Kids get shut out if their school doesn’t support their application like the Sidwell case from a few years back. Kid applied to 13 schools so not all Ivy. Next year she applied again and got into Penn. It happens but usually kids take a gap year or do post grad to fox the recommendation issue.

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's the thing. My DS was accepted to a school with a 15% acceptance rate and deferred from one with a 71% acceptance rate. I would have bet five years' salary that it would have been the other way around!

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?

This is my fear for my DD who has 4 unweighted, 33 ACT, good EC's and didn't get in the ED decision.

I think it is better to apply to safeties early as well. DD is top stat high gpa, high SAT above 1550 and good ed but was rejected from her top choice. The good thing is she has at least one acceptance from OOS state school. She is regrouping working on RD applications.

Of course. There are far more well-qualified applicants than there are slots. Same for the working world, dating, et cetera.

International students with high need do get shut out. A domestic student who applies to an appropriate range of schools should not. If they do, I’d wonder about their essays and letters of rec. Did their essay scare the AO? Is a letter of rec really, really bad? But you can find colleges who don’t require letters.

Last year DS was only denied at 2 reaches and waitlisted at 2 hard targets. Accepted at 1 hard target, 4 matches and 3 safeties. Fortunately he did good. Best of luck!

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.

If you are shut out you did not choose the right colleges to apply to and there are tons of colleges who accept almost everyone right up to the start date. There is a college they can go to.

I have never heard of a shutout happening after the waitlist period. Some great kids get off the waitlists at yield-protecting schools after the CC calls to say they will definitely come if offered a spot.

Anonymous wrote:I hear you and admit to having some kneejerk panic when my kid’s ED rejection came through. Less a week later, and the kid has EA acceptances to a safety and a target, both with really good merit. If you have a good, balanced list, your kid will not only get in somewhere but likely have options. Don’t succumb to the dark thoughts.

Well said. We're in the same boat. Our high stats kid shot his shot at an extremely selective school in ED and got outright rejected. Objectively, we knew that this was a very real if not likely possibility. But it still stung and caused him/us to reconsider things a little before deciding that his original strategy is still sound. He's been accepted into the local flagship EA, so there is a safety net. But there are latent dark thoughts about whether he might get shut out of both his targets and reaches, despite the list being very consciously considered and assembled. (BTW, the "target" list for a high stats kid in need of FA much harder to assemble and predict that a similar full-pay kid.)

Anyhow, I am personally very sympathetic to all the kids and parents out there who are feeling stress and anxiety. This is an increasingly unpredictable and anxiety-producing process.

You build the list from the bottom up. Include at least 1 rolling admission school and get the application IN in Aug/Sept. Any rejection from EA means even more schools get added to RD. There is also the Space Available Survey that gets published in May/June.

Imo, likely arrogance and unwilling to "settle" would be reasons a high stat students ends up with reaches and targets only, and could possibly (unlikely) get shut out.

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.

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?

This is my fear for my DD who has 4 unweighted, 33 ACT, good EC's and didn't get in the ED decision.

I hear you and admit to having some kneejerk panic when my kid’s ED rejection came through. Less a week later, and the kid has EA acceptances to a safety and a target, both with really good merit. If you have a good, balanced list, your kid will not only get in somewhere but likely have options. Don’t succumb to the dark thoughts.

NP--This is one of the best responses I've seen on DCUM: helpful, reassuring and uplifting without sugarcoating. Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never known a single person who wanted to go to college not go somewhere in September. I’m 50. Never heard of it happening. Maybe a couple of raised eyebrows when you hear someone going to a school much lower than I figured they’d land, but I typically attribute that to finances.

Are you a counsellor? Im literally unaware of where any kids in my neighborhood go to college.

People who have stats that are either at the high end of the mid 50% or even above the 50% of the common data set for schools that accept more than 50% of their applicants probably will assume that the school is a safety. BUT based on what we are seeing, a lot of kids with these stats are being deferred or rejected. Overall, I have heard that there are more applicants this year - and applicants are applying to more schools. It seems like only Harvard saw an application decline! But many schools in the top 100-150 saw a huge increase in applications. All this to say that I can understand the difficulty in gauging safeties this year.