Receiving a rejection from a first-choice school is a crushing blow for a student, and students and parents who had been counting on acceptance tend to rationalize the result and refer to it as random. Springer et al. reject this notion, stating, “Although the result of an admissions review may be unpredictable, it is not random.” (Admissions Matters 56) It is critical for students applying to selective schools, and their parents, to understand the variables involved and what the student’s true chances may be, so as to be prepared for the result.
If a student has a hook, such as legacy status, being a development prospect or athletic recruit, being a member of an underrepresented minority or a first-gen student, or having special talents, it can increase their odds of acceptance at a particular school. Students without a hook need to keep their chances in perspective by subtracting the accepted legacies and athletes from the total accepted students, when reported, to see the true acceptance rates for unhooked students, which can be much lower.
In addition, a student whose grades and test scores place them below the 25%-75% range of admitted students will have far lower odds of acceptance than a student whose stats place them above 75%. Students applying to selective schools need to know where they stand relative to the recently admitted class, so that they can make informed decisions about where and when to apply. This information is necessary to craft a list of good-fit colleges with at least a few favorite schools where the student is likely to be admitted.
Knowing that admissions officers have many institutional priorities to meet can also soften the blow for rejected students and their parents. A school may be looking for students from every state, may need a French horn player, or a coxswain for the rowing team. As Janet Lavin Rapelye, Wellesley’s Dean of Admissions, states, “As hard as it is to accept, (selective admissions) is a decision about what an individual student looks like on paper compared to the rest of the applicant pool of a particular college in a given year. It’s as simple as that, and as complicated as that.” (Cool Colleges 61) As she indicates, selective schools don’t have enough room for all of their qualified applicants so they have to make difficult decisions.
On the optimistic side, students also need to be shown that schools are looking for reasons to accept them, not to reject them. In his letter to applicants, Lee Coffin, Tufts’ former Dean of Admissions, stated, “And that’s an important point to underscore: the admissions process is additive. We are adding students to the class, one by one, rather than deliberately knocking someone out. As I’ve often said, I am Tufts’ dean of admissions not its dean of denial.” Students should be focusing on giving schools reasons to accept them when writing their essays and crafting their applications, and making sure they are not inadvertently giving reasons to reject them, such as referring to a different school in their application.
Finally, students need to be reminded that a rejection from a selective school is not a reflection of their worth as a human being. To quote again from Wellesley’s Rapelye, cited above, “Virtually every student that we see coming through the process has wonderful qualities and talents and skills…There’s a place out there looking for them. Their goal should be to find that right campus.”
Works Cited
1. Asher, Donald. Cool Colleges, 2nd Edition, Ten Speed Press, 2007.
2. Springer, Sally P., Reider, Jon, Vining Morgan, Joyce. Admission Matters, 4th Edition, Jossey-Bass, 2017.
