Do great students sometimes get shut out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has an EA acceptance to his top choice in hand, so this is pretty much anxiety and idle curiosity speaking. Since admissions can be holistic and somewhat capricious, what happens when a solid student (say, 4+ GPA and 1400+ SAT with great EC's) is shut out from everywhere they applied, even targets and safeties? I'm guessing this happens with a lot of safeties that have more of an 80% admit rate than higher. Do you know anyone this has happened to?

If the student applies to several TRUE safeties (versus what they think should be safeties), then no, they won't get shut out.

+1000

TRUE safeties (IMO) are acceptance rates of 50-60%+, your students is at/+ 75% for GPA and SAT/ACT, and your kid has demonstrated strong interest, and most importantly, your kid actually likes the school and wants to attend.

And yes if you do it correctly, your kid should get into 75%+ of their safeties.

My 1490/3.98UW/9APs kid got into all their safeties and all their targets. 3 safeties gave excellent merit (over 40% of tuition). 2 targets gave great merit as well (both were in T50).
Was deferred/ultimately rejected from their ED (T10/5% acceptance rate), WL at a T30 (9% acceptance rate) and first year abroad for a sub10% acceptance rate school.
So it went exactly as expected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, but students do get rejected from safeties who rejected 90%+.

First rule: safety must have a 50%+ acceptance rate. So that is NOT a safety

[Anonymous]

Yes but it's about choosing wisely. I know one kid last year who was completely shut out. In spring, she found a spot at OOS flagship that she had not applied to but accepted her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they apply to say ten, 3 reach, 3 safeties, one rolling, 3 middle/oos. They should land a place.

I've never heard anyone being rejected 100%, either they've already decided to take a gap year, community and transfer route or working.

College is a choice.

Only ones I've heard of being rejected everywhere are those applying to only reach schools. High stats and applying to 15+ schools with single digit acceptance rates does not guarantee an acceptance.
But if you do that, you deserve to be left stranded. Pick true targets and safeties and you will have a great place to attend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:your safety has to have a real Why Us essay that demonstrates you've been there, you want to go there, you know the curriculum and you're excited about this and that and this other thing. Super specific and with a lot of heart, even if you have to fake it.

If your school has supplemental essays, it's almost certainly not a safety. A safety is a school that auto admits based on stats. If they are reading essays and considering interest, they aren't a safety.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure to have some low-rated liberal arts school on your list and you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only ones I've heard of being rejected everywhere are those applying to only reach schools. High stats and applying to 15+ schools with single digit acceptance rates does not guarantee an acceptance.
But if you do that, you deserve to be left stranded. Pick true targets and safeties and you will have a great place to attend

They totally deserve it! I think they should also be flogged and pilloried. Smite these wayward youths for their hubris, amirite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has an EA acceptance to his top choice in hand, so this is pretty much anxiety and idle curiosity speaking. Since admissions can be holistic and somewhat capricious, what happens when a solid student (say, 4+ GPA and 1400+ SAT with great EC's) is shut out from everywhere they applied, even targets and safeties? I'm guessing this happens with a lot of safeties that have more of an 80% admit rate than higher. Do you know anyone this has happened to?

If the student applies to several TRUE safeties (versus what they think should be safeties), then no, they won't get shut out.

I keep hearing this on this board, but how does one know what a TRUE safety is? My DS had a 3.85 gpa and 1480 SAT and was shut out of JMU.

That is indeed strange -- was your DS actually rejected by JMU? Even so, it goes to show that you need to apply to several true safeties. Even if one or two reject due to yield protection, etc., you still won't get shut out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has an EA acceptance to his top choice in hand, so this is pretty much anxiety and idle curiosity speaking. Since admissions can be holistic and somewhat capricious, what happens when a solid student (say, 4+ GPA and 1400+ SAT with great EC's) is shut out from everywhere they applied, even targets and safeties? I'm guessing this happens with a lot of safeties that have more of an 80% admit rate than higher. Do you know anyone this has happened to?

If the student applies to several TRUE safeties (versus what they think should be safeties), then no, they won't get shut out.

I keep hearing this on this board, but how does one know what a TRUE safety is? My DS had a 3.85 gpa and 1480 SAT and was shut out of JMU.

That is indeed strange -- was your DS actually rejected by JMU? Even so, it goes to show that you need to apply to several true safeties. Even if one or two reject due to yield protection, etc., you still won't get shut out.

He applied EA, was deferred, then waitlisted. It was his #1 choice. He wanted a large school that had a good program in his major. His counselor fully believed he would have no problem getting into JMU. He had no illusions of getting into more difficult schools. He ultimately accepted admission at an OOS school that gave him good merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew someone who was only accepted to their in-state engineering school, and one waitlist. So, no, not a shut out, but they aimed way to high and only targeted top schools with the most generous aid. In retrospect, there probably would have been a competitive offer from schools in a lower tier, because grades and scores were near perfect. But truth is he continued to be the top scorer in college, but not a star. Wasn't selected for the coop program, and didn't get internships along the way. Has no work experience but is now doing a masters at UCLA.

I mean...things could be worse.

Right? This kid is getting a second degree at a very competitive school. Things turned out great!

[Anonymous]

I see this happening to a lot of ppl this year.

Primarily bc their safeties aren’t ones they would ever go to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew someone who was only accepted to their in-state engineering school, and one waitlist. So, no, not a shut out, but they aimed way to high and only targeted top schools with the most generous aid. In retrospect, there probably would have been a competitive offer from schools in a lower tier, because grades and scores were near perfect. But truth is he continued to be the top scorer in college, but not a star. Wasn't selected for the coop program, and didn't get internships along the way. Has no work experience but is now doing a masters at UCLA.

I mean...things could be worse.

Agree. It will all work out and it's the correct path. He's super studious and hard working, but needs the extra credential to make that clear. Just in retrospect I don't think the top schools that rejected him, got it that wrong. The HS friend who came in second on everything is the one who went to MIT.

This kid would have been fine at the top schools and is now presumably fine at a top grad school. Schools that rejected him didn’t get anything right or wrong. They selected a different kid for a limited spot. Admissions committees don’t actually know these kids or their ultimate capacity; their decisions are a reflection of the school’s agenda and not the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS has an EA acceptance to his top choice in hand, so this is pretty much anxiety and idle curiosity speaking. Since admissions can be holistic and somewhat capricious, what happens when a solid student (say, 4+ GPA and 1400+ SAT with great EC's) is shut out from everywhere they applied, even targets and safeties? I'm guessing this happens with a lot of safeties that have more of an 80% admit rate than higher. Do you know anyone this has happened to?

If the student applies to several TRUE safeties (versus what they think should be safeties), then no, they won't get shut out.

I keep hearing this on this board, but how does one know what a TRUE safety is? My DS had a 3.85 gpa and 1480 SAT and was shut out of JMU.

Few of the respectable true safeties that a kid that smart would enjoy are in the Northeast or adjacent states (eg, even U of Tennessee is apparently no longer a safety according to some posters). People have to start accepting the concept of picking safeties in some states that aren’t especially impressive to the country clubbers in the Boston-DC corridor.

[Anonymous]

Community college and a gap year are alternatives.

[Anonymous]

This is why it’s always a good idea to pick a rolling EA, so they can have an early acceptance in hand. And yes, they sometimes end up going to that school.