<p>SDonCC, your last post (#21) seems to me to hit the nail on the head. I know many of the Oberlin admissions staff, and I can assure you that there’s nothing conniving or manipulative about any of them. I feel sure that they were genuinely interested in your kids’ applications and wanted to encourage their interest. It’s only when applications are viewed <em>in the context of the total applicant pool</em> that comparative judgments need to be made, and the painful process of turning down (or, in your case, waitlisting) qualified applicants begins. Admissions staffers often get very attached to particular applicants and find it hard when the overall vote goes against them. Remember that the staffer who wrote an encouraging email to your child may well have voted to admit him or her, but the committee vote went the other way. The hypocrisy which your earlier post seemed to complain of simply doesn’t seem to me to exist, at least at Oberlin.</p>