How far apart should the Ivys send out rejections?
Some kids are fine with all the same day, some kids suffer by drawing it out.
Its horrible that this child felt that Ivy rejections made them feel unworthy. Sadly, Im not sure that delaying notifications for Ivy acceptances would help that subset of students.
Kids need to be raised to know theres more to life than grades.
Goodness. Please let me know which of any group of colleges has a coordinated decision day regarding college admissions, regardless of athletics.
That is what this thread is about.
And that there is more to life than the Ivies. That, to me, is the sad part of this story.
You make a good point. I am curious to know to know why Ivy Day exists - if there is a reason. What is for certain is that it (somehow) benefits the institutions, at the expense of students everywhere.
I had previously posted this group but you are asking.
On March 18th the following schools announced. They are all highly ranked coed non military academy LACs per USNWR.
Amherst
Bowdoin
Carleton
Colby
Harvey Mudd
Pomona
Swarthmore
Williams
Peer institutions.
Umm, ok.
Your experience counteracts mine, which is that the kids who go onto the tippy top schools today from our local high school are those that take the most rigorous schedule, which usually means 3 APs junior year and 5 senior year. The point is that this schoolwork is not hard for them, as they are usually putting much more time into activities than into schoolwork.
And in terms of doing well, these students usually find HYPSM pretty easy. Some of these top students that graduated a few years ago have gone onto PhD programs at CalTech, Stanford, or to employers like Two Sigma. Hardly slackers.
Is that coordinated or by happenstance?
If the former, no further comment.
The colleges do bear some responsibility, though. I don’t know why Ivy Day exists, exactly what purpose it serves, or how it benefits the institutions, but in their decision to implement it, there was clearly a serious lack of regard for the psychological impact of rejections on students.
Add it to the list of practices that are obsolete.
There is clearly a degree of awareness of one another’s dates and coordination as they all have largely announced on the same date over the years. They view themselves as peers with tremendous overlap of applicants so makes perfect sense.
At the expense of students everywhere? Please tell me what harm a rejection is to a student? Ego, pride? If they are applying to Ivy caliber schools, they are going to school somewhere. Most likely a good school. They will get over it, most likely sooner than later. Kids go to the school they matriculate to and usually say yes, this is where I am meant to be. Rejection is a part of life, not the end of it.
And as I noted, for many kids, the “not knowing” or drawn out acceptances/rejections is even more of a mental and emotional Olympics.
I think generalizing that all students who apply to Ivys are emotionally not able to handle the news all on one day doesnt make sense. Most people want the bandaid ripped off quickly and not have the torture drawn out.
As others say, its known that certain schools release on the same day. This isnt new. Mentally preparing your kids for rejection is critical.
It seems that we are referencing very different things. You are right that one rejection from an Ivy can be overlooked, but rejections from all 8 schools?
It becomes a perfect mental health storm, given the way that the education system is structured along a good/bad binary, with academic achievement being framed as a question of morality. Of course students take rejections as a blow to their character, since this is what they have been raised in.
I don’t see how Ivy Day is helpful (to students). If it is, I’m interested to know how. Until then, it’s just another antiquated practice.
Also, what if a kid happens to get rejected by their top 2 choices on the same day because the schools randomly chose to send out rejections on the same day?
Schools dont know which kids have them chosen as a top pick for RD. The random and unexpected rejections could shock a student more than knowing an Ivy Day exists. Knowing for certain when a group of colleges will release their rejections allows for mental preparedness.
Its catastrophic this child took their life as the presumably didnt get into an Ivy. I dont think the colleges are at fault.
This is the key to the problem. The kids should not have been raise to believe that rejection is a blow to their character.
And to echo a sentiment that has been expressed many times on this thread, no kid should be applying to all 8 ivies
I still don’t understand why Ivy day is a problem.
And there we go. Rejections to all 8 schools? As many posters have already pointed out, why apply to all. 8. schools. Doing that says a lot about the applicant, and perhaps their lack of awareness of admissions.
How many kids apply to all 8?
And the stress of not knowing when decisions will release at certain schools is not less and in fact often more emotionally painful then knowing when a result is coming.
To say that a rejection from ones top choice school/schools is “easier to handle” because its “not an Ivy” is elitest and quite frankly dismissive and rude.
Pop over to the musical majors threads, hundreds of kids get multiple rejections at the same time at Unifieds. The kids know this and prepare for it. They know what they are getting into when they sign up.
This topic can go around in circles ad infinitum. I agree with the post up thread that said the Ivy League will be criticized no matter what they do but the bottom line is, we are talking about smart kids and it doesn’t take a genius to look at the data and see that they really don’t have a snowball’s chance of getting in. It is statistically not going to happen. If by some crazy twist, they do manage to get in, it should be treated like the lightning strike it is. Acceptance is not guaranteed but the overall feeling is by getting rejected, someone is being denied something they truly think they deserve. If that is the aspect of the system that people think is broken, that is not the fault of 8 colleges!!
Every day when D was in elementary school, the principal would conclude the morning announcements with the phrase “Make it a good day, or not. The choice is yours”. While we can’t always have things work out the way we want, it is within each of us to control how we react. Sometimes things work out but sometimes there are disappointments but that’s life. Delaying the delivery of bad news doesn’t change the outcome and no matter how they are told, students and their families will always complain about the delivery because the only desired outcome would be an acceptance…
I am unaware of any mandate for a student on Ivy day to look at all of their results on the same day just because they are released on the same day. Of course a student would have less time to consider their options but opening the decision is entirely at the discretion of the applicant.
The problem is not specifically Ivy Day, nor even the competitive college admissions process. It is a horrible, awful thing to think that a child could take their own life because of being rejected by schools. But the shortcoming in this case is the environment in which the child is being raised, not “Ivy Day”. The precipitating event could have just as easily been not making the football team, or the cheerleading squad, or a romantic rejection. We all have to learn to deal with failure as we go through life.
I think CMC, Wellesley, and the Naval Academy are in the top 8 LACs per USNWR, and Colby, Carleton, and HMC are not.
I think CMC’s decision day was March 24. Not sure about the others.
In any case, it does seem a bit odd to me that the Ivies all release their decisions on the same day, while no other conference does.
Not saying that is good or bad for applicants - it undoubtedly varies by applicant - just that it seems odd.