<p>I just called the Undergraduate Admissions Office today again, and this time the lady gave me a much more hopeful response. She told me that the last batches of decisions were mailed yesterday and that if I had sent in my application prior to the deadline, which I did, I should receive my decision either today or tomorrow and the status on the application would be updated 7-10 days after we got our hard copy. I hope this will give some people hope here.</p>
<p>I got my decision today, and it was a bittersweet relief! It was small envelope with a rejection letter in it stating that “The Admissions Committee has carefully reviewed your application and academic credentials. Unfortunately, we are not able extend you an offer of admission. The university has received a record number of applications this year and the competition for available positions in the class is very keen.”</p>
<p>Boston University also said something like this, but I’m not complaining at all. I took the letter, went into my backyard, and burned it with a match. Best feeling ever and my fourth actual college rejection out of a billion acceptances I got. Now I can go to Rutgers with no problems!</p>
<p>Still have not heard…guess tomorrow is the big day for me?</p>
<p>Good luck man! I hope you get accepted and it’s okay if you don’t since there are tons of great colleges out there you can go to instead. It seems like this is becoming a rising trend with these colleges. The class of 2012 is one of the largest classes the United States has ever had, so colleges like UMass are getting a flood of applicants this year, so I wasn’t surprised with my rejection nor was I angry about it.</p>
<p>Love your positive outlook! I still haven’t heard lmao.</p>
<p>I still haven’t heard yet either- My application was complete by October 1st- so I’m starting to think the worst. I really wonder-would they hold an application that long and then reject??? I really have no idea what to do or think. I guess all I can do is wait</p>
<p>No problem, woah101. I put a lot of hard work into my application to this school, even having a great teacher recommendation and writing an extensive brag sheet and I was also born in Massachusetts, so I thought that might have been able to help me out. Guess not. I’m pretty sure that would have been enough to make up for any academic shortcomings I might have had (got/had a 3.5 GPA, but I didn’t realize I could have raised it just by taking AP Gov, Macro, and just Environmental Science, so oh well. That could have been 5 AP classes total, but I ended up taking classes that I didn’t realize were going to be 20x harder than I ended them to be so it dropped my GPA to a 3.3, which is still good since I actually challenged myself I think). My first college decision was a rejection, but I didn’t let that slow me down and I got into a ton of other colleges right after that, so that’s all that mattered to me, and they were the important ones I needed to get in that I could afford. Rutgers was also a top choice of mine so I was very happy with what I got in the end. If you don’t get in, don’t get discouraged and think that they rejected you personally. You rejected them and are probably going to a better, more affordable school in the end. UMass is kinda expensive in the long run from what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Marshalls44, I hope that you will keep being patient. You’ll hear something by the end of next week in the mail.</p>
<p>You should both look at this article I found. It will all make sense when you take the time to read it.</p>
<p>[Rebecca</a> Joseph: Don’t Let College Rejections Stand in Your Way](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Don't Let College Rejections Stand in Your Way | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>By the way, two of the colleges I got rejected from were schools I didn’t even care about nor did I want to attend either of them. Boston University and UMass Amherst were the only important ones I cared about that I got rejected from, so technically for me, I only got two actual rejections. Wish I had tried Penn State University Park and UDel for fun to make up for those two schools I wasted time with (not BU or UMass).</p>
<p>rseverino512: I applied to URI, Quinnipiac, Suffolk, and Central Conn. I’m going to Central. It’s in-state for me, has my major, and I’ll be saving thousands of dollars. I really like the school. I got accepted to all 4 of the 5 schools I applied to. And already sent my deposit to Central:)</p>
<p>**&& notrichenough: The deposit deadline is May 1, i know. But Central has the problem that they don’t have enough housing for the amount of students they admit, so their housing deposit is due by April 1st, but this year it was extended to April 16. I couldn’t take my chances with Umass, and who know. Umass could have accepted me, but the FA package could have been really bad like the one I got from URI.</p>
