reading these boards for a good laugh? Watching as we come here to analyze every nuance and hidden meaning behind words and phrases on the application status portals - lol!
The Boston University RD decision thread is unbelievable: about 20 pages of speculation. Not just words and phrases but changes in font.
@TomSrOfBoston that is the particular thread I had in mind. The AOs have to be laughing themselves silly; of course, we feed it, LOL
The University of Washington one is the craziest. Around 50 pages, in which the same question was reiterated again and again (with increased aggression): “So… when do the decisions come out?”
Well, the “by April 1” reply is so obviously bogus. They MUST KNOW when they’ll be done. It’s just rude to keep these stressed-out kids in suspense.
@prodesse But filling up 50 pages with speculation will not make the decisions come out earlier. In the case of BU they did announce the day and time of release two weeks ago and the speculation over changes in the portal continued unabated.
MIT results came as predicted, Tau time. Yesterday. Nicest kids posting
Yes, I know its crazy but I sometimes imagine in the future all the acronym and non-acronym Boarding School ADCOMS sending representatives to some type of admissions summit where they meet for a week and review all the apps and candidates. Then the candidates are called in one by one and the “committee” made up of reps of each school tell the candidate which school they will be going to. The student comes out wearing a sweat shirt with the name of the new BS. The parents are out waiting outside the auditorium all white knuckled and biting their nails, all American Idol-like. How silly. Seriously though, I would like to see BS admissions go the way of residency matches, where students create a list of choices that are rank ordered and BS’s do the same, then there is some type of match algorithm that benefits the student, not the school. Maybe colleges need something similar.
Of course this new system I’ve imagined is no better than the current system, and there will still be many tears and disappointment and heart ache. That doesn’t get replaced in this new world order. But it does eliminate the many acceptances and rejections per student.
MIT results came as predicted, Tau time.
The absolute worst was the year my oldest applied. It was before emails and portals. Carnegie Mellon sent out letters in waves over the course of a few weeks. My son heard relatively early, but he wasn’t in the first batch. Caltech sent out acceptance letters priority mail and rejections via regular mail. We live in NY and the rejection did not come until a full week after it got mailed. Of course we knew from CC that lots of kids had already heard, so no news probably wasn’t good news, but it still sucked.
In my experience when schools says by April1 they don’t come out earlier unless the 1st is a weekend. I think both my kids got early notices from schools where they got merit awards.
I was talking with a fellow tiger mom last night, she told me that she had asked her child’s HS admission counselor whether a LOI to her child’s first choice, this late in the game, would help her child’s chances; the counselor told the tigress that decisions had all but been finalized and it would be too late. Not one to sit on her laurels, she called the AO and was told that a LOI could only help, because decisions would not be finalized until offers are made!!!
It’s all such nonsense; another way to keep kids’ hopes high, only to bring them crashing down when the letter with the big red REJECTION stamp comes through the letterbox!
I am an admissions manager (among the other hats I wear). I watch a graduate forum (not CC) to see what they say. I realize the OP is pretty much tongue in cheek, so I am not stating the following from a “How dare you?” point of view - just the truth: I can assure you I do not laugh at anyone’s posts. The angst is real, and I can respect that. I have my own angst this time of year!
Back when Tufts had a regular admissions officer posting on the Tufts forum he was always very kind to the anxious kids. I don’t think they are laughing at the kids.
I suspect that they are too busy.
No, but it reminds me of the stories of Jimmie the intern and the rest of the crew in the NMSC breakroom on the “UNOFFICIAL Class of 2015 National Merit Finalist Thread”