<p>Also yeah that bit about you not being special was illustrative hyperbole. I’m sure you’re a snowflake.</p>
<p>Great arguments, Masra91.</p>
<p>Jamaica, I’m sorry to hear you were not accepted into Washington University in St. Louis. Hopefully you’ll attend a school where you are happy and not just concerned about rankings. The truth is, private universities will always do what they need to do to attract the nation’s top students. Students are now coming to know WashU not by its high ranking, but rather by its academic and social offerings: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/684907-101-reasons-attend-washu-5.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/washington-university-st-louis/684907-101-reasons-attend-washu-5.html</a></p>
<p>There are also arguments that WashU is “the school that has it all.” Sure, it doesn’t have a Division I sports team, but it’s very hard for current undergrads and visiting students to come up with anything that WashU lacks. In short, the undergraduate quality of WashU is near phenomenal. Ask for it, and you will have it (note, this does not include Defense of the Dark Arts classes or Quidditch ).</p>
<p>Best of luck in your future endeavors, and I hope you don’t view your non-acceptance from a prestigious university as a measure of your worth, because it isn’t.</p>
<p>I didn’t want to get involved with this because I couldn’t care less about WUStL. But after reading this heated exchange, I felt I had to say something. I am one of two people in my high school to get into Yale SCEA. The other was waitlisted by WUStL. Trust me when I tell you she’s not shedding any tears. Nor does she see her non-acceptance as a “measure of her worth.”</p>
<p>What a patronizing thing to say! Some of you WUStL students and acceptees are acting so condescending by “consoling” the waitlistees. This would only make sense if being accepted by WUStL is a greater accomplishment than being waitlisted. A few of the six or seven waitlistees at my school (no rejectees and only one acceptee) have already received Ivy likely letters and/or merit scholarships from other top 20 schools. They don’t need your empty wishes of “best of luck in your future endeavors.” The waitlistees should be wishing you luck. When this all plays out, we’ll see who gets the last laugh in April.</p>
<p>There’s no need to attack those who just got accepted to WUSTL… As one of the recent people who got accepted, I felt quite hurt from the post. If you got waitlisted and believe it’s BS, please keep it to yourselves and don’t go bashing acceptees. The above post sounds more condescending than you accuse WUSTL students to be… :(</p>
<p>I know someone who was accepted last year to WashU, Dartmouth and Harvard. I just don’t know that many people who applied, so I can’t give more anecdotal evidence than that, except to say that the Naviance at our school doesn’t show any sort of gameplaying! Besides, all the top schools reject perfectly qualified candidates! They can’t accept them all. </p>
<p>Harvard sent my D an unsolicited application in the mail. We had never sent in any expression of interest and got this mailing cold because of the student search service. What arrogance! So, don’t talk to me about luring students in and giving them false hope!</p>
<p>@oceanangel: I am not “attacking” or “bashing” any acceptees, only when they act like they’re “better” than the waitlistees. You seem really cool and unassuming, so I meant no offense to you. You are not responsible for what your school, its students and other acceptees do. The guilty parties know who they are.</p>
<p>(For the record, I applied to only one school because I got in early action.)</p>
<p>I don’t see what the big deal is here.
Many, many (if not most) schools use “level of interest” and “likelihood of enrollment” as admissions criteria.
