<p>Has anyone here personally tried this? I live very close to Cornell; does this make a difference?</p>
<p>I actually know someone who did the opposite - they called admissions to find out why their child was accepted, which turned out to be very enlightening. (Their child was accepted into an alternative program that had them questioning things, but it all worked out.)</p>
<p>As the admissions dean pointed out, a lot of these decisions are VERY narrow and when you are rejecting 3 or more for every one you accept, sometimes things have to be just right for you to get in. Unfortunately we don’t know whether we miss by a hair or a mile, but know that they do look very closely at a lot of the apps and have to make close calls. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t advise anyone to call on their own behalf, but a GC with a good relationship with the school might get some insight into any one particular students deferral and get a read on what chances are for RD. If it was a close call, you’ll have a shot in RD, not so close, unless you do something outstanding to change you application, you should move on.</p>
<p>Here in the suburbs of NYC it is not uncommon for guidance counselors to follow up with Admissions as it helps them to understand what happened when they are dealing with future admissions. When older d’s best friend in high school, an Intel Semi-Finalist was waitlisted at Wash U, guidance called and was told that “too many ED admissions in her preferred major”. Had she been a potential different major, she would have been accepted.</p>
<p>Re: post # 12:
Yes the increased use of the common app (which has been around for 40 years) has led to the increase in number of applications submitted, but up until now (this changes next year) all schools on the common app had to agree to a holistic (not just stats driven) review of the applicants.</p>
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<p>My friend (the one who called admissions) and I are Townies. I’m not sure whether that was one of the reasons they sent the letter, but it may have played a role.</p>