Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We haven't written a first choice letter even though I have a clear preference. I feel it's a little too ass-kissy for me. And a total turn off to me if the schools use this sort of stuff to influence who they accept. I don't really want to be surrounded by parents who take that approach to be honest. Seems disingenuous to me since, for all the school knows, the parents have written this letter to every school that is hard to get a spot in.

It makes a difference to schools if you are their first choice, because they want high yield. Between two similarly qualified candidates, they will take the candidate who indicates the school is their first choice. This is not about kissing ass. It’s about saying you’ve made a decision about where you’d like to go — given the option.

It’s a very bad idea to lie about this, because admissions officers do talk to one another. If you indicate to two schools that they are both your top choice, that’s a good way to get rejected from both.

Anecdotally, I know many families for whom a first choice letter made a difference, including mine.

You sound rather new to and naive about the admissions process.

How do you know that it was the letter that made a difference? It could just as easily be that whatever aspects of the school appealed to you also made your child appear to be a good fit to the admissions office.

pbraverman wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a very bad idea to lie about this, because admissions officers do talk to one another. If you indicate to two schools that they are both your top choice, that’s a good way to get rejected from both.

Both of these topics have been covered in the past. I agree that indicating to two schools that they're both "first choice" is an error — not least because it's not honest.

That said, I have done this work for 15 years with hundreds of students, and I have never encountered a single concrete reason to believe that admission offices speak with each other during admission season. On the contrary, I have had countless conversations that make no sense if they do.

In reality the schools with the most competitive pools are far too busy during February to worry about what others are doing, and every admission director is aware that it is likely illegal to speak about applicants. If this really does occur in a town teeming with lawyers, why has nobody brought an antitrust suit?

I do not know why this conspiracy theory persists; perhaps it speaks more to a basic human desire for rational explanations, even in situations where none may exist, than to real understanding of the process.

Peter

Anonymous wrote:

pbraverman wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a very bad idea to lie about this, because admissions officers do talk to one another. If you indicate to two schools that they are both your top choice, that’s a good way to get rejected from both.

Both of these topics have been covered in the past. I agree that indicating to two schools that they're both "first choice" is an error — not least because it's not honest.

That said, I have done this work for 15 years with hundreds of students, and I have never encountered a single concrete reason to believe that admission offices speak with each other during admission season. On the contrary, I have had countless conversations that make no sense if they do.

In reality the schools with the most competitive pools are far too busy during February to worry about what others are doing, and every admission director is aware that it is likely illegal to speak about applicants. If this really does occur in a town teeming with lawyers, why has nobody brought an antitrust suit?

I do not know why this conspiracy theory persists; perhaps it speaks more to a basic human desire for rational explanations, even in situations where none may exist, than to real understanding of the process.

Peter

Peter,

Talking about a candidate casually does not necessarily rise to conspiracy or invoke anti-trust issues (how dramatic!). I am not saying ADs talk to collude or that they talk about every candidate. But they do talk. There is more than one reason they want to know what other schools you’re applying to.

I have heard that ADs sometimes talk to other ADs out of concern for a particular candidate, I.e. when they can’t accept a particular candidate for whatever reason, but they really like the child and family, they will sometimes talk that family up to other ADs. I’ve heard of one AD calling multiple other schools to make sure that a child got a spot somewhere when the AD’s school couldn’t accept him. I actually think that’s pretty kind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We haven't written a first choice letter even though I have a clear preference. I feel it's a little too ass-kissy for me. And a total turn off to me if the schools use this sort of stuff to influence who they accept. I don't really want to be surrounded by parents who take that approach to be honest. Seems disingenuous to me since, for all the school knows, the parents have written this letter to every school that is hard to get a spot in.

It makes a difference to schools if you are their first choice, because they want high yield. Between two similarly qualified candidates, they will take the candidate who indicates the school is their first choice. This is not about kissing ass. It’s about saying you’ve made a decision about where you’d like to go — given the option.

It’s a very bad idea to lie about this, because admissions officers do talk to one another. If you indicate to two schools that they are both your top choice, that’s a good way to get rejected from both.

Anecdotally, I know many families for whom a first choice letter made a difference, including mine.

You sound rather new to and naive about the admissions process.

How do you know that it was the letter that made a difference? It could just as easily be that whatever aspects of the school appealed to you also made your child appear to be a good fit to the admissions office.

Because I know of other, equally qualified families who applied that year whose children were wait-listed. Although I think DC is a great kid, there was nothing in his application that made him significantly different than some of our friends’ kids, who also applied. We had no special hook and no connections. The only identifiable difference was a thoughtfully written first choice letter, which outlined why we were so enthusiastic about 1st choice school.

I wrote a first choice letter and I think it made a difference. Also, my DD was an athlete in a sport that is popular at the school. Coach really wanted her. I think that helped too.

Anonymous wrote: I have it on good authority that the schools are swayed by such letters, because it sorts out who will say yes to that school vs. parents who are just prestige-shopping.