S23 received his first acceptance June 30th from Iowa State. Although it’s the first, I’m also sure it will be the cheesiest. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else that might be getting one, but you can see snippets of it on youtube if you’re interested. Looks like they haven’t changed it in years.
4 Likes
I love it. That’s not the cheesiest he’s gonna get. Most are just balloons and confetti. At least they tried.
My kids first acceptance was Alabama which came a few days after he applied. Pitt was quick too.
1 Like
First one for D22 was College of the Holy Cross, which was classy and genuine. Cheesiest was Emory which included a mirror on the acceptance folder and asked “can you see yourself at Emory?”… D22 thought it was a little silly.
5 Likes
Pitt was the best one she got…and perhaps a little cheesy too!
I actually got a call from a faculty member, which was really nice for my undergrad. I applied to 3 colleges. The other two were letters of acceptance. Nothing tacky.
My daughter got the usual confetti and balloons emails on her portals and then letters that were pretty standard. No merch!! Her friends that applied to and attending private schools got all sorts of goodies!
My eldest had her earliest acceptance in the form of a phone call from a student at the college. That was a nice touch and made her feel special. My son’s earliest acceptance was anticlimactic because it was simply a case of checking on the portal to see if there had been any changes.
My son is at a public U and got a bunch of stickers in his acceptance packet. So that was cute, at least. Nothing tacky though.
My D got a personalized note on one acceptance. She was also sent a lovely book from another accepted school, which I was just reading the other day. Excellent essay book called This Is Water by David Foster Wallace. It actually made a big impression on her and she deposited at that school, though she ended up elsewhere due to a waitlist offer. That offer was via a phone call. She was pretty blown away when they called her. Phone calls from a human make a really good impression, IMO. If I worked in a college admissions office, I’d probably try to do this for everyone admitted.
1 Like
Btw, I watched the video for Iowa State and loved it, lol.
8 Likes
Wow! That’s really something 
2 Likes
It was even longer than the ones shown on Youtube. It was fun to show the grandparents. I think it was perfect as a “first” (especially getting it in June before your senior year), but had to warn him that the others would probably be nothing more than a note in his portal.
1 Like
Wow, that is awful acceptance. Who would want to go to a college that tries to attract narcissists?
Thanks Debbie Downer.
In what why does that attract narcissits? It’s something that is sent after an acceptance, not as an incentive to apply.
3 Likes
Not only did Iowa State send the video acceptance mentioned, but there was also a follow-up from the Town of Ames with a congratulatory letter that highlighted the school-town partnership (transportation, civic events, etc.) It was a nice touch.
7 Likes
Our son was also accepted at Iowa State. The easy application, the video acceptance, the Experience Iowa State visit (we live in New England also), the letter from the city of Ames….we’ve been nothing but impressed. He even received a follow up letter from a professor after his visit to Iowa State. I’m not sure how any other school will match up — and not sure we care because we expect ISU to be far less expensive than anything else he is applying to!
4 Likes
Thanks for sharing the video. I love it! Okay, yes, a bit cheesy but it’s supposed to be fun. My D didn’t get any that would compare to that. I hope the grandparents enjoyed it too!
I missed this when posted a month ago, but the ISU video is fantastic. I have no connection to the school whatsoever, but I’ve been talking it up to my friends with STEM-oriented kids, and I hope my D26 and D29 will consider it if it’s a good fit academically.
Similar experience here and DS23 was the only one in his major so when they broke into majors he had 45 minutes 1:1 with an academic advisor. The whole thing has been pretty impressive. Still waiting to see merit, but ISU might be hard to beat. I wonder if University of Iowa does something similar.
Despite the nice touch and a reasonably good ranking for the school(esp. engg) there is not much interest on CC for the cyclones. Unlike the other schools there is barely even a admission thread each year. Probably because the entire admission process is automated based on RAI.
Which is such a great option for so many kids. It’s nice to see a school (KU, KS, and UI are also in this boat) that lets kids know if they meet the explicit entrance requirements upfront. Some of them need the confidence of an early acceptance rather than having to wait months to see if they have been granted an acceptance based on some “fuzzy” criteria or an AO’s whims. We found the whole experience to be refreshing.
6 Likes