<p>Which is the better way to notify them we want to stay on the waitlist? Fax? email? snail-mail?</p>
<p>i'm waitlisted as well :( but i'm thinking of not to go since i think i dont have that much chances anyway.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Just so you know, Carleton is not a safety for anyone. Much like Davidson, they can be really unpredictable in their acceptances. And a college application isn't all about grades and scores. You may not have been a good fit for the college. Carleton has it's own personality and it's possible that you just weren't the kind of person that would fit in.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is correct. I can't tell you how often the admissions people at Carleton will take note of the applicant's enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for attending Carleton.</p>
<p>No, the sad truth is that geography probably played a larger part of the admissions decision. Race and ethnicity are not the only factors that admissions folks look at in trying to establish a diverse student population. Living in Minnesota probably didn't help - you were in direct competition with other top tier students from the Midwest. You chances will no doubt go up in schools further away from your home state, but I notice that the other schools you've selected are some of the most competitive in terms of selection - particularly since so many applicants are now applying to 10, 15, 20 or more schools. Best of luck!</p>
<p>so, the_elop, where did you end up going?</p>
<p>D was wait-listed, but rec'd very nice letter stating that in other, less competitive years she would have been admitted. D is believes that her app was not taken seriously b/c she never intervewed - - and now wants to schedule interview in hopes of moving off the list.</p>
<p>Her stats: 670CR, 560M, 610W; gpa 92 (unweighted w/ honors, but no AP classes b/c her school doesn't offer them); strong ECs (but no sports) and stellar teacher recs.</p>
<p>Chances?</p>
<p>Also, if the college schedules an interview, is that a "good sign" or just a courtesy?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Carleton looks at more than stats, but your daughter's are on the low end for Carleton. Showing interest probably would have helped, but I think coming off the waitlist is a longshot for anyone. Does she have schools she was accepted to that she could start falling in love with now? That might be a better option, imo.</p>
<p>I don't know how much an interview would help her to get off the waitlist, since Carleton doesn't draw heavily from it. According to Carleton's Common Data Set from last fall, 1304 people were offered a spot on the waitlist, 361 accepted a spot, and 10 were actually let in. The year before, nobody was let in off the waitlist because the yield was unexpectedly high for the class of 2009. The year before that, 8 were let in off the waitlist. So basically, no matter how much Carleton may come to like your daughter through an interview, whether she even has a chance to get in off the waitlist is going to be determined by how many accepted students enroll, which the college won't even have tabs on until May. And even in that case, Carleton may decide to use the students it lets in off the waitlist to fill specific niches (high SAT scores, minorities, first-generation, super artsy types, political activists, physicist wannabes, whatever it decides it didn't get enough of in the class of 2011, though maybe they will just want to take people who are enthusiastic about Carleton), so again, your daughter's fate is largely determined by who else actually decides to enroll.</p>
<p>I'm an old alum of Carleton. '79. That means my kids are doing what you are.</p>
<p>I've volunteered at the admissions office at Carleton since I was a freshman, work a college fair or two, do an interview, write and email, make some calls.</p>
<p>I get info from time to time from the Admissions department, plus I talk to the people making the decisions.</p>
<p>First, I think all the notices went out a few days ago. I remember hearing that the acceptances were posted.</p>
<p>If you didn't get in, first, realize that Carleton is one of the most selective colleges in the country. If you chose Carleton as a safety school, you're naive. A safety school is one that WILL take you, not take one out of ten of students who look just like you.</p>
<p>Secondly, I know that Carleton tries to "craft" a class. People of different interests, backgrounds, skills. If they don't think you "fit", even if you have everything else, they pass, or maybe they think they have enough valdictorian, quarterback, homecoming kings.</p>
<p>It's not a critique of you as a person. It's simply that you may not fit what they are looking for. They may want the funky theater major, who barely graduated, but has produced two movies, or the person who ran away from home and spent three years on the highwire in a circus... you know, just other reasons.</p>
<p>Relax. If you're applying to Carleton, you're going to do fine. Wherever you go to school will provide you opportunities. Take charge, and your life will offer things you never imagined.</p>
<p>Good luck !</p>
<p>D sees herself as an intellectual (one of the stronges students in her grad class) and wants very much to attend a top tier LAC. Her ED app to Wes was rejected as were her RD apps to Oberlin; she was wait-listed at Kenyon, rec'd January admits to Colby and Skidmore, and Sept. admits to Bates, Smith, Wooster (merit $$) and Beloit.</p>
<p>I expected D to be overjoyed (especially w/ Bates, since she didn't really want a women's college). Instead she's disappointed, ostensibly b/c classmates whom she considers to be lesser studets (weaker grades and test scores) were admitted to "better" sch's than she was (Haveford, Wes, Bowdoin).</p>
<p>Throughout the processI have counseled against her fixation w/ the school's name recognition as opposed to the school itself. In the end, however, I let her decide where to apply. And if Carleton grant the interview, I'm inclined to let her go (though, as I suspected, not much chance of getting off the wait-list).</p>
<p>Sadly, I couldn't (and I still can't) find a way to talk her out of her dream.</p>
<p>Excuse me but... What the .... is this "crafting a class" stuff I keep hearing about? Is college some kind of terrarium? I mean....Oxbridge. the Sorbonne, other European unis have looked for yrs at academic talent (and not tuba playing, zip code equivalent of applicant, lacrosse skills, etc) and taken applicants based on this (and standarsized scores...dare I say (as opposed to the apple-polishing gpa. BTWhow can there be so many 4.0 gpa kids on CC with such low-ish standarized scores?....Seems to me a smile gets lot of Dale Carnegie typs far. Of coyrse, such is life, too, as well as high school....)</p>
