@jym626 Exactly. I know that it is easy to get excited about marketing materials and assign meaning to things that show up in the mail during a stressful time when awaiting designs from schools. That said, while hard , it’s important to keep things in perspective and realize the only piece of mail that indicates acceptance to a university is an acceptance letter. Anything else is mailbox filler.
@carolinamom2boys Did you kid receive the brochure?
@carolinamom2boys Meant “your” vs. “you”.
@carolinamom2boys Meant “your” vs. “you”.
Even then, you need to be careful as we have seen and @ jym626 has said, mistakes happen. We are fortunate not to get worked up about it. I was just stating I understand and feel for those families who had their hopes up (right or wrong) and then received their letters. As a marketing manager, IMO they didn’t “target” their audience at the right time. I loved the piece but would have sent it out when application season was open. Again, different person, different thought process.
We truly believe that every thing comes out the way it should in the end. Good luck and best wishes to all!
Exactly, @sunset88. My guess is that the marketing mailing was delayed for some reason and was supposed to have been sent out earlier. I have no data to support this- -just suspect that it was meant to be sent earlier (for the reasons you mentioned) and was sent out late rather than not at all. That said, this is a teaching opportunity for our kids. We as parents can teach them patience and stress management, not encourage them to feel like snowflakes who should be easily outraged and upset. The students’ stress can be managed and validated. But teaching them to keep it in perspective is a helpful skill too.
@SCLADY12 My son received the brochure last year about the same time results came out. It is the same one that came out this year the best I can tell by comparing it to one of my neighbor’s brochure.
With words like “Get Excited” and “Join the Club” and a little blurb about the Clemson Alumni Association, this simply did not seem like a generic marketing piece to be sent out to someone who checked the box on the ACT/SAT. And to send it the week before letters went out. Mistakes happen, I know, but an apology to disappointed students would be appreciated and might help some view Clemson in a better light than they do now, which is important whether they are attending Clemson or not.
@February17 The brochure was marketed to students who applied to Clemson, not just students who “checked a box” on the ACT. I received similar brochures from most of the schools that my son applied to. I viewed them as nothing but informational, not as an indicator of acceptance. Sometimes mail is just mail.
@carolinamom2boys How do you know all of this? You seem to be the expert!! Are you a Clemson employee? You are on here until the wee hours of the morning.
I think I answered in a post before that I am not a Clemson employee or any other school employee. I typically don’t look at times that other posters post, but yes last night I did post late into the night . I have the flu, and was unable to sleep because I slept all day yesterday . I " know all of this" because my son went through this process last year. We did our homework . We attended multiple information sessions at the schools my son applied to. We asked questions and developed a good relationship with his GC. Because of doing these things , we had realistic expectations during the application process. The most important expectations were there are no guarantees in the admissions process and don’t assume that you are admitted until the letter arrives in the mail.
@February17, we did not take it as a generic marketing piece. IMO it is better served to target those who have already been accepted. The mailers that my child received post acceptance were more like the Clemson piece. The solicitation to apply mailers read in a different fashion, at least to the colleges that my child applied to. They were more generic.
For those of us who have several others who will be applying to college, it does make us think twice about certain things. While yes, it is a good teaching moment, that does not lessen the sting and disappointment.
@carolinamom2boys No assumptions were made, but there was disappointment and confusion after the fact. I don’t think attending information sessions and posting on forums makes you an expert by any sense of the word and you don’t have to do those things to have realistic expectations. We don’t think Clemson owes our sons and daughters acceptances, but we do think that recognizing that it was a cruel/unusual thing to do would be an upstanding step for Clemson to take. We all know that there are reasons for not being accepted but an obvious mistake was made by sending that material out.
@february17 I never reported to be an expert . I stated my opinion on the situation , that’s all . My opinion differs from yours and that is fine . This is a forum where people post different opinions . That is allowed by the terms of service that we all agree to when we become members of this forum. We also agree to be respectful to one another in posting.
@carolinamom2boys Absolutely. That came off harsher than I intended. We don’t agree but I do appreciate your input on many of these feeds.
@february17 I appreciate that. Again, I don’t pretend to be an expert . Just trying to offer a point of view. I too appreciate others point of views. That’s the purpose of this website .
@sunset88 - no one said that rejection doesn’t sting. Of course it does. But as you stick around this forum and read the reaction of students who’ve been denied, they are upset for a brief period of time and then they move on. It’s part of the process. It’s funny when students love a school, and then when they are denied they hate the school or find all sorts of things to dislike about it. I’m not talking about this particular school, but the process. It happens all the time and it’s normal. My point is that if parents get all up in arms and outraged and want to call the media or demand an apology, in my opinion that doesn’t teach the right coping skill to students/children that there is the opportunity to do here. One needs to learn to deal with disappointment, surprise etc. Getting outraged and wanting to call the media over bad timing on marketing materials is in my opinion a bit unnecessary.
Was the mailing ill-timed? Yes. Should it mean your other kids shouldn’t apply to the school? Well that’s their decision. Students find lots of funny reasons why not to apply to a school.there have been threads on this, and they are quite entertaining to read. As a side story, my older son found the admissions office staff to be quite difficult to deal with at the school he ended up loving and attending. It was a great school and a perfect fit for him. If he had made the decision solely on a bad experience with one situation, he would’ve missed out on a fabulous education and opportunity.
@jym626 so sorry you misunderstood my comment “makes us think twice about certain things”. It is not about the college choice but about the process. Our other children will apply to where they want to apply regardless of previous experiences of others. A friend suggested this forum a couple of years ago, I did enjoy reading it and gathering information. I only recently felt the need to join as my daughter was that age.
Everyone has different experiences. I have read where parents are extremely upset by the lack of communication from a particular school with regards to scholarships and deadlines. Our experience with that school has been the complete opposite. So, ones view is as good as your experience and what you make from it good or bad.
Again, we were fortunate that my daughter is not as upset as others. I empathize with them and thought they just needed to vent. Yes, everyone needs to learn to deal with disappointment but in their own way whether I agree with it or not.
Glad we are done with this process for a bit! Best wishes to all.
Thanks for clarifying, @sunset88. Yes your post was misleading. And yes, venting is fine. There’s even a thread for that. Just sharing my opinion, and not speaking to any one person but in generalities, that reacting by wanting to rally the troops seems a bit much.
I can completely understand being disappointed and wanting to vent and commiserate with other parents. Everyone has had a different experience , because of that it’s important to be mindful that posts don’t become overly negative ,interrogating and demeaning to posters that have different opinions. By no means should a poster ever feel like they are not welcome on a thread . Just a general opinion, not directed at any one person .