Clemson does not consider demonstrated interest in admissions.
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I think uwgpa is top on what most colleges look at first. I also think TO falls short of a good score is all else is equal, and is considered when deciding merit.
Unless it’s changed you can see section c7of the cds for what’s important and then less so.
Rigor
Gpa
Test
Rank
Residency
Are labeled most important. Not sure y the link prints so long but it works.
Thank you.
I 100% agree with this . We were accepted EA but showed a TON of interest as well and visited admissions when we were there . Our student has the grades , rank , rigor etc but the interest definitely didn’t hurt us in the least . Good luck !
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With all due respect , 100% disagree with this for sure … our student had everything they look for and we got in EA TO. We showed TONS of interest and we firmly believe this helped . There is no harm in showing interest , in the long run we know this helped us .
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Summer Start has nothing to do with kids being ready for the rigor of college. It is a program to be able to add additional accepted students by getting two Gen Ed classes out of the way and freeing up space in those classes in the fall. My daughter applied specifically to start in this program (did not want Fall, only Summer Start) so I’m very familiar with the program.
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Agree - someone who worked in Admissions at Clemson once told me that while it states that demonstrated interest does not matter, these counselors are human and they definitely remember the students who were engaged and showed interest. She said it would be impossible to not know that student is definitely attending if they get accepted.
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My kid was accepted TO at EA in December:
Here is the info I have- I am a photographer and live 2 miles from the South Carolina but a Georgia resident. We live 40 minutes from Clemson. So OOS.
I get many photography clients from towns all around us. This fall- November, I was in shooting a family that I do not know very well which is very common in this business. Anyways, as we were walking from one end of the park to the other they stated they are from Clemson. I said oh my goodness my daughter applied there! Then they went on to say that the husband worked in admissions up until last year. He now does something with a scholars program or something that was way over my head. So I asked him if I could give him my daugthers stats and see if he thought her chances were good. He said sure:
4.0 uw /4.17 w
TO
OOS
Tons of EC but no leadership
3 varsity sports
only sent one LOR
He stayed silent for all of that, then he said ok none of that is going to stand out- and then he said what is her class rank. I said 9%. He said, yep, she will be fine.
So being that he doesnt work in admissions this year I cant say for sure that that was a huge factor this year but when I looked at all the people on this site that were accepted EA almost all that had a ranking were top 10%.
I actually even think the fact that some schools dont rank might actually be hurting the kids a little.
Just a little info from my point of view. We showed zero interest even though it was my daughters top pick. Never had an official visit, never called or emailed.
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Agree! We had rank , rigor, GPA to back ours up fully . But as we have all learned , crazier things have happened and our students don’t always get in where they should based on stats. We happened to be touring when admissions was full of the officers so we went in to introduce ourselves . I’m positive that at least gave them a “face with a name “. I say do what you think is right . Worst case scenario it doesn’t change the outcome. But we figured we could always say we tried everything we could.
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I agree too that rank seemed to play a big part for EA as well . We are top 6%
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Yes, i think it told us a lot about button gate too. When we were figuring out who had the buttons and who didn’t seems the class ranking was something that most of us had in common.
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For sure! I wish everyone the best !
That’s kind of anecdotal evidence, when my daughter was accepted (with merit) she had zero demonstrated interest, submitted the application at the last minute, that was it. Only handful of students from our HS ever applied to Clemson.
Their common data set says they don’t consider it. You can check at any school by googling School Name CDS and scrolling down to the admissions section. There is a big table telling exactly what they consider and what they don’t. (https://clemson.box.com/shared/static/ayjf6vvqhqrnx8cg3ocsgo8igh4nc3j2.pdf).
I think you are right AND demonstrated interest might not count. I am on an admissions committee for a school in the top 150. We don’t consider interest really, even if it is listed on the CDS BUT when a kid visits us, or meets with us and we remember them, they made a good impression on us we might make a note in their file. Just a note like “met this candidate, very promising, or met this candidate, lovely person” we don’t do it often, it’s when someone really makes an impression. I have run across it 3 times myself this year, an email from a faculty member, a note from someone on the admissions committee and a note from someone in the Presidents office. Nothing formal, just that note, it certainly made an impression. In my own vote, if the candidate met the basic requirements, or even was a tinsey bit below, with that note I vote yes, granted we are not crazy crazy competitive, it has to go through a first review, gets to us and then three people review, but it matters to me at least. So while I would tell any particular person demonstrated interest is kind of ignored, being a “recommended” person, is not, which could mean, made a favorable enough impression on someone at the school, being a charismatic, lovely promising student can help.
(And obviously this is totally anecdotal AND if has to be kind of organic, I think if someone tried to cultivate this they are more likely to get a note that they were driving the admissions office crazy calling about random stuff).
Good point of view!
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Great insight … I said “ this can’t hurt” and we fit all the requirements without it too . Thank you for your experienced opinion
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Like I said , I understand the stats , but as we all know there’s always more behind it as well . I’m in the industry so I know this to be factual details of expectations . This is an individual experience for each candidate and we approached it as this is what works for us and we are going with it.
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I see what you mean now, especially after reading @anonuser1234’s comment. I just think it is unethical for AO’s to be using any form of demonstrated interest if the CDS says they don’t. Because that makes the entire process more unfair than it already is.
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