My daughter has applied to a few schools. Even before we sent out applications, most schools have hyper responsive AOs with immmediate letters before we could even write thank you cards.
I don’t pretend it means anything, because I know the job of AO is to get you to apply.
But one school (of course our favorite) has an AO who never reached out or replied. We once had some application update, and the secretary wrote back “Application updated”. I’m a bit surprised by the minimal correspondence. I was not even sure she still worked there.
Any advice? Even if they thought my daughter is not a strong candidate, it seems unusual.
I’d just consider it a data point in your entire experience with that school. If it’s just one outlier observation, I’d write it off to any number of reasons that you just don’t know (AO distraction due to personal circumstances, inexperienced AO, individual personalities, etc). If you are seeing a pattern, then it’s probably time to very carefully compare why your family is considering it your favorite vs. what you’re observing.
Thanks Altras, I don’t want to write off a school because of an AO who is one year out of college. I also want to make sure any efforts my daughter makes to strengthen her candidacy are seen by admissions committee. I don’t want to go around or over anyone’s head, as I’m sure that looks pretty bad.
I’ve heard from other AOs that reaching out to coaches and music instructors through them is a pretty good way of demonstrating interest, so that was
Something we were considering.
(It is our favorite out of very few, as we are looking at day schools and happy with public school should she not get admitted)
Hmm, are you talking about Choate? I know there are two AOs who just graduated college. Just like @Altras said, I am pretty sure it’s the AO’s preference. My AO from Choate has responded super quickly (I emailed her on Christmas Eve and she responded a day later). Good luck to your daughter!
I don’t think school personnel can win. If they write too much and a student is rejected families can feel they were led on about the school’s interest. If they write conservatively it’s perceived as lack of interest. I wouldn’t form an opinion based on correspondence from the admin or AO. They aren’t the people your daughter will be interacting with every day.
Why is this an issue? You received an acknowledgement of an update, which BTW when you get to college admissions will be a rarity.
If the issue is that the AO delegated, but did not personally respond, or that the response was not a gushing tome worthy of War & Peace, then I’d posit that you’re focusing on the wrong things.
As others have said, it’s one data point. Unless the AO was indifferent in face-to-face interactions as well, I personally would not make too much of it.
To @crabbydaddy - don’t take it personally and please do not worry! Do, however, get used to receiving automated responses and minimal correspondence because this is how it may very well be down the road when your kid is in school- you won’t have the hand-holding, the calls, or personalized updates once your kiddo is in school, unless there is an issue. OK - Yes, I know, there are a few wonderful places that communicate more often with parents and send updates frequently. Hey - we get updates from schools we don’t even attend and love hearing from them!
To your point: Maybe some schools provide more contact than others. I take it as a good sign not to get any phone calls or emails from the school - it means GolfKiddo is alive, has $ in the account, isn’t in trouble, and isn’t flunking out yet!
It was our experience that most BS admissions offices were just overwhelmed this time of year. Reading your post, I agree that it may be a good idea to reach out to coaches if your student has a keen interest and is a serious athlete. You may get the more specific information you desire about their program. FWIW - we got our application materials in early when we had the chance of getting a phone call or follow-up letter before the mad crush of Jan 15th. Also, a lot of applications are not fully complete yet and AO’s are working to help parents/students get missing transcripts, scores, interviews, etc. :-bd
@ilovechoateeeee Interesting you said that… I had a bad experience at Choate all around, but mainly with communication. Interestingly enough, they reached out asking me if I would consider reapplying this year. I decided I would not waste my time as I really could never see myself there. I wanted to love Choate so much, but the feeling just was never really there.
FWIW, I found Choate to be very responsive, almost to the point of overcommunicative. Regardless, the OP did not specify the school (nor does it matter for the conversation), so let’s not get off-topic.
Choate has been incredible with our DS during this admission process. It might be our best experience if not top 2 for sure as they are very quick to reply, answers are complete and with lots of details not automated. They even wished him happy holidays.
@ReluctantDad I think every school sends a happy holidays lol. But, I will say that one school sent me a hand-written holiday note in the mail and it had details from my interview and overall felt very sincere. It was a pre-printed one that my AO wrote on the side of. I’m not sure if they do that for everybody, but boy did it get me hyped up about that school!!!
Also, general question: It is normal for AO’s to pay more attention to candidates they think are more “competitive”, right? Or is that just a misconception?
This conversation is a great example of what I post to death: For every positive or negative experience one person has with any given school, there will be just as many others with exactly the opposite experience, so be careful how you judge a school.
There are no tea leaves to read in this process and, for heaven’s sake, do NOT judge a school by the response-O-meter of admissions people whom you will probably never see again in your life. Our family made it through Choate without ever once stepping foot in the admissions office or meeting or talking to a single member of the admissions team during the application process (our son interviewed at home with an alum). We never reached out to them, and they never reached out to us. Didn’t matter.
The job of the admissions office is to conduct interviews, process applications, answer your questions, and build a class. If you haven’t reached out with a question that requires a detailed or personal answer, they are busy doing their job which does not include frivolous contact. Again, don’t read anything into this.
Thank all of you guys! I guess it may not matter at this point, my daughters interview is what it is. I’m not ‘mad’ or hurt- just trying to be strategic. I understand there is at least an element of gamesmanship and the process is not over at January 15th. If we do not get in, that’s ok, but I would like to optimize chances.
I suppose there is not anything else to do besides reach out in a month with update (if we have one) and wait