<p>My friend and I have both been in love with the same university for ever, and we're both applying Early Decision. My question is, what happens if only one of us gets accepted? (It's okay if neither of us get accepted, and great if both of us get accepted.) How do we tell each other the news when the decisions come out?</p>
<p>Happens all of the time. If only one of you gets accepted, then yes, the other is not. I’m don’t know why it’s better that neither of you get accepted, unless you are conjoined twins or in love with each other as well as the university. Yeah, the green eyed monster will give you a sting, but most of the time you get over it and are glad your friend got what s/he wanted. How you tell each other is determined how you tell each other anything. Do exercise some tact, understanding that the decision you get may not be the one s/he gets.</p>
<p>Two different people, two different results. The correct way to have that conversation is, “I got in.” “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. I didn’t.” “Oh, that really sucks. Their loss!” </p>
<p>The point here is that school x wanted an oboe player for the orchestra but didn’t need another soccer goalie. Or they had lots of potential bio majors this year but not too many people interested in philosophy. Or…whatever. The rejection doesn’t have to mean that one of you was better than the other. It just means one of you fit someone in admission’s profile of what they were looking for at that moment.</p>
<p>Two different people, two different results. The correct way to have that conversation is, “I got in.” “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. I didn’t.” “Oh, that really sucks. Their loss!” </p>
<p>The point here is that school x wanted an oboe player for the orchestra but didn’t need another soccer goalie. Or they had lots of potential bio majors this year but not too many people interested in philosophy. Or…whatever. The rejection doesn’t have to mean that one of you was better than the other. It just means one of you fit someone in admission’s profile of what they were looking for at that moment.</p>
<p>I agree with M’s mom…another point worth making is that if you get in, whether or not your friend does shouldn’t affect whether or not you decide to go. I’ve seen this happen in the grade above mine where one girl got in but decided not to go because her best friend wasn’t accepted and sort of pressured her into not enrolling by complaining all the time. If you find yourself in either position, make sure you don’t do this!
Good luck!! :D</p>
<p>Well, Deblerg, it wouldn’t matter, since he’s applying ED. But yeah, it happens, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to tell her. As long as you’re not bragging about it and boasting about it (no matter how much you want to), then you should be fine.</p>
<p>Perhaps you can agree to post your results someplace, like on your facebook pages. That way you can look at each other’s results when you’re ready and no one will have to make the awkward call. If your friend gets in but you don’t you can take an hour or two to cry and rant and then compose yourself to send your congratulations.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it happens all the time and it sucks.</p>
<p>Remember, there is a certain amount of randomness in the process, no one knows why a school accepts one student and rejects another – we often see students with superior grades rejected while others with lesser statistics are admitted. So, if this happens, hopefully, the one who gets in will be supportive of the other; the one rejected will be happy for their friend, and most importantly, both should recognize that the rejection does not either reflect on your relative intelligence or worth in any way.</p>
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<p>It depends on the school. Many state universities admit mainly by formula, so it should not be hard to figure out why some get admitted and some do not. But highly selective schools often use opaque holistic processes what appear random to outsiders, assuming that the applicants are not obvious rejects based on courses, grades, rank, and/or test scores.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus</p>
<p>I generally agree with what you’ve written. Randomness – here’s the question, let’s say that a school admitted 100 students (and rejected 300) on Wednesday. If you took the same applications, and gave them to a different committee, how many of the 100 would be admitted – my guess would be that if the school had a good process you’d see about 85-90 of the same names, but if your answer is anything less than 100 (which would be truly extraordinary) there is some randomness in the system. The last few acceptance/rejections are so incredibly close that one couldn’t (and wouldn’t be expected to) reproduce the same acceptance pool. </p>
<p>Other than that – clearly different schools look for different things, and grades/scores aren’t the whole story.</p>
<p>My bigger point to OP – things like this happen in college admissions and in life, and friends are there for each other to share good news and bad.</p>
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<p>While what you state is likely correct for the holistic admissions schools (or perhaps even fewer than 85 of the same names would be admitted), the schools which admit by formula should produce identical results if the rerun the process on the same applicants.</p>
<p>It is likely that most college students attend schools which admit by formula (e.g. moderately and less selective state universities), or which are open admission (e.g. community colleges).</p>