Although I have already committed to a college, something that has been nagging at the back of my mind ever since I received my admission decisions was the fact that I was wait-listed at Smith College but not at Mount Holyoke. I understand that Smith is slightly more competitive than Moho, but I was under the impression they were relatively equal.
Something that has greatly bothered me about the affair is the fact that I am a legacy at Moho which I believe was a contributing factor to my admission. I want someone to tell me that I got into Mount Holyoke out of my own merit, but the reality of that seems grim. If anything, this just brings to light the issues of legacy decisions in the college admissions process. I want to be accepted to a college because of who I am as a person, not who my mother was.
Another possible explanation for this situation is probably the fact that I had an interview at Moho but not at Smith. I did feel that my application was relatively strong. I know the admissions process is holistic, but my SATs feel in the middle 50% of those at both Moho and Smith. Anyway, if you have anything to say to this, please do!
Put the admissions game behind you and embrace your future at Mount Holyoke. It’s a great school — we visited it last fall with our daughter who is a junior. We liked it but she is reluctant to attend an all-women’s college. In admissions decisions, Smith might just have met its quota of women similar to you. Another posting noted he was rejected by Carleton but accepted by Stanford. So it goes.
Alright, thanks for the input. Yes, Mount Holyoke is a great school and you do bring up a valid point about how the admissions process works; colleges look for applicants to fulfill certain roles within their college in order to create a diversified college. Ultimately, I will not be attending Moho, but I wish your daughter the best of luck in her college search! And if she’s worried about meeting men at an all women’s college, don’t forget about the 5 college consortium which includes UMass… My cousin goes there and I hear their parties are bomb 
With any selective college, it’s a bit of a roll of the dice whether you get in or not, even if you match their stats. Yes, I being legacy (or not) can sometimes tip the balance one way or another, but unless someone in your family recently donated a building, it’s much more likely that you simply matched the student profile they were looking for at that moment. Enjoy the acceptance and don’t give it a second thought.
I will do just that! Hopefully you are right about the legacy thing - I wouldn’t want to have been accepted solely for that.
I really wouldn’t second guess yourself. Getting wait listed means you were absolutely in the ball park for admission to Smith, and especially in this era of rampant applications it really is kind of random why excellent candidates get accepted or rejected by similarly ranked schools. I remember many years ago applying to four of the Seven Sisters schools and getting accepted at two of them and either rejected or wait listed by the other two. And I wasn’t a legacy at any of them.
MoHo’s admission’s office doesn’t make mistakes. You didn’t get in there “solely” because you are a legacy. You got in because you were fully qualified for admissions.
Thanks for the reassurances, everyone!
Hi. These are tough decisions. Back in the 80’s I too was accepted at both and went to Smith. It is dynamic and rigorous and filled with the most exciting women I have ever met. They have great engineering and started it before women were include in the 70’s. Smith has a way of molding you and bringing you to a new place. It gives you a deep respect and bond to other women. Northampton is one of BEST college towns in America. You can’t bet it. You will meet artists and poets and many more. It is so alive! Art is amazing, sciences are very strong, geology is fantastic. Economics, women’s studies etc. There are no weaknesses. MOHO is a great school too but not as high spirited and political. The town is very quiet as my sister leaves there now. I mean no disrespect to Mount Holyoke but go to Smith.
Umm… okay. I don’t quite see the point of that seeing as I was waitlisted at Smith and have already committed to attend a smaller, quieter college with more opportunities for me. Thank you?