Disappointing Admission Decisions Can’t Forecast Your Future
March 28th, 2016Are you nursing metaphorical wounds at the moment, inflicted by a college that denied admission? If so, you’re not alone. Many share and understand your sorrow, this advisor included. Applying to college is a big deal, and even with advance knowledge of a competitive situation we all hope against hope that the dial will spin, and then open the right door.
Please don’t become mired in disappointment. It’s important to move on and make the best of options available to you.
It’s not so easy, you think, even as parents, teachers – and, yes, your trusted college advisor – tell you that you’re still capable of greatness. That all of your amazing qualities remain wholly intact. That your talents will take you far, and when coupled with a strong work ethic will lead to options aplenty down the road.
But, you say, we’re not the ones experiencing what you are at this moment in time. You’re right. We’ve all been there, however.
Every one of us has received a disappointing college or graduate school or employment decision at some point. It’s a little like a friendship or romance that doesn’t work out: painful, but in the end we realize that we still occupy a valuable place in this world. Somehow, after a bit of grieving, we all survive.
Yet that college notification still feels deeply personal, doesn’t it? Well, here’s help. As if on cue, knowing that this is the season for applicants to U.S. colleges and universities to experience disappointment, J.K. Rowling has done something wonderful. We’re not talking about a new book. We’re talking about the way in which she’s sharing a difficult part of her past with the world. Follow the article link to see what we mean, and let us know if your outlook improves.
If J.K. Rowling could find success after experiencing so much disappointment, you can, too.
Article published March 26, 2016
Written by: BBC News
JK Rowling has shared two rejection letters she received for her first novel writing as Robert Galbraith. The author was trying to find a publisher for The Cuckoo’s Calling, which was eventually released in 2013. Rowling posted the rejections on Twitter, saying she was doing so to encourage other aspiring writers.
Read more at BBC >>Tagged: Admission decision, Applications, College
Campus Revisits Spark Enrollment Choice
March 14th, 2016Congratulations! All of your time spent researching schools, filling out applications and studying for standardized tests is beginning to feel like the distant past. It is now time, or in some cases nearly so, for decision letters to roll in.
You may have a tough decision to make or you may know exactly where you want to go. Either way we highly encourage you to take one last visit to your top choice(s) with a fresh pair of eyes. In this Teen Life article Suzanne Shaffer highlights several things to consider when revisiting a college to make sure that that it is the right fit for you.
It’s good advice for boarding school revisits, too!
Article published February 19, 2014
Written by: Suzanne Shaffer
After receiving offers of admission from multiple colleges, students and parents wonder how they will choose. If you’re uncertain, and even if you’re not, the best thing you can do is revisit the colleges on your list of acceptances. Since college is a major purchase and a 4-year commitment, it makes sense to go to the respective campuses one last time before making your final decision.
Read more at Teen Life >>Tagged: Admission decision, Campus visits
The Waitlist: Colleges’ Safety Valve, Students’ Purgatory
March 7th, 2016Admission decisions from selective colleges will soon be arriving fast and furious, and some students will have a “wait list” decision to consider. Although natural to wonder what one’s chances are, it’s impossible to know. When I sat on admission committees at Tufts University, then Brandeis University and later, Washington University in St. Louis, our wait lists gave us latitude to first see how the enrolling class would materialize from the first round of offers, and then fill in gaps. Too few men, or women? Too few engineers, or Classics majors? Too little diversity, whether geographic, ethnic or racial? Our goal was a well-rounded class with a fairly precise number of students, and the wait list helped us achieve that in some years. In other years, our initial offers produced the enrolling class sought, and we were unable to offer any students admission from the wait list.
Will Dix’s article on the Forbes website shines a bright light on the wait list process; we recommend that students and parents read it if contemplating what to do about a wait list offer. Dix’s article concludes with excellent recommendations about steps to take if you’d like to remain under serious consideration.
Be certain to follow his steps carefully if you’re serious about a college that’s wait-listed you, including that of submitting an enrollment deposit to a college that’s offered admission outright. Why? If you’re not offered admission to your top choice from the wait list, you’ll want to be certain that your place is reserved for fall entry at your next choice.
Good luck to all in weeks to come – we are here for our students and their parents, ready to listen and guide.
Article published February 22, 2016
Written by: Willard Dix
At this moment in the middle of winter, admission officers at four-year colleges and universities everywhere are deep into reading season. They’re combing through hundreds or thousands of applications to find students with the talents and abilities to power their campuses and keep professors happy. Some applicants will be immediate standouts; others won’t have the grades or scores or that “certain something” to be admissible. Many others will fall into a purgatory called The Waitlist , where they hover like the ghosts in “The Others” until June or July.
The waitlist exists because even the most selective colleges worry about “making their numbers.” The incoming class has to be a certain size, filled with the best possible mix of students. If a small college has a target of 500 freshmen, there had better be 500 students showing up in the fall. And it needs to be 500, not 530 or 470. Too few and the budget takes a hit; too many and students end up living in Quonset huts or hallways (or even being paid to wait a year before matriculating). The applicants’ purgatory is the colleges’ safety valve.
Read more at Forbes >>Tagged: Admission decision, Applications, College
What to Do if You Are Deferred to the Regular Decision Pool
December 18th, 2015During this busy holiday season, not only are you waiting on packages and holiday cards to come in the mail but many of you will be waiting for something more important….your early action or early decision notification letter. There are three results that will be displayed: acceptance, denial or deferral. The big question we want to answer today is: What to do if you have been deferred?
There are several things to consider if you received a deferral letter. Many applicant pools for early decision and early action have increased in size which makes admission much more competitive. If students have a second choice that they now favor over the college that deferred or denied them, they can consider filing an ED Round II application (if the college has a second round) as they’re no longer bound by the first college’s ED or EA requirements. In the article posted below, Author Brennan Barnard shares some excellent advice for students who have been deferred. Although this publication was written three years ago we believe his recommendations are just as valuable today.
Article published December 18, 2012
Written by: Brennan Barnard
Brennan Barnard is the director of college counseling at the Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H.
From small liberal arts colleges to Ivy League schools to large universities, I have yet to speak to a college that has seen a decrease or remained stagnant in early applications. I am no statistician, but this seems like fuzzy math.
Read more at New York Times >>Tagged: Admission decision, Applications, College
