Response to Mimi

Posted by DeeMimi commented on the post titled, “I was deferred; now what?!” Here’s what she wrote:

“I was deferred from my early school in December. I’ve now finished my RD applications and realized that my new essays are infinitely better than the ones I sent in early. Can I now send in my new essays to replace the ones I sent in a while ago? The RD deadline for this school has passed, however.“

It’s great that you turned in more perfected essays this time around, but I’m sorry to say that I would defnitely not recommend sending in your new essays.

But, before I get ahead of myself… What exactly did the letter from the school say? Do they want or encourage you to send in new or supplementary material? Is there

I was deferred; now what?!

Posted by Dee

I was deferred from Stanford last year.

I checked my decision online during school at around noon, saw that I was deferred, and shrugged it off, until, of course, the second I got into my car at 3:05 p.m., I cried and screamed about how “f*cking unfair” and how “f*cking f*cked up” it was that I didn’t get in early!

Yes, I know, the language was crude indeed, but the point is, it’s fine, I think, to let out your frustration about being deferred; yes, I agree, it’s quite unnerving to have to wait even longer to find out about your admission decision, but there comes a point when you move on and say, “now what?”

I mean “now what” not with a sarcastic tone, but rather “now what do I do to complete my application for my early admission school?”

You may be confused; “Didn’t I already finish my application?”

The answer is no! In all likelihood, the school you were deferred from will ask you to

Judgment day

Posted by Luke

Judgment day has finally come and passed. To those of you who were admitted under Early Decision, I offer my sincerest congratulations and I hope that you excel and are truly happy with the decision you have made. To those of you who were rejected or deferred, I have a few words of advice:

1. Don’t worry about it

Lots of people are not admitted early. The schools tell you that there is a higher rate of admittance for early appliers, but the rate is still rather low and does not guarantee a spot at the university. Consider this one of life’s little lessons that not everything is certain, but just because you were not accepted does not mean that your life is over. If it is any consolation, I was deferred from the Huntsman Program at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, but I rebounded and am now attending a very prestigious university with great students and faculty and I couldn’t be happier if I were freezing in Philadelphia. The trick is to not get discouraged, which brings me to my next point…

2. Don’t lose your confidence

Just because one school doesn’t want you in December does not mean that you are not worthy to be there in the spring. You must look within yourself and see if the

When to know if you’re accepted early

Posted by Dee

It’s December, which means that results from early admissions will be back soon enough.

Again, there seems to be no comprehensive list anywhere on the Internet that compiles the dates when each of the top schools report their decisions for early admissions, so I created one! The name of each school, along with the date you should expect a response and any special notes are provided. This data was taken from each college’s admissions Web site.

Brown: Early Decision applications decisions mailed “mid-december” 2006.

CIT: Early Action application decisions mailed “mid-december.”

Columbia University: Early Decision application decisions mailed “mid-december.” You will either be accepted, in which case you must accept the offer of admission unless financial reasons release you from the ED agreement, deferred, or rejected

Words from the admissions bins

Posted by Doreen

I came across this article in a newsletter my high school sends out every so often regarding college admissions.

Apparently this was compiled by a member of the National Association of College Admission Counseling, or NACAC. Enjoy!

“Are you sure you sent my recommendation?”

It might help to know that colleges face a mountain of admissions mail every day–mail that requires very systematic and careful handling. As a result, there will be a very reasonable delay between the moment your application arrives at the admissions office and the time it is processed and placed into your file. Let’s hear from the experts on this:

From a large public university: 
“I wish I had a photo that I could send you of thousands of pieces of mail sitting in the mail bins waiting to be processed. Maybe this bit of information will help… we employ an ‘army’ of students to help us process the mail. We receive so much mail that all some students do is simply slit open envelopes, other students will date

College, Confidential?

Posted by Helen

At my high school (and I’m sure at yours too, if applicable), it seems as though all anybody talks about these days is college. However, more specifically, people always want to know how YOU did on the SATs, or where YOU are applying early. When the question is reciprocated, they tend to give an ambiguous or indirect answer. This brings me to wonder: how much information about your college process is too much to share with friends?

I’ve come to the conclusion that it is really a personal decision. If you don’t mind telling 50 people what you got on your SATs, or what your GPA is, or your top ten schools in order (yes, I swear I really have been asked that once), then go ahead and paint the town red. If you are uncomfortable sharing this information, I assure you there are plenty of ways to answer questions without actually answering them.

