Rejected Princeton SCEA, currently attending Williams

Anonymous wrote:ED to Dartmouth. deferred and then waitlisted and then denied. Sibling applicant but sibling is no longer at Dartmouth (just graduated and very strong student while there). Very strong applicant. Wrote a LOCI, had a teacher write an additional rec and it was a "this is the best student of my 20 year career" letter (teacher shared the letter) but nothing moved the needle.

Got into 2 Ivies RD and 2 other top 20 schools and 2 top 10 liberal arts schools.


frankly, f-you Dartmouth. We know 2 other kids that had a similar experience this year. all were strung along for 9 months. We all would have welcomed a denial in December over what happened.

Where did the kid go?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!

I'm obviously not a Harvard AO, but if I was, I would have rejected the applicant for the bolded. Obnoxious!

That level of obnoxiousness is a required trait at Harvard.

Fair. Which is why my kid isn't applying to Harvard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED to Dartmouth. deferred and then waitlisted and then denied. Sibling applicant but sibling is no longer at Dartmouth (just graduated and very strong student while there). Very strong applicant. Wrote a LOCI, had a teacher write an additional rec and it was a "this is the best student of my 20 year career" letter (teacher shared the letter) but nothing moved the needle.

Got into 2 Ivies RD and 2 other top 20 schools and 2 top 10 liberal arts schools.


frankly, f-you Dartmouth. We know 2 other kids that had a similar experience this year. all were strung along for 9 months. We all would have welcomed a denial in December over what happened.

Not my kid, but I know a Yale sibling - utterly qualified in every respect - who was denied from Yale REA (not deferred - flat out denied). Got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, and at least 5 other T20 schools RD.

These experiences and many, many others across the board (for any candidate who is qualified to attend their "target" university) convince me that admissions officers are simply not reading each applicant's file correctly, just because they don't have the time. That's the lottery part of admissions: the AO skimming your file and not remembering the salient points.

This is an odd take. AOs are very clear that they have far more applicants who are fully qualified than they have room for. It tracks that some people would get in to some programs and not others, that some would get in to multiple programs, and that some wouldn’t get into any, even if all of them are fully qualified.

PP you replied to. Hmmm... you've got to read between the lines. AOs cannot admit that they're overwhelmed. It's obvious that there are far more qualified applicants than seats, no one's denying that. But sometimes admissions just do not make sense - sometimes one applicant who is less qualified (and isn't an athlete, hasn't donated a ton of money, and doesn't play an instrument the orchestra absolutely needs, has no hooks at all) get picked over a more qualified or hooked candidate. Overall, admissions only make sense when you factor in human error.

You will get any AO to admit this. But after years of reading and thinking about this, I am convinced this is true.

But "merit" or being "qualified" isn't a linear, objective measure. The fact that an AO made a different decision than you or I would have made doesn't mean it was a mistake.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!

I'm obviously not a Harvard AO, but if I was, I would have rejected the applicant for the bolded. Obnoxious!

That level of obnoxiousness is a required trait at Harvard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have info on the breakdowns for which schools heavily defer vs reject in ED/SCEA?

Only students who are athletes, legacy, donors’ interests, fac brats and URMs should apply REA/SCEA. All others should apply RD.

My untagged kid applied REA to one of HYPSM, was rejected outright and was accepted to multiple HYPSM RD. Little did we know! Learn from our mistake.

Which school rejected outright?

Years ago i did alum interviews for Princeton and almost all SCEA applicants were deferred to RD. Not sure if that’s still the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have info on the breakdowns for which schools heavily defer vs reject in ED/SCEA?

Only students who are athletes, legacy, donors’ interests, fac brats and URMs should apply REA/SCEA. All others should apply RD.

My untagged kid applied REA to one of HYPSM, was rejected outright and was accepted to multiple HYPSM RD. Little did we know! Learn from our mistake.

Which school rejected outright?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED to Dartmouth. deferred and then waitlisted and then denied. Sibling applicant but sibling is no longer at Dartmouth (just graduated and very strong student while there). Very strong applicant. Wrote a LOCI, had a teacher write an additional rec and it was a "this is the best student of my 20 year career" letter (teacher shared the letter) but nothing moved the needle.

Got into 2 Ivies RD and 2 other top 20 schools and 2 top 10 liberal arts schools.


frankly, f-you Dartmouth. We know 2 other kids that had a similar experience this year. all were strung along for 9 months. We all would have welcomed a denial in December over what happened.

Not my kid, but I know a Yale sibling - utterly qualified in every respect - who was denied from Yale REA (not deferred - flat out denied). Got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, and at least 5 other T20 schools RD.

These experiences and many, many others across the board (for any candidate who is qualified to attend their "target" university) convince me that admissions officers are simply not reading each applicant's file correctly, just because they don't have the time. That's the lottery part of admissions: the AO skimming your file and not remembering the salient points.

