Is It Unusual for Colleges to Reach Out Re: Unsent Applications?

[Anonymous]

My daughter's friend received an email from a school about her incomplete common app for their school.

It says that they notice her common app was unfinished but they'd like to give her an opportunity to complete and submit the app after the deadline if she'd like. She received this email approx. 1 week after the deadline.

Is this unusual?

[Anonymous]

No, DS got those too.

[Anonymous]

Boy! I guess these schools really want to drive up the number of applications received. I'm certain they already many more apps than spots available, but whatever makes their rejection rate higher I guess. Makes them look more selective.

[Anonymous]

Not at all unusual especially given the common app problems this year. They want to make sure that kids who intended to apply have completed their applications.

[Anonymous]

DD has gotten a postcard, college brochures and 2 emails from 2 unfinished common apps. The apps are unfinished because DDs last attempt at the SATs didn't put her in the 50th % for the school. I guess the schools didn't see the scores (that were sent to the schools by SAT before DD saw them).

[Anonymous]

They schools are just gaming the system to drive up the numbers so they can reject more people. The more people a school rejects, the better it looks to US News. Washington and Lee got caught last year by including all unfinished apps in it's rejection numbers, so schools want students to finish the apps, so they get credit for rejecting them.

[Anonymous]

9:07 and 12:45 are correct. It's just to drive up numbers of applications so more can be rejected. Several colleges got into trouble this year because they included "incomplete applications" in the number of reported applications to jigger the rejection and yield numbers. That's also why your kid will get emails after the normal application date saying "Hi, we will waive the application fee, etc., if you will just push this button here and apply". It's all about numbers.

[Anonymous]

9:07 and 12:45 are correct. It's just to drive up numbers of applications so more can be rejected. Several colleges got into trouble this year because they included "incomplete applications" in the number of reported applications to jigger the rejection and yield numbers. That's also why your kid will get emails after the normal application date saying "Hi, we will waive the application fee, etc., if you will just push this button here and apply". It's all about numbers.

[Anonymous]

It's so sad this is what college admissions has come to.

I was shocked by the email because we didn't have problems at all with the Common App. In fact, we applied to 5 schools using it before DC got accepted at her first choice. That's the reason we didn't complete the app.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9:07 and 12:45 are correct. It's just to drive up numbers of applications so more can be rejected. Several colleges got into trouble this year because they included "incomplete applications" in the number of reported applications to jigger the rejection and yield numbers. That's also why your kid will get emails after the normal application date saying "Hi, we will waive the application fee, etc., if you will just push this button here and apply". It's all about numbers.

+1 so true. The schools play the game really well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:07 and 12:45 are correct. It's just to drive up numbers of applications so more can be rejected. Several colleges got into trouble this year because they included "incomplete applications" in the number of reported applications to jigger the rejection and yield numbers. That's also why your kid will get emails after the normal application date saying "Hi, we will waive the application fee, etc., if you will just push this button here and apply". It's all about numbers.

+1 so true. The schools play the game really well.

Ahhh...so that's why you get all the special invitations to apply with application fees AND essays waived. They just want the app numbers. Shameful.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand this because high apps but very low yield doesn't look good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They schools are just gaming the system to drive up the numbers so they can reject more people. The more people a school rejects, the better it looks to US News. Washington and Lee got caught last year by including all unfinished apps in it's rejection numbers, so schools want students to finish the apps, so they get credit for rejecting them.

Washington U in St. Louis is known for gaming its numbers this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this because high apps but very low yield doesn't look good.

Yes, it does. In the college admissions world anyway. It makes them look more selective. "We received 100,000 apps but only admitted 1,000 people. We have a 1% acceptance rate. Look at how competitive we are! We're such a hard school to get into. And look at how many kids want to attend our school!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this because high apps but very low yield doesn't look good.

Yes, it does. In the college admissions world anyway. It makes them look more selective. "We received 100,000 apps but only admitted 1,000 people. We have a 1% acceptance rate. Look at how competitive we are! We're such a hard school to get into. And look at how many kids want to attend our school!"

Fair enough, PP, but if only 100 of the 1,000 admits actually enroll, that is a low yield and it looks bad. It means most of the people who applied didn't really want to go there or had better options elsewhere. It is interesting to look at lists of school with the highest yield. They are often niche schools to which a limited number of people would ever be interested in applying--such as military academies, all women's colleges, or very conservative or religious colleges. For those that want to go there, they are great schools, hence high yield, but most people would not ever apply. Am I missing something?