<p>is there any chance for getting in from being waitlisted by Michigan? anyone knows the stats?
are appeal efforts going to be useful?
i really want to get into Michigan!</p>
<p>Honestly, people here sound absolutely ridiculous. So what if the top 40 or so schools decline in admissions rates? Are we supposed to feel really sad because in a few years some kids might not get into their dream school? It happens. College admissions are obviously not automatic and people need to stop being so pompous, expecting to go to a top 10 school and no where else. </p>
<p>If you look at current applicants, 99% of the people applying to the Ivies do get into great schools like JHU, NU, Berkeley, etc. The same will hold true in the future because applicants will still get into good schools as long as they aren't idiots and get some matches, even if they get rejected by the ivy league.</p>
<p>Also, the math has to work out. Even if everyone in the future applies to 20 schools that all of <10% admissions rates, the yields would go DOWN. I seriously can't see how it wouldn't work out. You have the same number of QUALIFIED kids applying for the same number of spots in the ivy league. Even if the number of UNQUALIFIED applicants is skyrocketing, those won't really affect the originally QUALIFIED students' chances. I understand that kids are doing better ECs than ever, but SAT and GPA are standardized, so I think it's BS to think that there are sooo many more applicants out there with 4.0 and 2400. In my opinion, the number of qualified students is only rising slowly, and that's what really matters.</p>
<p>
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Honestly, people here sound absolutely ridiculous. So what if the top 40 or so schools decline in admissions rates? Are we supposed to feel really sad because in a few years some kids might not get into their dream school? It happens. College admissions are obviously not automatic and people need to stop being so pompous, expecting to go to a top 10 school and no where else.
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<p>You're totally right, of course. But high-achieving kids are taught from a young age that the reward for their hard work as "good students" is a great college. So kids grow up dreaming that they have a place at these schools, and that these schools represent something greater than what they actually are. Who can blame these kids for wanting to get in, then?</p>
<p>Are people really complaining about having to go to places like NU, JHU, and Berkeley? I've been on this site for a long time, and I've never seen anyone trash those kinds of schools. But if that is true, then students need to look past college and its admissions process and look to the ultimate goals of college: a fulfilling educational experience, and hopefully a steady and interesting job. </p>
<p>However, Atomicfusion and b4nnd20 need to remember why, during the college admissions season and after decisions are sent, so many kids flock to this site. CC can serve many purposes: it can provide a wealth of information, and more relevant to this thread, a catharsis for stressed students, students who may have been rejected from their 'top choice' schools. Are we seeing students who were rejected at Stanford and instead went to Northwestern posting these kinds of comments three months into college? No, we're not. So though what many of these students are saying seems so... 'absolutely ridiculous,' try to give these hard working students a break and let them step back and gain some perspective, which I imagine only fully manifests itself when a freshman steps on campus and stops visiting CC.com.</p>
<p>yeah i agree with you too...i'm not saying those colleges are bad or anything...obviously they're just as good if not better in every regard except for reputation (and that doesn't have much actual bearing). but it's the fact that I couldn't get into the higher-ranked schools that bothers me--not just because those schools are higher-ranked, or because NU/Berk/JHU are lower-quality. it's hard to explain why but I'm sure you understand my feelings?</p>
<p>Well, if you're looking for better teaching, I'm not sure you'll necessarily find it at the Ivies. [A number of newspapers have made that conclusion; don't get mad at me!]</p>
<p>just my opinion- UVA and echols.rodman THE BEST SCHOOL EVER
.... ...</p>
<p>Back to waitlists ... My son recently got off the waitlist at his first choice school. When he wasn't originally admitted he was disappointed - but he decided to make an effort to gain admission. He contacted the Admissions Office and found the individual who is responsible for applicants from our region. He spoke with her and assured her that if admitted he would definitely accept their offer and he followed-up this conversation with a letter. He also re-established contact with the local alumni interviewer for a follow-up discussion and spoke with a family friend who is active alum. Essentially the message was delivered - I'm 100% on-board and will accept your offer if admitted - and the message was delivered by my son directly and via two alums. I can only guess - but I'm sure that this made a difference. By mid-May Admissions Offices must be under a lot of pressure to get the incoming class off their desks and on to the Registrar, Housing and academic departments. In making up a small shortfall from a large pile of qualified maybes - all of whom will have had to have accepted somewhere else (and may also be on various other waitlists) - finding someone they know will say yes has to matter. Thinking about what my son did, I'd say that contacting the two alums was probably the best thing he could have done. Not because they pulled any strings - but because they backed up his intent - and his enthusiasm the school - independently. If nothing else, the Admissions Office knew what to expect if they offered him a place. I give him credit for taking some initiative and can only suggest that this proved to be an effective way to get his application noticed and reconsidered.</p>
<p>bfnn where did you decide to apply?</p>
<p>bfnn, I mean where did you decide to go?</p>
<p>CollegeBound5 - My son got off the waitlist at Duke. I posted on this thread because I think that it is possible to influence the outcome of the waitlist decision. From what I've read on CC in the last few weeks it seems that a lot of kids are responding to the wailist by resubmitting their applications (i.e. updating the Admissions Office on their grades, accomplishments, ec's ...). IMHO - they've already decided that waitlisted candidates are viable. All I think they want - and need - to know is whether a waitlisted student will accept an offer if it comes. Beyond communicating that - I'm not sure that there's a lot a waitlisted kid can do.</p>
<p>I was just asking where he got in because I thought he read that he had 2400 but did not get into any top schools. If that poster was your son that is great. Duke is a great school.