<p>adcollegefreak: I’m glad you chose a school that’s going to save you a lot of money in the end. That’s more important than getting into debt by going to a “brand name” school and not being able to pay it back. That’s what I would have done in your situation even if I was accepted into UMass. Rutgers New Brunswick gave me around $17,500 in terms of financial aid, Stafford Loans not included, so again, I’m very happy with what I got and wouldn’t change a thing. I even have a cousin who’s graduating from Rutgers this year, so I have a pretty good connection to the school and a lot of my family lives up in New York and New Jersey, so it’s a win win situation for me.</p>
<p>Some of my friends got rejected or waitlisted from UGA, the big flagship school down in Georgia which I didn’t apply to simply because it wasn’t my kind of school (I know it’s a cheap, affordable good state school, but it just never interested me that much) despite taking lots of AP classes and having 1800+ SAT scores. They received around 19,000 applications this year, making it a record year for them so it’s not just UMass that this has been happening to. It seems to be a lot of really competitive state schools have witnessed the same kinds of problems. I have a friend who got rejected from both Emory and UGA, so I kind of guess he didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to get into schools like that this year.</p>
<p>Wow. That’s insane! Schools really have upped their standards for this year! And I’m glad you’re going to Rutgers! It used to be one of my top schools too! I really like it, and it’s a great school so CONGRATS! Are you going to New Brunswick?</p>
<p>Marshalls44 - this User Name seems familiar - I think we were waiting out UDEL at the same time??? We got a rejection from UDEL. Anyway, my son got waitlisted at UMASS Amherst last week. The envelope came and it seemed thicker than just a rejection sheet. It came with a reply back letter and return envelope to see if there was still interest. Our heads and wallets are spinning! I called UMASS’ admissions office to inquire our chances of being taken off the waitlist and admitted. Her comments were, “low to none.” We are now considering Salem State University as a commuter - not the path we had intended. My son’s other acceptances are just too expensive i.e. Bentley Univ. ($54,000) no aid. Heavy sigh…good luck with your college search. Hope it works out for the best…we are so discouraged.</p>
<p>Yes I remember roller coaster!! We still never got anything from Delaware- I’m assuming we are not in- but they won’t tell me over the phone. Said it must be the mail! We’ve given up on that- but are frustrated with UMass. I think it’s ridiculous to keep these kids waiting just to wait list or reject- you’re telling me after all this time, you don’t know what your doing with these kids! So sad. I wish your family luck-what a tough spot to be in. Just from our friends kids, it seems like there were a lot of rejections from schools they would normally have gotten into this year.I feel bad it’s a long
Haul! Glad it’s almost over!!!</p>
<p>According to the common data set, last year 1261 people accepted a spot on the waitlist, and 125 were accepted off the list. The year before was similar.</p>
<p>The stats don’t indicate how deep they have to go in the wait list to get 100 or 125 people to accept off the wait list, or how they decide who to accept. You may be able to send them a “love” letter or additional recommendations or updated stats or whatever, to try to boot your chances.</p>
<p>Every year is different of course, but i would be surprised if they don’t have to dip into the waitlist again this year. Good luck!</p>
<p>Indeed this rollar coaster ride has been awful…I don’t even like rollarcoasters! I am more of a “It’s a small world” rider!!</p>
<p>I hope all of your waiting pays off in the end for your child. Transferring is always an option. </p>
<p>When we began this ride a year ago, we never imagined we would be in this holding pattern for so long. It’s the sign of the times. The State schools are now more competitive than the Private schools. </p>
<p>There should be a support group/therapy session for parents on CC…I think our user names would be the likes of… Udepressed?? </p>
<p>Good Luck out there…you’re in good company!</p>
<p>adcollegefreak: Yep, I enrolled at the New Brunswick campus about a month ago and I have my placement tests in less than two weeks, so it’s really exciting and everything! I also was accepted into the Camden and Newark College of Arts and Sciences, so technically, those were three different college acceptances in one week! Plus I think Rutgers has a much better reputation overall than UMass and is well known globally too. If you go onto their website and look up the rankings, you can find a lot of really impressive ones that they got recently, though rankings are relative and shouldn’t really play a huge factor in deciding which college you want to go to in the end. UMass is in the top 100 national universities, though it’s at #94. Rutgers New Brunswick is #68. I also signed the Rutgers-Rowan petition the other day and I was amazed by how many people were defending Rutgers and bringing up how prestigious getting a Rutgers degree is. I also applied to Ramapo College, where my cousin’s brother is studying economics, and got waitlisted there. Haven’t heard anything from them since but I really could care less anymore.</p>