<p>Anyway....CRAFT a class? Are admissions officers Vermeer? Are they social engineers? And on whose nickel? Seems to em that the large uniiversities (even in US) where these non-french horn/non lacrosse issues are dealt with, are more transparent. And more like the real world. And with less special pleading.</p>
<p>If lots of federal $ go into colleges, why do adcoms feel that it is their brief to "craft" (what does that mean, anyway?) a class?</p>
<p>My pont being...just accept students based on academic merit, and you may find that most yrs you'll have all the tuba players you need. Or if not, do without a tuba player, or figure that someone in your otherwise talented class will take up tuba. This is school, after all. Otherwise,w e wind up with what we've been seeing the last 10 yrs or so...A bunch of tube/french horn/crew-rowing , paying for 3 weeks in Central America to round out the resume games players who ar p...ing aware their school years on being games palyers (of someone else's game...though, again, such is life, i s'pose)></p>
<p>Perhaps hwlovett's choice of words ("crafting") was less than perfect - but his thoughts are right on the money.</p>
<p>Admissions officers have been hit with a virtual trunami of applicants this year - most "name" schools, the most selective LACs and Ivies - have had record breaking years. The use of the common app, and the increasing ease with which applicants can submit additional applications by clicking on a link has allowed many more applicants to apply to schools than at any other time in the past. </p>
<p>While some of these applicants don't stand a chance of gaining admission, many do. As a result, admissions officers are swamped with literally tens of thousands of folders containing sheets of paper documenting 3.8 GPAs, 2100 SATs, ECs of dizzying variety, and dazzling recommendations attesting to the applicants' passion for learning, gregarious nature, and committment to the community. </p>
<p>Presumably, part of the attraction of attending a school like Carleton is gaining a "Liberal Arts" education in the grandest sense, and that includes exposure to different ideas, cultures, experiences, backrounds, both in and outsdie of the classroom. 1,200 undergraduates from suburban areas outside of the same 5 cities does not an interesting campus make. </p>
<p>What's a school to do? Tufts University has taken a radical approach to solving this dilemma this past year. Tufts has thrown out the traditional college essays and replaced them with a series of questions designed to allow the student to reveal a part of themselves that might not have come across in the volumes of paper they submit with their application materials. You can read more about this revised process at this link to a broadcast transcript from National Public Radio: <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7384490%5B/url%5D">www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7384490</a></p>
<p>If you have a football team, you need a quarterback. If you have an orchestra you need a tuba. If you have a diverse student body, you need diversity. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that the population is increasing. Record numbers of high school graduates are applying to college, and the ones with top grades and test scores want to go to a name college rather than a lesser known school. Fortunately, the size of the enering classes are not increasing. This creates a classic supply vs demand dillemma. Schools must be creative in their selection criteria to ensure that they do not turn out 1,200 graduates who intend to teach English, or go to business school - or anything else for that matter. We need tuba players. </p>
<p>Yes - as you say - such is life. Or in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, "and so it goes". The disappointments around college admission, or rejection, are great I know. But pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and move on. In the long run it matters little where you go to school. You truly have the potential to be happy anywhere. That's not to discount the deep disappointment that you feel - it just means that, well, such is life.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Echoing a little bit of TheOldProf here. We live in South Texas. If all colleges went strictly on SAT and class rank only, not many kids from South Texas would get to go to college. We just don't have the same access to programming and tutoring that affluent areas do. Our school can't find enough Science and Math teachers qualified to teach AP Sciences, and the BC Calc has all but died. We couldn't replace the Latin teacher so no more Latin. Only 9% of our city has a BA or BS, and only 4% something higher. Our kids are helped by the more "holistic" approach.</p>
<p>I think the colleges and universities are overwhelmed with applications. More people applying to more places. My second born is at Carleton. He is in the class of 2009 that was so much larger they had to triple more rooms and still face a bit of a housing crunch. </p>
<p>I was just reading the student newspaper from where my oldest attends. This was the first year they had to enforce a cap on Economics majors, and some who applied were denied. The crunch is everywhere.</p>
<p>I too was a little shocked to be waitlisted. Anyone have any thoughts about the fact that Carleton does NOT practice need blind admissions? I'm a moderate need, non-minority from Minnesota with good stats. Hmmmm...????</p>
<p>As schools struggle to develop or maintain a national rep, they often bypass local candidates in favor of those offering more geog diversity or cache. This ws certainly the case w/ NYU about 10 yrs ago - - scores of NY kids who had (based on prior years' admission stats) considered it a safety or match were shocked to find that they had beed rejected outright or wait-listed, respectively.</p>
<p>Riverbound - My S was W/L and his profile is an excellent fit for Carleton. We did not apply for Fin Aid, so... I don't think need is a factor at all. Just got to accept that there were too many qualified apps and hard decisions had to be made.</p>
<p>hmmmm when do we find out when we have been rejected from the waitlist?</p>
<p>^^ you mean "IF" right????</p>
<p>Hehe we must be positive musnt we</p>