many,many qualified candidates. But why would you accept someone identical in stats, curriculum, background that had displayed NO DEMONSTRATED INTEREST from the same high school as someone who did? I thought the whole idea of demonstrated interest was to admit someone who ACTUALLY wanted to go???</p>
<p>p.s. I kind of like this thread.....Venting is good for the soul, even if it accomplishes nothing!</p>
<p>"I thought the whole idea of demonstrated interest was to admit someone who ACTUALLY wanted to go???"</p>
<p>Did you see the application? Because unless you did, what the student wrote, or what other steps/demonstrations-of-interest were taken are not known to you. Secondly, since Wash U is private, I assume that recs come into play? So again, unless you saw with your own eyes the competing rec or recs in question, you will not know how that played into it, either.</p>
<p>(P.S. Lots of students say things to their peers & parents that don't work out to be true. Interestingly, I see a lot more down-playing & self under-evaluation than overstatement, at least on the part of the students. LOL, don't know that that always applies to parents. Just as an example, lots of students on CC claim before results come out that they "probably don't have a chance," "didn't show enough interest," etc. The posts after results reveal much, much more about factors that were never revealed ahead of time. At that point it all makes sense, but often that's the first time the student has "gone public" about interest and/or accomplishments, etc.)</p>
<p>Dear admissions officers of widely coveted East Coast LAC: Thanks for w/listing D#1 whom you correctly saw as "Ivy material," as you described her. Merely confirmed that she belonged at said Ivies, where she happily is now. (Sometimes things do happen for a reason, but not always!) :)</p>
<p>epiphany: Yea, I knew someone would say that.....Only the recs and essays are unknown; </p>
<p>Months ago and very recently the student in question told me to my face, "I have no idea why I applied there, I don't have a clue about the school...My college couselor recommended it, so I applied right at the deadline..No intention of visiting or exploring it unless I don't get into my other top choices.....".</p>
<p>No need to respond, certain things will remain unexplainable forever, as the OP states......</p>
<p>Excuse me, epiphany, but this a thread for whining :). Logical explanations only interfere with the cathartic experience.</p>
<p>True, rodney, and sorry, blankmind. :)</p>
<p>Four years ago, we had big tears at our house when D received a waitlist from a bunch of top schools. I have been very tempted to send them a note about her big scholarship win this past fall, one that these schools salivate over, and issue press releases for. I would say "see what you passed up.."</p>
<p>But I won't do it, because the best revenge is doing well without them!</p>
<p>But it is tempting...</p>
<p>What can you say? We think you admissions folks at _____ made a mistake? It's an exercise in futility. The process is fairly subjective, and they don't give any reason why your D/S was rejected, so you have no basis for a discussion.</p>
<p>Better to wait until your student has accomplished something terrific--Nobel prize, Pulitzer, Rhodes Scholar, started Google, etc. This may take a few years, but could be intensely satisfying. Then you can write and point out that they chose to reject someone the likes of Bill Gates ($$$).</p>
<p>To OP, I saw your post in other forumns. My heart goes to your D. ... Don't take it too hard, it was a mess. The school was not prepared to handle this year's increase of applicants. The school may be great, but the gate keepers this year did a lousy job this year, imo.</p>
<p>Take what yayverily said.</p>
<p>yayverily,
I would really like to find my S's 3rd grade teacher and send her his activity/awards resume, along with the final list of schools he's accepted to. She was the most toxic teacher we've ever encountered, and I am forever grateful we got him out of that school before she caused permanent damage. </p>
<p>I've tried googling her, but to no avail. My fond hope is that she gets the gets the school system's newsletter at her home in Florida, and that she reads it.</p>
<p>Have any of you parents heard about what Harvard just did? Getting 1200+ transfer applicants to submit their applications, essays, teachers recommendations, test scores, supplementary materials, etc. And then today, March 20th, 5 days after the deadline, announcing that they are canceling the transfer program for the next two years.</p>
<p>I'd like to more than "sound off" to one of their admissions officers:</p>
<p>What the f***!?! You had to wait until NOW to announce something like this???</p>
<p>Actually, I wish I had taped my son's reply when he got his waitlist card. He said - using his very best Cartman imitation - "***** you, Bowdoin."</p>
<p>The kid's a lot more grounded than I ever was!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Personally, I'd love to know WHY they rejected my daughter. Maybe they had a good reason, and we'll never know.
[/quote]
They turned away more students than they admitted, and they chose the applicants who stood out in some way to them or who had whatever they happened to be looking for when the application crossed their desk. </p>
<p>The highly competitive colleges do not need a "reason" to reject, nor do they look for such reasons. On the contrary, they have far more qualified applicants than they possibly can admit, and they are generally looking for a "good reason" to accept one above the other. That "good reason" can be arbitrary; it can be based on gut sense; and it can be because of some special niche the student fills that another can't. </p>
<p>Anyway... I know that you are understandably disappointed... but they did not "reject" your daughter... they simply did not happen to choose her.</p>
<p>Calmom,</p>
<p>Please look at and read post #5.</p>
<p>It seems to me that applying to a college is a lot like courtship. Only so many can be accepted, and it is perfectly fine for colleges to choose on gut feel.</p>
<p>But to use this analogy, most colleges are being cads. They lead on far too many students, and the level of vulnerability they demand in an applicant is a bit much for a casual date. I have to admit, some of the questions I've seen on applications I'd have trouble talking about if someone hadn't at least bought me a nice dinner beforehand. </p>
<p>So if colleges just looked at academic qualifications, I think students would be OK with an impersonal "you didn't get picked". However, when colleges pretty much explicitly ask for you to reveal your true self to them in an application, I think a specific explanation with the rejection letter might be what politeness demands.</p>
<p>I agree with geomom, when a student spends a good bit of time working on an "specific" essay and open themselves up, for admission or for merit scholarship, it is frustrating to be rejected without explanation.</p>
<p>I think you make a great point, geomom. Kids are supposed to bare their souls in application essays, then when rejected they are supposed to simply accept "Nothing personal."</p>
<p>Maybe the kids do a better job of accepting it than their loved ones.</p>
<p>Well, I'm happier that they didn't give specific reasons. Who wants to read, "You are the upteenth LI girl who wants a humanities major. You're a dime a dozen, baby."</p>
<p>William and Mary had the rudest letter she received, followed by Vassar. Brown had the nicest.</p>
<p>William and Mary basically said, "What made you think you should even apply to our school," even though her stats were above the 75% in all categories.</p>
<p>So I would like to say, "Real people are reading these letters. Have a heart."</p>
<p>I agree completely with that. It's amazing how different the rejection letters are, how some are clumsy or hurtful, and others are respectful and gracious, even when they are saying exactly the same thing. When a college knows it's going to be sending out thousands (if not tens of thousands) of those letters every year, there's no excuse for not having a good one.</p>
<p>I thought all the rejection letters sounded exactly the same. Variations on "too many wonderful applicants" nothing personal. Honestly, we knew our son was in range for all the schools he applied to, but also that his was not a flawless application.</p>