I got into 9 schools including several ivies. One of the ives I wanted to go to I was waitlisted at and did all the things you recommended too and was accepted.</p>
<p>Before you think that people in NC have an easy time getting into UNC-Chapel Hill, you better "get educated" on the facts. </p>
<p>Unless you apply early admission (non binding), UNC takes the position that you are not that interested in attending and thus they have very tough standards for regular admission, especially for in state kids. Unless you are top 10% and have an SAT and SATII scores in the top decile or quintile, you should expect a flat rejection. THOUSANDS of smart kids in NC who want to go there get waitlisted or rejected. Its also a highly political school and their admissions process is highly skewered...if they dont have enough applications from a certain area, our certain counties in NC or from minorities....they extend the deadline sort of arbitrarily. They take a certain percentage of kids from some schools and from some counties....thus the standards are not universal across the state. I am not saying this is bad policy, only that it exists. As college costs skyrocket more and more kids who would have gone to a private school, like Davidson, Duke, Wake or Emory 10 years ago, now almost all apply and attend UNC making it harder and harder to get in.</p>
<p>Being top 10% is also relative. If you go to a school that is historically not producing a lot of braintrusts, it may be easier. If you go to a school that produces WAVES of brilliant kids, has incredibly hard AP courses and teachers, it is hard to maintain the top 10% moniker. </p>
<p>It matters not to me or my D, as she had ZERO interest in Chapel Hill. Too big, too liberal, and too bureaucratic. It was not "her best fit". We knew this instinctively as we drove around campus and toured it. She has MANY, MANY friends who will attend Chapel Hill and to them we say, "good for you and Congrats!" Its just not us.</p>
<p>If you are OOS, then I wish you luck. But my best advice is to peruse the Barron's profile of American Colleges...containing more than 3,000 colleges in the United States. There are PLENTY of colleges out there to fit you or your kid, you just have to look and be adventurous. Picking the popular and big name schools is not always the best move, whether its HYP or UNC or UVa or whatever. I know a kid with a 2350 SAT and 5.0 QPA who is going to Haverford College. He could have gone ANYWHERE. Brilliant kid. He just wanted something different and off the beaten path. For him that is nirvana. I think he made an excellent choice.</p>
<p>Kids put too much emphasis on name schools and then wrap their self image in whether they get in or not. Not a healthy prospect if you ask me.</p>
<p>Pick 2 reach, 2 match, and 2 safety. Then embrace your safety schools as they may be where you end up, and they may be the ones WHO TRULY WANT YOU (or your kid) and offer you the most money.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Do schools always send a letter of acceptance or rejection after you've been on their waitlist, or for some do you just never hear from them again unless you contact them?</p>
<p>No, you WILL hear from them. If you don't you should call them, but wait until the end of July until calling them. If they accept you, they will always call you (I have never heard of a college sending out an acceptance letter to a wait-listed applicant as a first form of contact). And if you're not accepted, you will eventually get a letter saying they're releasing you from the wait-list.</p>
<p>Wow, I totally thought this said "hopes for dim kids on college wait-lists"</p>