There is nothing wrong with denying a spot to a candidate who is unlikely to actually enroll and giving it to a lesser (but still qualified) candidate who is more likely to wind up a student.</p>
<p>If you don’t do this, what you end up with is a student body filled with ****ed-off and unhappy kids who don’t want to be there in the first place. In turn, these turn into unhappy alumni who don’t support their alma mater, etc.</p>
<p>Comment has been made about WashU. sending lots of brochures and “enticing” students to apply. Well those brochures are designed to do two things: get you to apply and if accepted get to to enroll. If you end up applying, but only as a safety-school, well then they have not really accomplished their mission, have they?</p>
<p>@jamaica,</p>
<p>This may not be a fair assessment, but at least on these pages, you came across as someone who treats college application as a race, one with clear-cut rules and prizes, of who gets into what. It shouldnt be. Dont get worked up about every little stumble along the way, no matter how unreasonable it may seem. The goal is to find the right fit, the ONE college that will change your life.</p>
<p>College application is like finding a mate in life. Both parties are trying to find the right fit, the true love. Lets say you have a few high-caliber guys pursuing you. Would you be offended if another guy you flirted with did not go gaga over you? Of course not! There could be any number of things about you, no matter how trivial or even unfair they are, that simply do not appeal to him. Thats life.</p>
<p>In your case, maybe the tone in one sentence in your essays made one particular reader, on one particular day and in one particular mood, think you would not be happy at WashU. Maybe WashU did not assign the same weight for your hooks (URM or whatever) as the other colleges you applied to did. Maybe too many people with similar hooks, stats, background, and intended major as yours applied to WashU this year. Remember they are all looking for a good balance. Thats why we hear so much about the penalty for being a high-achieving Asian. If stats are everything, Asian kids would fill half the class in most top colleges.</p>
<p>What you said about the more qualified you are the more it increases your odds of getting waitlisted was self-serving, insulting and hurtful, especially at a time when many kids are still waiting to hear from HYPSM. Yes, I’m sure you are very special. Unfortunately, I work in academia and know too many brilliant scientists who are special but not in a good way.</p>
<p>I hope you find your peace.</p>
<p>funny that the AA URM with an otherwise average app is striving so very much to make the accepted, ivy-hopefuls feel bad about not being waitlisted</p>
<p>For those who seem to be fixated on rankings and have a rigid view of the “pecking order”, here are some USNWR rankings to chew on:</p>
<p>WashU ranks 6th (sharing the spot with Penn) in Student Selectivity. Only Yale, Harvard, Princeton, MIT and Caltech are harder to get in.</p>
<p>WashU ranks 3rd (sharing the spot with MIT and Johns Hopkins) in Financial Resources. Only Caltech and Yale spend more money per student on instruction, research, student services, and educational expenditures.</p>
<p>For Faculty Resources, which covers class sizes, student-faculty ratio, and faculty salaries, the rank drops to #8. How disappointing! I demand a recount :)</p>
<p>JJParent, what determines the “student selectivity?” It can’t be just percentage admitted.</p>
<p>^I have no idea. USNWR simply says it’s a measure of how much competition applicants face. I assume the stats play a role, too. Rankings are not always logical (just like college application results), but that doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy :)</p>
<p>@JJParent and csxrtcw, the display of your ignorace is manifesting itself to explosive levels…To assume that I am an URM is ignorant, to assume that all URM in Ivy Leagues are average students is ignorant…and regardless of my race, I will bet that my stats will put you to shame…so spare me your hillbillie mindsets.</p>
<p>@jamaica “prestege” (repeatedly); “a trend that have been occurring”; “display of your ignora[n]ce is manifesting itself to explosive levels”? WTH does that even mean? Admitted to Ivy League? Not a stupid pill - a bitter pill. Seems sometimes WashU definitely gets it right (well almost right given that it did allegedly waitlist rather than reject you outright). phew. </p>
<p>BTW - I sense either someone so full of themselves that they absolutely cannot believe it when they find out that SOME SCHOOL has waitlisted them - they who are of “ivy league caliber” (“how DARE they”), or a “■■■■■”. Either way, WashU is better off without that attitude and there’s no possible benefit in continuing to respond.</p>
