My D just received rejection from Columbia ED this past Thursday. With these top schools, really no one is guaranteed to get in. However, with all the high stats my D has, a straight rejection seems too harsh.
My D was very calm when she saw her result and still immediately posted her decision status and stats as promised to the group to help future Columbia applicants. She contacted her regional admin requesting right after to see if Columbia could advice where she did right or wrong in her application so that she could learn from it and make sure her RD applications would be solid.
I knew she was extremely sad in the deep of her heart because Columbia has been her dreamed schools for long time. I didn’t realize what she was doing until yesterday afternoon and saw some of her postings in CC. She had been up very late to console other rejected applicants to chin up and get ready for RDs…
I am not sure if anyone could provide some advice or share some opinion.
My D has a couple of short stories published in recognized magazines through national competitions. Though these are national competitions, there are no official award title given to the winners. Should she put these under “Honor” in common app, or these should actually go to EC? She put under Honor this time and claimed as national level in early application round. I have a concern if this could be a mistake and quoted as “overstatement of credential”
I agree that understanding about “category admissions” helps, but remember what the bottom line is: most students have no hook to give them a category and even having a category or two does not guarantee admission.
She’s entering the real world. Intelligence and character are great, but at the end of the day its ‘what are you bringing that we need?’ This continues after college into the job market. The race isn’t always to the swiftest.