This is an odd take. AOs are very clear that they have far more applicants who are fully qualified than they have room for. It tracks that some people would get in to some programs and not others, that some would get in to multiple programs, and that some wouldn’t get into any, even if all of them are fully qualified.

PP you replied to. Hmmm... you've got to read between the lines. AOs cannot admit that they're overwhelmed. It's obvious that there are far more qualified applicants than seats, no one's denying that. But sometimes admissions just do not make sense - sometimes one applicant who is less qualified (and isn't an athlete, hasn't donated a ton of money, and doesn't play an instrument the orchestra absolutely needs, has no hooks at all) get picked over a more qualified or hooked candidate. Overall, admissions only make sense when you factor in human error.

You will get any AO to admit this. But after years of reading and thinking about this, I am convinced this is true.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have info on the breakdowns for which schools heavily defer vs reject in ED/SCEA?

Only students who are athletes, legacy, donors’ interests, fac brats and URMs should apply REA/SCEA. All others should apply RD.

My untagged kid applied REA to one of HYPSM, was rejected outright and was accepted to multiple HYPSM RD. Little did we know! Learn from our mistake.

Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!

My kid is at Harvard and from what I know of the AOs, this would puss them off! What a bunch of BS!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED to Dartmouth. deferred and then waitlisted and then denied. Sibling applicant but sibling is no longer at Dartmouth (just graduated and very strong student while there). Very strong applicant. Wrote a LOCI, had a teacher write an additional rec and it was a "this is the best student of my 20 year career" letter (teacher shared the letter) but nothing moved the needle.

Got into 2 Ivies RD and 2 other top 20 schools and 2 top 10 liberal arts schools.


frankly, f-you Dartmouth. We know 2 other kids that had a similar experience this year. all were strung along for 9 months. We all would have welcomed a denial in December over what happened.

Not my kid, but I know a Yale sibling - utterly qualified in every respect - who was denied from Yale REA (not deferred - flat out denied). Got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, and at least 5 other T20 schools RD.

These experiences and many, many others across the board (for any candidate who is qualified to attend their "target" university) convince me that admissions officers are simply not reading each applicant's file correctly, just because they don't have the time. That's the lottery part of admissions: the AO skimming your file and not remembering the salient points.

This is an odd take. AOs are very clear that they have far more applicants who are fully qualified than they have room for. It tracks that some people would get in to some programs and not others, that some would get in to multiple programs, and that some wouldn’t get into any, even if all of them are fully qualified.

Does anyone have info on the breakdowns for which schools heavily defer vs reject in ED/SCEA?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!

I'm obviously not a Harvard AO, but if I was, I would have rejected the applicant for the bolded. Obnoxious!

Same

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED to Dartmouth. deferred and then waitlisted and then denied. Sibling applicant but sibling is no longer at Dartmouth (just graduated and very strong student while there). Very strong applicant. Wrote a LOCI, had a teacher write an additional rec and it was a "this is the best student of my 20 year career" letter (teacher shared the letter) but nothing moved the needle.

Got into 2 Ivies RD and 2 other top 20 schools and 2 top 10 liberal arts schools.


frankly, f-you Dartmouth. We know 2 other kids that had a similar experience this year. all were strung along for 9 months. We all would have welcomed a denial in December over what happened.

Not my kid, but I know a Yale sibling - utterly qualified in every respect - who was denied from Yale REA (not deferred - flat out denied). Got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, and at least 5 other T20 schools RD.

These experiences and many, many others across the board (for any candidate who is qualified to attend their "target" university) convince me that admissions officers are simply not reading each applicant's file correctly, just because they don't have the time. That's the lottery part of admissions: the AO skimming your file and not remembering the salient points.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED to Dartmouth. deferred and then waitlisted and then denied. Sibling applicant but sibling is no longer at Dartmouth (just graduated and very strong student while there). Very strong applicant. Wrote a LOCI, had a teacher write an additional rec and it was a "this is the best student of my 20 year career" letter (teacher shared the letter) but nothing moved the needle.

Got into 2 Ivies RD and 2 other top 20 schools and 2 top 10 liberal arts schools.


frankly, f-you Dartmouth. We know 2 other kids that had a similar experience this year. all were strung along for 9 months. We all would have welcomed a denial in December over what happened.

Not my kid, but I know a Yale sibling - utterly qualified in every respect - who was denied from Yale REA (not deferred - flat out denied). Got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, and at least 5 other T20 schools RD.

Ugh!! My senior loves his brother’s school and is also very close to his brother. He actually has even better stats—but I fear this happening as well. It pisses me off twins would both get in, but siblings one year apart are treated differently.

Ivy REA is really, really tough. Although I do know 2 siblings who got into Yale.