BellaOnline Forums Education Gifted Education student rejected by Ivies, despite stellar record

This year is TOUGH for admissions!BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

As much as we want to believe that it isn't so, education is not a right--it is a privilege. And when you have limited slots you have to make very difficult decisions. For the Ivy Leagues, much of the process boils down to this: in a sea of greatness, what makes your great applicant stand out.

And frankly, being "wait-listed" isn't a bad thing.

I'm sure this young man will do well wherever he goes. But it is true that kids like him who would have been Ivy shoo-ins a decade ago are now getting rejected. And the rejection rate is soaring everywhere, not just at the Ivies. The most selective schools are accepting something like 6-8% of their applicants this year.

I think they should set a limit on the number of schools a student can apply to. The top schools can't even tell nowadays which students will actually come to them. Applying to 11 schools at once and making them all keep holes open for you while you decide doesn't seem to make sense to me. A student should have narrowed your field way down before you get to the final application stage. Can they really be a "great match" to 11 schools?

Back in 1986 I only applied to four schools - MIT, RPI, WPI and UCONN (my fallback). I didn't have perfect test scores - but I did get accepted to all four. I did have a number of other things on my resume - volunteering at hospitals, Gold Award in Girl Scouts, volleyball team, etc. so it was not just the test scores they were looking at then.

I understand that there are more students now, 20 years later, but there are other things going on too I think.

And its not just the grades and test scores colleges look at now.

If you've done your homework, your list of schools should be no longer than 5. Applying to 10 or more is like throwing a handful of darts at a dartboard in the hopes that at least one will stick.

Really interesting idea. I think a limit like that could have a lot of positive side effects. I don't know how legal it would be, but it's a neat thought.

My friends daughter just applied, I think to 5 maybe. She said the highschool counselors suggest 10 or more schools. Of course she said that they would probably limit it to her daughter's first handful of choices since the application process cost about a $100 a pop, then there were the visits.

If they limit the number you apply to, then would that drive down the application costs, if the school is saving money by being allowed to make more rapid decisions on placement?

Interesting question, Violette. I think that the application fees are really a drop in the bucket compared to tuition though, so it doesn't matter too much if the schools get the money or not. Many schools waive the fee if you apply online or through a special solicitation. My son received regular mailings from schools that were interested in him, saying that he could apply now and have the fee waived.

Lisa, I agree. I think it would simplify things a great deal if one could apply to just X number of schools. But we tread on dangerous ground if we start asking for every little thing to be legislated. I'm not sure what the answer is.

Lynn-

On a related note, a friend mentioned recently that she is figuring her kids will get into college on the novelty factor as homeschoolers. I don't think that homeschoolers can depend on their educational situation as a hook. I feel that they really need to do something noteworthy to show that they take advantage of their educational freedom. What do you think?

Homeschool is no more a hook than private school attendance. Its not a novelty in college admissions any more. What admissions counselors want to see with homeschoolers is documentation that they've met and/or exceeded the minimum college prep requirements set by either the (a) state (if its a public institution) or (b) the college (for everyone else). Portfolios work well for this; and its always helpful if the parent provides a transcript of work (even if its an informal transcript). Once they've done that, then they're in the same pool as all other admissions prospects.

As for high school counselors suggesting applying to 10 schools... *sigh* they do this over and over again. But it suggests to me they either don't really know the student or they have no knowledge of the schools the student has indicated an interest in attending. Also, the further east you get in the U.S., the more prominent/affluent the high school in question, and the more pressure for college attendance placed on students, the more likely they are to go overboard in the college application process.

Save your time and money by doing the legwork ahead of time and applying to those schools where you really fit.