Assorted Afflatuses
Well, I Could Have Died
I thought, when I fell suddenly ill last week, that the worst part of my spring break was over. But, as I so often do, I reckoned incorrectly.
This week also happened to be the week that most of the colleges I applied to delivered admission information. Initially, I was excited. Everyone from the admissions officers from the colleges themselves to friends and family seemed extremely confident that I would be accepted by at least one of the schools that I applied to, if not all of them. But apparently, not even the admissions officers can gauge their insanity.
For I was not only denied admission to my first choice, Princeton, I was also rejected by Dartmouth and Stanford. And Northwestern University decided that I was only worthy of their so-called "wait list."
It would not have surprised me if one or two schools rejected me, however, I did not expect this. Though, frankly, this strange, unexpected and most unpleasant turn of events makes me wonder what on earth the people who did gain admission spent their time in high school doing to gain that admission. Obviously some people had the advantage of being legacy admissions, which, at Princeton and Dartmouth anyway, quadruples one's chance of being admitted. Yet, the entire student body at those schools cannot possibly be composed of legacy admissions. So what did those other students do? How much can one person possibly accomplish in four years? My activities résumé alone is three very detailed pages long!
Perhaps the admissions committee at Pomona has some sense of sanity. For the sake of my own sanity, I desperately hope I got in.
So, did you apply to any other schools? Maybe OSU or UO or UP or anything like a safety school?
why does your site give me a warning for malware when i search for it on google
To the malware issue: I frankly have no idea why Google considers my website such a cesspool of digital sludge. My only guess would be that they somehow search my junk comments and trackbacks. Those could easily trick an unwitting computer into doing something stupid.
To the safety school issue: No, I did not apply anywhere else. Everything and everyone I consulted seemed to think that I would, without a doubt, be accepted at Northwestern.
Out of curiosity, when you say "[e]verything and everyone," to what and whom do you refer.
Then, I myself am faced with a similar dilemma. I, too, was wait-listed and do not like it. My advice is thus: call them and ask to speak with your regional admissions officer and say this:
-what does "Wait-listed" mean? (You know the answer just go along with them, it makes you seem concerned and interested.)
-Tell them that they are your first choice and that you can see yourself getting a great education there. (It's part of the script don't mess.)
-Then ask if you can send them anything to help with their decision. Then you can inundate them with recommendation letters from your extracurricular activities supervisors, awards you have won since you applied, and other miscellaneous pieces of mail like writing samples. It makes sure that they know you are interested and gives you the excuse to call them and check on the stuff you sent and tell them that you're still interested.
(This all comes from a formerly and successfully enrolled wait-listed person.)