It’s the season of celebration or commiseration, as high school
seniors began receiving notification of admission to the University of
California, California State University, Stanford, USC, Ivy League schools and
other institutions across the country. With it comes the thrill of goals
achieved, or the heartbreak of devastated dreams.
To further impact the admission status of
applicants, the University of California, along with some of the CSUs have
adapted a Wait List admission policy, similar to what the Ivy League schools
have used for years. This is another form of admission denial, that just seems
to prolong the agony of rejection, and often doesn’t provide an answer until
well into summer, and long after student intent to enroll deadlines.
Waitlisted admits regularly miss housing deadlines, orientation and
incoming freshmen events.
When a student is denied admission, the first question is, “why?”
With many top tier colleges turning down as much as 90 percent of their
applicant pool, there are thousands of highly qualified, denied students asking
the same question. And while it hurts to be denied, it’s not personal; nor is
it an indicator of the applicant’s potential to succeed at college. It’s simply
the result of a process that requires admissions evaluators to find the best
fit for their campuses. Overall, I think they do a good job of matching incoming
students with their current student body. Occasionally, I think they miss out
on amazing students.
A common reason high achieving students are denied admission is
failure to thoroughly follow the admissions process or simply missing a
deadline. Nearly all communication is completed through a college website
portal, where students are advised of tasks or items needed to complete or
verify their applications. Frequently, I encounter students who did not open
their portal accounts. Equally common are students who did open the portal
account, but failed to check it or follow through with tasks or requested
items. It is highly unlikely that a top tier university will admit a student by
appeal, for failing to follow basic admission procedures.
So what option does a student have if he
receives a denial of admission to his first choice college? Is there any hope
of appeal? What if the reply is “Waitlist?”
Most universities discourage appeals, and
grant few, if any. But the University of California undergraduate admission
website does give information on what will be reviewed if a student does
appeal. “New and compelling information” is the only hope a student has. This
is good advice for an appeal to any university. UC
How to Appeal
To determine if a student has new or
compelling information, he needs to first look at the original application. Is
everything there that he submitted? Frequently I find students who don’t have a
printed copy of the application. They honestly don’t know what was on the application
they sent to impress admissions reviewers.
Students can access their applications on
the college application website. Print a copy and confirm that all courses are
listed, that all the awards, activities, volunteer hours, employment, etc. are
there. Verify that the student directed the College Board or the ACT to send
the test scores to the college. If the college required letters of
recommendation, contact the admissions office to be certain that those letters
arrived and are in the student’s application file. Review the essays or
personal statements. Try to determine if the student left something important
out of the application that he had intended to send, or should have sent.
Then the student should evaluate what new
information he has to tell the college that is germane to admission. Being
named a National Merit Scholar or class valedictorian might be considered new
information, but keep in mind that at a highly selective university, these
kinds of honors will be common, so that alone won’t be helpful. New information
might include a new, higher SAT score or a community college course you forgot
to list. Achieving some kind of talent recognition such as being named to an
Olympic team, a Regional Ballet Company or winning a national level speech
contest, would be considered new information, if it happened since you
submitted the application.
Compelling information is the other option
for students to submit an appeal. Each year I find myself astounded at what a
high school senior thinks is compelling information. The fact that you will be
a fourth generation to attend the highly selective college is not compelling. Compelling information must be just that –
compelling the admissions office to reevaluate your application because of this
information.
Compelling information is that you are
homeless, but you’re still getting straight A’s; and you just found out that
you have free housing a few blocks from their campus. Compelling information is
that you didn't report that your lower grades from sophomore year were the
result of living in an abusive household and that you were too embarrassed to
reveal it on the original application. Compelling must be serious, related to
your application or college plans, and above all it must be something truthful,
that you can document.
As students struggle with college dreams shattering with the click
of an opened an email, I believe it’s important to deal with the feelings of
disappointment… for 24 hours.
I think students (and often parents) need
to take those 24 hours to mourn for the loss of their dreams. After grieving
for a day or so, everyone needs to “get over it,” and move forward. Students
must begin to focus on the college admission offers they have received and
begin a successful college experience that is just a little different than they
had imagined.
An appeal is the first thing a student
considers when being told “no.” But appealing is risky and usually
results in a second denied offer of admission, so it’s imperative that
college-bound students who appeal, make plans to attend a college where they
have been admitted, while they wait for the appeal answer.
For more information on how to appeal and
a sample appeal letter, visit our website
