<p>So has anyone heard of stories of people rejected from lesser institutions but accepted at Harvard? I'm sure there are plenty of them, and they will likely raise the hopes of many applicants!</p>
<p>Yes, actually it happens allot. If you check the decisions threads, you’ll find many who were waitlisted or rejected at Chicago, Tufts, U-Mass, U-Mich, George Washington… </p>
<p>…the reality is, it’s still tough, but also it’s not the end all of schools. Things will NOT be hunky-dory stress free when you set foot at Harvard as a student, nor will you have unlimited access to anything when you graduate. You’ll be as stressed as the guy at Boston when come second semester of your senior year, you don’t have a job offer - believe me on that one. </p>
<p>Even in the longer term, it’s arguable that these types of universities (liberal arts with more elitism than NYC has human blood) won’t be near the ‘cutting edge’ of academics, given the opinions of some regarding the trend of education. Things today are more centric on careers, but this will likely (according to some) to expand much more to schools (institution might be a better word) with a hard focus on something specific, such as entrepreneurship. </p>
<p>It’s a sour game of rejecting most who apply - it’s like the casinos getting people in the door in a way. Things will be tough going into the next few days, and they’ll also be very tough through the middle of April. I can assure you that it will all be over fast, and you’ll be grateful and thankful for what happened.</p>
<p>perry,</p>
<p>indian friend applied to 8 ivies-accepted to harvard, waitlisted at cornell, rejected from all others.</p>
<p>another friend-accepted to princeton, rejected from rest of ivies.</p>
<p>proves the process is absofrickinglutely unpredictable. cross your fingers for good news on the 29th…I’m so jittery and anxious, lol</p>
<p>Sorry but I just have to respond to this.
I was rejected from Cal Poly SLO recently and then CalTech.
CalTech I can understand, but I thought I was set for SLO. I applied to 4 Ivies as well hoping for a miracle but I always thought I would end up at SLO.
Then, out of nowhere, Cornell accepted me. I couldn’t believe it so I called their admissions office since decisions are supposed to come out on the 29th. I still have to hear back from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale on Thursday. The point is, admissions to top institutions is a lottery. So many applicants have the stats to get in, but there just aren’t enough spots.
In case you are wondering I am Hispanic. So it did help my chances a bit as opposed to being Caucasian.
I also have a Mexican friend who applied to mostly average schools and has so far been rejected by all of them. Places like UCSD, UCI, SLO. He’s pretty down in the dumps but he still has to hear back from Harvey Mudd and USC. He has better stats that I do so there’s no doubt in my mind that he will get into either USC or HM.
Best of luck to everyone!</p>
<p>^ California state schools are prohibited from employing affirmative action, and Caltech voluntarily avoids the practice, so this might explain your decisions. Still; the above posters are correct - admissions decisions have an inherit degree of randomness. For students with unimpeachable objective stats, yield management can lead to waitlists/rejections for otherwise sure bets, while for most people different interpretations of highly subjective data can cause rejection.</p>
<p>One thing that puzzled me was that YouTube statistics told me they did not watch the video that I sent them after my deferral in January. If I was rejected, wouldn’t an update reopen my file for consideration? That at least raises the idea that they accepted me without need for the video, or they burned my application because it wasn’t worth reconsideration.</p>
<p>I met a girl that got rejected from Yale, WashU, Cornell, Tufts, Grinnell, Colorado College, and Brown. Got accepted at Harvard and Columbia.</p>
<p>My S got accepted at Harvard, CalTech and UChi (with merit scholarship)–and rejected at Yale (where he is a multi-generational legacy–made telling the development people where they can stick it from now on very easy–haha). Who can figure it out?–but in retrospect he is so NOT a Yalie (not a rah, rah, Joe College type) that maybe the New Haven folks figured that out.</p>
<p>I straight up didn’t think I had a shot at any ivys and I got three ll’s from them. I’m curious how it’ll play out. I was waitlisted from washu</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>
<p>This has happened to loads of kids from my school.</p>
<ul>
<li>Girl who got into Columbia and Penn got rejected from WUSTL.</li>
<li>Friend got wait listed or rejected (can’t remember) at UT Austin but<br>
got into Cornell and Duke.</li>
<li>Val got rejected from Tufts but accepted to Cornell.</li>
<li>Guy got accepted to Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia but rejected at UChicago. </li>
</ul>
<p>I can’t help but think of the “Tufts Syndrome”, where prestigious but slightly less sought after schools like Tufts will reject very qualified applicants in order to protect their yield rate. I guess many of these rejections can be chalked up to that, as well as the fact that being a strong applicant doesn’t mean you are what the admissions office is looking for.</p>
<p>This is quite common apparently. I’ve been accepted by Caltech, Duke (finalist for full ride w/ study abroad and paid visit), Vanderbilt (full tuition w/ study abroad), Rice (18k/yr scholarship), and Columbia (likely letter with scholarship and paid visit), but I was waitlisted by WashU.</p>
<p>etondad…great story…LOL.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I know an international applicant from Vietnam who applied to 20 schools. She was rejected by 18, and accepted at Harvard and Wellesley. Quite unbelievable.</p>
<p>I know a guy who got into HPMSC+Caltech, wl at Y and rej at Uchicago.</p>
<p>These stories sure do make me feel better!!</p>
<p>That was my intention!</p>