Hi all, first time CC poster but frequent browser. Senior in HS, just finished college admissions process. I’m writing to provide an absurdist yet strangely comforting truth of college admissions to prospective applicants: it is beyond your control 100%. All decisions are out, and here is how I ended this year’s college process:
Rejected: UPenn, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Temple University
Waitlisted: George Washington University, American University, New York University, Boston University
Accepted: Yale University
I will not provide stats/credentials for this case, but to give you an idea:
Temple = safety
GWU, AU, NYU, BU, NEU = matches
Tufts = low reach
Yale, UPenn = high reaches
The point I make with my extremely confusing and befuddling admissions results is that truly, one cannot know why they were admitted, waitlisted, or denied anywhere. With stats far above my safety’s threshold and pretty below my reaches’, there is no textbook explanation. I am thrilled to be admitted to my dream school, but had to get 8 waitlist/rejection emails before I got to that moment.
The process is so, so arbitrary. To rejected/waitlisted students: take it personally, because a school did not believe in you, but at the end of the day, be thankful you will not be paying any institution that did not see your strengths as a person and student. Understand that if you presented yourself honestly and to the best of your ability and were still not met with the news you wanted to be met with, that you did not do anything wrong, you are not unworthy, and you are not a failure. The system is flawed, and yield protection exists. I made phone calls to the four schools who waitlisted me to be removed from the list after committing to Yale and received comments such as “not surprised.” Future applicants, when all seems to go awry, remember you are up against a dense, confusing, flawed, beast. Know that when your plan A fails, there is a plan B, C, D, E, F, etc. waiting for you, no matter how bleak it looks.
Unfortunately I cannot offer the belief in fate or destiny when it comes to these things, but when these situations are compared person to person, they seem to always work out for the best.
Best wishes to all applicants!