<p>^^ Don’t give OP any ideas</p>
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<p>This is the second time I’ve read a reference to this “list”. Where/what is it, anyone know?</p>
<p>What school is it? Perhaps someone has experience regarding this school and perhaps even this particular program…</p>
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<p>Every spring (May?) the NACAC publishes a report, the “Space Availability Survey results,” that lists all its member schools that still have open slots avaiable for the upcoming school year. Last year’s list has been removed from the web site, but check back there in May. There are usually some pretty good schools listed with space still available.</p>
<p>Thanks scout. I doubt we’ll need it but you never know. I’d be interested to see it in any case. I assume someone will post a thread on it here when it comes out :D</p>
<p>@ohiobassmom I remember last year the list was published on more than one forum here.</p>
<p>We’re good :)</p>
<p>Hi folks. I am the OP and again, thanks everyone for all the answers.</p>
<p>First of all, let me just say that I apprecieate answers that say that the school needs a deadline because they have processes in place that need to be followed, and if they break the mold, word comes out and next year everyone sends an application later. I get that.</p>
<p>I do not understand, however, the IRS analogy. The IRS tax is a very unilateral process: The government wants your dollars and you need to comply by a certain date. On the other hand, the school-applicant relationship is different. The school ultimately wants good students and the student wants to go to a good school. If some mutually benefitial good outcome could be reached after the deadline, so be it (if one day I become an enrolment manager, I will propose the ED, EDII, RD + Rolling approach).</p>
<p>Regarding the answer that the student would be overwelmed, I am not so sure. Are there applicants who are qualified and arrivelate to the party? I think there are.</p>
<p>Regarding taking a gap year, the applicant was interested in starting in Fall 2012 because he/she already had a one-year gap year (due to non-academic reasons). Further delays would only create more red flags. The reason I am posting this is not the justify my original post, but it is more to say that there are always some deserving exceptions. That is why I mentioned that the existance of ‘sacred rules’ may not be optimal.</p>
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<p>There are a number of schools that already have ED/EDII/RD and rolling admissions policies in place. At this date there are probably still schools where you can apply rolling admissions.</p>
<p>Is this the applicant’s only option? They could always transfer. Or, they can just attend one of the other schools they managed to apply to on time and were admitted to. It’s not the end of the world that they couldn’t submit an application to one more school. Also, I do not think that it is a “sacred rule”, but in your original post, you do not give a very good reason for submitting a late application- you say it is because a lack of prior research and lateness to discover the program. When you called, did you explain why the application is so late?</p>
<p>Could the student go to community college or some other school for a year or two, and then transfer to the desired school?</p>
<p>OP - your original post implies that you somehow have qualities that are so above and beyond those of the students who have already applied and submitted all materials on time. You make it sound as if a. LAC in question does not have enough qualified candidates and will have open space that needs filling or b. you have, indeed, saved Earth from Martians and want that to be a special “hook”. You talk about “beneficial good outcomes” that could be reached between you and said LAC. How, by not offering admissions to some other student? I am still confused about why you are more special and more deserving of admission than all the other students who have applied to this institution.</p>
<p>@keabie: When the student called the response from the person was very “unwelcoming”. I guess he/she could have asked “let me talk to your boss” and explaint the situation, but he/she thought that was better not to do that.</p>
<p>@saintfan: Sorry, I did not want to soud arrogant. However, the applicant has GPA and Standard tests that are significantly above the LAC’s 25-75% range. Also, the applicant has interesting and unusual essays and ECs.</p>
<p>@“everyone else”: I really appreciate the kind comments I heard here. Fortunately, the applicant is likely to have some options from schools that he/she applied to before the deadlines. In-line with what was previously stated, the applicant was “surfing” the internet and realized that that particular LAC, which was only mildly considered previously, turned out to be a very attractive option “upon further review”. The applicant will be happy to go to any of the schools he/she applied to. In any event, he/she would be equally (or more) happy to go to the LAC that decided not to accept the late application.</p>
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From the OP:
Just so we know who the applicant is.</p>
<p>^
Fair enough, Erin’s Dad.</p>
<p>This does not change my puzzlement regarding the institutions’s response.</p>
<p>What school was it? Again, I think you may be able to find out more personalized advice about the situation if we know what school it is. Perhaps someone here would know why applications to that program need to be in on time, or they know someone who was able to find a way into that program later on…</p>
<p>IMO, the OP is lucky. The school could’ve easily accepted the application and just tossed it in the reject pile after depositing the check, treating it as free money.</p>
<p>Because a LAC has an admissions process that is designed to build a class, not just admit random kids based on stats.</p>
<p>Well, then, there you have it. The institution should be just delighted to accept somebody with scores above the 25-75 (seems to me that 25% of their class already has scores above the 25-75) and who just happened to find it late in the game and thinks the rules don’t apply. You don’t have a good reason – you weren’t in a coma, or wrongly imprisoned in a jail cell in another country, or anything. Yes, it’s always worth asking “can I” but it’s immature to be all put out by the “sorry, no.” Do NOT take this attitude into the work world, please.</p>
<p>Just curious – would we expect an elite school to entertain late applications? From everybody who wanted to send them? If they do it for one, they should do it for all, right?</p>