<p>rollarcoaster: Wow. That sounds very unfortunate but it makes me feel a lot better that I wasn’t the only one who was screwed over by UMass. I didn’t expect the school to be so difficult to get in at all, though my SAT scores could have been a little bit higher because SAT math was never my strong suit. Even though they probably don’t look at the writing portion of the test, I made an 11 on my writing essay twice so that should have made me a bit more competitive. Oh well. Did your son try to apply to other schools in Boston like Northeastern, UMass Boston (a very easy one to get accepted to. I got an acceptance letter from them weeks ago), or BU as well as UMass Amherst? Even though I’ve already enrolled in college and stuff, I look back in hindsight and wondered if I could have gotten into UDel myself, but after reading this, I’m glad I didn’t waste my time with the school. They accept less than half of out of state applicants.</p>
<p>notrichenough: Wow! That’s very shocking. At Ramapo College in New Jersey, they apparently accept around 60% of waitlisted applicants. Sounds extremely low for a school that’s around 30,000 students and the largest state school in New England.</p>
<p>Anyways, I’m very lucky that I chose to apply to many different schools because I had no idea the admissions for all these state schools had gotten much harder due to more people applying to all these places, though I will never know why I wasted my time applying to UConn at all and getting a rejection both online and in the mail. I had no idea where the school even was and just applied there as a backup I didn’t care about. Penn State would have been a much better investment though my parents both hate Pennsylvania with a passion.</p>
<p>I’m scared now…because it appears the last batch is bad news. Oh well I guess…I’ll find out tomorrow or after tomorrow.</p>
<p>
It’s not just that more people are applying, but that because of the economy many high-achieving students and their families are no longer willing to pay the price or take on the debt to go to high-end private schools, so they are now applying to state schools. That raises the bar for everyone and it is starting to make it tough for A-/B+ students to get in, and it’s not a lock any more even for the A students.</p>
<p>My guess is that the odds of getting of the waitlist are actually better than the 10% the stats show, for two reasons: 1) a lot of kids accept spots on the list even though they aren’t really that interested in attending; and 2) by the time they get off the wait list they are emotionally invested in wherever they accepted and aren’t really interested in the wait list school any more.</p>
<p>If your last semester grades are really good, I would encourage you to submit them, and write a letter expressing that UMass is your first choice and will definitely attend if taken off the wait list. Grab every little edge you can.</p>
<p>notrichenough: That makes perfect sense then! I didn’t think about the students who couldn’t afford the more private schools turning to state schools. Unless something is done to dramatically change tuition rates in the United States, I can definitely foresee this trend continuing for the next few years. Economist Peter Schiff recommended having the government privatize student loans so that they could compete with each other to offer students the best prices so that way, college tuition itself could go down and colleges can be much more affordable.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, I was talking to this person who’s also going to Rutgers in the fall who is from Massachusetts, and he told me about this girl who got into Boston University with a 2.9 GPA and tons of AP classes, so you never know I guess. Another friend of mine was rejected by Oxford at Emory yet accepted into UGA with barely a 3.7 GPA and an 1800+ SAT score, so I’m starting to believe that there is a bit of randomness in the admissions process for a lot of these schools now.</p>
<p>We called admissions today and were told there are admission decisions still coming out, (not all bad news!!) and to sign up for admitted students day now so we don’t get closed out. There are only 2 left with room and they are both this week. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>@rollarcoaster…went on a campus tour/information session with my son at UMass today and the admissions rep said they haven’t taken anyone off the waiting list in 2 years. Sorry to hear things aren’t working out as planned, but I’m sure your son will find a great place.</p>