quietdesperation

just about every question you can dream up had been asked, debated and answered here on college confidential 100 times. Some of the posts occurred years ago and occasionally, intrigued by an interesting perspective or similar stats/school interests, I sample the beginning, middle and end of a poster's life on college confidential. I've noticed the life cycle of most posters follow the same arc: what are my safeties, matches and reaches->Waiting for reply from my dream school (usually a reach)-> no more posts.

Although it's possible these students gained admittance to their dream school and never bothered to post, it's much more likely they ended up somewhere else and may have been embarrassed with their results. I guess this should be expected because almost everyone's "dream school" is a reach but I do find this arc depressing (and sobering). It seems as if there's something entirely wrong with the college admission process.

50ishwoman

The college admissions process is just like life. We always WANT, but we don't always GET. That's life.

happymomof1

If you can learn one thing, and one thing only, it is this one:

Love thy safety.

Whatever your back-up plan is (safety college, gap year, work) having one that you can be happy with can make all the difference in this process.

entomom

How do you reach this conclusion from your data/observations?

Mine would be more like: Students/parents/HS GCs either don't have a very good understanding of how the college admissions process works, or that they are in denial and apply to unrealistic schools given their academic & EC record.

BeanTownGirl

I think it means that once they get in, they have no need to ask questions on CC like "chance me at XXX" or "help me pick a safety"! They don't bother to post their results because they have better things to do!!! Why spend time on CC any more?
I don't think it says anything about where they got in. Why would they be embarrassed to post something on an anonymous website?
I do feel your frustration because you can't help but wonder what happened to some of the OP's. I know I do!

ZombieDante

I don't get the point of this thread. We are human society doesn't change overnight, we are bound to follow some trends.

quietdesperation

It's a unique process. Let's say we define far reach and reach schools as 10 and 20% admittance probability respectively. I'd guess about 95% of "dream schools" are from these reaches. If you accept these metrics, 95% of applicants have between 10 and 20 per cent chance of admittance. That adds up to a whole lotta disappointment. I can't think of another life process where so much is at stake with such a large chance of disappointment.

beantown girl, I like your "half full" view but I've seen two many threads where applicants were crushed and never bothered to post their acceptance.

Jea828

I agree with BeanTownGirl. This is a place for people who are searching for and applying to colleges. Once the process it over, there's not much reason to stick around.

I imagine that the majority of those OPs who didn't get into their "dream school" are happy and thriving where ever they wound up. Because that's how life goes. You don't always get what you want, but you make the best of what you do get... and many times you find that the cards you're dealt end up being better than the ones you'd hoped for.

And I wouldn't say that this process is entirely unique. Life is full of big stakes and chances for disappointment. For many students, this might be their first experience not getting what they wanted, what they'd worked hard for, what they may have even deserved. And I'll agree with you there, it can be bitterly disappointing. But the disappointment doesn't last forever and, as they say, life does go on!