Swarthmore Rejectees/Waitlistees...Where else did you get into?

<p>BTW, BottomLine, a friend's daughter got waitlisted at Swarthmore. She got into Harvard.</p>

<p>Thats why I started this thread! In previous years, I had been noticing that my friends had guessed their admissions decisions through their first rejection/acceptance (one was rejected by Cornell and figured that was also an automatic rejection from Penn, and when one was accepted by Stanford, he believed that this meant he was surely accepted by Penn). Often times, these predictions were true but this year I've noticed a lot of unusual combinations, but hey...thats the college admissions process for ya.</p>

<p>I have a friend who was accepted to Yale RD and flat out REJECTED at Swarthmore early. Absolutely crazy!</p>

<p>Anyway, I was rejected, but I saw it coming :P I'll be attending Boston College under the Honors Program in CAS next year.</p>

<p>I got waitlisted at Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Carleton, and Rice. I got accepted to UT-Austin Dean's Scholars, Grinnell, Trinity U., Knox</p>

<p>Kira Marie..wow..that is pretty crazy O_O</p>

<p>Thats why my parents kept telling me to apply to Yale, Columbia, and Princeton...you never know who's going to want you. I didn't even try.</p>

<p>Was waitlisted at Amherst, but accepted at Swarthmore. Rejected by Stanford and Brown. Now have to decide among Northwestern, Harvey Mudd, and Swarthmore.</p>

<p>jeez. i dont understand why people are so surprised with the selectivity of swat. it is comparable to any of the elite universities.</p>

<p>I know of two kids last year who were waitlisted at Swat, one of whom was accepted to Stanford and the other, at Columbia, MIT, and UPenn.</p>

<p>I was rejected by Swarthmore, but I got into Northwestern, Tufts, Vassar, Wesleyan, Brandeis, and University of Rochester.</p>

<p>Swat yield protects...waitlisting a fraction of the most qualified applicants who they feel will choose to attend an Ivy, and pulls them off the waitlist if they don't get into Ivies.</p>

<p>
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Swat yield protects...waitlisting a fraction of the most qualified applicants who they feel will choose to attend an Ivy, and pulls them off the waitlist if they don't get into Ivies.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>To what end? Yield doesn't count in any rankings. And, they take so few off the waitlist in an average year, that it doesn't make any statistical difference. Four of the five most common cross-admit schools are already Ivy League conference schools (Amherst College, Brown University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University).</p>

<p>I know of one specific case that could be argued as a waitlist for the reason you mention...a student who got into every Ivy. However, the bulk of data from the fairly large sample of accepted Swarthmore students here over the years suggests no shortage of cross admits with Havard, Yale, and Princeton.</p>

<p>You mention in a prior thread that you attend a "top East Coast prep school". It could be that Swat's waitlists seem confusing in that context. However, if you look at it in the context of Swat's acceptances this year (53% US minority, 6% international -- only 27% from US private prep schools), surprising waitllists from your school may not in fact be that surprising. The numbers are so small. </p>

<p>Including Early Decision, that's only 365 white US acceptances or only 240 US private prep school acceptances -- for the entire country, including at least one each from 48 states plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. And, a big slug of those are in the Early Decision round, which tend to be whiter and wealthier. And, a disproportionate share of recruited athletes and legacies, both of which tend to be whiter. </p>

<p>Basically, if you are a white private prep school student who is wealthy enough to not qualify for financial aid and you don't apply early decision, you are battling some very long odds at Swarthmore for reasons that have nothing to with yield protection. Heck, if they were looking for yield, they'd accept more white, weathy applicants. They yield at much higher rates than minority students. In fact, the lower yield of minority students is precisely the reason so few acceptance letters go to white students.</p>

<p>I have a very small sample, but from what I've seen, the waitlist admits tend to be targeted "slots". They lose a targeted oboe player or engineering major to another school and quickly grab the next one stashed on the wait list.</p>

<p>My D has been admitted to Swarthmore, MIT, Columbia and Penn,
waitlisted by Brown - makes little sense since she's legacy there, and
rejected by Harvard and Yale</p>

<p>She loves Swarthmore and MIT and is still undecided. To me Swarthmore is a little too "pure" and heavenly, and MIT seems more of a fit to my immigrant culture.</p>