<p>@palmalk…lets get the record straight…it wasn’t some schools, it was WashU, applied to 13 and got into 12.</p>
<p>It should be “hillbilly.” jamica ----> IGNORE on.</p>
<p>Hey Jamaica-mahn!</p>
<p>So now you want to call people out on their “explosive” “ignorance.” Why don’t we turn that lense of analysis right back onto you!!! This should be fun</p>
<p>So first off, 12 of your thirteen schools have accepted you. I know one of them is Cornell, and another is Wisconsin. I also know from reading your previous posts you’re a senior this year. So riddle me this - how have you been accepted to all your precious Ivies when they haven’t let their decisions out yet? I suspect you got into Cornell and not WashU, (thanks to EA, you have this decision) and are mad. Well guess what - we’re better than you are na-na-na-na-boo-boo. (Just kidding, we’re comparable. It’s just that my school has a bigger endowment, half as many students, better rankings, and higher quality of life). </p>
<p>Next - you speak of ignorance. Well I’m not doubting that you got into Cornell or Wisconsin (or any of the other 10 schools who apparently do rolling admissions), I do question their decisions. Let’s convene a review panel for the English language and discuss your posts. </p>
<p>“there antics are very questionable” - from your first post. I wonder if Cornell expects you to know the difference between there, their, and they’re. I bet Wisconsin does too. </p>
<p>“Those schools have gain prestege” - Well I’m going to ignore the fact that you just spelled prestige wrong. (oops, I guess by pointing that out, I didn’t ignore it 
). But maybe you should learn to conjugate in the past tense. Let’s practice: “Last night jamaica couldn’t stand up to the facts of the matter, so this morning he started picking on other people instead of Masra91.” Now that wasn’t so hard, was it. </p>
<p>"Second, does Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, UPENN, Darthmouth, etc don’t see the flaw in us that WashU sees? " Well. Lets start out with “do” versus “does.” In English, we have subject verb agreement. Your subject was a long list of prestigious (look at the spelling) universities - that’s plural (or more than one, if you didn’t know). When we have a plural subject we use “do” instead of “does.” Also, you have another verb in there, sir; you don’t need it. In fact it makes your sentence garbled. Maybe the flaw WashU saw in you was that you said “WashU do make me happy” and they replied with “waitlist do make me lol.” Just conjecture. </p>
<p>I’m done, but I want you and everyone else to know that there are many more where that came from. I’m sorry you didn’t get in. Wait, no I’m not. Having talked to you and argued with you (it felt like I was trying to hit a brick wall) I feel like you wouldn’t have been a good fit at WashU, and I know I wouldn’t like to know that you were wandering the campus. Ay’ Mon! Why don ya gwan get out’a da board ya ras clot! </p>
<p>To all the others that share his opinions: so far most of you have been reasonable. You have used evidence and not implied conspiracy. Carry on, sirs and madams. To those of you who are also in the Priory of Sion - keep it to yourself. Secret societies are best kept secret. </p>
<p>P.S. if you say “beer can” in a British accent it sounds like “Bacon” coming from a Jamaican (accent). ALSO LOLOLOLOL at calling him a URM. He posted in the African American Boards as well as here… And while his stats certainly put everyone in the world to shame… his grammar (see above) does not.</p>
<p>@masra91 - very funny! (I suspect you were busy penning your post when I wrote my post above! ^^^^) Now we can REALLY ignore!</p>
<p>Excellent post, masra91. I must say I’m relieved that this person will not be on campus with my son.</p>
<p>Masra-- I love you and your vaguely authority-ish knowledge of the goings-on in the admissions office. Please take a moment to do some deep breathing so that we can continue to enjoy your company 'round these parts. </p>
<p>Jamaica/Greenseaturtles/Anti-WUSTL-- I know you’re more upset with the system than the applicants/CCers/Masra, but a lot of your comments are definitely being perceived as derogatory by WUSTL acceptees. I know you’ve apologized and qualified your statements, but please remember that this IS a forum populated by students interested in the school, and negative comments are generally interpreted as personal affronts rather than reasonable discourse on the school’s admission “policies”… And you guys should do some deep breathing too :D</p>
<p>How about some yoga…? Anyone up for some yoga…?</p>