However, no matter how (un)comfortable you are telling people about your great college quest, here are some things that you should always keep in mind:

If you…

1) gush about how great a school is expect your friends to apply there. This is a big one. The more people that apply to a school, the more selective the school becomes, and therefore the harder it is to get in.

2) share your SAT scores with people they will compare you to others whose SAT scores they know. If I had a dollar for every time that I have heard “Did you hear that Joe got a 2150 and Joann only got a 2070? I thought Joann was way smarter than Joe!” I would be a very rich gal.

3) tell somebody which school you are interested in they may prove useful to you in ways you never imagined. Recently when a college representative visited my high school from a university I am particularly interested in, an old English teacher personally introduced me to the representative as “a very promising student.” It turns out they were friends, and that personal introduction would not have been possible had I not told my old teacher that I was interested in the school.

4) tell 50 people where you are applying early decision, you will also have to tell 50 people whether or not you got in — which could be incredibly fun, or incredibly heartbreaking.

5) keep too much secret, let’s face it, you will be kept out of a lot of conversations.

So the next time somebody asks you to rank your top 10 colleges in order, before you answer make sure that you actually want to answer the question. And if you do not want to, it is always easy to make the question into a form of a joke… Currently, my Facebook says that I am attending Kansas Bible College next year, and double majoring in “Intelligent Design,” and “Evolution as a Conspiracy Theory.”

As promised, interview specifics for top schools

Posted by Dee

As promised, here’s the list of interview policies for specific top schools! Sorry if my use of the word ‘alumni’ is grammatically incorrect Latin-wise; I’m sort of still confused with alumni vs. alumnus vs. alumnae vs. alumna vs. alum!

Brown: Interviews recommended but not required. Once application is received, alumni in your area will contact you. If you do want an interview then you’ll set up the time and place at that point. This applies to international applicants where possible too. No on-campus interviews.

CIT: No interviews.

Columbia University: Interviews are not required. Between October and February, a member of Columbia’s Alumni Representative Committee will contact you if an interview is available in the area where your high school is located. So, if you’ve finished high school and not living by your high school anymore, you can’t get an interview. Also, to better your chances of getting an interview, turn in your Application

Harvard, Harvard, Harvard

Posted by Luke

With the recent move by Harvard College to drop its early admission policy, and Princeton and University of Virginia (another fine institution; a member of the “public Ivy League” consisting of the College of William and Mary, Miami University of Ohio, University of California, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Austin, University of Vermont, and University of Virginia) blindly following suit a week afterwards, Harvard has reestablished its mantle as the best university in the world.

Therefore it’s time to talk to you about the power and prestige of Harvard and not selling yourself short during college admissions. I’m sure some people may disagree with my assertion of Harvard’s preeminent position in world academia, but let us be realistic. Harvard is the institution to which all other schools are measured. Harvard has the name recognition all schools would kill for and although it might not be the strongest school academically, its power in name alone allows it to lord over all the other institutions of higher learning. Harvard alone is given the freedom to do what it wants without radical repercussions. This is evident in the fact that it single-handedly ended a 30-year American college institution while other schools have petitioning for years against early action in vain. Even in the Ivy League Harvard is known to be “better” than the others. When Brown controversially decided to allow all classes to be Pass/No Pass, there was a shit-storm raining on all sides of Providence while Harvard has inconspicuously implemented even more radical policies with nothing but admiration from the

By the way, Cornell’s thinking about joining Princeton & Harvard too

Posted by Dee

Like the title says, thought I ought to let you know that Cornell, according to The Cornell Daily Sun, is also thinking about doing away with its early acceptance program, like Princeton and Harvard.

Click here for the full story titled, “C.U. May Scrap Early Admissions.”

Princeton follows Harvard’s lead against early admission

Posted by Dee

According to today’s press release from Princeton University, the school is ending its early admission program in favor of a single admission process next year.

The statement is reminiscent of Harvard’s from last week, touching on the inequities of early admission for disadvantaged students. While I think the results of Harvard’s decision indeed be interesting to watch, for Princeton the stakes are even higher! For a school that admits nearly 50% of its freshman class through Early Decision (see AdmitSpit’s “Admission statistics for top colleges: 2006” post), I sure hope Princeton didn’t make this decision lightly by just following along with what Harvard was doing.

If you’re wondering whether all the Ivy Leagues are jumping on board, the answer is no. Brown and Dartmouth at least have already released announcements saying that they will maintain their early acceptance programs.

For AdmitSpit’s comprehensive post about the Harvard early admission pullout, click here.

For the full press release from Princeton, click here.