Vague-ish Presidential Scholars Email

<p>Like an hour ago, I received an email from Colby about their Presidential Scholars Program. There's no direct statement saying that I've been admitted or that I am going to receive the Presidential Scholars honor, but it's quite heavily implied.</p>

<p>"My colleagues in our Office of Admissions and Financial Aid are still shaping the Class of 2018, but from what I’ve learned from them about your academic record and interests, I think that you will be a strong candidate for this distinction. I hope that in writing now, in advance of our releasing official admissions decisions, I signal how good a fit I feel you will be for the program’s opportunities."</p>

<p>But there's no reason that they'd lead me on, right? There's nothing for me to do on my part, so it's not like those "apply by X to be considered for Z" emails. Is it right for me to assume admission and entrance into the Pres. Scholars? </p>

<p>I got the same email. Was yours from a “music professor” too or was it tailored to interests? I’m just wondering if they sent these out to everyone or if these are emails that hint at admission.The question is, did anyone else not recieve this email?</p>

<p>Wow, what a tease.</p>

<p>@Collision96 yes it was from the music prof. The email itself was pretty generic and definitely didn’t mention any of my interests. One of the projects in the list is one that a prof in the field I’m interested in mentioned when I went to Colby’s diversity fly-in, but the others are science, lit, etc. In general, are your stats above Colby’s average profile? I’m curious as to why I was targeted for this, and there’s not too much online.</p>

<p>I am fully expecting admission as well as being a Presidential Scholar come Friday. Anything else would be cruel. It’s quite the tease though – being technically not liable if we get rejected but UGH YOU CAN’T PLAY WITH MY FEELINGS LIKE THAT IT’S NOT NICE.</p>

<p>@ndhmaniac
I think my stats are a bit above the average but not by a large amount. I didn’t get an early write to Swat, I see you did. I feel mostly confident about admission but wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they rejected me either. After reading it back, I think my writing supplement was a bit robotic sounding.</p>

<p>@Collision96 My supplement for Colby was a mess (probably the most cliche thing I wrote all app season), and I came off kind of ditsy when I was at the college. (Whoa I just realized that the research I mentioned in my supplement was the one mentioned in the email.) </p>

<p>My theory is that the Pres. Scholars program is probably used to lure top students from higher-ranked colleges, and is probably given to at least 10% of the applicant pool. I know Bowdoin does something similar, and they wrote somewhere that having such a program keeps the yield rate for these top students at ~20%, which is higher than it previously was without the program (the yield % for tippy top students, not for the entire class). So if anything, I’d take it as a good sign, that being at the top of Colby’s applicant pool will translate to being in the “accept” range for plenty of other institutions (assuming you’re stuck playing this admissions-and-aid game like I am). </p>

<p>I just don’t see any reason why they’d send this email to anyone not admitted into Colby as well as Pres Scholars. While it’s not a guarantee, there’s some pretty damn harsh implying in there. I want to assume so bad but I know that assuming can yield bad results. </p>

<p>My son received the same email. Would be nice if there was a little more information on what the Presidential Scholar program entailed. Does it include any scholarship money? Without some type of merit money I just don’t see Colby competing with some of his other offers. Congratulations to the other “likely” winners of the Presidential Scholarship.</p>

<p>I know that the Presidential Scholars get access to some grants for research. I think there’s a more specific financial incentive, too, but it’s likely chump change when you compare it to the cost of attendance at Colby (assuming full pay – scholarships like this tend to cover around the student contribution or something, maybe less). There’s not too much info online about it, so come Friday, if you get an acceptance and Pres Scholars and there’s not additional info, you should definitely call. </p>

<p>You can read more about Presidential Scholars on the Colby website. <a href=“http://www.colby.edu/admission/presidential/”>http://www.colby.edu/admission/presidential/&lt;/a&gt; If you received the Presidential Scholar letter - you can pretty much count on being accepted to Colby. Professors send the letters to give them a more personal touch. There is no scholarship award for being a Presidential Scholar. If you decide to consider Colby after getting all your acceptances, I would highly suggest attending their program for accepted Presidential Scholars. </p>

<p>Now that decisions are out, have any of you guys found out more about this? There’s no mention of it with my admission decision. </p>

<p>No news. That’s odd, I’m guessing it will be in the mailed letter. They send those out, right?</p>

<p>There will definitely be something in the mail, it’s an acceptance package, after all. Hopefully they didn’t send us the email and chose other people to be Presidential Scholars.</p>

<p>Got the letter in the mail along with an invitation to Bunche Scholars (for students of color (I guess being Asian is significant)). </p>