<p>Believe it or not, my D is not alone: we know of a boy having faced the same dilemma. Both Swarthmore and MIT enjoy similar, rigorous academic reputations and are more intellectually focused. But overall, MIT's yield almost doubles that of Swarthmore.</p>

<p>MIT and Swarthmore get quite a few cross-admits.</p>

<p>The decision, in most cases, probably centers around some of the following:</p>

<p>a) How sure you are that it's science, math, and engineering -- largely to the exclusion of all else. (I know, MIT has really good Econ and Urban Planning, but it's a very small percentage of the undergrad focus).</p>

<p>b) How much you want to go to college with nothing but science and math geeks or whether you want some social science wonks and lit/language/artsy types for variety. Obviously that has a significant impact on campus life, dorm life, dining hall life, and classroom experience and an impact on things like learning to write and communicate well above and beyond studying science or engineering. I thought this issue was addressed quite well in last week's newspaper Q&A with Swarthmore grad John Mather, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics. Clearly a hard-core honors Physics geek at Swarthmore, he recounts the experience of living with those who were equally invested in other fields and how that contributed to his ability to manage a NASA research project. He talks about how his friends were in awe of how much physics he could do and he was in awe of how much art history they could do.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/x11116.xml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/x11116.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>c) How much you value a residential college and tight knit community versus a decentralized urban campus. It is hard to imagine a bigger difference between Swarthmore's campus (where 99% live on campus) and MIT's campus where housing is significantly off campus in frat houses and apartment buildings.</p>

<p>They are two great choices that surprisingly are somewhat similar in the types of students they attract and in things like future PhD production, with MIT just behind Swarthmore overall. I would think students could visit both colleges and kind of know in their gut which is for them. It's a nice win/win decision to have!</p>

<p>As for "pure" and heavenly....that is, I think, a key part of what makes Swarthmore Swarthmore. It's the counterbalance to the "old school" rigor of the academics. In a way, the beauty of the campus and the incredibly student-centric focus of the faculty and staff is what makes it "fun" to work so hard. Otherwise, it would be a relentless grind.</p>

<p>I am admitted to both (as well as Olin, Cornell, Univ. of Illinois[honors]...all for Engineering).<br>
The first school I ruled out was MIT. When I visited, I just did not feel it was where I wanted to spend at least 4 years of my life.<br>
I have just recently ruled out Cornell. I do like it there (academics, locale, students), but not as much as Swarthmore or Olin.
For me, Swarthmore didn't seem "too pure". I thought it felt more "involved". To each his own, I guess!</p>

<p>I was waitlisted at Swat, but accepted at Carleton, Haverford, Wesleyan, University of Chicago, UNC-Chapel Hill (w/ full-ride scholarship), Bates, Brandeis, Macalester, and Reed.</p>

<p>Darn, ThoughtProvoking, that's a fantastic list of acceptances. How are you ever going to decide?</p>

<p>Son turned down Swarthmore, will be going to Harvey Mudd next fall, better fit for him. They have an exchange program and he is hoping to spend a semester at Swarthmore sometime in his college career.</p>

<p>Choosing Mudd over Swarthmore is a perfectly rational choice. My daughter spent some time at her Ride the Tide with a spec who was making the same choice.</p>

<p>That choice is kind of like picking CalTech over Yale. Or prime rib over lobster. The choice between tech school and all-purpose school is one of those fundamental preferences that can only be decided on an individual basis.</p>

<p>I think college tend to study the applicants more than their numbers. I have quite high SAT scores and GPA. But, I was rejected from most of the colleges I applied. I , being an intl students, have to be very compititive to get admissions.
I will reapply for class of 2012. You are sort of students the colleges are looking for. So, could you suggest me some ways of improving my chance of getting accepted. Directly saying, what factors will they be considering for admmissions?</p>

<p>Swat states pretty clearly that they HIGHLY recommend interviews. Since you're international, the deadline for alumni interviews is Dec 1 (at least for this admission year, check next year)</p>

<p>And US colleges value essays because they look for individuality, unique personality, insight, talent, character, so make sure your grammar is fine, your essay does not bore people to tears, and that is genuine and sincere. Another component you definitely have to spend lots of time on.</p>

<p>As for the thread, I was rejected at Swat but accepted at:</p>

<p>Pomona College
Vassar College
Oberlin College
Reed College
Skidmore College
NYU</p>