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To (All) the Colleges That Rejected Me (Excellent Piece on Warped College Admissions!)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | March 29, 2013, 6:31 p.m. ET | SUZY LEE WEISS

Posted on 04/03/2013 8:09:12 AM PDT by TSgt

click here to read article


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To: Opinionated Blowhard
In some areas, you are successful but in other areas, you don’t get what you want. Perhaps you didn’t put enough effort into it. Or if you did put your best effort into it, there were still other people who were better than you.

A lot of the problem with college admissions is that so many students apply to as many as 50 schools -- online makes it easy, and costs less. When my son was at a prospective student group meeting at a good university, we overheard another prospect say, "I don't get it -- I was accepted to Harvard, but I couldn't get into Wake Forest."

When we went on the tour of another good university, our guide was a foreign student whose SATs were more than 100 points lower than my kid's -- but mine didn't get in. Mine got waitlisted at his choice, even though his creds were outstanding; but then went in and asked for a personal interview, and that did the trick -- he got in. Did it help that the interviewer was a young woman and he is an attractive guy? Who knows.

In my opinion, too much of it is a pure crapshoot. So, if your kid is going through it, just keep it in prayer.

And let me add that when I participated in a panel discussion for prospective students as an alumna of my small undergrad school, which had eleven majors, eight of us out of the eleven on the panel had migrated from our major to another field; and several had gone on to get unrelated masters'. So take it as it comes. It's often easier to transfer into a coveted school in soph year after doing well in freshman year somewhere else.

81 posted on 04/03/2013 10:05:36 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("Commies out of D.C.!" --Raoul Deming, 1954-2013)
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To: Gaffer

Oh! Oh...I know!

Spoiler alert. My dad worked at a foundry where they made manhole covers, so I didn’t discover this on my own.

Manhole covers are round so they cannot fall into the hole they are covering.


82 posted on 04/03/2013 10:05:53 AM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: dfwgator
Well it worked in "Soul Man."

I think the guy in Soul Man was already accepted at the college and actually made himself "black" for the scholarship money. Anyway, 20+ years later C. Thomas Howell got the more interesting role as "The Reaper" on Criminal Minds. I love that show.

83 posted on 04/03/2013 10:09:26 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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Comment #84 Removed by Moderator

To: ottbmare
Once she began attending her chosen school, however, she often reflected bitterly that she wished she could be Hispanic so she could qualify for all the grants, scholarships, and other easy sources of funding available to the Hispanic girls. Their lot was much easier than hers, since she had to work to the point of exhaustion to pay for her education, and they didn’t. Of course they had more time and energy for studying than she did, since they didn’t have to hold down two jobs.

Beat me to it. Exactly the same story here. Our kid's first college assigned roommate was an illegal (yeah, I'm using AP's shunned word) who had a free ride just because she was illegal whereas our lily white kid had to study to rank 3rd in HS just to get in and now works 30 hrs. a week just to stay in.

85 posted on 04/03/2013 10:11:44 AM PDT by bgill
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To: Gaffer

LOL! No. I just figured that we talked past each other.


86 posted on 04/03/2013 10:16:05 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: TSgt

“I want to vomit whenever I see pictures of my affluent suburb friends and their children on some 3rd world country excursion they’ll quickly forget about to make the world better.”

I know many in my church that do this on a regular basis. If you haven’t put a smile on someone’s face, gave them hope, fed or provided for those less fortunate, you are missing out on one of the greatest joys you can have in life. People do it for reasons different than what you think. Most don’t broadcast it because they are not seeking reward in this life.


87 posted on 04/03/2013 10:19:37 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch (...By reading this, you've collapsed my wave function. Thanks.)
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To: Graybeard58
If I'm not mistaken and I may well be, one doesn't "apply" one is appointed.

True, but one must still "apply" to the appropriate nominating authority to be considered for an appointment.

88 posted on 04/03/2013 10:22:27 AM PDT by ken in texas (I was taught to respect my elders but it keeps getting harder to find any.)
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To: Albion Wilde
Dear Albion Wilde,

I’ve heard of kids applying to as many as 20 schools, but not 50. Our older son applied to eight, and in hindsight, I think that was too few. Our younger son will likely apply to around 15 next year.

There certainly is an element of luck and seeming randomness in the process. But as things have evolved, it’s gotta be. Harvard’s announcement day was last Thursday. Out of over 35,000 applicants, ultimately, a little over 2,000 were accepted, or about 5.8%. The other top schools are trending in that direction. Less than a decade ago, Harvard admitted 10% of applicants, and THAT was considered extremely selective! You’re right that part of the driver is the ability to apply on-line.

But great grades and test scores are still required. It's just that at this point, they’re just the prerequisites.


sitetest

89 posted on 04/03/2013 10:24:50 AM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: TSgt

Author should just put “Lesbian” on her application. In like Flynn.


90 posted on 04/03/2013 10:27:32 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Free goodies for all -- Freedom for none.)
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To: MrB

lol...I remember that, the female lawyer berating her cleaning lady who was teaching a class of educated useless idiots.

I drill it into my kids heads every day - “Go to college if you wish, but let it be for something USEFUL!”


91 posted on 04/03/2013 10:29:09 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around.")
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To: Gaffer

...because manholes are round....

Best answer I ever received to that question!


93 posted on 04/03/2013 10:30:49 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around.")
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To: TSgt

Starbuck’s needs baristas too, kid.


94 posted on 04/03/2013 10:32:45 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Lancey Howard

LOL! I don’t care who ya are, that right there’s funny.


95 posted on 04/03/2013 10:34:03 AM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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Comment #96 Removed by Moderator

To: TSgt
Her guidance counselor should have just told her the secret to college admissions:

Go to a good community college and transfer in year 2 after all the "diverse" students drop out and the schools are desperate to fill up the sophomore class.

-PJ

97 posted on 04/03/2013 10:52:22 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: verga

IIRC, there was no “he” as a author.

This was done as a group project for a college class and each chapter was written by a different person.

That’s how “he” was able to figure out so many scenarios.


98 posted on 04/03/2013 11:14:14 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: staytrue; Lou L
All I can say is that that is what he got when he was tested in the 11th grade. He did not have the grades that a D1 school requires, nor the SAT scores. He went to a very small school that had a graduation number of eleven students. He also weighed only 160 at 6'1. So it appears that they do look at more than just what a player can run in the 40.

He used to tell the other players in high school that they would go faster if they really pumped their arms.

The fact that he got a spot on a D2 school was a great accomplishment for him.

He was really fun to watch though when he ran and played defense on the basketball court.

99 posted on 04/03/2013 11:22:00 AM PDT by Slyfox (The Key to Marxism is Medicine ~ Vladimir Lenin)
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To: TSgt
College admissions favor the elites, diverse and perverse.

Colleges favor any applicant that is part of a politically subsidized social class which, via admission, will earn the college the most amount of federal aid and grant monies in addition to tuition paid by the student.

A white non-athletic high school graduate with two married parents (of opposite sexes) probably has no chance.

100 posted on 04/03/2013 11:29:36 AM PDT by Alex Murphy ("If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all" - Isaiah 7:9)
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